My first homebuild - will it all work?

BendiBus

OK, I'm about to order all the bits for my first ever build-it-yourself machine!

I'm no expert, but I'm prepared to give it a go. I'd appreciate if someone would confirm that I have all the parts I need for a working system!

I'm not a gamer so I've gone for a mainboard with integrated sound & graphics.

Main activities will be web (including broadband streaming of sound and video), and some pretty heavy maths processing (I run a distributed computing project that does computational chemistry 24/7 www.grid.org if anyone is curious)

Here's the spec. Will it work?

Asus A7N8X-VM mainboard
AMD Athlon XP2600+
GlacialTech Igloo Silent Breeze 462 II
Crucial PC2700 DDR-DIMM 512MB CL2.5 6ns
Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 120GB 8MB cache 7200RPM
Samsung CD burner IDE 52/32/52
Q-Tec Midi Tower ATX 6023MD, Silver

That all adds up to just a smidgin under €500

Have I forgotten anything? Are there any components that might be improved on? Please advise before I place the order with Komplett!

davidclayton

cheap and cheerful, just how i like 'em!

Giblet

It's cheap alright, but not very upgradeable.

Woden

is that a barton or thoroughbred 2600+ that you are going for? the barton one has a lower clock frequency but higher l2 cache iirc. do you plan on overclocking it at all?.

you could improve on all the components tbh but it depends on how much you are willing to spend, the ram for example could be better, CL2.0 instead of 2.5 and such all depends on your funds though.

data

ps i run www.grid.org also

BendiBus

Thanks for the replies so far.

I like cheap'n'cheerful too

At this price, upgrading is irrelevant. If I need a better machine in 2 years time, I'll build a new one Also remember its built-for-purpose so I shouldn't need to upgrade. But I can add more memory later if I think it might help.

Dataisgod, its a Barton. No plans to overclock. Would CL2.0 give any noticable improvement to the applications I'll be using the machine for. I remember reading somewhere that it might give a small (<10%) increase in performance to heavy resource users like modern games, but nothing else.

Keep the opinions coming

Woden

i dont know tbh what the performance increase will be just that it is better

BendiBus

Indeed, Dataisgod, many things could be better. The question is whether or not its worth the investment.

I'm currently using a PIII @ 600MHz with 384Mb RAM which is pretty OK. But its just getting a bit tired (and unstable) and it only has a 13Gb HDD and I want a new toy. So even my new cheap'n'cheerful machine should go like a rocket in relative terms.

BTW, how long have you been running grid.org? I've been running the old PIII machine 24/7 for nearly 3 years now! She's served me well, but she just can't process enough work units. This is my excuse for a new machine

whosurpaddy

does that case include a psu?

BendiBus

It has a 350W PSU. That should be OK shouldn't it?

whosurpaddy

yep 350w is plenty.

quarryman

but its a Q-tec psu. they're not great. is there any other case and psu set that you might consider?

Creamy Goodness

Good Case PSU Combination

Valentia

I would go for the TwinMos CL2 version of memory stick (SKU 115063). I have built a few systems with the Asus MB and found CL2.5 unstable. The TwinMos mentioned works flawlessly.

whosurpaddy

that antec is a beaut cr3mo, just built a system with it, but ul get it cheaper from over clockers uk

Creamy Goodness

it's £ 116.27 which is 169.99 euros including delivery

where as with elara

it's 138.98 + 9.99 for shipping 148.97 including delivery.


:dunno: :rolleyes:

quarryman

Originally posted by whosurpaddy
that antec is a beaut cr3mo, just built a system with it, but ul get it cheaper from over clockers uk

had read a few review on that case. it sounded (no pun intended) very good. is it as quiet as advertised?

unkel

Would also strongly suggest you go for different PSU - case doesn't matter that much in your situation. You need something that keeps the cpu busy 24/7 so you need your PSU to give very stable performance. 300 Watt is more than enough for your setup with integrated graphics, single HDD, single CD. I would suggest a Fortron 300W for about €49

BendiBus

Where might I find this Fortron 300W PSU?

This would mean I'd need to buy a case separately? My budget PC starts to look less budget! Or does the Fortron 300W include the case?

unkel

fortron 300W here for €39

That range of Fortron has a higher output than rated, so the 300W will actually produce nearer to 350W. Most powersupplies produce less than the rating. The Fortron is nearly identical to the Zalman with the same wattage

Get a cheap case w/o PSU somewhere for around the €30 mark or use your old case and Bob's your uncle

Col_Loki

In agreement with unkel , definetly the Fortron 300w when your on a budget....

quote from overclockers.com (dual cpu boards)....

After being challenged about my view on PSU wattage, I decided to try out a 300 Watt PSU on my main dually.

I picked the best 300 watt PSU that I have ever used, the Fortron FSP300. This PSU is ranked at 300 watts, but reviews have shown it to be capable of delivering well over 400 watts. It has a single 120mm, temperature-controlled, intake fan and a passive exhaust. This makes it a VERY quiet PSU. Probably the quietest I have ever used.

I put it in my main system, which is a MSI K7D Master-L with dual Barton XP2500's, overclocked to 2 GHz, and undervolted to 1.40 Vcore. (I keep the system undervolted, so I can run the heatsink fans slow and quiet. I did some brief testing at 2250 MHz and 1.75 Vcore. The system was stable, but the CPU temps were higher than I liked.) The system also hosts a GF4 Ti4600, two optical drives, two hard drives, and a few PCI peripherals.

I have been using the FSP300 for over two weeks, now, and the system has been ROCK-SOLID and quieter than before. It has been far longer than two weeks, now, and the FSP300 has performed perfectly, during that time, in two AMD duallies.

Perhaps best, this PSU retails for $27, plus $5 shipping, from Newegg. Its big brother, the FSP350 is only $36, plus $6 shipping.

I highly recommend the FSP300 or FSP350 for anyone looking for a low noise, hard working PSU. I have used the FSP300 in numerous single-CPU systems and it has always performed great. Now I know it is capable of running a dually quite well, also.

According to measurements done in this Tomshardware PSU review, their FSP300 was capable of delivering up to 390 watts and their FSP350 was capable of delivering up to 454 watts.

This goes to show that PSU quality is more important than simple PSU wattage ranking.

[edit] Toms hardware review Here ! ........ the FSP300 and FSP350 models are fortrons (rebranded but the same)

With its generous maximum output of 390 watts (at which point it powers down in an orderly fashion), the Verax FSP300-60ATV is an impressive performer. Thanks to its quiet fan, the Verax is practically inaudible in use. Also recommended is the Fortron FSP. This model achieved a maximum output of 450 watts - and it was quiet.

FSP350, definetly a fortron producing 454w. Am pretty sure the FSP300 is a fortron aswell (alot of fortrons are re-branded) producing 390w. Thats very impressive.



Gotta laugh when i read that, a fortron 300w running a dual Xp2500+ with all attachments.............. there pretty good psu's.

PS for the quietest operation, you have to mod the 120mm fan to run at 5v, cooling doesent seem to be a problem with these power supply's and 5v is pretty much silent.

The sonata is also a good choice if you can afford it !