Hello all,

I'll be building a new system in mid June, and would like some suggestions on components that will go together smoothly. Suggestions on a good distribution for a Linux newbie would also be appreciated. This will be my first system build, so I'm mainly concerned with ease of installation / configuration, as well as getting up to speed with the new OS and software.

System uses: Primarily general office/student type stuff. Occasional light gaming (flight simulators), 2 and 3D CAD/graphics work, watching DVD's, and C/C++ program development.


Here's what I'm looking at:

-Athlon 64 3000+ / Socket 939 (knee of the price/performance curve)
-Video Card: nVidia GeForce MX4000 or FX 5200 GPU, 128 MB RAM, 8x AGP interface. Comments on which brand to go with?
-Hard Drive: 80GB, 7200RPM, prefer 8MB cache. Comments on the brands (reliability)? Would prefer SATA over IDE, but I understand that can be a pain to install onto.
-RAM: 1GB (2 x 512) PC3200. Thinking Kingston or Corsair.
-Motherboard: TBD -- what models/brands have you had good/bad experiences with? I don't plan to overclock, so a basic model is fine
-CD-RW + DVD-ROM: Good/bad experiences with any particular make?
-Sound card: All the motherboards have onboard sound these days. Do I need one (other than for the gameport)? I am *not* an audiophile!
-3.5" Floppy drive: Do I need one? I use my USB drive for everything now. Only reason I can think of for getting one would be installing drivers from.
-Case/power supply: Mid or mini-tower case. I have no desire for a "gamer" case to mod. Will spec out the power supply after I've rounded up the components I plan to use. Suggestions on good/bad brands? Plan to buy locally rather than order to save on shipping.
-Linux Distribution: top contenders are Ubuntu and Fedora Core 3.

As far as a source for all these goodies, I'll be in California and want to avoid the sales tax. TigerDirect appears to be in FL; any other reputable internet sources that are out-of-state for me to comparison shop against?

Thanks,

Etan Karni

Welcome to LQ! (And, presumably, Go Boilers!) Misc comments: for a vendor, definitely check out NewEgg They're awesome. As for the components, in no particular order, I have had good experience with the following:

HD - Western Digital.
RAM - Kingston
CD/DVD - LiteOn
Case - Antec
Power - Antec

It's unlikely that you need a floppy; modern BIOS will permit a boot from the CD and even a USB device. Regarding SATA or IDE, for the time being I'd still go with IDE. Getting SATA up and running can be an additional chore, and IMO there are no significant benefits or penalties either way, so I'd go the simple basic way. I applaud the AMD CPU choice, I've got an Athlon 2500+ which I've been very impressed with, and would recommend AMD without hesitation.

Good luck with things regardless, and welcome -- J.W.

You probably won't need a floppy, but you could, and they only cost $8 or less at newegg so I would get one "just in case".

I have long been an AMD fan, and the 64bit's are very impressive from what I've used of them. As for the choice of which model, I wouldn't be set on the 3000+ if you are not purchasing till June. Around that time AMD should be starting to ship the Athlon 64 X2. This is amd's line of consumer dual core processors. If you wanted to go with the dual core, that's what I'm waiting for. If not, the release of the X2 would most likely cause the prices of the lower models to drop, so the 3000+ might not be the best value out there at that time.

I see no problem with on board sound, and a sound card isn't really needed if you are fine with using the onboard.

I have an 80 and have never filled it, but these days going for 120GB isn't all that much more than an 80GB. Also be aware that there is now PATA (IDE), SATA 150, and now SATA II. If you are going for SATA be sure that the mobo you choose supports it.

I've never had a problem with my Lite-On optical drives which are also sold under many other brands, but are still Lite-On.

As for where to buy, newegg.com for almost evertything. I have purchased from them several times, buying parts for at least 5 different systems, and have never had any trouble and have never been dissapointed.

newegg.com has worked well for me. Have returned a couple things with no problem.

A Western Digital hd crashed on me. It was a disaster. I subsequently heard bad things about them. I'm now using Seagate with no problems.

One of my pet peeves is NOISE. I use a Zalman silent power supply. Very good.

It's hard to find good hardware configuration advice. I'd like to find a good mid-range configuration for Fedora Core 3, but haven't found it yet.

You have a good config here. Here are my 2 cents:

Your choice in RAM and video card is good. (nVidia cards are pretty easy to setup, I have yet to get my Radeon 9800 pro to work in my shuttle box).

I like Pioneer and Plextor DVD/RW drives. You can get a good Pioneer drive (model # 108 or 109) for $70 US

How much are you looking to spend on CPU/Mobo? Extremetech has a lot of reviews on 939 mobos

http://www.extremetech.com/category2/0,1556,285,00.asp

As for HDD, I like Hitachi/IBM and Seagate. I have had a 250 GB WD mysteriously die on me and 2 days later resurrect itself. (I had it in an external enclosure). I also like the maintenance software IBM and Seagate provide for their drives. The 80 gig is about $50 US, I would go with the 160 gig for $40 US more, but that is just me.

If you want a soundcard, get a creative labs Audigy model. The 24 bit live models didn't work until I applied a kernel update on my Fedora Core 3 install. (I wish someone had created a driver for the philips acoustic edge. It was decent card and I hate to have parts laying around.)

I like the mistumi floppy/memory card reader drives ~ $25 US

I use Antec cases the 630 series is quite nice, although I am thinking about upgrading to the TX640
The SLK3000B is also a good, quiet case. I use it for my PVR and it is ~ $46 US

I got these prices form www.mwave.com, but they are in California. Directron.com and Newegg are good online stores as well.

I hope this info helps you.

This is my first post by the way

Thanks for your speedy replies J.W., Claudius, Steve, Roberto!

Any thoughts on video card makes? eVGA, XFX, Asus, MSI, Chaintech (and probably a few more that I've overlooked) all make cards in my (cheap) price range with GeForce GPUs.
I suppose one criteria beyond direct personal experience could be "who's been around for a while and has figured out how to build a video card." Any any of these companies relatively new to the game?

Motherboard search was narrowed somewhat when I considered AMD's "recommended" list.
http://www2.amd.com/us-en/Processors...tml?1114120167
Does this mean much / is it a worthwhile constraint?

Thanks,

Etan Karni

For you mobo I recommmend Asus. I always have had good systems with there mobos. Ram Kindston (NEVER Geil or off brands). Video card Nvidia. For a Newer linux user I do not recommend Slackware. Although once you start understanding a little about linux I would recommend it. It is very easy to use but harder to install. I recommend buying a book and acutally reading it. I have just finished my first linux book.

For mobo, I've had some trouble with abit, and I plan to steer clear of them on my next system. A recent computer mag that I read compared mobos and the Asus with nforce4 came out on top. Also check the chipset. Even though a mobo may have the same manufacturer, it may have different chipsets. I have seen a lot of praise on the nvidia nforce4 chipset.

It's kind of hard reccomending specific hardware. Video cards will most likely be ATI or Nvidia chipsets made by different manufacturers. Mobos will mostly be Nvidia nforce, SiS, or VIA by different companies. I normally go by what chipset I want, rather than the company that sells it. For instance maybe I want an nvidia graphics chipset with a nforce motherboard rather than wanting an Asus motherboard and eVGA video card. I choose chipset, then go by which features I want to get instead of what brand is on the box.

Also consider purchasing "OEM" hardware instead of "Retail". "OEM" is normally cheaper, but it doesn't come in a nice box like in a electronnics store, and won't include a manual. Of course if you want the added stuff of retail, go right ahead.

All of this is just my opinion, and you will find that opinion will vary between people when it comes to computer hardware. Go by reviews that you read and what looks good to you in the end.

Hello again everyone,

Finally got my system up and running last night! Since I hate a story without an ending and think it might benefit others to hear where I got hung up in the process and how I got going again, here's what happened:

The system I ended up with was basically similar to what I had proposed earlier. Here's what I bought:
Motherboard: MSI K8T Neo2-F
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3000+, Venice Core, AMD stock heatsink and fan
RAM: 2 x 512MB Corsair Value Select
Video card: Jaton 3DForce FX5700LE
Power Supply: Antec Smart Power 350W in Antec SLK1650B case
HDD: Western Digital 120GB, 8Mb Cache
DVD-RW: Lite-On SOHW-1633S
O/S: Ubuntu

Ordered the pieces from Mwave.com and they arrived two days later (week ago last Thursday) in fine shape.

Mechanical assembly of the system went smoothly, due in large part to spending an hour or so scheming out the best order to install and connect everything. Attempted first boot, and it wouldn't even post. Uh oh... Pulled one of the two sticks of RAM, and got it to post, but couldn't get into BIOS. Better... Discussions with the folks on the motherboard forum led to pulling the plug on the HDD. Presto, BIOS! Trouble is, the BIOS that came on the motherboard does not support the (relatively new) Venice core. OK, maybe BIOS is the source of my trouble. Ah, the joy's of flashing the BIOS on a system that won't boot. The workaround involves a Win98 boot disk that creates a virtual hard drive in RAM and a DOS prompt. Anyway, flashed to the latest BIOS (which was fortuitously released last week), and still no joy. Which left what the forum guys had been concerned about all along: the powersupply.

Turns out that AMD processors are heavy on the +12V line, while Pentiums pull more from +5V. The result: my 350W Antec powersupply couldn't hack it (10A+15A on dual 12V rails). Went out and bought a 480W Enermax with 16A+15A on the dual 12V rails, and presto, all the problems went away. Ubuntu installation went painlessly. I haven't had a chance to fully check out the system, but after that's done, I'll be posting my findings to the hardware compatibility list here.

Lessons learned:
Find the help forums for your motherboard (and possibly other items of concern) and read what's been posted/what problems people have had BEFORE whipping out the credit card. Link to the MSI forum is below. There's a lot of great info about AMD64 systems in general there, so I encourage anyone planning to build one of these systems to read over the stuff there.

AMD64 specific: be aware of the power requirements and an apparent sensitivity to some types of RAM.

My case + CPU was $60, which is basically what the power supply retails for. The case is nother special. Next time I build, my inclination would be to find a cheap case locally and buy a good powersupply separately for it.

While I was shopping originally, and this weekend when I was hunting for powersupplies, I looked at ebay. There appear to be some pretty good deals there, relative to retail. If you're comfy with shopping that way, it might be worth a look (but then if you're ok with the auctions, you probably looked there first anyway!). As for me, not yet...

Don't plan on building a system and having it working immediately (duh)!

Useful links:
MSI Forum: http://forum.msi.com.tw/index.php?board=24.0
Boot Disk: http://www.madboot.com/modules.php?o...ads&file=index
Goodies from AMD:
System build guide--
http://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/cont...ck_ref_faq.pdf
System build checklist--
http://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/cont...docs/24387.pdf
Heatsink installation video--
http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/...5E6678,00.html


Again, thanks to all of you guys for helping me get started on the right foot. Hope this debriefing proves useful to someone else down the line too.

Etan