I need a little help...well maybe a big help

[LitomoSilver]

In building a computer with at least Dual-Core and Dual Processor w/ HT. I've a list of items that I thought might be the best...but I'd like to have opinions and suggestions on how to build the best Dual Core Dual Processor powerful enough to play games and stuff.

Asus M2N32-SLI Wireless Edition Motherboard

ThermalTake XaserV WinGo V7000D Blue Mid Tower

Corsair XMS 2GB PC3200 DDR DIMM Memory Kit

WD Caviar 120GB Hard Drive

Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP2 w/ MS Plus! / MS Plus! Digital
Media
Edition Bundle

AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Dual Core Processor

ATI Radeon X1600 Pro Video Card

Also, what I'd like to know is, will the motherboard that I've listed, fit in the case? And what kind of SLI PSU would I need, in order to make it SLI-ready and capable? If you can offer any help, hint, whatsoever, also, ask for whatever you need to know/clarify alright? I appreciate all the help you guys can give me! Also, I'd also like to let you guys know that I have sporadic net connection...since I haven't been able to get a new net connection yet at home. So I've been, for the time being, accessing my college's net. Sorry if I take so long to reply!

Whoa...what the heck? I somehow must've forgotten to list the other case that I wanted to use with this setup. Funny, I can't find the case, but it's green with a biomedical sign, like the ones you see on medical containers in doctor's offices? Also, I couldn't find the info on whether or not the motherboard can support Dual-Core dual processor. If it can't support dual processors, oh well, but if it can support Dual-Core, great!

 

[scott0999]

heres an important question: how much can you spend??

 

[LitomoSilver]

Oei. I hate that question lol. I've been planning on buying each part piece by piece as I obtain the money. (Slow pay.)

 

[scott0999]

ok lol. heres my opinion on hardware and remember this is just my opinion do as you want..

CPU: I'm personally an AMD fan. theyre cheaper than intel and ive had no problems yet with them. it depends on if your planning on running more than one application at a time or not. if you are I suggest getting a dual core processor within your budget. if theres not alot of cash get a sempron 64 bit that way you have 64bit at least.

Motherboard: pick one that supports your cpu and your feature needs.

Case: that should be something you can pick out on your own, its up to you

Memory: if your not going to overclock theres no reason to get better memory than what your cpu needs to run at its advertised speed. if your going to overclock then get memory that will support the FSB setting you are going to overclock to

Harddrive: this is something I used to just go by size, but now im into performance drives. get at least 7200rpm or better, make sure the buffer is a good size (8MB+) and the access time is low. SATA drives are nice. a cheap harddrive can be a bottlneck in the system nowadays, since most other hardware has advanced greatly

OS: Windows XP SP2 is right

Video card: I generally dont spend over $200 on a card. right now if I had to pick one it would be the ATI Radeon X800 256MB

make sure cooling is adequate. I recommend copper heatsink for the cpu and a good sized fan.

 

[LitomoSilver]

I too, am an AMD fan. I was unaware I had an AMD proc in another computer. I hadn't had problems with it for years...meh. I was planning on OCing it to at least 4 gigs. But since the mobo I selected seemed to be able to support several different AMD CPUs, I wasn't sure whether or not it could support Dual-Core. I was planning on running PhotoShop, so that'd be CPU intensive, and my experience in working with PhotoShop in single-core systems was horrible. Anyways...and I had been planning on getting 64 bit...if it does support it, but when, as I stated above, I couldn't find anything that said whether or not it could support Dual-Core as all the other mobos have mentioned.

 

[scott0999]

well photoshop being a single program doesnt mean if you get a dual core processor it will run any better. only if the people that make that program say its optimized for dual core, or else you wont really see much gains.

the motherboard you listed Asus M2N32-SLI Wireless Edition Motherboard supports 64bit, dual core, and SLI yes.

as far as the motherboard fitting in the case yes, it will. thats been standardized for quite awhile

so is photoshop mostly what the computer will be used for?

 

[LitomoSilver]

No, not just for PhotoShop. I've been planning on playing quite a few current games, though I suspect that the video card might be a little outdated, but what isn't these days? I think I may have forgotten whether or not a PSU was included..but then again, I'd need to find the PSU that could support SLI. o.o Ai. Oh great, at least I know it supports 64 bit and Dual-Core. Thanks for the update on that. Hmm, okay. Sempron then? Like, for example, Oblivion...though it seems Oblivion is somewhat buggy. WoW maybe? Or that game...the one that you can customize the starship? I forget what it's called, but I saw it in PCGamer's mag and I thought it'd be cool to customize your own ship lol.

 

[scott0999]

actually sempron doesnt sound like a good choice. from what you have told me sofar I recommend Athlon 64. it doesnt sound like you really even need dual core. remember dual core only helps when your running 2 programs at once. so if you wanted to run photoshop, have it rendering something, and play a game at the same time then you need dual core. or else get a Athlon 64 (fastest model you can afford). sempron was only suggested as a budget cpu- its not high end other than having 64 bit support.

for the power supply you need to add up the watts for how much each piece of hardware uses, then add a little (50W) for reserve and pick a PSU rated at that output.

 

[LitomoSilver]

I wanted to use PhotoShop to render 3D models. 'Less you got a better program that I could purchase that does the job better? I had been also planning on rendering the models while playing the games, so as to get an idea of how to do so from the games.

 

[scott0999]

ok so you definately need dual core then. based on the system specs you first posted I think your on the right track. try and remember what I said about the harddrive to get a performance drive. when picking the cpu make sure its socket AM2 (which is what the Asus M2N32-SLI Wireless Edition Motherboard has) if you get the wrong socket type on the cpu it simply wont fit. same thing goes for the memory, pins must match. let me know if you have any other questions, glad to help

for your power supply go onto this website www.negegg.com click on power supplies, advanced category search, and you will be able to select SLI Support

I cant recommend a good program for 3d rendering though since I dont really do that

-Scott

 

[LitomoSilver]

Negegg.com? Are you sure? Newegg or Negegg? o.o Mm, I was thinking about getting that new 750 gig HDD...-drool.- That'd be nice...or I can just pull off the brand new 250 gig HDD from another computer that isn't even working due to my father's postponing of getting a replacement processor...or so he says. ....Actually, that 250 gig HDD might be a good start, so I'll do that when I get the opportunity. I've heard that AM2 is better than the original ones themselves. True, I would indeed get it wrong...if I recall correctly, it's socket 939. If I'm wrong, then let me know so I can get the correct one. True, I didn't find any info on what type of RAM it supports. If it's PC3200, I already have a stick...256MB, but that'd be inadequate for the dualcore system. I also remember it saying that it can support 4 gigs. I've also been thinking of adding a small 6 gig HDD...for virtual memory. If I remember correctly, Windows XP SP2 can only support 4096 MB in virtual memory. I dunno if that's the same for the 64-bit edition of XP Pro SP2. Or if that too, is the same for Linux.

 

[scott0999]

my bad its newegg.com lol. socket AM2 is the newest one. you need DDR2-800 for a athlon 64 X2.

 

[LitomoSilver]

DDR2-800 huh? I'm familiar with the concept of DDR and DDR2...800...how far can I go with the DDR2-800?