First build, looking for advice

[Bobzilla]

My first build and hoping I did a good job on the choices...but there's always the chance I missed something that's better and cheaper.

CPU: San Diego 3700+ (Tho I recently saw the Opteron 165 and was thinking it might be a better investment. Thoughts?)
Video: ATI X1800XT 512mb
Memory: Mushkin Extreme Performance DDR500 2x1g
MotherBoard: DFI Lan Party NF4 Ultra-D
HD: WD Raptor 74g
PSU: Blue Fortron 500W Storm Power Supply
DVD/CD: Don't need (yet)
Sound: Don't need (yet)
Case: Cooler Master Stack T01
Mouse: have
Keybaord;have
speakers: have
Heatsink: Scythe Ninja
HSF: Delta 3 blade, high speed

I Will not need another HD as this will give me a second PC (I do have extras of the mouse/keyboard/speakers/monitor)
I will be testing the waters of overclocking. Any suggestions/thoughts? I would like to reduce the price some w/o much loss in power (One of the reasons I getting the 3700+ over the Opteron).

 

[JCBytes]

If you are going to use this system primarily for gaming, then I would ask you to focus more on speed, and less on sizes. 512MB video cards are not going to give you much of an edge with FPS titles (like UT2K4 for instance) over a 256MB card with more pipelines and bandwidth, but it will help you more with 2D graphics (i.e. Photoshop, Warcraft, etc.) with lots of "pixel mapping" and very little (or no) 3D vector calculations. Unless of course you think you will be putting it to good use. With AMD systems, it is more important to have lower latency system RAM, especially for overclocking. 8) 1GB is pretty standard for most apps, but finding good timings (2-2-2-5 for instance) on those memory sticks is where it will get expensive. I would also consider looking at the NVidia GT and/or GTX7800 model graphics cards, as they will supply you with more pipelines and better performance for less than the ATI card you have listed. AMD is all about bandwidth, which means low latency and quicker timings to get the most out of them. I'm not saying that 2GB system and 512MB video memory sizes are all bad, however . Windows Vista (so I hear) will be happy to use those extra MB's up quickly. :lol: Hope this helps. PS- I have also heard the same about the Opteron being a better investment. You might even consider going with a dual-core model if you have 2GB's of system memory planned, or wait for the newer M core (940 pin) setups to arrive later this year. :twisted:

 

[Bobzilla]

I primarily play World of Warcraft at the moment, but will be trying to get back into FPS games soon (PC lag playing too big a difference in them I got fed up not being able to keep up in the newer games). One of the main reasons I went for the higher MB's was for WoW and I'll probably be playing it for another good year while mixing in FPS.

On lower latency RAM, do you have any suggestions? Right now I'm nearing my budget and I have thought about getting a 7800GT.
Would it be a better decision to get a cheaper GPU(maybe the eVGA deal I keep hearing about to up to a GTX 512 later on) and up the CPU to the Opetron? Well, withthe 3800+ Manchester (Had my eye on this a little) dropping price it might eventually fit. And I've heard problems

Trying to finish the system in 2 weeks at most

Thank you JcBytes and Prozac26. Gonna try to find some other options. maybe convince myself out of the 1800xt

 

[Bobzilla]

Yeah, I know it is a better card, but just wanted to know if it would be a smarter decision to get a Opeteron 165+ eVGA 7800GT or get the San diego 3700+ and the 1800xt. To save money, mainly

 

[JCBytes]

I own the Athlon 3800 AND the XFX7800GT card. However, I mainly play a lot of FPS games ... so I can't really say otherwise, but this setup eats anything I throw at it. 8) Still, I hear the Opteron is a better choice and would reccomend trying it over the Athlon64.

Regarding the ATI cards, I understand that they use up a lot of space with their massive cooling fans, not to mention the noise and heat I read about constantly. I don't exactly keep up with all the different benchmarks but my system is scoring almost 7500 on 3DMark05. My 7800 GT is also very quiet, and runs really cool (around 46c/53C under 100% load). I stopped using ATI (an X800 class) back when the 6800GT came out from NVidia, and I like using coolbits for OC'ing better than ATI's solution. For the amount of money it costs today for those 512MB cards, I will stay with what I have until the prices come down more.

As for suggestions on RAM? I would look at some of the offerings from OCZ. I have been using them for years and haven't had any problems thus far, and that goes for any of my systems ... or my clients.

Also- Since ATI is releasing their new X1900 series cards, I think the prices are going to be dropping on all the current 512MB cards very soon.

 

[georgebeee]

would this memory be as good as what he's got listed? price isn't really any better...

patriot

 

[JCBytes]

Try these products from NewEgg, or maybe look for the same products on other sites to find a better price. NewEgg is really starting to get on my nerves with shipping costs, but oh well. :roll: And you really have to watch out on their rebates too! I got screwed on one for a video card ... never again.

These are the same as I use, except I have the 512MB version. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820227067

Mushkin and A-Data are also good brands that I have used in the past and have had little or no problems with. Note: You WILL however know when you push them too far if you plan to 8O . They CAN be a safe alternative if you want to save some extra cash though.

I've pushed and OC'd so many times with diff products, it's hard to remember everything, but so far the best has been OCZ. The biggest thing I noticed over the years is that these items will all be outdated before you ever wear any of them out, so I always say it's better to save money and just upgrade more often 8) .

Good luck with the build. I'm outta here! :lol: