Putting a PC toegther? What you think of these parts?

Well, my birthday is coming up, and I've decided to get a new system. I've never built one before, and have had to put up with a HP XE743 since 1999. Upgrade time maybe? Since I'm new at building one, I've went with a barebones kit and decided to buy the rest of the parts I need to make it go. What do you think of the parts that I have chosen and if there is anything I should know about the compatibility or if a company isn't that great, please let me know ahead of time! Parts:

Chaintech 7NJL6 Socket A Barebone Kit / AMD Sempron 2800+ CPU / 256MB DDR / CPU Fan / ATX Mid-Tower Case with 400 Watt PS / Keyboard / Mouse:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1283114&sku=C460-1022%20H

XFX GeForce MX 4000 / 128MB DDR / AGP 8X / VGA / TV Out / Video Card:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=86246&sku=P450-7253

Maxtor 60GB / 7200 / 2MB / ATA-133 / EIDE / OEM / Hard Drive:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=440430&sku=THD-60M2%20P

Viking 512MB PC2100 DDR 266MHz Memory:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=513671&sku=V96-1904

Things I already have: CD/DVD-Burner Drive, Floppy Drive, enough Fans, Sound Blaster Live! sound card, Win 2k Installation Disk, and bunches of cables. I don't think I'll need anything else.

Total Cost will be: $415.80
After Rebates: $275.80

One note: If you go to the webpage for the motherboard that comes with the barebones kit, it says it can take AMD Duron, and AMD Athlon XP, but the processor that comes with it is an AMD Sempron. Well, lemme know what you think.

 

it definetly depends on what you want to do with it.

the Sempron processor is the 'new' Duron processor, which is to say that it is the new budget series. it will fit in most Athlon XP boards, as it has very similar characteristics.

if you're in the US, you might consider looking around for other places than TigerDirect. while their prices are usually good, their shipping is high, and their customer service is hit & miss.

check stores like Newegg, ZipZoomFly, ChiefValue, GameVE, or try looking for a highly rated store at PriceGrabber.

the video card is low end and wont be great for games, but will definetly suit the needs of standard use without a problem.

Chaintech isnt at the top of the motherboard list, but they make decent products and if its priced right, its worth it.

As far as RAM goes, you will want PC2700 RAM (DDR333) as the Front-Side Bus of that processor is 333mhz. this will allow the RAM to run synchronous (in a 1:1 ratio) with the processor, giving ideal performance.

good luck on your first build! and be happy that you made this choice, you'll find it rewarding, and maybe even fun

EDIT: Also, you might want to look for a better hard drive. the one you've chosen will work fine, but ideally you want one with an 8MB cache. Hard drives are getting pretty cheap now, so it shouldnt be difficult to fine a nice one--and the general rule of thumb is that 50cents per Gigabyte is the highest you should pay without being ripped off. A great deal is usually around 30 cents per gigabyte.

 

well, the reason I wanted the 2100 ram is because the bearbone kit comes with a 2100 already, unsure if 2100 and 2700 should run together, and I'm sorta on a low budget so I don't just want to scrap the ram that comes with the kit. For the video card, I want to be able to play games such as call of duty, rise of nations, diablo II, World of Warcraft, Morrowind, and maybe start up Everquest again. I checked Newegg and ZipZoomFly and couldn't find a good bearbones deal like the one on tiger direct. I will definately check out those webites you recommened though, and see if i can find anything better other than the bearbones kit itself, maybe cheaper ram, hd, or a videocard.

One other question. For the same price I can get a 60gb hd that runs at 7200 rpm, or a 120gb hd, that runs at 5400 rpm. Which do you think I should get if I'm going to be gaming a bit and downloading stuff? I know the 120 would be sufficient, but I'm worried I might fill up the 60.

 

sometimes cheaper is not better, I have ordered from newegg and zipzoomfly both excellent sites you could probably piece together a cpu and motherboard at newegg for around the same price or a little more. I would certainly try to get pc2700 ram instead of the pc 2100 and the hardrive go with the 7200rpm alot faster loading time as far as filling it up later on you could easily install a second drive for storage and the way prices are for 7200rpm drives it would not be that much. For gaming you would want a better video card than that.

 

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-127-185&depa=1



http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-103-377&depa=1


http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-146-217&depa=1

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=22-144-122&depa=1

 

I have done a lot of business with tigerdirect and have had fairly good luck with them, but on the rebates you really have to be carefull and save all the documentation and upc barcodes and invoices and read all the fine print because if you do it wrong you will not get your refund, and if you do get it it takes months to get your money back. I would reccomend to stay away from the mail in rebates from past experience.http://forums.majorgeeks.com/images/smilies/wink.gif http://forums.majorgeeks.com/images/smilies/eek.gif

 

I agree with general concensus... Chaintech is an "eh" motherboard.. meaning it'll do... but you can do better for about the same price... my two favorite motherboards are Asus and Soyo... both have proven solid boards for me. I also have had VERY good track records with newegg.com they are excellent with shipping times and shipping costs. You pay the cheapest shipping and could realistically sometimes have something you ordered on your door step in three days from order.

I like some of the parts jamcgriff grabbed off new egg... mushkin memory is good stuff.. I personally don't buy anything other than Kingston and I JUST bought a kingston 512 stick PC3200/333mHz for 40 bucks so I think you can get better deals on memory than that specific mushkin stick. Same with the hard drive, western digital a very good brand, I again prefer Maxtor but I have a drive from both and both run very nicely. I think you might be able to shop around a better deal though.

You mentioned a concern in the 2100 RAM working with the 2700 RAM and that's a very valid concern as two mismatched memory modules could conflict but most commonly they simply run together at the same speed of your slowest stick... so find a company and speed and just stick with it.

If money is a big issue for you that bare bones kit is a good deal (as long as if that's a mail in rebate you actually get it! not a fan of mail in rebates here) However you could VERY feasably piece together a better more duarable system from say newegg for around 500 EASY. So just make sure you really shop around.

Finally, something to keep in mind try to keep the motherboard a sturdy name brand... off brands are OK on things like CD-ROM drives and stuff cuz they get the job done but something like a motherboard and processor and sometimes memory and things like that STICK TO THE WELL KNOWN BRANDS you'll regret it in the end if you don't. Hope that helps lemme know if you have any more questions!

As was said earlier have fun with it.. it's alot of fun to build a computer yourself MANY more expanding possibilities!!

 

I've had bad luck mixing RAM, but would have to agree with Mblock on everything else, especially the ASUS and well known names aspects and definitely Kingston on the RAM

 

Yeah, money is really tight here and I am lucky to even be able to afford what I am getting. I'm going to be getting the barebones kit and a 512 stick of ram pc2100 somewhere for the cheapest price possible. I've asked a couple people, and they have had off-brand hardware for a couple years with no problems. For the harddrive, my sisters boyfriend is trying to find me a good deal, but I think I should go with a 160gb seagate 7200 rpm from circuitcity.com. The only thing I am questioning myself over and over as which to buy, is the video card. I'm trying to find one that's around $60 or less that can still play some of the games I listed on my other post. So far the ones that have been recommended to me or have caught my eye:

GeForce Ti4200 128MB - Someone is selling one on the Buy, Sell, Trade forum, haven't responded to me yet.

GeForce MX 4000 128MB

GeForce Fx5200 128MB

Radeon 9250 128MB

Radeon 9200se 128MB

I've been talking with InYearsToCome a lot recently, and he is stressing that the Ti4200 is the best to go with, although it doesn't work great with DX9 but works great with OpenGL. But in case that guy from the other topic never responds back to me, what is an equally or close alternate choice for my budget? $60 or less.