Advice on building a PC? Barebone and Processor

I am looking at buying a barebone pc from new egg
- MSI MBOX K9N6SGM-V AMD Socket AM2 AMD Athlon 64 X2 / Athlon 64 / Sempron NVIDIA GeForce 6100 /nForce 405 chipset 2 x 240Pin GeForce 6100 Barebone) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16856167009.
- With this processor- AMD Athlon 64 X2 4000+ Brisbane 2.1GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 65W Dual-Core
- I am new to building PC's. Are these good choices for me? I only play RTS games on the PC. I would like to be able to capture and edit my minidv tapes and run Vista. Also would there be upgrade possibilities in the future with this build? I already have a harddrive, dvd burner and monitor. Please help.

 

What is your overall budget for the computer with the HDD and DVD burner excluded? I can't recommend that unless you are on a REALLY tight budget.

Honestly the upgrade options aren't that much. You will probably want a video card, and that PSU will have to be changed. The motherboard only does 8x PCI-E so you wont get full performance. I guess you could upgrade the CPU down the road but AMD CPUs aren't that great these days.

 

I would recommend an intel socket-775 capable of handing 45nm CPUs.


Your budget would be great.

 

My budget is around $300 not including the graphics card. I am willing to maybe spend a little more if i have to. But i dont really need a gaming PC. I'm a newbie when it comes to stuff like this. So any guidance will definately help.

 

So 300 for Case, PSU, CPU, Motherboard, and Ram?

GA-P35-DS3L:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128059&Tpk=ga-p35-ds3l

Ultra PSU and Case:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicat...33183 K&SRCCODE=GOOGLEBASE&CMP=OTC-GOOGLEBASE

Crucial RAM:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146565

E2160:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116036

It all comes out to around 313, and you're getting EXCELLENT parts. That CPU will overclock like a champ.

 

Very nice choices. ^^

If you're not gonna be gaming you'll get away with a cheap vid card.

Learn to overclock. Considering the price that thing will fly OCed.

 

I'd recommend the same list as Abuzar posted, but with the following cas & PSU combo:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119094
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139003
Slightly more expensive, but overall better quality stuff.
I was going to recommend a coolermaster PSU with it too, but have you seen the last page of reviews? every CM unit has got nothing but 1s and 2s for the last month or so... Something's gone a bit wrong with their quality control!

 

Yeah you could go with those, but I have to say that Ultra package is very high quality stuff.

Sure some of their stuff sucks, but they make some good products too. I ran a much more power hungry system on that power supply and it worked just fine.

 

If i use this build, a year from now will i be able to upgrade wit new processor and other parts? That is one of the main reasons for me building my own vs. buying a brand new cpu. Also why do i need a 700w psu? Doesnt that seem a bit much? You guys know more than me so your advice helps alot.
- also what if i use this ram
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231098

 

You don't need a 700W PSU, but there's no harm in having extra units, IF it's a quality unit, some Ultra units are, but not all, which is why I'm a bit wary of them, and go with trusted Corsairs instead. G-Skill RAM is pretty good, but Crucial is better.
Abuzar: The 750W unit failed at 350W. I'd be very surprised if any of your PCs have broken that limit. An overclocked Pentium D and an 8800GTX will just about make 350.

 

Can you give me suggestions on what psu to get. How do i know.
My hdd is a WD 320 gb. If you need to know.

 

I recommend the Corsair VX 450W as they're plenty powerful enough for any single video card gaming PC and solidly made. Unlike Ultra, no Corsair units have inexplicably gone up in flames or made some rather worrying smells / noises after heavy use.

 

Well Sam, I ran a E6400 at 3.5ghz and a 8800GTX on the 700W Ultra. Plenty of power there, I doubt he will be using nearly as mucg since he doesn't want to plau high end games and wont get a power hungry graphics card.

 

Agreed, but that's not 350W, and just because one unit failed wildly under spec, doesn't mean others might not fail at an even lower rating. There's a lot of unpredictability with crap PSUs, the cutoff is between 150 and 400W usually. Typically if a unit can get beyond 400, it's relatively decent and will either get to its rating, or max out at about 750.

 

Sam, all I am saying is that THAT PARTICULAR model has gotten nothing but good reviews, and his System wont even consume as much power as mine so he should be fine.

Of course I don't want to start a little "heated" argument. The parts you listed are top-notch as well, and honestly he will be fine using either.

 

Sure, but you can understand my reservations about Ultra units. I was sceptical about some of the units before, but never complained much about the XVS units. That HardOCP article was an eyebrow-raiser though, and you have to admit, since when do you usually find a 700W PSU and a case for a hundred dollars that's any good?

 

Normally I wouldn't even think about it, but it happens to be a special case based on experience.

I understand your apprehension though, I wouldn't buy anything other PSU from ultra either after that review you posted. The only reason I would recommend this, is again, due to experience.

 

Well that's it. Thermaltake have made some pretty awful PSUs in the past too, but I'm happy to use and recommend Toughpowers because a) mine's been great and b) it's not actually a Thermaltake, it's a ChannelWell, who know how to make power supplies. As soon as I saw that some Ultras were made in the same place as Rosewill, I vowed never to go near them.

Rosewills aren't just poor quality, they're really dangerous.
A review of one of the older Ultra units, I think it was an X-connect, said something along the lines of "we got it up to the rated wattage but there was this funny burning smell" - perhaps that was one of the Rosewills.

 

lol, does that burning smell like a "rose"

@veezee yes that motherboard can support 45nm cpu

guys is veezee getting a graphics card?

 

On that basis we haven't suggested one yet.
Suppose I'll set the ball rolling
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161211