Sound O.k?

[Brennan]

• Just wondering if this system looks compatible and looking for recommendations on something that could be changed or if anyone has had experience with this hardware. My case comes with fans and power supply but I ordered a different fan and power supply not sure how thatl work out.
• Case - TURBO GAMER X-DREAMER BLACK 350W P4 W/ TEMP. DISPLAY.
• AMD ATHLON 64 3500+ S939 PROCESSOR <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">NEWCASTLE</st1:place></st1:City> 2.2GHZ 512KB CACHE.
• ASUS A8V DELUXE MOTHERBOARD ATHLON64 S939 K8T800PRO DUAL DDR AGP 5PCI SATA 1394 SOUND 1000LAN.
• CORSAIR CMX512-3200C2 DDR 512MB PC3200 CAS2 32MX8 184DIMM W/ HEAT SPREADER.
• SEAGATE BARRACUDA 7200.7 80GB HARD DRIVE ATA/100 8.5MS 7200 OEM
• XFX GEFORCE 6600 GT 128MB DDR3 AGP 8X DUAL DVI & TV OUT VIDEO CARD
• CREATIVE LABS SOUND BLASTER AUDIGY 2 PCI 24-BIT OEM
• Heat Sync - VANTEC AEROFLOW SOCKETA CPU COOLER TMD 5600RPM 35.5CFM 38DBA
• TURBO GAMER AS500 ATX 500W P4 POWER SUPPLY SILVER W/ WINDOW & LED FANS
• ASUS 52X ULTRADMA CD-ROM
• Extra Fan - 3.5IN BAY HARD DRIVE COOLER
• ANTEC COBRA ROUNDED IDE ATA133 CABLE 26INCH DUAL SHIELDED Im guessing this is a cable for the monitor or the comp itself is the different cable worth it?

[sr4470]

Re: Sound O.k?

Get a Thermaltake 480W for the power supply. Put a second stick of that Corsair RAM in. Get the Winchester 3500+ not Newcastle. Leave the rounded cable, its not necessary. Also, it may be a good idea to buy a PCI-Express motherboard (the DFI Nforce 4 Ultra-D is good) and a PCI-E 6600GT, for better upgradability in the future. Other than that, looks ok to me.

[Amd_Lover2004]

Re: Sound O.k?

• Heat Sync - VANTEC AEROFLOW SOCKETA CPU COOLER TMD 5600RPM 35.5CFM 38DBA
• ANTEC COBRA ROUNDED IDE ATA133 CABLE 26INCH DUAL SHIELDED Im guessing this is a cable for the monitor or the comp itself is the different cable worth it?

The Heatsink needs to be compatable with socket 939, a Zalman would be quiet and cool very nicely of you dont want to use the stock cooler.

I prefer normal IDE cables because you can do this with them.

[Brennan]

Re: Sound O.k?

I followed your guys advice and changed some things...

DFI LANPARTY UT NF4 ULTRA-D MOTHERBOARD ATX S939 NFORCE4 ULTRA DDR 2PCI-E16 PCI-E4 PCI-E1 2PCI ..

I stuck with the same Graphics Card due to prices on most other ones.

Changed th heatsink to a ZALMAN CNPS7000B-ALCU AMD P4 S462 S478 S754 S939 S940 ALUM-COPPER 1350-2600RPM 18-27.5DBA CPU HSF

Didnt bother adding another stick of ram although I plan on doing that soon.

Changed the power supply to THERMALTAKE TT-480APD 480W POWER SUPPLY DUAL FAN MANUAL/TEMP. CONTROLLED

I couldnt get the option of the Winchester so I just stuck with the Newcastle 3500 Processor.

Jst wanted to see if these changed would work well and know about their "overclockability"

[sr4470]

Re: Sound O.k?

Well the Winchester is more overclockable than a Newcastle, and is just better overall. If you cant find the 3500 then you wont lose much by going down to a 3200 or 3000, given the overclockability of the Winchester core cpus.

[Brennan]

Re: Sound O.k?

Since the website I am buying from dosent advertise having winchester should I just order the computer pre assebled without the processor and install seperatly, I have no experience in building comps so if its difficult id rather just stick with the newcastle.

[sr4470]

Re: Sound O.k?

Installing the CPU isnt hard, just follow the included instructions, make sure you lift the lever before inserting the cpu into the socket and have the pins lined up correctly. If you need things explained in detail, there are plenty of guides around, just search on google. It is preferable to buy the parts seperately and put it together yourself, once you've done the assembling once or twice you'll wonder why you ever paid for prebuilt systems.

[Amd_Lover2004]

Re: Sound O.k?

I can tell from what you are posting that you are going to order from NCIX(nothing wrong with that) I believe the processors in the PC Builder page up to the 3500 are all Winchester cores anyway, if not its not a big deal, for the amount of overclocking you are going to do(meaning your probably not going to be using a water cooler or anything) you will not notice a dramatic diffrence in proformance or overclocking between the Newcastle and Winchester.

If you still want to get the Winchester here is the link if you dont already have it.

Oh and before you order your Video card make sure you get the right interface, make sure it is the same as your motherboard... Eg., PCI-E motherboards need PCI-E Video cards, AGP motherboards need AGP Video card, fairly simple but I've seen people order the wrong one before so just lettin you know.

[Brennan]

Re: Sound O.k?

When ordering from NCIX will they send the seprate CDs with the drivers for each device and the windows xp box because I like to format ocasionally and i dont want just a restore CD, anyone have experince with ordering stuff from NCIX???

[Amd_Lover2004]

Re: Sound O.k?

I ordered a few case fans, but nothing like a motherboard or a Processor, Though sone friends have ordered stuff from there and so far have had no rpoblems.

[Brennan]

Re: Sound O.k?

Is their any cheaper way to go then ordering from NCIX (im ordering it assebled)??

[sr4470]

Re: Sound O.k?

Well you can save money by assembling it yourself...if you're really not that confident then get somebody who knows what theyre doing to help you, or read some of the guides available on the internet.

[Amd_Lover2004]

Re: Sound O.k?

As for the drivers, the motherboard will come with its own driver CD, as will the Video card. And all the components usualy come with their own set of instructions aswell.

[Brennan]

Re: Sound O.k?

Lets say I decide to just wing it and order the parts seperate from newwegg or something along those lines. How would I go about testing if everything is compatible and installing drivers like that im worried about something not working or fitting in my case and then having to go through all the trouble to return it.
Will I need any tools besides a screwdriver and stuff or software to run tests with.

Sorry im kinda dragging this on but I wanna do it right the first time.

[Amd_Lover2004]

Re: Sound O.k?

All I had when I built My this comuter was a philips screwdriver and the computer parts/manuals.

For the most part, its pretty hard to put something in backwards.(AGP, CPU, PCI, RAM, and all that are all socketed so that you cant put them in backwards unless you try overly hard to do so) When you put in the motherboard just make sure you dont put a stand-off where there is no screw hole.

As for hardware compatibility isues if there is something wrong it will probably tell you.
Once you have nstalled windows just pop in the driver cd and away you go(there is usualy a button you click on and all of the drivers install automaticaly)

Programs for testing your system(or benchmarking) are avalable for free at many sites, we even have a benchmarking forum if you like, the 3DMark series is for testing you video proformance, and there are many other programs available elsewhere aswell.

Everything should fit in that case with no problem, ATI Cards seem to be physicaly larger than The nVidia Cards so having a 6600GT you should be just fine...
If it doesnt fit you could always get another case and sell me that one. :)