My first PC build, please critique

R

Roads

New Member
I am building my first PC. I should have it completed somtime in august. I am new to this stuff but I have been doing my research. This PC will be used to run the latest games aswell as web surfing and such. Keep in mind that I am building this on a budget. If something is a little slow now then I will change it 6 months from now.

Case - COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16811119077
PSU - Antec SmartPower 2.0 SP-500 ATX12V 500W http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16817103937
Mobo - ASUS A8N-SLI Premium Socket 939 http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16813131540
CPU - AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16819103539
RAM - OCZ Titanium 2GB (2 x 1GB) http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16820227056
Video Card - eVGA 256-P2-N562-AX Geforce 7900GT http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16814130028
HDD - Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16822148140
Optical - NEC Black 16X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16827152058

I have already purchased the case and PSU. I am waiting for the release of conroe to get everything else due to the prices drops. Please give me some feedback. What is the bottleneck here?
 
You should be able to get a nice X2 processor for the current price of the 3700+ after the prices drop.
 
Setup looks good, no bottleneck for gaming at all. I would however recommend socket AM2 for upgradability reasons. The only possible hitch in that is if you wanted a single-core cpu with 1MB of cache. I don't know when the AM2 3700+ is slated for release, if ever.

Looks good, regardless of what you ultimately decide to go with.
 
mrjack said:
You should be able to get a nice X2 processor for the current price of the 3700+ after the prices drop.
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I was originaly going to go with this setup,
-AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Windsor http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16819103735
-ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe Socket AM2 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131013.

But I got turned off of AM2 after hearing about RAM issues and the CPU not really utilizing the DDR2. Also AM3 is only like 6 months away. This being my first build, compatability, ease of use/iinstallation, and tried and true products make me feel more comfortable. Newer products scare me...
 
Roads said:
I was originaly going to go with this setup,
-AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Windsor http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16819103735
-ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe Socket AM2 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131013.

But I got turned off of AM2 after hearing about RAM issues and the CPU not really utilizing the DDR2. Also AM3 is only like 6 months away. This being my first build, compatability, ease of use/iinstallation, and tried and true products make me feel more comfortable. Newer products scare me...
Click to expand...

I think you would be much happier with that choice instead of the 3700+.
 
monkeysims said:
I think you would be much happier with that choice instead of the 3700+.
Click to expand...
Is there going to be much of a performance difference between the 3700+AM2 and the 3800+ 939?
 
monkeysims said:
I think you would be much happier with that choice instead of the 3700+.
Click to expand...
Is there going to be much of a performance difference between the 3700+ 939 and the 3800+ AM2?
 
No, you won't see hardly any difference between the two. The 3800+ runs at 2.4Ghz stock while the 3700+ runs at 2.2Ghz stock. The 3700+ makes up for most of the difference in games with it's 1MB of cache vs the 3800+'s 512MB.

Ultimately, they are extremely close to one another bench-wise, both being excellent gaming cpu's let alone less intensive tasks such as web surfing, etc. With socket AM2 and the 3800+, you'll save quite a bit of money, have access to DDR2 memory, and be better off upgradability wise.
 
Dude, I would go for the am2 x2, thats what im getting and I haven't heard anything about it not utilizing its ddr2 ram, Any1 I have talked to loved everything about it.
 
i have "read" about the memory problems also and that is what is keeping me from buying right now. the OCZ memory i had in my "plan" has bad reviews so i just switched it to Corsair but something still dont feel right about it yet. i am seriously thinking of just going with 939 its still "good enough" and i hope i dont have to make any major updates for a long while. them being so equal in price is my only hang up but like one said AM3 is right around the corner so whatever i go with is gonna be outdone sooner than later. still undecided.
 
youve just gone and bought the exact same setup as me lol. except my case is an aspire black xcruiser, my psu is a hiper type R series, my 7900 is an xfx, and i have only got 2gb of value corsair RAM, im thinking of getting better ram or getting another gig of the stuff.

it runs like a beuaty ;)
 
dazbizkit said:
youve just gone and bought the exact same setup as me lol. except my case is an aspire black xcruiser, my psu is a hiper type R series, my 7900 is an xfx, and i have only got 2gb of value corsair RAM, im thinking of getting better ram or getting another gig of the stuff.

it runs like a beuaty ;)
Click to expand...
Did you go with the 939 or AM2?
 
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