Building a PC; Few Questions

[legendz411]

This is the PC I am currently building. Can I get you all's opinion on it? Note that the case and the MoBo have been bought. I just bought them tonight so that is a lock, AFAIC. It wasn't built to powerhouse through todays latest and greatest at full RES and best settings, but I think it will handle nicely and it leaves much room for upgrades and improvment as I go.


RAM

Mother Board

CPU

Graphics Card

Case

PSU

250gig HDD

Moniter

DVD/CD Writer

Wireless Keyboard and Mouse

Speakers


That's it. All the above items were listed in order of importance.


This, the end result, will be a:
2.4 Gigahertz AMD Athlon 64 3800+
2 Gigabytes of DDR400/PC3200 Dual Channel OCZ XMS Ram
ASUS A8N-SLI ATX-Form AMD Mother Board
250 Gigabyte Western Digital 7200RPM SATA II HDD
MSI GeForce 7600GT 256MB PCI-E 16x
19" FLatscreen LCD DVI-D Moniter
CD/DVD Read/Writer Combo drive
Realtek ALC850 ISCS
Altec Lansing 2.1 Speaker System
Powered by a 500 Watt Antec SmartPower 2.0

All cased in a sexy, loud (looking) NZXT case.



Now, I got a few questions though. One, is a Widescreen LCD worth it? I mean, I am going to be running on 1280 x 1024. Will that looked warped on the WS? Will the moniter compansate to make it look normal, or what? Should I just go square with a square one? (Will be 19" LCD). Also, I'm rarly going to be watching movies on my PC. It is for gaming and internet mainly. The moniter that I have my eye on is DVI-D and my video card is Dual-DVI. So hopefully they will work.


EDIT: Updated Moniter!
EDIT2: Updated CPU and RAM and PSU

 

[KingCody]

everything looks good except for the power supply. stay away from aspire. they are known trouble makers.

Aspire > Dangerous! They don't even pretend to meet the ATX/AMD/Intel specs!

generally speaking if the power supply looks real pretty like that one, then that's what you're paying for. the looks, not the quality.

buy from a known reputible brand like Antec, Enermax, Fortron, or PC Power & Cooling. here's a good guide to good quality power supplies in all price ranges.

by thw way, all your parts are linked to newegg except your videocard, you can get it on newegg even cheaper, see it here

 

[legendz411]

I generally try to stay away from "Open Box" items on Newegg. To me that just seems as if I'm asking for trouble. I trust Newegg as a company, but it is just a wary part of me that doesn't think that's a good idea. CAn you recommend on good faith buying that Open Box off Newegg vs. New off of ZipZoomFly?


As for the PSU... It looks so damn nice. I was at the [H] forums yesterday and I read that Aspire is on their list, but there were a few people that said they had Aspire PSU's and it worked very well for the duration of them using them.

 

[KingCody]

i didn't even realize it was open box.it's $179.99 brand new. since you're buying every other component from newegg, you would probably save even more just on shipping than you would save by buying it from zzf.

I like the dual slot cooler on the MSI card, i think that's what makes it a little more expensive than the other brand 7600GTs.

and as far as the PSU is concerned, they are well known for making rubbish PSUs that have almost no protection circuitry. its up to you, it's your new expensive computer that you'll be risking. the power supply is the most important component in your machine. it controls how every other component works and it can take out your whole system if it goes.

personally i don't like the idea of a PSU inside a plastic case, especially where cheapies like aspire have been known to smoke and even catch on fire

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

The video card is even cheaper on TigerDirect. XFX is a reputable company so no worries there. Get it quick though coz the rebate expires on 30th of June.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1931188&CatId=1560

 

[KingCody]

well i was only looking at MSI because thats what legendz was looking at to begin with.

but even better that that one rage, newegg has a EVGA 7600GT for $139.99 after rebate

 

[legendz411]

Please understand, I mean no disrespect to your knowladge, as you know mor e then me about PSU's. I have no intention of skimping on one of the most critical parts of the PC. I was looking back around on [H] forums and I think I will go with this PSU:

Smartpower 2.0 SP-500 watt

It seems as if it will suit my needs quite nicely, and after much reflection, my case will be flashy enough to suit my needs. Risking a $1500 system becuase I wanted it to look just that much more "Wow" is not a smart move.


I am getting the MSI card because of the Dual-slot cooler. That makes it prime for OC'ing and it looks mad awesome. Even more so will it in the case I'm getting. I have also used MSI nVidia product before and I have great faith in them.

Scratch my question about the widescreen LCD. I have a different one now. the MSI 7600GT card has 2x DVI-D connectors. The LCD that I am going to be getting has a Dual-DVI connector and a D-Sub. Will the LCD work on the video card? Or will I need a converter?

 

[KingCody]

nice choice antec makes great PSUs with reliable protection circuits.

if you like the smartpower line then stick with what you have, they are great PSUs and the modular cables are nice too.

just something else to consider the truepowerII 550w is on sale for $68 (after rebate)

I personally own an Antec TruepowerII 380w. the thing is practically silent! and i think it looks nicer with the single 120mm fan verses the 2 80mm fans, but that's just my opinion.

either way you won't be dissapointed with Antec

 

[legendz411]

Quite is definitly better. I'll take a look at the TP series. Can you provide any insight into my DVI dilema?

 

[KingCody]

if i'm not mistaken the MSI 7600GT (and all other brands as well) have two DVI-I (digital and analog) connectors, not DVI-D (digital only). tthe card comes with VGA adapters which means that the card outputs have to be DVI-I.

you should have no problem, the DVI-D cable should plug right into the DVI-I connector without the need for any adapters.

 

[legendz411]

Alright. Glad to here it. I didn't want any ugly adapters on the back of my PC.

Sounds good. Thanks man. Great introduction to this forum community. This won't be the last you see of me

 

[KingCody]

glad I could help.

good luck with your new system

 

[legendz411]

So, does anyone here think that shelling out some extra $$$ and getting a 7900 GT would be worth it for gaming? Should I just tough it out with the 7600 GT or should I go for broke and get the 7900 GT? It won't slow me down but barly as I had a $300 limit to spend on GFX card. I understand the X1800 may outpreform this card but I've seen test and read too many reviews where the ATI cards have memory problems in many popular games. Plus nVidia is my home-boi

 

[mailpup]

To me, going for broke for a "single" card solution would be a Geforce 7950. A bit pricey though. For gaming I favor getting the best graphics card you can afford. Your gaming experience will be so much better. If that means the 7900 GT, then so be it. But that's just my opinion.

 

[KingCody]

you can read just as many reviews on problems with the 7900's as well. also I think the new Catalyst 6.6 release fixes those memory bugs

however, you may want to hold out a couple more months and wait for directX 10 cards to come out. because even the best most expensive card out there today will not be able to run the new DX10 game titles coming out next year. only a few games will be DX10 exclusive (like HaloPC2), but do you really want to spend hundreds of $$$ on a super-fast video card today but not be able to play that certain game in a few more months?

I say keep your 7600 for a few more months, that's my 2 cents

 

[legendz411]

the 7950 is just slightly WAY more then I would like to pay for one card. I noticed that the 7800 GT is priced similarly, if not higher, then the 7900. That begs one to ask... "What the ****?" Anyways, just a personal observation.

But for under $300 I think the 7900 GT is a good card. I've heard that some of them are a pain though and die when OC'd because they don't cover the HS and Fan to the memory. I was thinking bout this eVGA one. eVGA = win?

EDIT

Just saw King's post. I have to admit, as humbling as it is, I seem to not have very much fore-thought when doing this... I KNEW DX10 is coming out. I KNOW that once it comes out, more and newer games will start using DX10. I guess I jsut pushed that voice into the back of my head ><

Anyways, good sense there mate. Good thing I opted to go for second(-ish) opinons. Heh.


Anyways, I can save about $150 if I go single core clocked a bit faster (I'll OC of course, Air-Cooled case just makes it that much more... interesting.) But, an AMD Athlon 64 3800+ is what Im looking at. 2.4gig with 2000mhz HT and 128KB (64 + 64) L1 and 512KB L2. Would the trade off of Dual Core be worth the ~$150 savings.

I know that, as time progresses, DC (Dual Core) will be better utilized, but for gaming now and utility in the next 4-5 years, a single core will work I'm sure? And for the price-to-preformance ratio, I'm sure it is a steal. What do youall ahve to say on this. And it is not like that is a particularly WEAK processor. Mid-Range, I suppose.