i am building my first computer and i just wanted to know what eveyone thought and if anyone has any suggestions on how to make it better. it will be used for a little gaming and standard use. CPU AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600+ Brisbane 1.9GHz http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16819103046 Case Sunbeam Transformer IC-TR-BA Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16811166004 Mother Board BIOSTAR TFORCE 550 http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16813138026 Video Card EVGA GeForce 7600GT 256MB http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16814130062 Ram G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16820231098 PSU Thermaltake TR2 430W http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16817153023 these are just the main parts. i am also getting a hard drive floppy drive a couple of fans and some arctic silver. the total cost is about $530. so does anyone have any suggestions?
It is a very solid build but the Intel Core 2 is a lot better than the 3600+. But for light gaming and standard use, it really won't make a difference. The only thing I'm concerned about is your mobo. Is biostar a good motherboard company? I never got one from them before.
the x2 3600 can be easily overclocked. or you should wait until July 22 when Intel announces an major price cut to their CPUs and they will also introduce an quad core processor for around $266. If you're desparate remember to get an aftermarket heatsink for that process if you're planning to overclock it. Also I think you should consider the new Antec Sonata III http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=CA-SONATA3 it comes with a decent EarthWatt 500w PSU and the case is well built. I just bought one recently and very satisfied with it. link to the PSU http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371007
thanks for the replies. i dont think i will wait until july to because this computer is for my birthday on the 26th and i dont want to wait a month for my only bday present. but if intel is cutting prices i will look at them for the next computer i put together. and i i kind of on a budget since i dont have a job so 100 for a psu is just out of my price range. but that case looked pretty sweet. and i am going to oc my cpu but i will wait till i can get a good heatsink before i try to take it to its limits. also what heatsink do you think i should get?
the antec sonata III comes with the $100 EarthWatt PSU. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185125 this for mild OC http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118223 this for extreme
id stick with a core 2 duo or at least a motherboar4d that can handle it later on when the prices drop. i just built my system with a core 2 duo e6420 and its so fast. just a suggestion because if they really cut the price on intel processors then i think they will really take the market of amd. i built mine for around 800 without the monitor so its not really to much of a price difference you could get an intel based system with the capability to upgrade to a core 2 duo for pretty reasonable. my new system is in my signature and it does everything i need without a hint of slowing down. you dont need the high priced ram either the kingston will work just as good and 667 is plenty fast enough.
The TForce you're looking at is supposed to be one of the better am2 motherboards for overclocking. In fact if you search 'best brisbane combo' in google you'll see a lot of pages about the TForce + Brisbane 3600 combo newegg had earlier this year. If you're on a budget I would not recommend a C2D setup, as the cheapest C2D processor costs about the same as the brisbane + Tforce combo. P.S. If you are planning to use linux you'll need to run 'noapic' with the tforce...
my friend is a system builder and he recomended this combo to me. he is going to help me overclock it when i get it next week. also what is noapic? i am going to use either fedora 7 or debian etch as my main system so what do u need to do to get that working? thanks
I don't really know the specifics but while reading the comments in newegg a lot of linux builders recommended booting with noapic. I can post a link showing you how to boot with noapic but it's in ubuntu though...(it should be similar) http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-148761.html I am looking at this combo too, now I just need to save up the cash.
ok i built my computer yesterday and it rocks. i have some pics http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x109/krj15489/P6260001.jpg http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x109/krj15489/P6260002.jpg http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x109/krj15489/P6260005.jpg http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x109/krj15489/P6260008.jpg http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x109/krj15489/P6260011.jpg http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x109/krj15489/P6260016.jpg i have only had minor problems so far. my floppy doesnt work, debian doesnt like my wireless card. but overall i am very happy with this computer. and thanks to everyone who gave me advice.
yeah linux in general doesn't like wireless cars, you should return it and look online for some linux friendly cards (there are some that work right out of the box) Nice case and setup, but I've been meaning to ask, does the tforce come with onboard video or did you get a card?
it does not have on board video so you will need a video card. but most people that get the board use it for gaming and need a card anyway. and i decided to put my old video card back in. so now i have two cards. i am not going to return the other because it works great in xp and i cant setup the other in xp because i dont have the setup utility. also i found the sound drivers with the board dont work for me so a sound card or better drivers would be a good thing
did you see if the sound worked in debian, because linux is good at detecting hardware, your sound might be damaged.
i dont know if the sound works in debian yet but it works in vista. when my wireless card didnt work i couldnt install because i use a netinst cd.but id did get it installed last night at 2.30 after 4 hours. but anyway i think grub installed to the mbr on the wrong hard drive because i still get windows boot manager.
