New Build for a Chick Nerd, please help!

[ladyj]

So my current build was good, but its time for a upgrade.

Here is what i am looking at getting, im just learning to build and need help with this. Please let me know if it is all compatable and good for the price and if you think it will work with what i do, namely world of warcraft lol.

Motherboard - Ecs Geforce6100pm-M2 Phenom X4 Quad Core
URL - (http://www.ascendtech.us/customkititems.asp?kc=DTMB61PM2PH2955)

Processor - Amd Phenom Ii X4 955 3.2ghz Processor
(same url)

Or i found this combo
http://www.ascendtech.us/customkititems.asp?kc=DTMBA64QCPH9600
same Motherboard but the processor is a : Amd Phenom Quad Core 9600 2.3ghz 4mb Cpu

Those together will cost me 226.00

Then

Regular Cooling Fan & Heatsink Combo Kit

I have a new Western digital hard drive which im just going to transfer over.

And my video card is a ATI Radeon i think 4850 series

then im going to add

Coolmax VL-600B 600W 140mm Blue LED Fan Power Supply(Black)
URL (http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php...Cll2rijR6KBJJHWejLT/HiPK0sO/Batt5e0BPgU3tFGs#)

Ram im looking at
A-DATA 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model AD2U800B2G5-DRH
URL (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211188)

Is there ANYTHING im missing or is any of this not going to work well? Once i get it i shouldnt need anything else should it? This is my FIRST by myself build and would really appriciate any help. I know where everything goes, i know all of the basic stuff, but anything that you guys notice im not seeing or looking at would greatly help.

Also running Windows 7 64bit if that matters.

Thank you all so much, i cant wait to start my build if you guys give me the go ahead!

 

[Know Nuttin]

For starters, DDR2 platform is dead, don't bother buying new now.

The combo's on this page are much better, find something in your budget

http://www.newegg.com/Store/ComboDeals.aspx?ComboStoreID=1&name=CPUs-Motherboards

They also come with heatsink/fan combo's as they are retail CPU's.

as for RAM, look at http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...66&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&Order=PRICE&PageSize=20

and for PSU, this is a better buy for $40 imo http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817171031

 

[Theocnoob]

Get a good motherboard. ECS is bleh.
Also your power supply is bleh.

Powersupply is your heart. Motherboard is your skeleton. Don't build a computer that's going to start life with congenital birth defects. It's not good.

How about Phenom II X6 1090T, ASUS Crosshair IV Formula, 4GB Corsair Dominator, Corsair TX650W power supply?

Or for less money

Phenom II X4 965BE, same other stuff

OR

Have you considered sandybridge?

Gigabyte UD3 P67, Intel 2500K CPU, same RAM same PSU

 

[Andreal]

Maintaining your budget I would go for this:

AMD Phenom II x4 965BE
ASUS M4A79XTD EVO
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.580614 -233.99 after rebate, $8 more than your current cpu+mobo)

CORSAIR Builder Series CX430 (Imo this is the best in your budget but it's kinda pushing it and wont leave much room for upgrades later on)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139017 - $44.99, $5 cheaper than current psu)

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (PC12800, CL7 memory thats much nicer than the ADATA....and DDR3 )
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231303 - 64.99, $5 more expensive than the ADATAs

Those parts would cost total $8 more and be faaaar better. If you can scrape together a little more cash though there are some nice upgrades you can start getting, first on my list would be a nicer PSU for better reliability and futureproofing.

Note: I didn't check your links coz I'm oblivious as hell, so all my price comparisons were done on newegg.

EDIT: Ok after checking the prices in those links it would actually be $13 more expensive.

 

[Theocnoob]

Maintaining your budget I would go for this:

AMD Phenom II x4 965BE
ASUS M4A79XTD EVO
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.580614 -233.99 after rebate, $8 more than your current cpu+mobo)

CORSAIR Builder Series CX430 (Imo this is the best in your budget but it's kinda pushing it and wont leave much room for upgrades later on)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139017 - $44.99, $5 cheaper than current psu)

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (PC12800, CL7 memory thats much nicer than the ADATA....and DDR3 )
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231303 - 64.99, $5 more expensive than the ADATAs

Those parts would cost total $8 more and be faaaar better. If you can scrape together a little more cash though there are some nice upgrades you can start getting, first on my list would be a nicer PSU for better reliability and futureproofing.

Note: I didn't check your links coz I'm oblivious as hell, so all my price comparisons were done on newegg.

EDIT: Ok after checking the prices in those links it would actually be $13 more expensive.

^
+1

Might wanna go to a 550W Corsair PSU. Just for the overhead. Not necessary though.
I don't know what you have to spend but you're looking at about $150 more to properly get into the Intel Sandybridge platform vs AMD Opteron. MUCH higher performance per core. Even though they'd both be quad core CPU's a 2500K will obliterate a 965BE

 

[ladyj]

You guys have really made me think. Ok so my budget is $400.00 and i want to keep it at that. So say you guys had $400.00 and you needed a MB, PSU, Processor, and ram, what would you do. Remember i have my video card which is ati radeon and also my WD hard drive so those are good. I Play world of warcraft and just want to dominate it. So what would you suggest. Help me build something that i could dominate with. Also keep in mind i know nothing of overclocking. So i will prob not overclock.

Thanks so much!!

 

[psionic98]

I'd say follow the advice Theocnoob put up.. the links to newegg are a really good start for a better build.

It's tough to get a really good system on a tight budget, the new processors coming out haven't quite hit the market enough to lower the costs on the older tech so the links above are likely your best bet without shopping around ebay etc.

 

[Theocnoob]

You guys have really made me think. Ok so my budget is $400.00 and i want to keep it at that. So say you guys had $400.00 and you needed a MB, PSU, Processor, and ram, what would you do. Remember i have my video card which is ati radeon and also my WD hard drive so those are good. I Play world of warcraft and just want to dominate it. So what would you suggest. Help me build something that i could dominate with. Also keep in mind i know nothing of overclocking. So i will prob not overclock.

Thanks so much!!

You have no choice but to overclock with that budget. What it will yield you stock won't get you where you want to go.

No math beyond basic multiplication and division is needed for overclocking. Just a basic understanding of what's going on. There are guides for every platform on this website (AMD Opteron, Intel Sandybridge, Intel Core2, Intel Core i3/i5/i7).

If I had $400, I'd go this route (note: MOBO chipset is outdated and does not support SATA6 or USB3 but has good quality parts and good cooling. No USB3 means you can't use super high speed USB peripherals. Not that any really exist yet but they will. No SATA6 means you can't use ridiculously high speed solid state drives. No platter-based hard drive can max out normal SATA3 so unless you planned on a very pricey SSD in the future this doesn't matter.)

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103727&cm_re=965-_-19-103-727-_-Product
Phenom 2 X4 $160

The ASUS board suggested by Andreal is a good buy
http://redirectingat.com/?id=1132X5...m/forums/showthread.php?p=6742392#post6742392

OR

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130310
MSI board $95

(I'd likely go for the ASUS. Price is the same)

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139017
Power Supply $45 (Note: REALLY shaving it close @ 430W)

You can get away with it but I'd buy
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341016
500W PSU $70 at very least and honestly I'd rather go to a TX550W Corsair.

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145299
4GB Corsair RAM $50

That's $350. Taxes, shipping included you're under $400.
It'll work but I'd get a better GPU and power supply.

If you have an extra $30 I highly recommend
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Produc...103065&cm_re=Hyper_212-_-35-103-065-_-Product

Cooler master Hyper 212+. It's only $30 now and is a good CPU cooler that will let you overclock. You can get about 35% more speed out of your system for FREE if you overclock so it's a good thing to learn how to do. You can overclock your Radeon 4850 pretty significantly too.

None of the above parts are bad. They're lower end, but they are all from trusted manufacturers. The motherboard has good MOS cooling and chipset cooling and you can get a decent overclock out of it if you ever want to.

 

[tom10167]

Do you have access to classifieds? You will get *WAY* more bang for your buck on a budget buying used stuff from the OCF forums.

 

[EarthDog]

100 posts and ISP/edu/mil emails. These are her first posts, so she doesnt. But I certainly agree with your sentiment!

 

[Theocnoob]

Newegg has a DOA warranty . Joe Sixpack doesn't.
Also the MSi board I suggested DOES have USB 3. As does the ASUS board. No SATA6 though. For sure this time.

 

[Andreal]

As I understand WoW is a more CPU intensive game than GPU so that's somewhere you probably don't wanna skimp. I also understand that it primarily only uses 2 cores with a 3rd sometimes eating about 10% of the load (don't quote me on the figures but it's better than nothing) so I'm just gonna parrot Theoc here and say that that sounds SandyBridge through and through. Unfortunately SandyBridge will probably throw you out of your budget and I really don't like recommending things outside peoples budget but in this case I think I will (besides there is already all the info you need for parts within your budget in this thread).

Enter SandyBridge:

CPU: i5 2500k - $225
Mobo: ASRock P67 Extreme4 LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard - $153
Memory: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) - $65
PSU - CORSAIR CMPSU-550VX 550W ATX12V - $80
HSF - COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus - $30

Total - $553

I realise it's a bit outside your price range but thought I would throw it out there anyway, it would be a awesome "bang for buck" system and a 2500K with a 212+ will blow the heck outta a 965BE on stock.

 

[Knufire]

No onboard video for P67, so she would be kinda screwed there.

As good as SB is, a Phenom II X4 is plenty for WoW, paired with a budget card like a GTX460 or a Radeon 5770.

 

[Seebs]

She has a 4850 AFAIK that will be transferred to whatever gets built. I'd still go with the Phenom II build... When the objective is "budget build"; AMD is the way to go still.

 

[tom10167]

Newegg has a DOA warranty . Joe Sixpack doesn't.

I'd inclined to believe the average OCF member is several notches above "Joe Sixpack" not to mention probably has a lot more at stake(reputation heatware etc) than a gigantic company like Newegg. Not that Newegg doesn't have a good return policy or whatever, just saying.

Kinda funny because I just got royally screwed buying a used non-PC part today from a different forum.

 

[EarthDog]

I'd inclined to believe the average OCF member is several notches above "Joe Sixpack" not to mention probably has a lot more at stake(reputation heatware etc) than a gigantic company like Newegg. Not that Newegg doesn't have a good return policy or whatever, just saying.

Kinda funny because I just got royally screwed buying a used non-PC part today from a different forum.

+1

 

[psionic98]

+1 to ED's +1

These forums carry a great rep for helping members resolve issues with equipment they sell.

Anyways, back on topic!

The system andreal put up is great too, though i don't think the K processor would be needed if you wanted to stay closer to budget.. you can still OC the non-K just not nearly as far.

Depending on OP's way to get income it may be difficult to go beyond the 400 budget, especially by 25%. While SB will beat out a 965 in every aspect, its still good enough to last 2-3years if OC'd properly

 

[Theocnoob]

I'd inclined to believe the average OCF member is several notches above "Joe Sixpack" not to mention probably has a lot more at stake(reputation heatware etc) than a gigantic company like Newegg. Not that Newegg doesn't have a good return policy or whatever, just saying.

Kinda funny because I just got royally screwed buying a used non-PC part today from a different forum.

That's not what I meant.

Say I send you a motherboard. I test it and it's all good before I send it. The mail service drops the package 20 feet somehow and you get a DOA board- but I've already spent the money because you paypalled it to me at the same time I shipped and I don't have it to give back to you nor do I have a replacement board

As per getting junk used stuff, I found the aquarium hobby was the worst for that. I stopped buying anything used. People sold me filters with missing random parts they were perfectly aware of and didn't tell me. People try to sell leaky tanks all the time. Not really worth it unless you trust the person.