Need Help with selecting a board for an AMD dual core 4200.

[Kayden]

Its that time of the decade. Time to make a new PC.

I'm making my first AMD system and figured I'd just future proof the crap out of it. I'm mainly a gamer, and while I realize that a lot of games don't support dual cores, you never know what the future holds. So I'm thinking of going with the X2 4200. I do recreational photoshopping, so there would be some practicality, but not much.

I've heard the ASUS A8N-SLI Premium is pretty much king of the hill. However, I really don't plan on overclocking, doing SLI, nor do I really need 8 SATA jacks. However, long term, $40 isn't that big a deal to have the options if you want them at a later date.

My existing PC has about half a TB for storage, so I was just planning on making this a gaming pc with a modest SATA HDD for holding the OS and the games I'm playing- maybe two to RAID. However... since I'm gunna have all these jacks... why not just get a full tower and I have em if I need em later. What would make a good main drive (or drives if I raid?) 35gb raptor (x2)?

I'm making this simple arent I

As for memory, should I just go the cheapest 2gb of kingston or corsair pc3200 I can find? What yeilds better performance: 2x1gb or 4x512 gb?

Powersupply- 550 or so, yea? Specially if I do ever SLI, also, If I do get an SLI board I need an SLI PSU. Right?

Optical drives are no deal, I really only need a DVD drive and already have one.

GFX card- I'm thinking I may go with a x1600, they come out soon and should be fairly reasonable. However, only nvidias support SLI, right? I don't know much about NVIDIA, 7800GTX is the best right? Whats a good price on that? Whats a modest/reliable card for 200-300?

I'm not really worried about over clocking. Thanks for any help.

 

[Rugger]

What's your budget? List the parts you are thingking about getting and let us give you some feedback based on your budget and needs.

HDD: The 74GB Raptor is the better main drive. It's faster and it's been on sale at newegg for $121 recently...

RAM: Definitely 2x1GB for better RAM performance. Going with 4X512MB will force you to 2T Command Rate and that's a noticeable performance hit.

PSU: Great price/performance on this Enermax 535W Whisper II model EG565P for $90.

GPU: On the lower end of that $200-300 would be the 6800GS and on the high end you have this eVGA 7800GT. If you can afford it, then the 7800GT is definitely the way to go...

 

[Kayden]

I don't want to totally break the bank, but I realize the better I buy now, the less it'll cost me long term. Not only will my immediate performance improve, but it will last longer into the future.

I have about 1500-2000ish and I need everything but the keyboard/mouse, monitor, and optical drives.

As far as listing what I want: I'm not all that sure beyond I know I wan't to go AMD- probabbly the X2 4200. SLI isn't really an issue for me, nor is RAID. I'm a big gamer, Doom3, HL2, WoW, etc. I also got a 20.1" widescreen flat panel in the mail, so I'll need a card that supports wsxga 1680x1000. I'd have a hard time justifying 500 for a video card, so like I said, probably the 300 range.

 

[Beowulf021]

If your lookin to spend about 300 for a card then buy the eVGA 7800 GT(like Rugger said), much better performance than the GS and it will probaly last you the next couple of years.

 

[Kayden]

I slapped this together on newegg.
ASUS A8N-SLI Premium Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813131540R

XFX PVT70GUDF7 Geforce 7800GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16814150108

ENERMAX Whisper II EG565P-VE FMA(24P) ATX12V 535W Power Supply - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16817103512

CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered System Memory Model ----X2
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16820145505

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Manchester 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Dual Core Processor Model ADA4200BVBOX - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16819103547

Western Digital Raptor WD740GD 74GB 10,000 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/product/Product.asp?item=N82E16822144160


Total- $1,235.33

I realize this is without fans or a case, but thats not really all that important when I'm still trying to pick the components.

I think its a fairly decent system, however, I'm open to suggestions and not really sure about the value ram. Is this a good enough indication of what Im lookin for?

 

[Andrzej_Pl]

You might consider the A8N SLI Deluxe. If you add cheap fan speed controller (as I did) you will get same performance as on Premium one, but cheaper and also noiseless

 

[Rugger]

The eVGA I listed is clocked faster and costs $10 less.

Save money on the mobo. Get the Epox Ep-9NPA+ Ultra, Abit AN8 Ultra or Chaintach VNF4 Ultra. All are great boards and cost less. You can do without SLI unless you have to have all of the eye candy enabled and very high resolutions on the most modern games. Typically, by the time that you want to upgrade a GPU, there will be a next generation card that will outperform two of the last gen cards in SLI.

If you want 2GB of memory, then get 2X1GB of memory. Otherwise your timings will have to be relaxed - slowed - to get it to run stably. Something like this Corsair ValueSelect 2X1GB would be good enough for your purposes.

 

[Kayden]

The abit is the only one that lists the CPU type as X2. The other two just say "CPU Type Athlon 64 FX/Athlon 64". Does that really make a difference seeing how I'm getting an X2? Besides that one factor, the Chaintech and abit are seemingly identical on paper. Is there any thing different that really warrants the $50 difference?

Also, Newegg as the 74 Raptor for 161 with a $20 MIR. Should I wait till they drop it a bit or look somewhere else? However... they also throw in a free floppy drive...

Thanks for all the help so far.

 

[Rugger]

No problem.

The other two boards support X2, too. I just wanted to give you some options and let you work your way thru the decision process. Most poeple would be good with the Chaintech, some people want the first tier Abit/Epox board. The Abit also has a higher HTT multiplier and UGuru - better for OCing, but no good for you. I think the $121 74GB Raptor may have been a Thanksgiving special - you may not see it at that price again until after Christmas...

 

[Kayden]

So spend $50 less and lose features I'll never use. Good call.

Would you recommend shuffling more money into the ram?

I think this should pretty much cover me. Now I just need to pick out a case and grab some fans... Any recommendations? :lol:

Would you suggest buying it all right at once or buying the sale ones now and holding maybe a week on the others to see if they drop?

 

[Kayden]

Ok... This should be the last batch of questions.

The Corsair Value ram is OOS. I saw Edge Tech 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR for 230 with a $40 MIB thats good for a month yet, making it pretty close to the Corsair. Is that a good switch?

Also, the PSU you recommended is an SLI PSU; will there be issues since I'm not getting an SLI board? Should I get a cheaper one without the SLI support or should I just get the ENERMAX still?

Finally, cases and fans. I'm not into the whole 'hey look my case changes colors and the fans hum th national anthem' type of case modding (although I did put LEDs in my PS2 with a clear case 8) ). I just want it to sit in the desk and keep my parts together and cool. As far as funtionality, I'd really like USB, headphone and MIC ports in the front- I don't care if they hide behind a door, I just want to reach them without hitting my head on the desk. Biggest problem here is that I can't actually touch the case to feel it out if the doors are sturdy or if I'll have room for my big hands. Additionally, I have no idea how well these things will cool. My favorite colors are blue and black and I don't mind silver or blue. An acrylic case would be kinda cool, but I don't wanna risk breaking it when I cough.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811119047
A simple black and blue. Its cheap and got tons of realestate in addition to front USB and audio jacks.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811119075
Slightly more stylish, but pretty simular to the first. Room and functionality.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811112022
This case came recommended and sounds nice with the removable mobo tray, however, its lacking the front panel audio goodies. It does have a fan mounted on the top though, which is nice because I have more room on top than on the side where it'd sit.

I have no idea what to do with the fans though. I don't know how many or what size I'd need for this system. I just know I don't need to have them glow. :lol: Fans with a dial are a bad idea because if I turn them down I know I'll forget to turn them back up.

 

[Rugger]

Super-Flower SF-201T case - already has all the fans you need - great quality, quiet case and looks great.

I saw that RAM recently, but i'm not familiar with that mfr. You could drop a few more $ than that Corsair and get OCZ Value VX series 2x1GB. Better for OC if you decide to do that down the road.

Also, the PSU you recommended is an SLI PSU; will there be issues since I'm not getting an SLI board? Should I get a cheaper one without the SLI support or should I just get the ENERMAX still?

The EG565P will work with your rig. You can spend less if you want, but I would still stick to a good quality PSU. This FSP 450W is a good PSU. In the end you have to decide if you mind spending the $40 for the future usability of the Enermax. They cost more, but they are outstanding PSUs.

 

[Kayden]

:lol: The ram I was looking at was for Apples.

That case is pretty awesome... but its OOS.

Thanks for everything, I should be pretty set now...