First Build- with PICS!

[Missing Ghost]

If I were you, I would put a bit of money on the storage when you have the possibility.

 

[LOUISSSSS]

if i were you i wouldn't use a $0 psu on $a 500 system. when it can possibly cause damage to you hardware and cause you more money in the long run. system is kinda outdated.. $400 dell would perform similar

 

[Crescent13]

Case- Centurion 5
Motherboard- EPoX EP-9NPA+Ultra
CPU- AMD Opteron 144, you could have oc'ed it up to 2.8GHz or higher, that's what I have mine at.
CPU HSF- You could have got a Zalman CNPS-7000 for about the same price, and AFAIK, it cools better and is solid copper
RAM- 2GB of Value ram would have been faster than 1 GB of Platinum ram @ 2-2-2-8.
Vid Card- A 7600GT would Pwn that.
HDD- Maxtors die like crazy, not reliable at all. I would have gotten a 120GB Seagate or Hitachi drive instead.
Floppy- whatever you got
DVD Drive- NEC 3550A
PSU- Congradulations, you bought the most unstable PSU in the world. The x-connect has fried mobos, killed computers, gon bad, and even come up with a reading of 300W at times. Did I mention that they will sometimes start to give off funky smells when they die? I would replace that PSU ASAP.

To be perfectly honest, your rig sucks. like LOUISSSSS said, you need a better PSU, and it's outdated. You could have got a $400 dell. I feel sorry for you, that you saved up all that money and then spent it on old parts and a PSU that could kill everything in your computer and a HDD that could die on you at any minute etc...

 

[Scifience]

I should have said, "It likely won't handle Oblivion, etc. that well with all the eye candy turned on, but it should be fine for most FPS games, etc."

I still think that the RAM could stand an upgrade and that the CPU is a bit slow for a gaming system. However, as I said, given the OP's budget, he did well.

 

[n7]

Originally posted by: Crescent13
Case- Centurion 5
Motherboard- EPoX EP-9NPA+Ultra
CPU- AMD Opteron 144, you could have oc'ed it up to 2.8GHz or higher, that's what I have mine at.
CPU HSF- You could have got a Zalman CNPS-7000 for about the same price, and AFAIK, it cools better and is solid copper
RAM- 2GB of Value ram would have been faster than 1 GB of Platinum ram @ 2-2-2-8.
Vid Card- A 7600GT would Pwn that.
HDD- Maxtors die like crazy, not reliable at all. I would have gotten a 120GB Seagate or Hitachi drive instead.
Floppy- whatever you got
DVD Drive- NEC 3550A
PSU- Congradulations, you bought the most unstable PSU in the world. The x-connect has fried mobos, killed computers, gon bad, and even come up with a reading of 300W at times. Did I mention that they will sometimes start to give off funky smells when they die? I would replace that PSU ASAP.

To be perfectly honest, your rig sucks. like LOUISSSSS said, you need a better PSU, and it's outdated. You could have got a $400 dell. I feel sorry for you, that you saved up all that money and then spent it on old parts and a PSU that could kill everything in your computer and a HDD that could die on you at any minute etc...

3000+ is usually cheaper than the Opteron 144, no?
Zalman CNPS-7000 isn't a very good cooler.
Quiet, sure, but not much better than stock cooler, if at all.
Arctic Cooler 64 is an excellent cheap HSF.
Yes, value RAM would have been a better investment.
7600GT pwning an X850XT? Show me please.
Maxtor isn't the most popular here, but getting one is more of a preference than anything.
I do agree the PSU wasn't a great choice.

You guys are being overly harsh though.
I really doubt you knew as much as you do now when you first joined these forums.

 

[RussianSensation]

Nice build.

 

[pradeep1]

sweet build.

 

[nukexbi]

Nice job. That's a great system.

One suggestion though; cover up those rear slot openings. You don't want to much air being sucked in through the back there. It will ruin the airflow through the case.

 

[EagleEye]

Yeah, disreaguard all the thread crappers- they are either just angry that you got such a great system for so cheap, or that they got a worse system for more money.

And a $400 dell that could outperform this?!? It would be a $400 upgrade to get a p4 to be equal to a 2.2ghz amd in gaming and it wouldn't come with a gfx card (or a x300 SE with what 32 mb or ram and 4 pipes?).

The only upgrade that would be worthwhile IMO would be a better PSU. You could probably sell your old one for $30 and grab a decent FSP for $40 or $50

 

[RallyMaster]

IMO it's a fine choice of parts. Good cooler...a lot better than a Zalman CNPS7000. CPU is fine but the memory is kind of a waste. I didn't get performance mem because I saw the latencies play a minute part in performance. Shoulda gone with 2GB of G.SKILL Value with red heatspreaders. PSU...hope it doesn't die (sure hope mine doesn't...can't trust Thermaltake these days). As for HDD, nothing wrong with it except the fact that Maxtor got bought out by Seagate. I've two Maxtors in my computer and I'm not complaining. 7600GT is going to outperform the X850 XT only if running HDR and SM3.0 tests. Otherwise, it performs only a bit better than a 6800GS...and we all know how much the X850 XT is going to kick the 6800GS's butt.

 

[Alaric360]

good build....especially for a first timer. ...Although there are a couple of people that are being (let's put it nicely) very overly critical of your computer, there is at least one good recommendation thrown in with their hating. ....I have no experience with this power supply, but from everything I've heard from people who have owned them, I would stay as far away from this PSU as possible. Ultra is not a reputable manufacturer. I was looking around trying to find the efficiency rating of this thing but I couldn't find it anywhere. I'm sure it is <70% though. ...FYI, if you can't find the efficiency rating of a PSU, then it's being hidden. ...If it's being hidden, then there's something they don't want you to know.

 

[ShellGuy]

I have to agree with most of the peeps here and say it is a great first build 4 ya. Klean up ur wireing a bit and shoot some pics with the lights on in the room not the case. For the two guys who have nuttin better to do than bash others i would like to see what ur first builds were. I know mine wasn't great but guess what it still runs today. A friend of mine has the same PS and has NO let me repeat NO issues with it at all.



Will G.

 

[LiquidImpulse]

Originally posted by: Crescent13
Case- Centurion 5
Motherboard- EPoX EP-9NPA+Ultra
CPU- AMD Opteron 144, you could have oc'ed it up to 2.8GHz or higher, that's what I have mine at.
CPU HSF- You could have got a Zalman CNPS-7000 for about the same price, and AFAIK, it cools better and is solid copper
RAM- 2GB of Value ram would have been faster than 1 GB of Platinum ram @ 2-2-2-8.
Vid Card- A 7600GT would Pwn that.
HDD- Maxtors die like crazy, not reliable at all. I would have gotten a 120GB Seagate or Hitachi drive instead.
Floppy- whatever you got
DVD Drive- NEC 3550A
PSU- Congradulations, you bought the most unstable PSU in the world. The x-connect has fried mobos, killed computers, gon bad, and even come up with a reading of 300W at times. Did I mention that they will sometimes start to give off funky smells when they die? I would replace that PSU ASAP.

To be perfectly honest, your rig sucks. like LOUISSSSS said, you need a better PSU, and it's outdated. You could have got a $400 dell. I feel sorry for you, that you saved up all that money and then spent it on old parts and a PSU that could kill everything in your computer and a HDD that could die on you at any minute etc...

they do? isnt it all just personal experience anyways? don't be so harsh the guy man, it was his first build after all . but, as for the PSU, every1's said it b4, you better replace that thing before it dies and takes everything else with it

 

[Mik3y]

Originally posted by: LOUISSSSS
nice PSU lol. /sarcasm
why would u even consider that brand? do you like weak psus? do you like psus that die?

why do you bother with pointless posts? quit bashing people because they got something they like.

 

[bigboxes]

Well, we all know the OP was looking for a pat on the back, but when asking what people think... you sometimes get what they think.

Now, I would have liked to have seen some pics during the build process and without the blue lights. They make for some pretty pictures, but only of the finished product. I have a hard time making out how everything really looks.

All in all it is very nice for a first build. I would agree with some of the others that you would have been better off going with something other than Maxtor and Ultra. Seagate for the hdd and Antec/Enermax for the psu (yeah... pc pc if you can afford it).

 

[dealseaker]

very nice build, is your floppy connected right? noticed the green light on? I think it is a great first build, sure you can do better, but it is easy for someone to correct what you built, if you would have picked all the parts they mentioned, they would have said you could have got out cheaper picking up some older parts... etc...etc....etc.

 

[trexmgd]

Originally posted by: L1nVx
I think that is a very nie build and probably (i am not familiar on how good the graphics card is) would run games fine if you are into that. Seems like a great build and keep it up! i assume you kept your old keyboard/mouse/monitor but one suggestions iw ould have. well two really. don't get a floppy drive anymore but that's personal preference and use. As well maybe a cd-rw/or dvd-rw but i don't know what your uses are.

RE: Floppy - I know the OP isn't running RAID, but I am, so if anyone knows of a way to avoid a floppy for RAID, let me know. I might even just remove the damn thing after the install! Does anyone make blue leds to replace those in a floppy or CD/DVD Drive?

RE: Case - I have this case and I gotta say it's the best bang for the buck out there. It comes with a 120 fan in the rear and an 80 in the front (right in front of the HD bays). Also, the entire front of the case is steel mesh, with foam filters behind it. In another thread there is a guy who mounted an additional 120 in the front behind the empty 5.25 slots (remember the entire front is mesh) for great front to back air flow. There are two side vents, one with a cone (removable) for CPU heatsink exhaust and another presumeably for VGA exhaust. Some have suggest it is best to block this off for best air flow.

 

[letdown427]

Yep, let's see some picks of it with lights on etc, one of the normal profile shots everyone takes so we can see all of the innards. Then we can complain about the wiring

If not for AT, I would've bought an Ultra aswell, don't feel too bad! Nice build though, congratulations.

 

[BlingBlingArsch]

build a the very same rig just a month ago for my cousin...had to go with a cheap asrock board instead of the Epox, cuz the money budget was 750,- So i give ur build a strong thumbsup Enjoy, all games should run smooth at Medium and High settings.