Hello, I'm new here, and was wondering if anyone here could tell me if my future system (1-2 months from now) is going to have any issues. I am trying to build a gaming PC piece by piece. Currently I have an Nvidia GeForce FX 5900 128MB card, Verbatim 8x DVD+RW, SB Audigy Platinum sound card, and an Axio case (dunno the model #, but it's an ATX, so it shouldn't be an issue). I am ready to buy (online): Gigabyte nForce2 ultra 400 mobo, AMD Athlon XP 3200+ Barton 512K CPU, Thermaltake Silent PurePower 560W PSU, Kingston 184 Pin 512MB DDR PC-3200 (1 stick), Scanport 17" CRT Monitor, Arctic Cooling Silver Thermal Compound, Thermaltake Extreme Volcano 12 CPU cooler (CPU doesn't come with one), Maxtor 200GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive, and Creative SBS270 2.0 Speakers. I'll get my mouse and keyboard from the local wal-mart or something, and I'm going to start off with XP home for my OS, provided there are no legtal issues for installing it on the new computer and removing it from the old one...the wife wants a 98 system on her computer anyways. Well, thanks for reading this, and any input is appreciated...Thanks!
It seems like you have done your research. As long as you double check things like CPU compatability with the mobo ( :rolleyes: ) , the compatability between the mobo and memory (the motherboard accepts PC3200 ddr), and that the mobo supports sata hard drives, then you should be good. Drivers for your sound and video card have been fine tuned for Windows XP for excelent performance, so that should not be an issue either. Thats most of the imprtant shit. You should have a damn fine peecee for your entertainment. Good Luck!!
I would choose another ram setup. If for gaming you should try to get 1 gig.It really helps a lot. Also I would buy pairs 2x256 = 512 mb or 2x512 = 1024 mb
Gigabyte nForce2 ultra 400 mobo
What motherboard are you getting? nForce2 ultra 400 is the chipset on the motherboard. Gigabyte produces cards with this chipset but have many models to choose from.
You should concider a motherboard capable of running "dual channel" ram, which comes in pairs. Basicly what is does is combine 2 sticks of ram as one, effectivly doubling its bandwith. For example, if you have two sticks of 256mb PC2700 running in dual channel mode, they will be treated as 512mb PC5400. Im running dc 2x512 and its a big difference from single stick 512.
Dual channel is of no benefit for systems running 400FSB or lower.
Otherwhise it looks like a nice system, nice setup. Unexpected problems will happen if your building it together pice by pice. Theres always something :)
Oh and dont let your wife run win98!!! It will keep you awake for more nights than an infant would. Trust me, win2000 is better in most ways, and almost identical in use in comparisment to fancy winXP. Set everything in settings on the desktop to "windows classic" and she wont know the difference :p
Cheers Good luck =)
sorry bout that...never really done this (talking about mobo models) before. Model is GA-7N400 Pro2. Ram capabilities are 4x DIMM support Dual-Channel DDR400/333/266 Max 3GB. The reason tha I'm only buying a single stick of 512 is because of financial limitations...maybe next payday. Oops...just realized that the FSB is 400/333/266MHz...anyone got any affordable alternatives that would work with all of this? I'll let you guys know if I find something to check for compatibility issues...Thanks.
p4 are better than athlon. supports all the same shit but has 800fsb(well it depends) there are 3 versions of p4's. P4a P4b and P4c. C is the newest model for the p4 and has 800fsb. my computer has a p4 3.0 800fsb and 1 gig of pc3200 dualchannel ddr and load times are like... UBER fast. oh and p4 have higher megahertz. another alternative is getting the expensive but UBER fast is the AMD 64. 1600fsb. higest model is 2.4mhz, has more cache sizes and has 64bit encryption...code...stuff...yea...
Pentium 4's are good............ Good enough for me to poop on. I would much rather have an AMD over a pentium anyday. but thats just my opinion. Some people like things that other people don't. And I don't think you will have any problems with ur comp either.
This isnt a AMD v Intel discussion, take it elsewhere.
Schuvool, your current cpu and motherboard doesnt support dual channel. If you want this included you need to look for a different cpu and motherboard.
K...I think I've decided on a different mobo & CPU, although it hurts my wallet to say so, I'm looking at the AMD 64 3200+ 2.0Ghz and the ASUS K8V SE Deluxe K8T800 Chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket 754 CPU...a bity more spendy, but do these support dual channel ram and also, do they play well with everything else? One other thing...anyone here know a good brand/model of dual channel RAM? I don't know if the stuff on my list is. If it is, I'll buy the one 512 stick now, and another later.
Thats a good motherboard and it will work great with your setup.
When choosing RAM make sure you get PC3200 dual channel. These are usually marked "kit w/two matched" or something similar.
Some manufactorers are Corsair, TwinMOS, Geil, Crucial, OEM and OCZ. I have experience with the first four, and I personaly use this type twinmos. Works like a charm.
Remember if you buy 512ram dual channel you will get 2 sticks of 256, so you will only have 1 slot left on your motherboard for upgrading later. Concider getting 1024 right away so you dont have to risk wasting the 512 you allready got..