Need a hand- building a PC

[Captain Dibnah]

Right, I have a budget of £200 (about $330), and I've decided on some components- basically I just wanted to check that there's nothing much better I could get for my money.
(I already have a case, monitor, PSU, OS, and optical drives sorted).

I'd use my computer mainly for composing music and mixing live stuff, not so much gaming- probably the most complex thing I'd want to run is Project64. I already have a Soundblaster Audigy sound card.

CPU- AMD Athlon X2 7850 AM2 2.8GHz 3MB Black Edition
Mobo- Asus AM2/AM2+ GeForce 8200 DDR2 ATX Audio Lan (onboard graphics are fine, so long as it can run Project64, which should be no problem)
RAM- Corsair Memory 4GBKIT (2X2GB) 800MHZ NON ECC CL5
HDD- Hitachi 3.5" 320GB 16MB SATA HDD

That all adds up to £180... so I have room to make changes here and there. My current system is a 256mb pentium 4 so anything would be an improvement...
Also, if there's some major mess up in the components I've chosen, please let me know- I'm new to this.

 

[raybay]

Good choices, but for a very few dollars more, you could get a Samsung, Seagate, or Western Digital hard drive.
The Hitachi has had such a long history of problems, that they have to prove they are ready for prime time. Last time I looked, they were still at the bottom for reliability, with only Tri-Gem having more disasters.

 

[Captain Dibnah]

OK, thanks for the advice! I've gone for a Western Digital 500GB model.

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

For you, I recommend something like this:

• Asus M2N68-AM SE2 Socket AM2+ nVIDIA 7025 Chipset Motherboard - Retail - £32.99
• AMD Phenom X3 Triple Core 8650 2.3GHz Socket AM2+ 2MB L3 Cache Processor - Retail - £63.24
• Crucial 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 667MHz/PC2-5400 Memory Kit - Retail - £35.25
• Western Digital Caviar Blue 640GB HDD - OEM - £47.14

Should be within your budget. All prices are inclusive of VAT, and delivery is free on all items except the motherboard.

 

[Captain Dibnah]

Would a 2.3 GHz triple core Phenom be much better than a 2.8 GHz dual core Athlon?
Sorry if this is blindingly obvious...

Anyway, thanks for the tips, Rage!

 

[LinkedKube]

In most cases yes, but the triple will last you longer.

 

[raybay]

Well, it is newer technology but if you are not into gaming, the Athlon is a more reliable unit.

 

[Captain Dibnah]

OK, thanks for the advice.