Sweet MBoard/CPu Deal! (but need lil help)

EDIT:
alright, im buying a 1GB stick of ram (right now, im hoping to get another later)

it is here:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...0&Sku=ULT31664


The Mother Board and Processor i want are here:
its asus and i know its a celeron, but its CHEAP

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...M-P4V8X-MX-340

But for $5 more i can get an "MST" mobo with a 3.06 GHZ processor:
HERE: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...=MBM-PM8MV-345

i am still unsure of AMD but i finally found an AMD Sempron:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...MBM-8KRAI-3300

please take a look, and tell me if its bettter than both the other deals, its only $15 more..





http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...MBM-P4M800-340

Thats the motherboard i am thinking about getting... im building my own computer!

I already have a 40GB HDD, a Tower with Power supply, and a Video Card (NVidia g-force 64mb 3000 [i know, im upgrading to 5900 or 6600 GT])

I just need a Mother Board, Proccessor, and RAM!!!

I'm going to get 512MB PC3200 DDR 400mMHz RAM ($14.99 :D ) and then my father said he can get a 512MB DDR stick... but i think its PC266 RAM (or some such)

Now... my first question... would I be able to Have two different sticks plugged in (different speeds, different PC [3200 vs 266], and different brands) at the same time to make 1GB of ram? or instead of spending 14.99 on the 512MB pc 3200 with 400mhz and $30 on the unknown 512MB stick, should i buy the 1024MB PC3200 400MHz stick for $49.99?

I am also noticing the 1024 stick description says " Pins - 184"

my second question is much simpler...

The MBoard i showed above says its a socket 478... it comes with a processor... the socket 478 is the processor socket... right? so that shouldnt matter?

i also do not have any cords/ wires/ or cables... so im hoping everything comes with those :confused:

i feel like a total noob, but this is the best way to learn right??

sorry if i posted in the wrong forum, i was going to post in Off-Topic but i say Hardware... heheh....

Thx for your help and support DCemU!!!!

First off, Intel Yuck...
(Sorry im an AMD Fanboy)

Your going to need to buy a CPU fan that works with that processor if you dont have one already. Dont forget the other common stuff like cd-drives, a monitor, or a keyboard and mouse but im assuming you have or are getting those.

With ram the speeds of the sticks must match. If not they will find a common speed the, PC 3200 will slow down to PC 2100 speeds to match that other stick if you decide to go that way. If I were you I would buy two sticks of PC 3200 instead of a 1gig stick this way you can run your ram at pc3200 speeds and the ram would run Dual-Channel provided that motherboard supports it and most do nowadays but check this on the motherboards manufacturers page. You cannot run two different sticks dual channel they have to be identical, running ram dual channel offers a great boost in performance and with that mobo and cpu it would be a very wise addition.

Most motherboards come with a cd with drivers, one IDE cable, One Floppy cable, and a plate for the back of your case, and not always with a manual but usually.

And yes the processor and motherboard should work together or it wouldnt be much of a bundle would it.

Also make sure your powersupply has enough watts, and remeber when working on your new pc to take your time and think things through if you get frustrated like I always do take a break and relax.

Heheh.... yeah i have Monitors/ Mice/ and... i can find a cd drive somewhere...

Thx for all the advice... right now im running a 512 stick and a 256 stick (768 total)...

and i have a g-force 6600 running on a 4x agp motherboard with only 1.69GHZ....

Sorry, but they had no AMD Bundles... if you find one though, ILL BUY IT (if its below $75, lol....) i like AMD too... and i have an intel right now... 1.69ghz... heheh....

i was thinking i might get the 1 gig stick now for 49.99 and then buy another later.. i only have $150 to pay for a halo party, and then this... so with the MBoard and Processor being $70 and the RAM being $50 i have $30 to spend on Halo party junK!

and runing two 1gig sticks would be better than two 512, eh?

lol... im hoping to also get an NVidia GeForce 5900 (video in/ out, YAY!!!) or 6600 GT (overclocked to da max!!!)

but i wont be upgrading the HDD anytime soon... 40GB is enough for me...

int the end im hoping to have spent only around $300.... good opposed to the $2000 computer Dell had with 2.80 Ghz (intel, PLEH!!), 1gb ram, Ge force 6800 and some sorta sound card too....

Which reminds me, do i need a sound card or does this motherboard have a USABLE one built in... i read about 6 channel sound... on the page.... i COULD just run it without sound... LOL.... i have PC speakers, a Monitor, a mouse... working on keyboard and CDR drive....

thx for the help.... can i keep this thread open and post pics and such of the PC being built, or does EVERYONE already know EVERYTHING about this... i KNOW i dont... and it'd be kinda kool and helpful... make me feel special anyways :P

Why go with Intel? Yucky.

Get a nice AMD socket 939 motherboard and you'll be much happier. Also, that motherboard is a piece of crap, get a well known brand (MSI Asus Abit).

You know that motherboard is AGP8x? You should really get PCIe if you plan on buying a new graphics card anyway.

Get the 6600GT, don't bother with getting a 5XXX series. You'll soon find they don't particularly like DirectX9 much, and the 6600 is a much better card anyway.

If you need help then this is a site that really helped me when I built my first PC - I've always built it myself after that. Their forums are really good aswell, with a section to post your specs before you actually buy anything.

I Love AMD but Intel is ok.
Beware this motherboard has an old socket, it means no cpu upgrade and it's got an older agp video port.
As Ptr stated PCIe would be a better choice.
With modern motherboards two ram sticks are better than just one, it kinda doubles the ram bandwidth.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by semicolo

With modern motherboards two ram sticks are better than just one, it kinda doubles the ram bandwidth.

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It doesn't double but it does increase. Get some decent RAM as well, a nice named brand like Corsair or Crucial. Corsair Value is really good for the money and can run in dual channel with good timings. I got 1GB (2x 512MB) Corsair Value DDR400 CL2.5 for only £25 off eBay brand new :D

Personally, I wouldn't bother with that motherboard though if you intend to play new games or wanna upgrade any time soon. That motherboard has no PCIe, only SATA not SATA2, and doesn't support dual channel RAM.

Then again $70 for a mobo and CPU is well cheap, and is probably worth getting if you aren't going to play many games (it's a celeron) and don't plan on upgrading any time soon.

Well he did say that he was on a budget and eventhough a socket 939 and PCI-E is the next path in the upgrade they are still expensive. I would recomend getting a Nvidia Nforce2 ultra chipset on a socket A motherboard with an Athlon XP and buy some DDR sticks to run dual channel, with a Socket A you would be supprised that new games still run fine and you could upgrade to a Geforce 7800gs and still play new games for the next year or two. Possibly you could go for a Socket 754 compromise, If you can afford you can still get an athlon 64 and PCI-E but I highly doubt you could buy a socket 939 on a $300 budget.

Well right now i have socket 478, 4x AGP, 768 MB of PC133 Ram, 260GB HDD, a 1.69Ghz Intel... i dont know much about my MBoard and processor becase it came with this crappy dell five years ago... so i am uprading...

I would get an AMD 64 but i only have like $140 at the moment... all im getting is Ram, MBoard, and Processor... added up with the cpu, mobo, and ram.. its going to be $120... then in about two months im going to get an overclocked GeForce 6600GT $70-130 (used froma friend).... after that im hoping to get another 1 GB stick of RAM (price unknown... hopefully it will be $300..

by the way, i found an ASUS with the same specs (and a littel better) with the same processor for the same price...

What ever you do dont get THIS sempron combo:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...MBM-8KRAI-3300

My friend just got two and they are complete junk, they first off misread the sempron as a regular TB Athlon and force it to 100fsb even after changing the BIOS but they overheat soo much you can fry an egg on the cpu heatsink. Dont get me wrong semprons are sweet in fact im using one now but the mobo is complete junk, get a motherboard with a Nvidia chipset dont get any VIA for a sempron.

Since your on a buget I would get this:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...9091&CatId=188
(But im not a huge fan of mATX mobos)

So I would shop www.newegg.com, TigerDirect doesnt have as nearly as much selection and it is often overpriced junk but every once in a while they have good deals.

And remember you HAVE to get a compatible cpu fan, dont forget to...

Also Having an 8x agp mobo and card offer NO performance gains in games in comparison to 4x, only slighty faster loading screens if you think this upgrade will get you alot more performance in games your mistaken you will probally not notice any significant difference from the faster processor and ram until you upgrade the video card and even then only in games that rely heavily on the cpu.

If I where you I would strongly consider a socket A sempron, dont be fooled by intels Ghz mind game, an AMD chip running at 2Ghz will out perform an intel running at almost 3Ghz usually and Semperons Overclock like nuts on top of that, in my mind with amd you get much more performance for your cash...

Well.. right now dude, im running a standard Geforce 6600 256 ddr with 8x agp at factory settings.... a 1.69 GHZ intel processor.... my motherboard is 5 years old... and 768MB pc 133 ram....

what i will end up with with whatever cpu/mobo... a geforce 6600 GT, 128 ddr3,with 8x agp, over clocked, anywhere from 2.0 GHZ amd to 3.06 ghz intel (a whole 1.37 ghz increase, or .31 ghz increase with AMD) and 2GB DDR pc3200 Ram.. (x2 1024)

so then the $89.00 AMD with the cpu is better than the 84.99 one? ok... and with the above specs (i am upgrading the vid card) wont i see a rather large performance increase? i should have twice the power... thats what im hoping for.. kinda.. doubling everything...

but they dont make a geforce 13200GPu vid card, and i dont have that kind of money, so i cant get a vid card twice is powerful, but im going from a STANDARD 6600 256 ddr1 to an OVER CLOCKED 6600 GT with 128 ddr3!!!

that will give me performance, aye?

edit:

also my cpu teacher keeps telling me the 4x agp mobo witht he 8x agp cid card would bottle neck the power... he said id only be able to run it at half of what it should... so ill also have 8x agp instead of 4x.. i was also told this by a gamer friend of mine who builds pc's.... so... i kinda beleive 'em... and if they're wrong, then woohoo, faster load time is good too!

edit: thank you for all your help, ive always wanted a gaming machine, as you can tell mine was supposedly for gaming but cant even play doom 3 at lowest settings at a decent fps... so i am finally being able to construct a gaming machine, even if it is not the best... im just hoping to be able to have twice the power of my old machine (the one im typing with now, LOL) and dreaming to run doom 3 and quake 4 and highest settings... but im content with medium... right now i cant even run it with every adanced setting turned off and the res at 640/480... the frame rate will drop to like 5....

so thank you very much for the help!!! please understand what i am doing... i dont want the best... just an acceptional gaming machine for my budget...