First time beast builder

[vegas]

Hi guys. First time pc builder here. Would like to know what u think of this pc im going to try and build.
Its mainly for making music but i will be using it for the net and watching dvds. Oh i also download alot of music samples, but i dont think i will be gaming on it.

Mobo; MSI K7n2 delta- ILSR

Memory; 512mb, DDr 400, Pc 3200

Processer; AMD XP2700+ retail 333fsb

HDD; Western digi caviar se 120gb 8mb

Coolmaster aero 7 fan

AGP; ATI Radeon 900xt

Dvd-rw; Lg Gsa- 4040B

Sound card; Audigy 2 zs platinium pro

Floppy; Panasonic 1.44mb 3.5"

Case; Xaser III V2000+

This will all be runing on windows XP
Like i said first time builder so not sure if all this is compatable.
Couple of questions for you all
1. Should i go with the 1 stick of 512 ram or 2 sticks of 256?
2. which power supply should i go with?
3. Whats this like for upgrading in the future?

Thanks vegas.

[Largo]

Right, i would go with an Asus A7N8X Deluxe mobo as it is a great board and supports everything you could want :) . Also, it means that it will stay compatible for a long time.
As for the PSU, I would either go Antec or Enermax. Now, I have never tried either of these makes, but from what people have said on these forums and friends of mine, they are the most stable PSUs around, which is what you want in the end ;) .
Finally, I would go for two sticks of 256MB because then it can be used in dual channel mode making it go that bit faster.

Hope that helps :) .

P.S. You are going to get ribbed about that Thermaltake case, but there are a few, including me, whol will defend it ;) .

[BUFF]

If you are going for the Audigy 2 & you don't need RAID there is no need to go for the ILSR or the A7N8X DeLuxe - the basic versions of these boards will be fine.

Put the money saved towards a good PSU - very important.

I wouldn't buy an XP2700 - get a Barton cored Athlon.
I would get an XP2500+ & up the FSB later when you are confident of your skills.

[Tom]

I think the Xaser's come with a PSU already, but if you want quality there's nothing better than an Antec (though I'd let you off with a black Vantec, if you really want it to blend in with the Xaser).

Personally, I'd be the first one to shun you on your Xaser decesion. I think you'd be much happier with a high-quality aluminium case (Eg. a Lian-Li ;)) but I suppose that might be left for when you become a bit more confident.

What you've got there will all work well, but I'd personally prefer the Abit NF7 motherboard. The Coolermaster Aero/Jet fans aren't all they're cracked up to. Have a gander at some of the Swiftech or ThermalRight offerings, to see some really nice cooling solutions.

Apart from that, all I can say is 'Good Luck' and that we're all here to help ya! ;)

[Largo]

My Xaser never came with a PSU :confused: .

Also, the advantage of the Xaser is that it comes with plenty of good quality fans. You would struggle to find a case with better airflow :)

[vegas]

Thanx guys. Not been hearing good things about the Asus A7N8X. It was my first choice but i hear that pepole have been having trouble setting it up, is this true because i would rather have this one but ive never built before so i dont want to many problems setting it up.

Is there much difference between the XP2500 and the 2700. Only went for the xp2700 becasue someone told me to buy the best i could afford. I dont know anything about overclocking so i wont be doing it.

Not sure what raid is so i dont know if i need it (help?)

As for the case i went for it mainly for its cooling, i will be using this system for about 16 hours a day non stop for my music making.

Thanx vegas

[BUFF]

Tbh, the A7N8X board should be fine as long as you have a good PSU & decent RAM (same for any nForce2 board pretty much).

The XP2500+ uses a "Barton" core with 512Kb L2 cache whereas the XP2700+ is based on the "Thoroughbred" core with 256Kb L2 cache.

Other than in benchmark tests you are unlikely to notice the difference in performance, but the XP2500+ should run a bit cooler & when you are competent will most likely be able to clock higher than the XP2700+ (XP3200+ level shouldn't be a problem).

RAID is Redundant Array of Independent/Inexpensive Disks - basically 2 or more disks can work together either in Striped (faster but more prone to failure) or Mirror (if 1 disk fails you have a copy of everything on the other disk) mode.
More hard drives = more heat & noise though.

[vegas]

Just been reading that AMD have locked the 2500+ barton`s muiltiplier at 11. Aparently it can still be o/c with a 400fsb.
So now i have 2 choices

1. Go with the asus and get dual ch but no overclocking
or
2. Go with the MSI and get the opposite
What would you pick, overclocking or dual ch:confused:

[BUFF]

Both A7N8X rev 2.0 & MSI K7N2 Delta should be able to FSB overclock & both should have dual channel (unless you are talking about the A7N8X-X which is single channel).
Dual channel on AMD doesn't really make much difference (except on nForce2 boards using integrated gfx).

The nice thing about the XP2500+ is that its default multiplier of 11 is the same as the XP3200+, so even if it is multiplier locked you can just up the FSB to 200 & it becomes an XP3200+ :).

If you were really interested in overclocking then you might want to consider the ABIT NF-7 but the A7N8X is probably easier to set up.