Will my proposed build work?

S

Steelshivan

New Member
Below is my new proposed build. I will be planning on dual booting Linux and Vista with it. It will mainly be used for typical everyday stuff(linux), in addition to being more or less a media center(mythtv-linux), and a little gaming on the side(vista)...although not much. Not worried about playing games like Crysis, and newer well, as you can see by my video card choice. As for picking AMD, I am a fan, and it seemed like a good choice cost-wise, while not sacrificing much performance either...performance that I really don't need or will notice.

So yeah, would appreciate it if I could get opinions on my new build, mainly let me know if any of the selected parts have glaring weaknesses or issues I should know about. One more thing - I'm sure several of you will mention my "weak" 460 watt psu. Have done quite a bit of research on that unit and it seems to have plenty of power for what I need (36amp on 2 rails), as well as being a solid, reliable (and very rare), included case psu. To the components:

Case - Nextherm ICS 8200 Black SECC Thickness 1.0 ATX Mid Tower Computer Case with PC Air Conditioner 460W Power Supply - Retail

Mobo - BIOSTAR A770 A2+ AM2+/AM2 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

GPU - EVGA 256-P2-N751-TR GeForce 8600GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported Video Card - Retail

CPU - AMD Athlon 64 X2 6400+ Windsor 3.2GHz Socket AM2 125W Dual-Core Processor Model ADX6400CZBOX - Retail

Memory - (X 2) G.SKILL 2GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL6S-2GBMQ - Retail

FDD - SAMSUNG Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive Windows 98SE/ ME/ 2000/ XP - OEM

HDD1 - Western Digital Caviar SE WD2500AAJS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

HDD2 - Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

Opt1 - ASUS Black SATA DVD-ROM Drive Model DVD-E616A3T OEM - OEM

Opt2 - SAMSUNG 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA Model SH-S203B - OEM

Edit: I realize I need a tv tuner card as well, still researching them at this time.
 
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In general, power supplies included with cases aren't very good. I'm not sure what you've been reading about this PSU (hopefully not the reviews on newegg :)), but I would recommend something from a solid brand. Here's one: CM 500W. You'll need to get a new case, as it probably wouldn't make sense to buy one with a POS PSU.

Hauppauge makes excellent TV Tuner cards. I own the 500 MCE and recommend it. Their 150 series is also good, from what I understand. Everything else looks okay, although I'd probably go with Seagate as opposed to WD for the hard drives.
 
mep916-

Thanks for your response, I've taken note of the CM psu, which seems like a decent one for the low price. Thanks for your tuner recommendation as well, everyone seems to think Hauppage is the way to go there.

Originally when I first started making my component list, I figured it was either going to be an Antec Sonata 3 for my case - or a standalone psu. While researching further, it seems that Antec may have lowered their included psu quality this time around. Then I found the nextherm case, and have done MUCH research on it. I like everything about it, the only weakness in my eyes is the mere 2 3.5 bays (total), fortunately not a problem for me due to the ability to use an external fdd (if one at all), and also 3.5" converter kits for cases.

In addition to the many idiots in the newegg reviews (haha), I have read no less than a dozen reviews on this case. Of course, I was skeptical concerning the psu at first, reason for all my review reads. :)

I have not once read anything bad concerning this psu or even mentioning it might be best to "replace the crappy case-included psu." It seems everyone and their mother is so quick to jump on that bandwagon, and for good reason. But this sucker seems to be truly a quality psu, especially for a 460 watt one. I think the reason why is due to the wattage meter on the front top of the case, modding would be necessary to make it work if you switched out the psu.

Rambling done, I guess in short - I plan on keeping this quality psu in my case, if you don't believe feel free to research it. Thanks again for all your advice. :)
 
Steelshivan said:
Rambling done, I guess in short - I plan on keeping this quality psu in my case, if you don't believe feel free to research it. Thanks again for all your advice. :)
Click to expand...

No problem - just my two cents. Best of luck with the build. ;)

Post some pics when it's finished. :D
 
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