Building a Computer - 2nd opinions

Sami

Looks good. I just upgraded my gaming rig and built a new budget gaming rig from the spare parts. I got the same processor for it with a basic motherboard for $100 (Fry's combo deal). No overclocking and only 2 sata ports on the mobo but for what its for, it will do.

MacLeod

Final update:

Woo - effing - hoo!!

Finally got this baby up and running and man Im here to tell ya, it pays to buy quality stuff.

Putting all the gear together was pretty straight forward. Ive done enough reading so I knew basically where everything went and together with my owners manuals and an issue of Computer Shopper where they do a step by step build, it took me about 30 minutes to get everything hooked up.

The moment of truth went off without a hitch. Fired this puppy up and it POST'd just fine. Booted with my Windows 7 RC DVD and within 20 minutes I was up and running.

The only snags were waiting an hour for Win7 to download (3 GB) and then another hour for my slow **** 1.6 GHz processor to burn it to DVD. Once I got it installed tho, well it did it all itself actually, I had to call my internet tech support cause Id forgotten how I set up my DSL modem but here I am!

Man this thing is FAST (to me anyway)! I pulled up my trusty Intel.com website benchmark and what pegged at 100% and was so choppy and broken that you couldnt watch it, on this one it was smooth as silk. This little AMD dual core never got above 20% usage! This 2.7 GHz chip also got a 6.2 on the Windows Experience thing-a-ma-jig for whatever thats worth. This thing is supposed to be able to get to 3.0 on stock voltage - just a bump of the multiplyer so Ive got some room to grow. Only got a 3.8 on graphics tho but thats to be expected with onboard GPU. I do think I might venture into some light gaming so a Radeon 4850 is in my future.

Everything worked right off the bat too. No DOA's. My exhaust fans are a little loud but I have them on medium speed so Ill open the case back up and turn those down tomorrow.

I think Im really going to like Win7. This thing seems to be as fast as XP with all the eye candy of Vista. Ill definitely be picking up a copy once theyre released.

So thats its. My first build is (so far) a success. No problems at all (so far). I attribute this to doing my homework, buying good quality gear and the help on here. Thanks again guys! I cant wait to upgrade again.