Need Building Advice

[nooyawkah2]

It's been about 2 or 3 years since I last built a machine and would be grateful for any advice as to components. I would like a modern machine but would probably like to go a notch or so below state of the art as to avoid the high prices. I prefer AMD. Here are my needs:

-As I said AMD. The last I used was a 2000, I think.
-About a GB of RAM. Is Crucial still the best company?
-A good quality video card. I am NOT a gamer, but edit a lot of photos.
-A good audio card but certainly don't need the best here.
-Suggestions for a motherboard. I hope to use 2 harddrives but not a dual boot, just to Ghost them.
-Brand, size and speed of harddrives. Maybe 100 GB or so. Speed? Still 7200?
-Internet card, I use Belkin modem and router and a cable connection.
-Suggestions as to writers, readers, etc.
-case (no windows) and power supply
-Is Newegg still the best?

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

[hockey man]

Go to this (http://pcguide.com/vb/showthread.php?t=39018) thread. Look over thoses recommendations. Plus, what is your buget. And Newegg still rocks!

[deddard]

Things have changed rapidly in the last couple of years.
PCI express is now top dog with graphics, SATA is rapidly replacing IDE and of course we are now onto 64 bit processors.......or make that dual 64 bit processors.

Saphalline's sticky in this section is a great place to start.
Crucial still do some great memory, - a lot of people are going for Corsair etc as they come in matched pairs with heatsinks etc etc.

If you do a lot of video editing, you are right in thinking you don't need an all singing-all dancing Vid card, but I'd go with a couple of Gigs of RAM if your photo editing includes lots of 'undo' levels.
Ghost on SATA can be a hit and miss affair from some posts I've seen on the net, but I had no problem recently installing Ghost 2003 in exactly the way you are talking about (twin disks - one for Ghosts)

[saphalline]

If you do a lot of video editing, you are right in thinking you don't need an all singing-all dancing Vid card, but I'd go with a couple of Gigs of RAM if your photo editing includes lots of 'undo' levels.I definitely agree with deddard here. Get a cheap vid card (Radeon X550 would be my recommendation) and invest more money in RAM. 1GB is nice, but 2GB is better, as long as it fits in your budget. 2GB will soon become the standard gamers' amount, too.

A budget here would be very useful. Then we can advise you as to S754 or S939.

Onboard audio has achieved near greatness in the last couple of years. The only reason not to go with onboard audio these days is for recording pros and gamers with expensive tastes. So this part is essentially free (comes with the mobo).

Standard hard drive size is now 160-250GB. That size range will float you around the $100 mark, depending on certain features. SATA should be your only choice for a new system, NCQ is nice, and SATA II (aka 3G aka 2.0) will cost you more up-front and may not be worth it to you yet. We can get into this further if you want. Otherwise, pick a manufacturer! They're all really good nowadays and have many excellent offerings depending on what you want. Do you want a hard drive that's primarily quiet? One with the longest warranty? The absolute best performance? A nice all-around drive? Let us know your exact preferences.

Like audio, ethernet/LAN features are also built into the mobo now. And it's not just 10/100 anymore, it's gigabit! Heck, some mobo's even have dual-GbE ports! Any new mobo you pick out now will have at least one gigabit ethernet port built-in, so no worries there. And again, it's free.

For less than $50 on Newegg, you can get dual-layer DVD burners. That about sums it up.

Are you sure you don't want a window? Cases with side windows are actually among the best, especially when it comes to cooling. Gamers are a demanding bunch, and case manufactuers have been listening lately. Gone are the boring beige boxes of yore, replaced with stylish colored cases complete with windows & tons of fans & I/O options, etc. My favorite overall cases include only two types: gamer cases and full tower workstation cases. Those are pretty much all I use now.

[nooyawkah2]

My budget is about $1000 tops. I tried a window case once and got so bogged down tying the wiring that things kept pulling out of the mobo. I prefer mid towers but like black.. I have a silver lian-li case on my rig now. A quiet or mid-road PS would be great.

[nooyawkah2]

http://www.nanosys1.com/mb-as-a8v.html
Is this a good mobo? Seems cheap.

[hockey man]

Did you look at the sticked thread? He recommends this cheap 939 mobo (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813152049) Or this 754 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813127220) mobo.

[nooyawkah2]

Gigabyte GeForce 6600 GT PCIe x16
MSI K8N Neo4/SLI (NForce4 SLI) Socket 939
Corsair ValueSelect 1GB kit (2 x 512MB) PC3200 DDR400 (maybe 2 kits)

So far, leaning this way.

[deddard]

If you are looking at putting in 2GB RAM, don't buy 4 DIMMS of 512MB, instead go for 2 x 1GB.
It's a bit more expensive doing it that way, but you will leave a couple of slots free, which (assuming the mobo accepts upto 4GB) you WILL use in a couple of years!