Help choosing new computer custom build

[squattingbear13]

Hey everyone, I am new to these forums and I would like some help choosing all the right computer components to the new rig i am buying soon. I plan on spending about $1500. These are the parts that i have pre-selected, and i would like ur opinion on how good/bad my choice is. Also if u have a suggestion to what might be better for around the same price please tell me. The total amount I got is about $1300.

Maxtor DiamondMax 250GB Serial ATA 7200RPM Hard Drive w/16MB Buffer $104.00

Ultra ULT31314 X-Finity 600W ATX Power Supply $89.99

eVGA 256-P2-N538-AX e-Geforce 7800 GTX PCI Express 256MB Video Card & eVGA 133-K8-NF41 nForce 4 Athlon 64(FX) Skt939 Motherboard Bundle
$549.00

3Artec WSM-52X-ER 52x24x52 E-IDE/ATAPI CD-RW $26.99

Thermaltake Shark Series VA7000SWA Full Tower Aluminum Case $147.99

Zalman CNPS7000B-ALCU LED CPU Cooler Retail $35.99

AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Processor (Venice) Socket 939 Open Box $207.99

Patriot PDC1G3200+XBLK 1GB Kit DDR400 PC3200 Dual Channel Memory, 2 Sticks Of 512 $159.00

 

[Blakhart]

Hi
I think the drive and peripherals are well selected, but 2g of ram and a dual core cpu may be in order. Newer games seem to respond well to 2g ram, and dual cores offer a lot of processing power without the price of a dual cpu motherboard.
If you shop around you might be able to get all this under budget.

 

[chaz d.]

nice picks...one thing though..

Hey, nice choices on most of the hardware....
I have to hate on the cpu fan you chose though...The one you have chosen is a mixture of aluminum and copper... As you may or may not know, Copper material is more efficient, keeping your cpu at a cooler temp, for longer periods of time....
If temp is not going to be a problem for you, stick with the one you've got, BUT again, ALL copper is generally a better choice...also, one with the new heatpipe technology would be best...

Hope this helps..
Chaz D.

P.S. What type of thermal grease did you get? If you havnt bought one yet, I would reccommend Arctic Silver 5, that one is pretty much the best!

 

[whiternoise]

Sounds good

looks good, but you could probably get a 1gb stick for cheaper. Also, have you considered getting a DVD/RW drive and what are you going to use the system for?

Hope this helps

(in regards to cooling, you should try Akasa

 

[ArmyofKirb]

Where did you get the Mobo/video card bundle priced at? It sounds like a pretty good price...

Here's the specs on the system I want to build:

I used a Bare bones configurator at SMKSuperstore.com (referred by pricewatch.com)

-Motherboard: Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe
-RAM: Atlas Precision 2GB PC3200 DDR Dual Channel
-HD: MaXLine Plus II 250GB SATA 150
-Optical: 16x DVD +/- RW Drive
-Audio: Integrated
-Case: Thermaltake VA3000BNA 580W PS

As far as video, I running into a tough decision. I want at least 256mb on a card but here are my options on their configurator:
ATI Radeon 9250 128MB Video Card - AGP 8X [add $58.25]
ATI Radeon 9550 256MB Video Card - AGP 8X [add $99.25]
GeForce 6600GT 128MB Video Card - AGP 8X [add $235.49]
ATI Radeon X800 Pro 256MB Video Card - AGP 8X [add $325.17]
ATI Radeon X300SE 128MB Video Card - PCI Express [add $74.95]
ATI Radeon X700Pro 256MB Video Card - PCI Express [add $229.65]
ATI Radeon X800 256MB Video Card - PCI Express [add $245.47]
GeForce 6600GT 128MB SLI Ready Video Card - PCI Express [add $210.67]
GeForce 6800GT 256MB SLI Ready Video Card - PCI Express [add $415.17]

Suggestions?

 

[ArmyofKirb]

Where did you get the Mobo/video card bundle priced at? It sounds like a pretty good price...

Here's the specs on the system I want to build:

I used a Bare bones configurator at SMKSuperstore.com (referred by pricewatch.com)

-Motherboard: Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe
-RAM: Atlas Precision 2GB PC3200 DDR Dual Channel
-HD: MaXLine Plus II 250GB SATA 150
-Optical: 16x DVD +/- RW Drive
-Audio: Integrated
-Case: Thermaltake VA3000BNA 580W PS

As far as video, I running into a tough decision. I want at least 256mb on a card but here are my options on their configurator:
ATI Radeon 9250 128MB Video Card - AGP 8X [add $58.25]
ATI Radeon 9550 256MB Video Card - AGP 8X [add $99.25]
GeForce 6600GT 128MB Video Card - AGP 8X [add $235.49]
ATI Radeon X800 Pro 256MB Video Card - AGP 8X [add $325.17]
ATI Radeon X300SE 128MB Video Card - PCI Express [add $74.95]
ATI Radeon X700Pro 256MB Video Card - PCI Express [add $229.65]
ATI Radeon X800 256MB Video Card - PCI Express [add $245.47]
GeForce 6600GT 128MB SLI Ready Video Card - PCI Express [add $210.67]
GeForce 6800GT 256MB SLI Ready Video Card - PCI Express [add $415.17]

Suggestions?

I forgot...its an AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200 Dual Core 90nm 939-pin CPU

 

[Merc14]

The Zalman 7000 is an aluminum/copper mix but it does a great job and will keep that CPU fairly cool. I have to agree that you should consider 2GB of RAM in 2 x 1024MB sticks configuration. That CPU won't run 4 dual sided DIMMs at 1T timing so adding more RAM later is not really an option. It is better to get the full 2GB right up front.

 

[pkroks]

Where did you get the Mobo/video card bundle priced at? It sounds like a pretty good price...

Here's the specs on the system I want to build:

I used a Bare bones configurator at SMKSuperstore.com (referred by pricewatch.com)

-Motherboard: Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe
-RAM: Atlas Precision 2GB PC3200 DDR Dual Channel
-HD: MaXLine Plus II 250GB SATA 150
-Optical: 16x DVD +/- RW Drive
-Audio: Integrated
-Case: Thermaltake VA3000BNA 580W PS

As far as video, I running into a tough decision. I want at least 256mb on a card but here are my options on their configurator:
ATI Radeon 9250 128MB Video Card - AGP 8X [add $58.25]
ATI Radeon 9550 256MB Video Card - AGP 8X [add $99.25]
GeForce 6600GT 128MB Video Card - AGP 8X [add $235.49]
ATI Radeon X800 Pro 256MB Video Card - AGP 8X [add $325.17]
ATI Radeon X300SE 128MB Video Card - PCI Express [add $74.95]
ATI Radeon X700Pro 256MB Video Card - PCI Express [add $229.65]
ATI Radeon X800 256MB Video Card - PCI Express [add $245.47]
GeForce 6600GT 128MB SLI Ready Video Card - PCI Express [add $210.67]
GeForce 6800GT 256MB SLI Ready Video Card - PCI Express [add $415.17]

Suggestions?

firstly i would say start your own thread. but seen as you have already posted here, go with either the
ATI Radeon X800 256MB Video Card - PCI Express [add $245.47]
OR
GeForce 6800GT 256MB SLI Ready Video Card - PCI Express [add $415.17]

By the way if those are the options they give you on the site, i would consider a new site, because they have given the option of an Asus A8N SLI deluxe, which has only PCI-Express 16x graphics slots, and the site has offered AGP 8x for the graphics cards. and AGP 8x is NOT compatible with PCI-E 16x. think about that.... :grinthumb