first build!

[showerwithgoats]

I'm building a pc sometime over the next month with the help of a friend who is much more knowledgable then me. Heres a list of components that I've decided on and a web link for each. If any could let me know what you think, if theres any compatiability problems etc. I have a 500 gb SATA 3.0 hard drive and dvd drive already. I'm not looking to build a hardcore gaming machine, I'm a student so I don't have a huge budget either or a whole lot of time to spend playing games.

thanks

Asus M2A-MVP w/ DualDDR2 800, Audio, Gigabit Lan, 1394, Crossfire PCI-E x16

http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/PID-MX17136(ME).aspx

<H1>AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ Black Edition Processor ADO5000DSWOF - 2.60GHz, 1MB Cache, 1000MHz (2000 MT/s) FSB, Brisbane, Dual-Core, Retail, Socket AM2 (940), Processor </H1>http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3343343&Sku=CP1-AM2-5000B

<H1>EVGA GeForce 9600 GT Video Card - 512MB GDDR3, PCI Express 2.0, SLI Ready, (Dual Link) Dual DVI, HDTV</H1>http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3612203&CatId=3670

<H1>Crucial 1024MB PC6400 DDR2 800MHz Memory</H1>Crucial 1024MB PC6400 DDR2 800MHz Memory CT12864AA800 in Canada at TigerDirect.ca

[misterlarry]

Welcome to HWC. Great handle. If you let everybody know what your max budget is, I'm sure the community will point you to building the best machine possible for the buck.

[Launcherstrike]

If you're ordering to Canada, I would suggest using NCIX.com or Directcanada.com. You can also use HWC's price compare at the top of the page. Giving us a price range would also be helpful, but since you're a student i'm going to guess under 500 - 600? :)

[showerwithgoats]

Right, I probably should of looked at few other posts before making mine, I did that after and realized they were alot more specific then I was. Anyways I'd like to keep the price as close to 400$ as possible...500 max. I haven't decided on a case yet and I'm overclocking my cpu so I'll be needing an extra fan as well. I may of gone over budget with the components I have there as I didn't include costs for the case, fan, keyboard and and other costs I haven't really thought of. Any feedback is appreciated, thanks

[misterlarry]

I'm not familiar with AMD cpus at all. But looking at DC to try to find things that I know will work well together, here's some thoughts:

$170-CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Dual Core Processor LGA775 3.0GHZ Wolfdale 1333FSB 6MB Retail - DirectCanada
$87-Mobo: Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3L Atx LGA775 P35 1333FSB 1PCI-E16 3PCI-E1 3PCI SATA2 Sound Gblan Motherboard - DirectCanada
$63-Ram 2Gb: Mushkin EM PC2-6400 2GB 2X1GB DDR2-800 CL5-5-5-18 240PIN DIMM Dual Channel Memory Kit - DirectCanada
$152-GPU: EVGA E-GEFORCE 9800GT Superclocked 650MHZ 512MB 1.9GHZ 256BIT DDR3 Dual DVI-I HDTV Out Video Card - DirectCanada

All $ rounded to nearest $. Running total $472. Some may have MIRs. This still leaves you without a case, psu & cooling. There are a lot of guys around here who are way better than I am at costing out economical systems. I think it will be tough to build a gaming rig on $500, but I'm certainly no expert. I've seen some guys build some good rigs in the $800 range. Hope this helps. IMHO I think you should save a bit more dough and build something that will last you for a while, rather than building something that won't play well in six months.

[CntdwnToExtn]

Originally Posted by misterlarry

I'm not familiar with AMD cpus at all. But looking at DC to try to find things that I know will work well together, here's some thoughts:

$170-CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Dual Core Processor LGA775 3.0GHZ Wolfdale 1333FSB 6MB Retail - DirectCanada
$87-Mobo: Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3L Atx LGA775 P35 1333FSB 1PCI-E16 3PCI-E1 3PCI SATA2 Sound Gblan Motherboard - DirectCanada
$63-Ram 2Gb: Mushkin EM PC2-6400 2GB 2X1GB DDR2-800 CL5-5-5-18 240PIN DIMM Dual Channel Memory Kit - DirectCanada
$152-GPU: EVGA E-GEFORCE 9800GT Superclocked 650MHZ 512MB 1.9GHZ 256BIT DDR3 Dual DVI-I HDTV Out Video Card - DirectCanada

All $ rounded to nearest $. Running total $472. Some may have MIRs. This still leaves you without a case, psu & cooling. There are a lot of guys around here who are way better than I am at costing out economical systems. I think it will be tough to build a gaming rig on $500, but I'm certainly no expert. I've seen some guys build some good rigs in the $800 range. Hope this helps. IMHO I think you should save a bit more dough and build something that will last you for a while, rather than building something that won't play well in six months.

+1

if the 5000+ BE came w/ a stock fan it could get an amd build down to the 415-425 range...but...nope

[showerwithgoats]

From what my friend has told me the AMD i'm looking at is supposed to really easy to overclock to 3GHZ. Like I said I'm not going to have a lot of spare time for games for the most part I'll probably be playing CNC3 and UT2k4 on it so I'm really just wanting to run those games fairly well

[CntdwnToExtn]

yes. the 5000+ BE you simply need to change the muli to 15x and use stock voltage to hit 3.0 - 99% sure

CPU + HSF (OCZ vendetta 2 not in stock anywhere. if you can find it, i recommend it over the original vendetta)
$80 - AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ Dual Core Processor Socket AM2 2.6GHZ Retail Black Box No HSF Unlocked - DirectCanada
$40 - $10 MIR - NCIX.com - Buy OCZ Vendetta Heatpipe CPU Heatsink AM2 LGA775 S939 S940 S754 92MM 1200-2800RPM - OCZTVEND In Canada.

Mobo (micro atx board if your not looking to sli/crossfire)
$93 - Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H AMD 780G mATX AM2+ PCI-EX SATA RAID Video Sound GLAN 1394 HDMI Motherboard - DirectCanada


RAM
$63 - Mushkin EM PC2-6400 2GB 2X1GB DDR2-800 CL5-5-5-18 240PIN DIMM Dual Channel Memory Kit - DirectCanada

GFX
$152 - EVGA E-GEFORCE 9800GT Superclocked 650MHZ 512MB 1.9GHZ 256BIT DDR3 Dual DVI-I HDTV Out Video Card - DirectCanada

$179 - $25 MIR - NCIX.com - Buy Diamond Viper Radeon HD 3870 512MB GDDR4 PCI-E Dual DVI-I HDCP HDMI HDTV Out Video Card - 3870PE4512SB In Canada.

went for best pricing so i used both ncix and directcanada for the parts

$428 before tax/shipping w/ nvidia card
$418 before tax/shipping w/ nvidia card after MIR comes back (ocz) - ocz is good for rebates, after 6 weeks just email them and ask for the status. lets them know you are watching.

$455 before tax/shipping w/ ATI card
$420 before tax/shipping w/ ATI card after MIR comes back (ocz, ati)

[JD]

Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 - $140
Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3L - $97
OCZ Platinum XTC REV.2 PC2-6400 2GB 2X1GB DDR2-800 - $40 after MIR
Corsair CMPSU-450VX 450W - $60 after MIR
BFG GeForce 9600GT OC - $105 after MIR

However that comes to roughly $450 + tax + shipping, though you can use Price Canada and price match everything on NCIX which will probably bring down the price quite a bit.

It's still missing a case and keyboard/mouse though.

You'd probably want an aftermarket heatsink too:
Xigmatek HDT-S963 (uses a 92mm fan, better if your case is small)
Xigmatek HDT-S1283 (uses a 120mm fan, better cooling but needs space)

Whatever you do though, please, please, please don't use some cheap ass power supply. You'll regret it sooner than later.

[showerwithgoats]

Cooler Master Centurion 5 ATX Mid-Tower Case - Silver, Front USB, FireWire, Audio, 430-Watt Power Supply FR-TO5-UWI in Canada at TigerDirect.ca
This is what I was looking at for a possible case, seemed to get decent reviews. Comes with a power supply, alot of the cheaper cases I looked at had reviews talking about big power supply problems, this one seems alright but I could be wrong.