So I posted in here a month or two ago asking people's opinions on what chasis to get for my new build, which have slowly been building up money for and I happen to be coming upon a fairly large chunk of change so I'm hoping to get quite a bit more of my system. Here is what I have so far Optical Drives Newegg.com - LITE-ON Black ATAPI/E-IDE DVD-ROM Drive Model SHD-16P1S - OEM Newegg.com - SAMSUNG 18X DVD±R Burner, LightScribe Technology, IDE, Model SH-S182M/BEBN - OEM Chassis Newegg.com - CHENMING 501AWBU-F-0 BLK Black Computer Case - Retail Case Fan Newegg.com - VANTEC SF12025L Case Fan - Retail Mouse Newegg.com - Logitech 2-Tone Gaming-Grade Mouse - Retail Yeah, I know it's pathetic to say "I started building a system" and just have that to show for it... Anyways, I am looking to finish the system, or at lease come pretty close to it. Please keep in mind that this is going to be a linux system so I prefer stuff which is going to work fairly well without a whole lot of configuration (AKA no ATI, and I prefer a VIA chipset on the mobo). Here is what I have been looking at so far: Motherboard: Newegg.com - MSI K9VGM-V Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail PSU: Newegg.com - Antec True Power Trio TP3-650 650W Power Supply with Three 12V Rails - Retail RAM: Newegg.com - CORSAIR 1GB (2 x 512MB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail CPU: Newegg.com - AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ 2.6GHz Socket AM2 Processor - Retail HDD: Newegg.com - Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB 3.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM Total = $760.96 I know I'm missing a video card, but I wasn't quite sure what I should get because although i'd like the 8800, it is just too dang expensive. I dunno, what do you guys think of the present setup? My budget is going to be around $1000 USD, but I may be able to do 1200.. that means do not spend my extra 200 if you dont have to. Thanks for the help guys.. I really appreciate it
There's only one part that I'd call into question: the Antec Trio Power 650. JonnyGURU "In addition to all of this; I also couldn't find any circuitry beyond the traces that actually "divide" these rails. And on the load tester, I found that there actually is no OCP, so there is no 19A per 12V rail "limit" either. Just seems to be a single +12V rail PSU! Which actually isn't such a bad thing, but dammit! The label says I get three +12V rails and the PSU is called the "Trio" after all!" From what he can tell, you're not getting the 3 12V rails Antec is advertising. In the 500-600W range, here's a list of PSU's from good companies you might want to consider. For video cards, the 7800/7900 series in the $150-250 price range here should be plenty, especially under Linux. The rumored 8600's might be something to consider, but until nVidia releases them, or whatever they call the mid-range performers, I wouldn't factor those in.
Thanks a lot for your thoughts B. I am now considering between these two PSUs but I'd like a second opinion as to what I'd be better off with. I hear great things about Enermax, but I've never owned one and I've had great experience with Thermaltake... However, I'm always willing to try a new brand if it is worth my while. Anyhow, here they are: Enermax 620W: Newegg.com - ENERMAX Liberty ELT620AWT 620W Power Supply - Retail Thermaltake 650W: Newegg.com - Thermaltake toughpower W0104RU 650W Power Supply - Retail And about the video cards, I was thinking the same thing... just getting a 7900gt or something. The only downside to that is that I already have one, so it wont be an improvement but that's alright. And there's one thing im unsure about. Does anyone know if I'd be better off having 4x512MB duel channel or 2x1GB duel channel?
Grrr...those links changed. The Liberty series has problems from what I've read, so I'd shy away from them. Their EG565P-VE that I bought back in 2004 has been humming along quite nicely. Newegg has it for $99, I think. If I don't get Enermax again, I'm likely to go OCZ. From what I'm picking up, their GameXtreme units are rebadged FSP units. The older Mod- and PowerStream's are Tagan/TTGI rebadges. Thermaltake finally got into the modern era with the Toughpower units, and those seem to be okay with the specs, and since they're priced around the same as other similar units, it looks like they should be alright. For RAM, the motherboard you linked only has 2 DIMM slots, but even with 4 DIMM slots, the answer is the same: 2. First, for upgrades down the road, and second, because, at least with the early A64's, the timings (the Command Rate in particular) and RAM speed had trouble running at full speed---not that this really makes much of a difference with the A64, but not getting the full performance is annoying to say the least.
I really appreciate your input, B. I think I'm going to go with similar RAM but 2x1GB and as for the PSU, I'm going to go with the Tt I linked to. I dunno, I just have a thing for Thermaltake stuff i guess. hope it treats me well.
