Opinions?

[amd_03]

I am going to be building a new system and just wanted to have some opinions on the components.

Motherboard: Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Clawhammer
Videocard: BFG Tech GeForce 7800 GT
Hard drives: Maxtor DiamondMax 10 80GB 7200RPM (x2)
Memory: Buffalo 1Gb PC3200 SDRAM (x2)
Windows XP Pro
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My Old System:
Motherboard: MSI K7KT4V
Processor: AMD Athlon XP 2200+ (1.8GHz)
Videocard: ATI Radeon 9600 Pro
1.5Gb SDRAM
Windows XP Home

I have a bunch of games that I can play on my current system, but I want to play them with maxed out options. Thats the main reason for the new system. Thanks for any input.
-Erick

 

[Shakespeare]

Looks nice. I've had bad experiences with Matrox HDs in the past, any reason that makes them your choice over other brands?

Check Six,
Shakespeare

 

[SiLeNtEuPhOrIa]

First off, what is your budget, and do you plan on overclocking?

If your main purpose here is gaming, then you probably want a bit better CPU. Depending on your budget, you might consider the anywhere between the AMD Athlon 3700+ and the Athlon X2 4800+. If it were me, I'd opt for the AMD Athlon X2 4400+ with the 2mb L2 Cache.

If overclocking, consider the Opteron 165 or 170 (higher quality, more stable overclocking) and a DFI Lanparty motherboard, and a good CPU cooler.

Not sure about the maxtor 80 gig HDD's that you listed, depends if you are planning on running in a raid 0 array or not. you might opt for two WD SATA2 HDD's at 250 gig storage each (500 gigs total in raid 0 array), only $110 each.

You need DDR RAM modules instead of the SD that you listed. Try for 2 gigs of it (2 [x] 1024 MB, not 4 [x] 512).

If you're not using two vid cards in SLI, there is really no need for the SLI motherboard, but otherwise, thats a very good motherboard (unless you are overclocking).

A dedicated sound card will take some strain off your CPU (onboard audio slows you CPU down). The Creative Labs X-Fi series is the best you can get.

I'm assuming you already have a monitor, Speakers/Headphones, keyboard/mouse, etc.

-SiLeNt

 

[amd_03]

I do kind of have a budget. I'm trying for under $1,200. At this current configuration it is just under that cap. I realize that the Maxtor drives are not good, but they are a little cheaper than the others. I have always used Western Digital drives, my main drive right now is a 40 gig WD that has been in there for about 5 years. I may go for the Seagate drives. I kind of want two drives because it helps with Linux installations. Yes, I do have speakers, two monitors, keyboard, mouse, and soundcard. All of those I am happy with right now, so I won't need to upgrade those. The reason I picked the processor that I did was because it is so much better than than my Athlon XP 2200+. Same goes with my video card. Thanks.
-Erick

 

[mdd1963]

A 7800GT will be a night and day difference over a 9600Pro....

(Drive options: you can usually find a 200-250G /7200/16m cache PATA drive at CompUSA on sale twice a month for about $59...!)

 

[amd_03]

I know, the video card difference is pretty drastic. That's what I am really looking forward to the most. That and the higher power cpu. Yeah, I'll check out compusa for good deals on Western Digital drives. Sams Club sometimes has good deals on WD drives too, but I need to buy the components and my parents have the membership to Sams. Still, if I can get a 250Gb drive for 60 bucks, I'll buy two. I was just hoping to get SATA drives. This motherboard comes with 8 SATA cables and 8 places to plug them in. Thats a lot of storage. Or am I wrong? Can it have 8 different hard drives?

 

[7_vii_7]

there is no X2 3700+ only 3800+ is the lowest I believe. I would go with a X2 CPU over the 3500+. But everthing else looks good.

on and the two 80gb drive.. just get a Raptor 150gb SATA .. super fast 10,000rpm

 

[bourgeoisdude]

there is no X2 3700+ only 3800+ is the lowest I believe. I would go with a X2 CPU over the 3500+. But everthing else looks good.

on and the two 80gb drive.. just get a Raptor 150gb SATA .. super fast 10,000rpm

Yes, I recommend dual core as well. While many apps today do not take full advantage, it is the way of the future, so it will certainly give your new build a longer life.

 

[amd_03]

I guess I forgot one thing: all of this is being purchased off of Newegg.com. Also, the Raptor drives look really good, but they are a little out of my price range. What about the Seagate 7200.9 Barracuda SATA 3GB/s? Any good? If so, I think I'll buy a 160Gb main and a 80Gb secondary. The 160Gb is $87 and the 80Gb is $63. I would love to have a dual core processor, but again the price is a bit too high. I changed the processor to the Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego because of the L2 cache - up from 512Kb to 1Mb. Only question is what's the difference between 90 nm and .13 um? The new proc I picked has the 90 nm. If I want to overclock this processor, should it be ok to do it with this setup? I believe the processor comes with a heatsink, but I would have to buy a different one. Also, the memory is two sticks of DDR-SDRAM 1Gb each PC3200.

 

[amd_03]

OK, I have decided to go with two eVGA GeForce 7800GT's for SLI. Still not sure about the Barracuda SATA hard drives.

 

[amd_03]

OK, I guess everyone is done with this topic. Thanks for the input.
-Erick