Trying to puzzle a computer together.

[Lixen666]

Need advice fast!

As some other people on this forum, I am building a computer for the first time and I could use some guiding and advice.
The store I plan to buy everything has a website which can be displayed in French or in Dutch: http://www.padeg.be

Here is what I had in mind:
Memory: 2x Dimm 512 Mg 400 Mhz DDR (€ 39)
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3000+
(socket 939 - 512 Kb - 0.09µ)
Motherboard: Soltek SL-NF4Pro-939
(nVIDIA nForce4 CK804 - Socket 939 - PCIE - Raid - Firewire - Audio 8.1 - Gigabit Lan - SATA)
Harddrive: Maxtor 120 G ATA133 7200rpm 8 Mb Cache (€ 75)
DVD-Rom: LG DVD-R /-RW 4160B Double Layer IDE (€ 59)
(40x CD-R, 24x CD-RW, 16x DVD+R, 8x DVD-R, 4x DVD-RW, 4x DVD+RW, 5x DVD-RAM, 2.4x Double Layer) OEM
Video Card: Sparkle GeForce 6600 GT SP-PX43GDH
(PCIE - 128ddr3 - DVI - HDTV)
Sound Card: Hercules Muse 5.1 DVD (€ 25)
Monitor: Proview 17 pouces TFT MA-782KC (€ 229)
(16ms - Multimedia - 3 years on site)
Keyboard: Linkworld LK606 Multimedia Keyboard (€ 8)
Mouse: Linkworld LM603 3D Optical Mouse (€ 6)
Speakers: Creative SBS 260 (€ 20)
PSU: Q-Tec PSU 400W Dual Fan

Will this computer run fast and good, will I be able to run... lets say "half life 2"? And am I not getting ripped off, and are there better alternatives for certain parts?

New spec's eddited in this post.

~Lixen

 

[just_a_nobody]

I would see if you could get a case without a PSU, you want a large case. Invest in a 450+ watt power supply, preferably an antec, or enermax psu, that way if you decide to upgrade later, then you will have a PSU for it. I would at the least double the amount of RAM, if you plan on playing resourse hogging games. I'm not sure about the pricing, but the system doesn't look bad.

 

[LittleHoov]

yeah 1GB RAM is pretty well the standard anymore, and i would personally recommend an AMD processor if you are going to be strictly gaming, theyre just flat out better at it. and for what your paying for that Pentium, you could get a pretty sweet deal on a AMD 64

 

[Praetor]

Will this computer run fast and good, will I be able to run... lets say "half life 2"?

While it can RUN HL2 with the video card there, you wont be enjoying it. Realistically anything short of a 9600Pro isnt going to have a fun time with Halflife 2. You can find 9600Pros for ~$100USD

DVD-Rom: LG DVD-R /-RW 4160B Double Layer IDE (€ 59)

Have a look at the CD/DVD101 for some better ideas ... http://www.computerforum.com/showthread.php?t=11610

Network Card: Sweex LAN 10/100 Mb (€ 8)

The motherboard should have onboard lan, gigabit even

(P4 - AMD - 300 Watts)

Have a look at the PSU 101 for some better ideas ... http://www.computerforum.com/showthread.php?t=10764

For gaming you should definitely consider an Atlon64 system ... even Socket754s A64s will give you better gaming performance

 

[Cromewell]

I would stray away from the x300SE, it's just horrbile and you will want at least a 350W PSU (preferably with a 24pin main power connector)

 

[Praetor]

Harddrive: Maxtor 80 G ATA133 7200rpm (€ 55)

Yeah and the price deltas between 80GB and 120/160 shouldnt be significant so definitely worth your money to jump it up a notch or two

 

[Lixen666]

New configuration.

All spec's as I have them in mind now are in the first post, I eddited to make the overvieuw more clear.

Here's the changes I made:
Power Suply: Q-Tec PSU 400W Dual Fan
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3000+
(socket 754 - 0.13µ)
Motherboard: Soltek SL-K8TPRO-754
(VIA K8T800 + VT8237 - Socket 754 - SATA - Raid - IEEE1394 - Audio 8 Channels - Gigabit Lan)
HDD: Maxtor 120 G ATA133 7200rpm 8 Mb Cache
Video Card: Sparkle GeForce 6600 GT SP-PX43GDH
(PCIE - 128ddr3 - DVI - HDTV)

I couldn't find a cheap case without power supply on the shop-list of the store I plan to buy all this. I don't really find a solution to the problem of only seeing cases with special this and special that, but no regular white box that is cheap without built in power supply.
(http://www.padeg.com/produit.php?sid=14 for a list of all cases and power supplies they have listed)

Now another question. Is this really all a computer need to run and to be able to connect everything on it? Or did I forget things that are usually not stated cause they are obvious (to people who know how to build PC's). Like, I found this section on the store's website about "USB/Firewire/PCI". Are those things required, or are they already standard built into cases, or do I need to buy USB cards to have it and all... And what is PCI cards anyways?

~Lixen

 

[Lixen666]

Altered spec's last time, might be getting it later today.
So I need advice fast
Look at first post for the spec's as I have em in mind now.

~Lixen

 

[Praetor]

Like, I found this section on the store's website about "USB/Firewire/PCI". Are those things required, or are they already standard built into cases, or do I need to buy USB cards to have it and all...

Your motherboard has them available already

And what is PCI cards anyways?

PCI is a format you find soundcards, network cards and such using

Your PSU's site is here and nowhere can i get clear information about its technical specs..... not a good sign. See the PSU 101 for some ideas...

 

[Lixen666]

I got most of the things I wanted. Just some minor details are different. And as for PSU, I got a case with built in feeding that the guy in the store recomended. I don't know the details, just remember that it has 410W or something.

I got it all working, just one prob is that I can't seem to get my internet working... When I Install an OS (win xp) it doesn't install internet explorer. I managed to access the network configuration and when I said I wanted to connect, I did everything right, and then it said my broadband was already configured correctly. But I still don't know what the prob is now... Really sux
I thought it might have been the xp home edition, cuz it was already installed on another pc with internet. So I upgraded to windows xp professional, still same probs, thought it might have been cuz its an unclean version, so I removed all of it, and tried installing ME, just to see if internet works. Now ME gives problems cuz it doesn't function well with the graphix card (will prolly get fixed when installing drivers), but anyways, I tried to set up the connection, but still didn't work.

Anyone got an idea? Or did I explain it bad? :s
More on this tomorrow probably.

~Lixen

 

[Praetor]

I got a case with built in feeding

Huh?

When I Install an OS (win xp) it doesn't install internet explorer

Uh.... are you sure you (a) have a proper version of XP and (b) installed it properly? Maybe have a look here