[tech] Help me choose...

DeZmond

DeZmond

Junior Administrator
Righty, just wanting a little advice on this, I saw this deal in a local store and wondered what you thought of it. Basically I'm looking to build me a new system and 939 stuff is very cheap at the moment. So it's £129.69 for all of:

AMD VENICE CORE 3000 64 bit socket 939

MSI K8N NEO4-F-939 (P/S/R/GBL/SATA)

256mb Elixir PC3200 DDR400

K8 COOLERmaster 754/939


Now to that I would wish to add 1GB of RAM ([FONT=Verdana,Arial,sans-serif]2 x 512MB VT PC3200/DDR400 @ £28.15 = £56.30)
and the [/FONT][FONT=Verdana,Arial,sans-serif] GIGABYTE 256MB 7600GT PCI-EXP OEM at a mere £100.99.

I need more components, though and this is where I need some more advice. Number one: what's the difference between SATA and SATA 2? Also, which can I *actually* use with the above motherboard?

Number two: any specific advice on cases and power supplies? I want something that's a) cheap b) reasonably quiet and c) has enough power to feed the above components.

Number three: any recommended coolers for very quiet running? One complaint about my old PC was that it was pretty noisy - my personal estimate of the noise it made was around ~39dB so I'm looking for this one to be nice and quiet!
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Haven

Haven

Administrator
Staff member
I need more components, though and this is where I need some more advice. Number one: what's the difference between SATA and SATA 2? Also, which can I *actually* use with the above motherboard?
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SATA2 - i.e. it makes no difference to 99.9% of users whether its SATA or SATA2. The main thing is that your SATA controller supports NCQ.

Number two: any specific advice on cases and power supplies? I want something that's a) cheap b) reasonably quiet and c) has enough power to feed the above components.
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Any PSU over 350Watts will handle the system above - I would always reccomend branded but you said "cheap" so thats your call and I wont reccomend any non-branded PSU's I'm afraid. Give us a budget for the case and a size requirement and I'm sure people will be able to suggest options. Otherwise just peruse the offerings on scan and overclockers until you see something you like.
[FONT=Verdana,Arial,sans-serif] Number three: any recommended coolers for very quiet running? One complaint about my old PC was that it was pretty noisy - my personal estimate of the noise it made was around ~39dB so I'm looking for this one to be nice and quiet![/FONT]
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The OEM cooler that comes with the CPU is silent and I've had no issues using it at all.
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Tetsuo_Shima

Tetsuo_Shima

In Cryo Sleep
I can try and answer 2 and 3

2. A case recommended to me is the Thermaltake Tsunami. Its nice and spacey, looks ultra cool and is reasonably cheap because it's been out for a while. (I say reasonably cheap, but thats from my PoV). Id say if you're going for a case, go Thermaltake in general anyway.

3. Zalman are supposed to do the business in the cooling department. There's a wide selection to choose from there, Im sure you can find one to suit you. Thermaltake do fans as well but I havent heard much said about them.

EDIT: Ach, Haven. Speeding in there before me :)
 
Wraith

Wraith

Active Member
Tetsuo_Shima said:
2. A case recommended to me is the Thermaltake Tsunami. Its nice and spacey, looks ultra cool and is reasonably cheap because it's been out for a while. (I say reasonably cheap, but thats from my PoV). Id say if you're going for a case, go Thermaltake in general anyway.
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I'd definitely agree with the Tsunami. I've just bought one myself and while I haven't yet built the system (waiting on a couple more bits) I have had the case out to check it out. Very roomy, very stylish, and it looks like it will be very easy to fit and secure the HD / DVD drives etc.
 
DeZmond

DeZmond

Junior Administrator
haven said:
Any PSU over 350Watts will handle the system above - I would always reccomend branded but you said "cheap" so thats your call and I wont reccomend any non-branded PSU's I'm afraid. Give us a budget for the case and a size requirement and I'm sure people will be able to suggest options. Otherwise just peruse the offerings on scan and overclockers until you see something you like.
Click to expand...

No size requirement whatsoever (as long as it's not tiny) but I think a budget of £50-60 for both a case and PSU is not unreasonable. I don't need anything particularly flashy - I can live with a plain case, but not with lots of noise.
 
DeZmond

DeZmond

Junior Administrator
Yeah, I mean that Thermaltake is just gorgeous, but... it's like 70 quid on a case... money i don't have to spend really. Hence why I'm just building a mid-range system I can update easily enough in the future.
 
T

[THN]Buffalo_Hunter

In Cryo Sleep
The only problem I see is that you won't be able to upgrade the processor (except thorugh the second-hand market as all 939 CPU production has ceased).


What's your total budget like? My old system is up for sale for £350 (A64 3500+, GA-8KNXP-9 PCI Express mobo, 2GB OCZ RAM, X800XL 256MB GPU, 120+40GB Maxtor HD, Audigy 2 ZS, Thermaltake 560W PSU, XP Home, keyboard, mouse).
 
Tetsuo_Shima

Tetsuo_Shima

In Cryo Sleep
350????? jesus, thats a taker! If you dont get in there dez, im well up for it buff hunter.

EDIT: Oops that sounded well and truly wrong
 
Birdy

Birdy

In Cryo Sleep
ok so after all that can some one give me a run down of the great pc that i could buy as i have about 350 squid to by a new one and i cant be arsed to look for myslef as i allways end up getting the 5th best
 
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