About to start building a new rig...

Mobo: Asus A8N-SLI
CPU: Athlon 64 X2 3800+
RAM: 1GB Crucial DDR2 400
Storage: 3 x 250GB Seagate Barracuda 7200 RPM SATA I in Raid 5
Optical Disk: Lite-On DVD burner
Video: FX5500 128MB DDR

Misc: 19" Viewsonic LCD, wireless Microsoft kb/mouse, RME digital audio card

Worst part is it's not mine Gonna be the new recording rig for my church to do multi-track recordings with. Should be one heck of a powerhouse though...

Good call on the Athlon X2 vs Pentium D. Any specific reason why you opted for the SLI version?

What are you doing for audio?

Sounds fun, those new dual core AMD chips look sweet.

I saw 2Gb of Corsair Ram on newegg for around $250 last week, I think I'd be looking into that for a machine that hot.

It got good reviews from a few users that run the recording program I'll be getting.

Gonna be feeding the PC from a Yamaha DM1000 live mixing console. With the way I have the board set up right now I can run 16 individual channels via ADAT into the PC via the RME card to be mixed down/mastered later.

The ram is DDR2, so 1GB should be fine to start out with for now. If I need more I can always add it later. The board supports 4GB

Your motherboard does not support DDR2!!!! As of now AMD does not use DDR2 in any shape or form.

My recommendations for ram -

1gb

On the Cheap - generic PC3200 2x512

If you're going to overclock then yes better ram is nice, but if you aren't overclocking you will not notice the difference between generic (2.5-3-3-8 1T timings) vs better more expensive (2-2-2-5 1T) ram. If you're overclocking then ram choices all boil down to personal preference, TCCD/TCC5 chips, or OCZ VX, or etc etc, all have different behaviors that may be desireable for different applications.

If you want 2gb that is cheaper but good, try some stuff that OCZ has -

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...y&promoid=1026

or

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...y&promoid=1026

Of course these are canadian prices, the egg will have both of these, probably around $200-250??

Now if you are overclocking and want some fast ram in 2x1gb form, then these are about your only options

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...Z%20Technology

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...Z%20Technology

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...Z%20Technology

If you aren't overclocking then ram faster than PC3200 does nothing for you.

EDIT

I see it's for your church so I assume it won't be overclocked lol! Generic PC3200 will be fine (2x512 or 4x512), or one of the 2x1gb PC3200 kits, all up to you!

Did it come with virus or did you have to install it

Kinda looks like the one that I just built..except for the video.
Make sure that ram is on their approved list....seems like the a8n's are a bit picky on ram. Like the other said, get some value ram if you're not overclocking (from what i've read). 2GB of the Corsair value select is about 160ish for 2 Dimms. Don't go with 4 Dimms on there...if you do go 2GB.

Here's what I put in mine....Have been VERY happy with it so far.

AMD X2 3800
Asus A8N SLI Premium
Dell 2005FPW
XFX PVT70GUDF7 Geforce 7800GT
2x CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered System Memory Model VS1GB400C3 - Retail
SEASONIC|S12-500 PSU
THERMALTAKE Tusnamai VA3000BWA case
Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB
NEC Black IDE DVD Burner Model ND-3550A -
ASUS Black IDE DVD-ROM Drive Model DVD-E616A BLACK

Can I have your monitor?

I'm running a bit older of a setup but my overclock makes up for it

AMD 3200+ Venice @ 250x10 = 2500mhz (up from 2000mhz) w/Thermalright XP-90 heatsink
DFI Lanparty NF4 Ultra-D
2x512 Corsair 3200XL Pro (funky activity LED's, kinda cool got the ram used for cheap) @ 250mhz 2.5-3-3-8 1T
Connect3D Radeon X850XT PE
Antec SuperLanBoy case, Enermax 565W power supply
160gb WD 120gb Sata hard drive
Lite-On 832S DVD-RW



Thanks for bringing up the video card, I missed that! You need a PCI-E video card, not an AGP one! The FX5500 is AGP only as far as I know. For a little more $ I'd recommend an Radeon X800GTO or perhaps a Geforce 6600GT. If you're on a tighter budget I guess a Geforce 6600 or 6200 would do.

Nice. I may need to tap into your knowledge for just a mild overclock.

I got a sweet deal on the monitor... $385 shipped...

Nice choice on the MB I suggest you get the 6600GT and once the price goes down maybe in a year then you can get another one and you'll be all set. I've been looking into the same board just waiting for the price to go down just a bit. Also remember that on the SLI function on this board once you put in the second one that both PCI-E slots turn into 8X instead of 16X for just the one.

Yep...have to go with the A8N32 to get the dual 16x in SLI...but that board's still about $225. Actually, I think this is the only board that's offered retail which offers that at this time..

ND, how much is that rig going to cost? and how many hours of 16 track input will you store?

All said and done with recording software and all it should come in somewhere around $3,000-$3,500.

I'm really not sure of the hours...an off the wall rough estimate is in the neighborhood of 20-30 hours.

Sheep has a point. What OS are you going to be running? WinBlows?