New computer, first time building

[Particle]

Will that write cheddar cheese wheels as well as swiss?

[Particle]

Wow.  I know this is OFN to the Inquirer regs:
http://blogs.zdnet.com/ip-telephony/?p=947

However, I think that's all I needed to see to make me choose AMD for my new platform.  It's settled.

[DeinGesicht]

That kind of thing doesn't really interest me, and I wouldn't choose a proc. based on it, but I'm glad you've made your selection.

Say, just so I can cut past all the clutter, is there any particular X2 you recommend? The AMDs seem to be the ones with the LONG product names. I'll go check out the X2s on Newegg now.

[Particle]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi ... x2&Ntk=all

That's the list to choose from.  Just pick the most expensive one you care to pay for.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813130049

That motherboard would work great for any of those X2s.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820145590

A couple gigs of RAM...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814130033

A fast video card...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817151024

A beefy and energy efficient power supply...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6829118109

A sound card that won't be a pile of crap...

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDe ... =101220-13

Some RAID Edition WDCs for your mirror.  Newegg was cheaper but seems to have a bad batch of drives.  Hopefully ZZF doesn't.

Black: http://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/Sho ... 6827152058
Beige: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6827152059
Silver: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6827152060

Just pick one.  They are all NEC ND-3550A DVD+/-RW drives but in three colors.  Pick whichever matches your case.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6826104191

A good mouse for gaming, IME.

So that comes to...about $1380 or $55 less than that if you do the rebates.
- AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ (AM2)
- ASUS K9N Platinum
- 2GB (2x1GB) Corsair PC2 800 DDR2 RAM
- eVGA GeForce 7900GT KO PCI-E x16
- SeaSonic 500W PSU
- Turtle Beach Montego PCI Sound Card
- 2x250GB Western Digital Caviar RE SATA HDDs
- NEC ND-3550A DVD+/-RW
- Logitech G5 USB Mouse

That leaves the following components:
- Keyboard*
- LCD**
- Case***

*Keyboard:  Just find a keyboard you like and make sure it is USB.  Microsoft and Logitech are known for quality keyboards, so go with them if possible.

**LCD:  Finding a 4:3 19" LCD is going to be hard.  Finding one that isn't a TN based panel will be harder.  Finding a 20.1" LCD non-TN that fits your price budget is going to be harder yet.  Perhaps you can live with the 1280x1024 resolution.  It isn't really as annoying as I make it out, but it's not something I would personally enjoy.

***Case:  I'm not a hip young fashizzle that's dope wit da groove...or something.  What I'm trying to get at here is that you'll need to find a case you like as well.  If you want some general guidelines, try not to get a case that costs < $40-50.  They're usually paper thin.  Also, make sure it is an ATX case and has at least two 3.5" bays for hard drives.  If you want a floppy drive, make sure it can accomodate you there as well (they run about $5-10 if you'd like one).  It should have at least one 5.25" bay for your optical drive.  Get beige, silver, or black if possible.  They're about the only colors you can find optical drives in.  No hot pink and no Crapintosh red.    Aluminum cases are more portable, typically of higher quality, but cost more.

If you're looking for some high quality headphones or a headset, look at Sennheiser.  http://www.sennheiserusa.com/newsite/ca ... ansid=cat0  As for speakers, even a minimal Logitech set would be adequate.  I'd prefer headphone use though *hint*

[DeinGesicht]

[The original post here was redundant.]

[DeinGesicht]

Did you read any of the reviews for the mobo, PSU, and sound card? I know they're four eggs out of five, but some of those issues seem a bit significant.

<edit> (I'll do it your way. It stands out more.)
What non-free stuff am I going to need besides the hardware? XP Pro, MS Office, a mouse pad...?

[Particle]

You can get a student discount on your copy of XP if you buy it up there.  A mousepad is optional with lasic mice.  I prefer padded over not, personally.  Tracking-wise, modern optical mice usually do fine on most surfaces.  Microsoft Office isn't a requirement as there are free alternatives compatible with the MS Office file formats.  The most obvious example of this is probably OpenOffice:  http://www.openoffice.org.  Alternatively, you could use AbiWord (pretty much an identical clone of MS Word):  http://www.abisource.com.  Or, if you just want your own copy of the latest office, you'll need to be prepared to spend about $100 for the lowest-end copy (Word, Excel, & Outlook) of student discounted MS Office 2003 Basic.

The PSU is a good unit.  The sound card is of good quality, too.  MSI makes pretty solid motherboards.  About the only real issues are a lack of overclocking options (doesn't effect you) and that the chipset gets hot.  Any decent amount of airflow should negate that second problem.  Please remember that most people only come back and write reviews for products if something goes wrong.  Half of the time, it's the user's fault, too (like people complaining that a chip wouldn't overclock enough, why their computer doesn't work after dropping it in the bathtub, and other stupid malarkey).

I don't forsee you having any problems.  Be aware that there is always a chance of something being DOA when ording this much hardware.  It's pretty rare, but it is a part of life.

[Darwin]

I love openoffice.org.

For the sound card, though, I'd go with the Creative X-Fi.  That is, if you are a windows user.  I myself would pick up an X-Fi, but its not fully supported in Linux yet.  

The X-Fi can upmix music for you.  So if you are listening to 128kbit/s encoded mp3's, it can upmix it to 192 or higher.  Thats important if you have a really nice set of speakers.

[DeinGesicht]

Update. Everything you've mentioned looks good, Particle, except what I mentioned in my last post, which don't seem as good as they could be. Here's what I have so far, with the items I don't have selected in bold. As for the DVD+/-RW, I just picked the costliest one of the three to produce a "cost cap" for a total.

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ (Socket AM2)                   319.00
2 GB (2x1GB) Corsair PC2 800 DDR2 RAM                   219.00
eVGA GeForce 7900 GT KO PCI-E x16                   279.99
500W PSU
Sound Card
2x250GB Western Digital Caviar RE SATA HDDs   166.00
NEC ND-3550A DVD+/-RW                                     29.99
Logitech G5 USB mouse                                     45.99
Keyboard
Monitor
Case
Motherboard
Windows XP Pro                                                     70.20
TOTAL                                                                  1130.17

So, a PSU, motherboard, sound card, keyboard, monitor, and case remain. Tell me what you think about the problems people mention they've had with your recommended PSU, sound card, and mobo. Regarding the monitor, keep in mind I've been using a 17" CRT at home and a 12" LCD on my "Crapple". If I take a 19" over a 20.1" (which, but for cost, is not preferable), will I be missing anything I've already been exposed to? Doubtful. Sounds like I just won't have a 4:3 aspect ratio. How big of a deal is it to not have that ratio and the associated resolution?

<edit>
It's not showing the prices in a column upon posting, so I'll italicize them and underline the total.

<edit>
What about a UPS and a printer/scanner/copier/fax? Yeesh, I might have to replace some of the better components above.

[Darwin]

With even quality products, you will have a few bad eggs.  Those that recieve malfunctioning products are more likely to report their bad experience.  Don't let a bad review get you down if the power supply is overall high in quality.  Cheaper power supplies fail much more often than the likes of Antec, Seasonic, and PC Power and Cooling.

I still think you should consider purchasing a lower-end version of your processor of choice and then overclock it.  You can use that money towards things like beer and women.

*edit*
Here, gamespot had an article on overclocking on their front page:
http://www.gamespot.com/features/615529 ... t;action;1

[slorge_gridlock]

Will that write cheddar cheese wheels as well as swiss?

Yep.  Pretty much any format available, with the exception of Limburger, which, as you know, has yet to go through standards approval.

I am going to use Muenster Cables when connecting it to my external audio/video components, too.

[DeinGesicht]

With even quality products, you will have a few bad eggs.  Those that recieve malfunctioning products are more likely to report their bad experience.  Don't let a bad review get you down if the power supply is overall high in quality.  Cheaper power supplies fail much more often than the likes of Antec, Seasonic, and PC Power and Cooling.

I still think you should consider purchasing a lower-end version of your processor of choice and then overclock it.  You can use that money towards things like beer and women.

*edit*
Here, gamespot had an article on overclocking on their front page:
http://www.gamespot.com/features/615529 ... t;action;1

Are you a GameSpot member?

Anyway, I'm not wanting to overclock for a few reasons. First, it voids the warranty (I think). Second, it produces more heat. Third, it shortens the proc's life.

I imagine you'll probably brush off the first and third items, since people probably don't usually have problems with their processors and I will probably buy a new one before the life of this one is over. Am I right?

<edit>
I don't drink beer and I'm still too young to look for "women". Try "girls". That works. Around my age, of course.

[DeinGesicht]

Particle, it looks like I'll have a lot more money to work with than I thought. How about this: I'd prefer to stay below $2500.

<edit>
In any case, I really shouldn't go berserk.

[Particle]

The power supply is rock solid.  Of this I'm certain.  If you want alternatives anyway:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817103014
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817104018
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817703001


The sound card is also quite good.  There aren't a lot of choices besides Creative for sound cards.  Creative sound cards (sorry Darwin) have lots of issues.  I had issues with that Audigy SE I bought if you remember right.  It was at that point I was made aware of the severity of issues on Creative cards in general.  They're all plagued by static and other malfunctions with some lines being better than others.  On the whole, it's best to just stay away from Creative for sound cards.  Turtle Beach has a good reputation.  Their sound quality is supposed to be superb and features are extensive.  In general, they don't have issues like Creative sound cards tend to.  Don't let a few bad Newegg psuedo-reviews fool you into thinking it's a bad product.  I only wish I had the money for a Montego instead of this POS Creative I've got (which is a notch better than my onboard).  It's only by chance that I was able to get this crapper to actually work (read:  dicking around with settings for weeks).

As for a motherboard, there are more options to consider.  If you're scared of the heat, I'm not going to blame you for it.  What about a Gigabyte GA-M57SLI-S4?  It's $10 more, but has a much larger heatsink on the chipset to help cooling.  Most nForce 500 series boards are passively cooled...not a lot to do about it other than look for one with a large chipset heatsink I guess.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813128014

It's only got one user psuedo-review if that's important to you, but from what I've found so far there aren't any real problems people have had with the board.  The board's layout also looks nice.  No major connectors in the middle of the board unlike some.  I seriously doubt the 1280x1024 is going to annoy you.  It bugs me, but that's probably just because I know enough to want 1280x960 and keep a real 4:3 aspect.    If you think you can live with it, ViewSonic makes a rather nice 19" LCD for $305.  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6824116365  It's just a 19" version of mine.  It's the same type of LCD (8ms, 1000:1 contrast [most are 500:1], 300Cd brightness [most are 250], P-MVA) as mine, just smaller.  If you liked mine, you'd like this one.

As before, I can't offer much meaningful advice for your case and keyboard.  Any keyboard is fine so long as it's USB and you like the layout.  If you want me to pick you a case, I suppose I can.

[Particle]

That LCD seems to be taller...perhaps it's got extra vertical screen area to allow the 1024 vertical lines to display without stretching the image.

Might be just fine.