building my computer:

[spilot]

hey everyone, i'm still a rookie, but i'm learning...here's what i've come up with, but just curious if all these parts will go together:

Asus A7N8X-E-Deluxe

Barton 3000+ (over even the xp 2800) (i'm not looking for overclocking or anything, just wanna be able to run a few things like logic, cubase, fruity loops, and acid pro)...

1G DDR-400 (for starters)

but i'm not too sure about the hard drive....looking at the sata 8 + but just curious, which ones (brands) would you recommend, and does it really all that matter:

for ex. i was looking at something like that:

Maxtor Serial ATA 160.0GB SATA-150 8MB Cache 7200 RPM, and just curious, how can i find out that it'll fit my asus (in other words, does having the sata connections take care of the problem, or is there more i should look out for)

also, a few questions about the mobo,

i've heard nothing but good things about e-deluxe, but also curious about some of the differences of the similar ones i found for a cheaper price, like:


Asus A7N8X nForce2 AMD ATX Audio LAN AGP8X ATA133 , or

Asus ASUS A7N8X-X Socket A /8X AGP / AUDIO


someone told me that they're all the same, but i would like to know what are some general differences, and what some of the things i should keep in mind in specs, that would suite my needs...

thank you in advance!

[washe]

For A7N8X check very carefully the ram you are going to use, its a little picky, I currently use corsair on it a works perfectly, I have read another threads that they had problems with another brands..

[jmichna]

originally posted by spilot
...how can i find out that it'll fit my asus (in other words, does having the sata connections take care of the problem, or is there more i should look out for)

also, a few questions about the mobo,

i've heard nothing but good things about e-deluxe, but also curious about some of the differences of the similar ones i found for a cheaper price....

Try the Asus website.
http://usa.asus.com/products/mb/sock...d/overview.htm will give you the features for the A7N8X-E Deluxe. I didn't see a comparison chart of all the different "flavors" of A7N8X iterations at the Asus site, so you'll probably need to look up each one individually and compare them yourself.

[peterwilkes]

Hi spilot, welcome to TechIMO !

If you are going for the A7N8X Board, make sure you have good quality RAM. I have been using Crucial RAM in mine and it seems to be working great and it even overclocks a little.

Buying expensive RAM may seem better but when you are hitting almost 3 Gb / sec bandwith, the extra 100 Mb / sec you will get for using memory with better timings is not noticeable and is a waste of money. Ex*****ve RAM is good for overclocking though but as you say, you will not be overclocking.

Mobos - Don't go for the A7N8X-X as I think this is an older board, I would go for the A7N8X Deluxe (Make sure it's a rev. 2.0) I have heard that the A7N8X-E board does not overclock as well but it has a few extra features such as gigabit LAN which is pointless and wireless slot which may be useful.

HDD - I have a SATA drive (Maxtor 7200 rpm 8 Mb Cache 120 Gb) and works fine on my system. It is fairly fast but can be quite noisy. I have only ever had Maxtor drives.

Onboard audio - The onboard sound storm audio is very poor so I recomend you getting a decent soudblaster crd installed. You will definetly notice the diffrerence in sound quality.

[jmichna]

http://usa.asus.com/prog/p_search.asp?kp=A7N8X&langs=09

[cysus]

Each Asus motherboard line (i.e. A7N8X and all variations) is based the same chipset, the chipset will affect the overall quality, stability and performance of you motherboard the most. It is more important which chipset based motherboard you choose than which variation you want. The NVIDIA nForce2-ST is considered one of if not the best chipset for AMD socket A systems. Once you have decided to go with a certain chipset based motherboard you must choose what variation you want, for ASUS a variation is marked by a suffix in the model name.

Usually asus suffix’s mean this.
No suffix- base, retail release product
Deluxe- more features, better quality
E- revised version of the original, usually better
SE- lower quality, cheaper
X- less features, cheaper
V- onboard video
VM- onboard video, multimedia features

Once you have found the line of motherboard you want (i.e. A7N8X) you simple decide what your budget is a get the best variation you can.

[spilot]

onboard sound

thanks a lot guys! very helpful! i actually have an m-audio 2496 soundcard, so i'm thinking about bypassing my onboard sound, and going through my soundcard...the only problem is, that sometimes i get the reverse signal, and it knocks the sound quality ( i have to restart my computer etc...but i'm just gonna have to tweak it out).

thanks a lot again!

[washe]

the onboard sound on this boards is very good, I havent got the need to replace it yet.....

[The_Shooter]

Welcome Spilot!

As for the HD. The maxtor drives seek time is slower than other brands. The Average Seek Time: 9.3 ms

If you were to get a Samsung 160GB, its Seek time is 8.9ms.
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...152-015&depa=1

If you want to go with WD 160GB HD, that work also. The seek time on that is also 8.9ms. The price for this HD is the cheapest out of the 3 on http://www.newegg.com
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...144-152&depa=1

[spilot]

thanks a lot!