Help choosing a mobo and other parts

allinthemind · Feb 22, 2005

Hi Guys,
I am trying to build my second PC. So my knowledge is certainly limited. my first one was the HOT P4 prescott.
SO I AM WISER NOW but still I prefer to get advise from you guys who have lots of experience.
my aim : to build the best possible future proof system without breaking my back

( budget currently around 1000$)

CPU: Athlon 64 3500+ Retail( winchester or newcastle which is better)
Need Help in deciding on
MotherBoard ,Case,PowerSupply and video card
(I do a have 200 gig WD harddrive and a sony DVD writer)
I intend to do lot video stuff but I play games too. Mostly strategy games but would mind trying the ones like DOOM.
Thanks in advance guys

tweebel · Feb 22, 2005

If you want a 3500+ I assume that you'll be looking for s939 with PCI Express for the future. You should in that case always get a Winchester for cool running and overclockability.
For $ 1000 you can build a really fast system if all you need is what you specify. About $ 400,- of your money would be enough for the CPU and the mainboard (nForce 4 chipset?) which leaves a lot of room for a good PSU ($ 100), case ($ 50,-) and especially the videocard. You could get a really fast card if you want but you probably won't need it for strategy games and a $ 200 videocard (X700, 6600, 9800XT) will play Doom3 alright.

You didn't specify if you need RAM and whether you will be doing overclocking or not.

Guest · Feb 22, 2005

I agree with Tweebel, the winchester is the way to go, and it's also great for OCing. Just get good RAM.

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allinthemind · Feb 22, 2005

thanks tweebel for your advice.
you r right I am looking for 939. Do you know if they would support Dual Core?
OC i have never done it before so I am kind of wary. can we overclock a retail box cpu? Video cards are still hard for me to understand which is good. Whats the deal with the SLI stuff?
Is it worth to spend major bucks on video cards now ?
RAM I have 1 gig. As I said above probably won't OC the RAM right now.
How many watts of PSU would I need? I would like to have a cool looking but not too wierd case. any recommendations?
thanks

allinthemind · Feb 22, 2005

I got some new unused RAM 1gig. I think its centon and PC2700 333mhz. I will check at home and let you know again.
I am sure its' not the top of the line but iif system slows down just because of this I would try to get some new RAM.
Also I love messing around with movies and editing. So I am want to have as much as space as possible. I have ATA-133 200 gg Drive. If I would like to get another 200 gig , should I get a SATA and make it the primary? would the slower disk be a bottle neck? How does it compare to the speed of the new external hard drives
thanks for your time wraithfire

tweebel · Feb 22, 2005

There's a long discussion in the CPU forum about the future of dual core and AMD. For the moment it looks like AMD won't make a dual core move to the desktop market any time soon so no one can really predict if they will stick to 939. However, 939 still is more future (about 1 year at least) proof than 754.
The Winchester CPU can be overclocked with ease if the RAM is O.K.
With videocards its quite easy at the moment, there's ATI and there's nVidia, most people agree that at the moment most nVidia cards are better than Ati price/performance. Problem is that this might change in a week time.
SLI is for performance freaks with a lot of money only. It's no use to use two 6600 cards in SLI as one 6800 will cost the same and most of the time outperform them. 2x6800 is the only real high performance solution which you would need SLI for and it's way to expensive. SLI is never worth the money unless money doesn't matter, most other nVidia/ATI cards are worth their money.
Get a good 400W+ PSU, from Antec, Thermaltake, Fortron Source, whatever fits your needs (high power, low noise, a combination of both). Most of the times, if it isn't cheap, it will be alright, take a look and ask for advice on the ones you like.
I don't know much about cases except that I prefer cooling over cool.

allinthemind · Feb 24, 2005

Hi tweebel
I will get 939 MOBO and hope that it will work with Dual Core when AMD brings them out.
About the powersupplies I am looking at these rwo? which do u think is better.
With respect to the Case, I agree Look comes only after functinality, I was looking at thermaltake Tsunami series.
Anybody know about these? Do they cool well and worth the price?
I am still thinking about video card
thanks
appreciate your help guys

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=17-153-015&depa=0

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=17-103-910&depa=0

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=17-103-922&depa=0
Can anyone tell me if the front panel is worth the money? Does it allow me to monitor the temperatures of the CPU,HD etc

tweebel · Feb 25, 2005

I've just made a post in the CPU forum about dual core and s939. AMD says dual core cpu's will be compatible with all s939 mainboards after a bios flash.

About the PSU's: I think the Antec is a better buy, to make sure, seek advice in the PSU forum.

What exactly do you expect from the videocard. Do you want to be able to play the latest gamest at 1600*1200 or are you satisfied with 1024*768. Those are things to think about when selecting the videocard.

redstar · Feb 25, 2005

Well..i have been researching for a while and dithered...

but in 2 days..i will be getting a friend..

Athlon 64 3500+ RETAIL BOX $339
ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe Dual DDR 2x PCI-E, 16x SATA RAID, 2x GB Lan $227
OCZ Value Series 1024MB PC3200 DDR400 (OCZ4001024V3) $249
CasEdge "Diabolic" Mid-Tower ATX 400W $149
subtotal: $964 $1,108.60 :with tax

XFX GeForce 6600GT 128MB DDR3 255 $293.25
Gtotal $1,219 $1,401.85withtx
cdn dollars.

The case was just stuck there for a price..and will now upgrade to a 480 watt power supply (thermaltake prolly)

Edited by redstar on 02/24/05 07:25 PM.

Guest · Feb 25, 2005

If you have the 2 HDD set up in a non raid, you can use the faster drive as the boot drive and the other as storage. Just have them on separate channels. Oh, and make sure that if you have native Raid controller you turn it off in BIOS. As far as RAM, if you don't want to OC, then I'd say you should be able to get good RAM for >$200. Try looking at pdp systems patriot RAM, or maybe some Kingston. There's no point in spending tons of money on top of the line RAM if you're not going to OC it.

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allinthemind · Feb 27, 2005

Considering all the things I have learned here and advised by you guys I have come to this configuration
Please give me your comments.

Thermaltake SHARK Silver ATX Full Tower Case, Model "VA7000SWA" -RETAIL
AMD Athlon 64 3500+, 2.2 GHz, 512KB L2 Cache 64-bit Socket 939 Processor - Retail
Antec 550 Watt Power Supply With 2 Fans 5.25 Control Panel, Model "TRUE CONTROL
DFI "LANPARTY UT nF4 Ultra-D" NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra Chipset
MotherboardAMD- 939
[staying away from SLI]
I already have these 3. So I decided to use these for now.
HardDrive- Western Digital-200 gig
PC2700 -centon 333 MHz-1 gig
Sony DVD writer 710 A

VIDEO card --- thinking of getting a ATI RADEON X700 PRO 256MB GDDR3 PCI

tweebel · Feb 27, 2005

Play a bit with the RAM timings and speed, you will like to run it at 200 MHz/400 MHz DDR.

Looks like a really nice system with lots of possibilities for more speed later on.

Guest · Feb 27, 2005

If you can squeeze the cash, go for ATI's x800xl gpu. It's still a bit pricy, but probably the best performance/$ ratio on ATI's high end cards

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Rugger · Feb 27, 2005

For a cooler, quieter PSU go with one that is <A HREF="http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/20041223/index.html" target="_new">ATX12V v2.0</A>. A couple fo good coandidates are the <A HREF="http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=17-104-934&depa=0" target="_new">Fortron Blue Storm 500W</A> or the <A HREF="http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=17-103-459&depa=1" target="_new">Enermax Noisetaker 420W</A>. If you're unsure about what wattage you need, then use this <A HREF="http://www.jscustompcs.com/power_supply/" target="_new">Wattage Calculator</A>. Add up the watts used by you're components and calculate the required wattage - remember the max sustained load should be NO GREATER than 60-70% of your PSUs wattage rating.

The <A HREF="http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=11-129-127&depa=1" target="_new">Antec Sonata</A> is another good option for a case and it's about $65 cheaper. This with one of the above PSUs would be a great/quiet solution. Would also give you an extra 380W Antec PSU... The money you save with this solution would get you close to getting having enough money for something like this <A HREF="http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-146-299&depa=1" target="_new">Mushkin Dual Pack PC3200 2x512MB</A>. Especially if you went with the <A HREF="http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-103-502&depa=1" target="_new">A64 3200+ (Winchester)</A> which is over $80 less than the 3500+. I personally don't think the 3500+ is worth the extra money right now. The 3500+ or something faster would be a great upgrade in 1-2 years.

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allinthemind · Mar 8, 2005

I checked the price and reviews. thanks for recommending it

Guest · Mar 8, 2005

Anytime

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allinthemind · Mar 8, 2005

Rugger
I agree with you on 3500+ I was thinking on the same lines too. I think that investing money in other parts than the processor keeps the value better.
I am trying to get a V2.0 PSU. Looked at some reviews.
http://www6.tomshardware.com/howto/20050228/index.html.
I want to get the efficient ones. Zippy or Enermax??
I figured if I put in some money and get an efficient supply, it will pay itself in a couple of months and actually start saving money on my power bill

Anybody own these bad guys? any comments?

Rugger · Mar 8, 2005

Any of the v2.0 should perform better than those that aren't 2.0 - don't forget the Blue Storm was at the top of the efficiency list, too. A recently identified deal was this <A HREF="http://www.mwave.com/mwave/viewspec.hmx?scriteria=BA21102" target="_new">Enermax Whisper 535W</A> at mwave.com that is also v2.0 - 35W more than the Blue storm for the same price. S/H is more, but you get more wattage.

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Help choosing a mobo and other parts

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