new rig, help

[forcer]

I have decided to start building a new computer. But i need a little help.

current -> new

modded acrylic pc case -> modded thermaltake tsunami(silver)

viatech mobo -> ???? this is something i know nothing about, i was aware motherboards all done the same thing apart from the most they can support. i need a good mobo, that can handle athlon xp 64.

athlon xp 2000 -> athlon 64 (2.2 ghz?)

3x256drr pc1200 ram -> dunt know what ram for the mobo to go for, my mobo only supports up to 3x256 sticks so i cant expand further so i need a mobo that can hold at least 1gig of ram

geforce 4 mxx 64mb 4x agp -> ive followed geforce from the start, thinking they where the best performing gfx cards... i now know this is not the case but ive never looked at any others, whats the best? i want at least 128mb

sb live 5.1 digital -> i am fairly happy with this card but i was thinking audigy 2? any reccomendations?

on board nic -> ??? i am using an onboard nic card for my broadband, are they much different from a pci nic card? i wouldnt think so?

dvd drive/or writer - got a 52x cd-r/w so that can stay, but maybe an extra dvd drive

floppy -> i HATE floppy drives, i've never used mine for years, can i take it out? and get my computer to work without it... tried before i think i got an error like "floppy fail(0)"

-
xtras:

cooling for the athlon 64 ? i am currently using stock

are there any online shops what offer these products at reasonable prices.

what mobo and ram should i go for?

for a rig like this, what is a rough amount of what it will cost?

this is the first computer i will have built from scratch!

any help appreciated

 

[the_music_man]

ok i don't know much about cooling but i know newegg.com offers really good offers for computer parts. for mobo i suggest ones with nforce 2 or 3 ... some mobo brands to look for are Abit and Asus - they make the best. and the RAM i suggest 400 mhz ones from Kingston (theres like 2X512) and u can get them for 170ish...and i really don't know how much its gonna cost b/c it depends what things ur gonna decide to upgrade?

 

[the_music_man]

and i would really suggest ATI for graphics cards even tho ur a geforce fan... the 9800/9700/9600 series are incredible

 

[dreamliner77]

Put my vote for an M-Audio Revolution 7.1 for a sound card unless you are a heavy gamer and can't live without the newest incarnation of EAC.

 

[Sazar]

I wrote this specifically for users such as you looking for information wrt athlo64's

http://forum.osnn.net/showthread.php?t=39474

give it a read if you can to get a better idea of pricing and the like (accuracte @ the date it was written)

you might want to keep the case you already have to cut out around $100 of cost from the budget..

wrt video card... it all depends what you want to do with it.. gaming-wise the best bang for the buck card on the market right now is the 6800GT... if you want highest end either the 6800ultra or the ati x800 XT PE will cut to the chase for you...

all a64 boards I know off support 3-4gb of RAM...

till you have the money or wish to purchase a better card, the onboard audio will suffice IMO...

 

[ElementalDragon]

GigaByte makes good mobo's too, but do they make AMD motherboards?

And about the CPU cooler, if you don't mind spending $50 US, i'd say go for GigaByte's 3D Cooler Pro. it's kinda quiet when turned down all the way (at 2,000 rpm's), but if you REALLY want your CPU cool, you can crank the puppy up to 4,000 rpm's, at the cost of a boat-motor-ish sound. i kinda plan on making my own little mini-review about it soon. gonna install motherboard monitor or somethin so i can figure out exactly what temp the cpu is at what rpm's.

 

[PseudoKiller]

GigaByte makes good mobo's too, but do they make AMD motherboards?

And about the CPU cooler, if you don't mind spending $50 US, i'd say go for GigaByte's 3D Cooler Pro. it's kinda quiet when turned down all the way (at 2,000 rpm's), but if you REALLY want your CPU cool, you can crank the puppy up to 4,000 rpm's, at the cost of a boat-motor-ish sound. i kinda plan on making my own little mini-review about it soon. gonna install motherboard monitor or somethin so i can figure out exactly what temp the cpu is at what rpm's.

Yes Gigabyte does make AMD boards... I just got one for my new AMD 2600 Mobility and the MoBo is a GA-7VT600 1394... this thing has everything. FSB 400 Socket A / 3 DDR400 / 8X AGP / 6CH Audio / LAN / SATA / 8 USB 2.0 / 1394 / RAID

 

[ElementalDragon]

hmm.... the temp doesn't seem to drop below 98 degrees Farenheit. guess it's cause of it using heatpipes and a central fan blowing air through the fins of the heatsink at the edges of the pipes, and not directly at the CPU. seems logical, don't it? but i have to have the fan speed turned up a bit higher to the point that i barely hear it to keep it around 100 degrees Farenheit. if i have it all the way down, it get's up to like 111 degrees. the temp that high won't damage the CPU, will it? what's the estimated temp the CPU can take for an extended period of time before something starts to fail?