Buidling my first PC - need some help.

Ok, i just really started getting into the PC Gaming scene, i have a terrible pc at the moment (P3 866, 256MB RAM, Radeon 9000). I decided that im going to build a PC, i have a tight budget (1000 canadian) unfortunatley. Anyways heres what i got so far.

Athlon 64 3200+ - $241.00
MSI K8N Neo 2 Platinum - $177.00
KingMax 512MB PC-4000 DDR500 SDRAM - $130.00
Western Digital 80GB - $75.00
LG 52x32x52 CD-RW w/ SuperLink Black - $31.00
Antec SX1040BII (SOHO File Server) w/ 400W PSU - $125.00
Thermaltake 80mm Fans x4 - $36.00
Thermaltake Volcano 11+ Xaser Edition - $36.00

I plan on using the Radeon 9000 Pro i have, until I can save up for a 9800XT, or higher. So my questions are, how well will this run current games ? Are all the parts compatible ? And, is that sufficient PSU, and cooling ? Any suggestions welcomed !

 

You have some great parts but compatibility is trial and error. Check the specs of your motherboard about the speed of the ram and what it can handle processor wise. If your vid car has 128mb ram you'll be set for gaming and it should run the newest games without a problem. When u upgrade the video card the games should run much faster and maybe even clearer. I'll check your parts for compatibility. Have you built it yet? If not, when you put on your heatsink you need to use a small flat-tip because if it doesn't fit in the notch perfectly it'll slide out and hit your mobo and it doesn't sound pretty.Another thing sometimes you have to clear your cmos jumper our your computer will not turn on that happened to me when i first built mine.
Boosted!!

 

I havent built it yet, i still need a bit more money Thanks for the help !

 

After checking the motherboard it said it is good for DDR 400, it looks like your ram is too fast. If you want extra performance get another 512mb stick and you'll see a massive difference in loading your games for online. I would recommend reselling it and getting 2 sticks of 512 DDR400 because for the price you paid for the 500 you could almost buy 2 stick of these and it's compatible.HDD is good CD-R should be fine, good case,fans may be a bit loud but who cares?, i'm not familiar with this cpu fan, but it looks like it only supports AMD Athlon XP and Sempron.... Do you have aol IM?

 

Thanks, thankfully i havent bought any of the stuff yet, would anybody have a suggestion for some good RAM ?

 

No Biggy, Good ram what i have is Kingmax DDR 400. Kingmax 184 Pin 512MB DDR PC-3200 - OEM just means that it's just the stick but why pay more for a book if you just pop it in? Anyways these are $66.50 american dollars and i don't know about the currency exchange rate for canadian but i dunno i would recommend these. Do you have AOL IM or MSN?

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=20-156-006&depa=1

 

Cool, that RAM is $105 at the place im buying from, which saves me about 50 bucks to put towards something else ! Also, regarding the CPU Fan + Heatsink, would it be alright to use stock cooling ? I dont plan on OCing when i get it.

 

If you want I could show you a nice system with the same case and a few extras at a better price and maybe even a bit faster. Socket A AMD Athlon XP 2.17ghz (Plenty fast) Do you have aol im or msn?

 

My AIM is awp leet

 

if youv've already bought the 64bit processor then keep it, it'll probably be better than the Athlon XP as suggested.
the 400W psu will be plenty, but if you want an x800 of geforce 6800 then going up to 450 or even 500W would help it, but that's not a necessity.

 

If you are serious about using an MSI board check out http://forum.msi.com.tw/. The mainpage shows a list of forums. My
K8T NeoFIS2R is a Via chipset board for the AMD64 so it is the third forum down. The board you mentioned is a nVidea chipset, which is the next one down. They should have lots of good info about compatibility, but be aware some of those guys are really into power systems and seem to think an AMD64 system needs a VERY powerful power supply. Some of them imply my feeble little 380 watts shouldn't even work. To paraphrase Samuel Clemons The reports of my systems inadequacies have been greatly exaggerated. Antec builds high quality PSUs and it is included with the Antec Sonata which is a sweet case; well laid out and very quiet with its 120mm fan, I added the optional second 120mm fan and it is still very quiet. Fry's has occasionally advertised the Sonata for $59 U.S. which is a great deal. If you plan on upgrading the PSU it would be easier to do before you install the motherboard.

 

Thanks, ill check that out.

 

The stock CPU HSF may be adequate but they are a pain to install.
When I had to reinstall, after RMAing my motherboard due to a bad BIOS flash, I upgraded to the Zalman 7000B AlCu which is more than adequate and very easy to install. The all Cu version might cool a few more degrees, but is also significantly over the recommended weight limit like a lot of other HSFs, the AlCu version cools quite nicely and is under the limit.
The 7000 and 7000A are easier to find than the 7000B series, I got mine from http://siliconacoustics.com.

 

Hmm, ok, Ill look into a better CPU HSF.