Getting ready to build - parts picked

EricM

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Finally i am almost ready to build my first pc . :D I have made some of these threads before to get ideas of parts but now i have them all picked out with a few exceptions. Ill post my setup to see what u guys think. I also got a few questions along the way regarding building the actual pc.

CPU - AMD ATHLON X2 4400+
MOBO- DFI LANPARTY UT SLI-DR EXPERT
RAM- OCZ EL PLATINUM PC 3200 2GB 2X1GB DDR 400 CL2-3-2-5
HDD- [font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB SATA2 7200RPM 16MB 8.9MS
GPU -
[/font][font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] BFG GeForce 7800GTX OC PCI-E 256MB 256BIT GDDR3
DVD WRITER -
[/font][font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] LG GSA-4167B 16X DVD+-RW 16X Dual Layer
CASE - NZXT LEXA
SOUND CARD - CREATOVE SOUND BLASTER AUDIGY 2 ZS 7.1
[/font] OR [font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]CREATIVE SOUND BLASTER AUDIGY 2 ZS GAMER ... whats the diff between the 2? [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]PSU - Ultra X-finity 600W LINK - http://www.ultraproducts.com/product_details.php?cPath=60&pPath=383&productID=387
What do you think of this psu? And this is not a modular psu btw... you cannot disconnect the cables from the psu itself like the x connect.

[/font][font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]OS- Windows XP pro.. i was going to get the x64 edition but since it has more bugs and there may be problems with some software may as well not get it since vista is coming out in a year or whatever it is.
and can sp2 be downloaded?

So theres my parts.. now i have some questions regarding building the pc.

1. When partioning the drive... can I just make one big partition or if I split it into smaller partitions how does that show up as? different drives??

2. Floppy disk drive ... do i need one ?

3. Drivers... when do i install those? and what parts need drivers...

4. Stock fan for cpu - should i stick with that if i dotn plan on ocing yet and upgrading to a bet one later?

5. Where is the best place to work on a pc? Room without carpets obviously.. but does it matter if the table has metal legs or not?

Well I have read some info on sites and it doesnt seem all that hard... thanks for the help.
[/font]
 
That power supply looks good. It's designed for the Athlon 64's so no problem there and it's got enough power to run 2 powerful video cards.

In response to your questions:

1) Just make it into one big partitions. It's easier that way. If you store tons of files on your PC, it's nice to have a dedicated partition to store all that junk on. That way, Windows won't have a need to access them all the time whenever it does everything else. I can see where partitioning also helps out with performance too, especially when you create a partition dedicated to file swapping.

2) Yeah, just in case if you need to install stupid SATA drivers. They're cheap anyways. Get the floppy from your old PC and put it in your new one.

3) First drivers to install would be the motherboard drivers. Then, video drivers, and sound drivers. That's pretty much it. Unless you have a printer you want to add or a gamepad, etc., etc.

4) Just use the stock fan. I'm using it right now and it works great. I've got it OCed and no problems at all. Save yourself some money.

5) Doesn't matter. Carpet, tile, etc. They're all good. But if you can, noncarpet surface is always nice, but not necessary. My room is all carpeted. I don't really care. The PC sits on top of a shelf anyways. Doesn't matter what surface the table is either. Where ever you have room for your PC, that's where you're going to store it. Just make sure you don't enclose it in a cabinet or something where the heat can build up. Some computer tables are like that and they're idiots for putting PCs inside there. No ventilation at all.
 
for PSU, i would get the OCZ Powerstream 520 or 600, i dont know how the Ultra psu works under load. OCZ under load, the rails dont fluctuate at all.
 
i had the dfi-expert, and honnestly it sa great board , but also consider the abit fatality and the asus sli deluxe. These 3 boards are in a world of their own.
 
If you want full bandwidth using SLi, get this Asus Premium:

ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI X16 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131568

Again, we see this fanless setup. What is Asus thinking? I give that motherboard 3 out of 5 by looking at it right now on Newegg (all because of that fanless cooling setup with the chipsets). But if having full capability of SLi is what you want, that's the motherboard to get, otherwise, I would agree with the Fatal1ty motherboard too. It's got more fans then I have ever seen on any motherboard!!!! It should do a hell of a job cooling, plus the Guru has all kinds of fun display for you to look at. It's a motherboard designed to be overclocked. It's just begging for it. Performance written all over.

ABIT Fatal1ty AN8-SLI Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813127206

That one I would get a 5 out of 5 just by looking at it.
 
heatpipes are better than those crappy ABIT fans. ABIT WAS the best mobo maker in the Socket A days with their NF-S2. But not anymore. They are cutting corners in their motherboards, and its giving people hell. Their BIOS options are very limited and provide no overclocking features whatsoever. Their stability I can question. Customer Service is at the bottom of my list. Stick with the ASUS. As long as you have good airflow over your mobo, the fanless cooling solution should be perfectly fine.
 
Abit have been great for me.

Everything passive cooled, loads of options in the BIOS, and as fast as an nForce 4 board (it's VIA K8T890) - all for £70 which when I bought it was more than £30 than the cheapest nForce 4 board. I've had no problems and I wouldn't hesitate to buy from Abit again!
 
I would get the dual one. It pushes more air out which is better than the single one. It's more expensive, but you get more out of it.

Are you sure you don't want to go with the all new SoudBlaster X-Fi sound card? They're almost identical in price compared to the Audigy2 ZS.

Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic 8 (7.1) Channels 24-bit 96KHz PCI Interface Sound Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829102188#DetailSpecs
 
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