Building High End Gaming/Media PC thoughts on my spec?

[NoOnesHome]

I've been toying with this for some time now, (and no this won't be my first custom system) and have finally got the money together to build a really nice system. I've posted below the hardware that I intend to use, I would love to hear other peoples thoughts on this. Also, I initially plan on buying a single video card, and then going dual route once the card price drops a bit. About the only thing that is questionable is what OS to run, will mostly like end up dual booting, at least until Vista comes out.

Any way, thanks for any input you can provide.

Thermaltake Kandalf VA9000BWS Black Aluminum/Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Retail $189.00
DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 SLI-DR Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail $168.99
Thermaltake W0057 PurePower ATX 12V 2.0 500W Power Supply - Retail $119.00
AMD Athlon 64 FX60 Toledo 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Dual Core Processor Model ADAFX60CDBOX - Retail $1209.00
2x CORSAIR XMS 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 550 (PC 4400) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model TWINX1024-4400C25PT - Retail $404.00
Creative SOUND BLASTER X-Fi Fatal1ty FPS 8 (7.1) Channels PCI Interface Sound Card - Retail $283.00
PLEXTOR Black IDE Slot Load DVD Burner Model PX-716AL/SW - Retail 148.99
ASUS Black IDE DVD-ROM Drive Model DVD-E616A BLACK - Retail $23.99
Western Digital Raptor WD740GD 74GB 10,000 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM $155.00
Western Digital Caviar SE WD3200JD 320GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM $135.00
DELL UltraSharp 2405FPW 24-inch Wide Aspect Flat Panel LCD Monitor with Height Adjustable Stand and 5-Year Warranty $918.00
Gigabyte GV-NX78X256VP-B GeForce 7800 GTX PCI Express 256MB DDR3 Video Card w/TV-Out, DVI & VIVO Retail $599.99

 

[Maxiius]

AMD Athlon 64 FX60 Toledo 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Dual Core Processor Model ADAFX60CDBOX - Retail $1209.00

I'm pretty sure you can get that for atleast $100 cheaper. I got mine when they first were released for 1129 at zipzoomfly.

2x CORSAIR XMS 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 550 (PC 4400) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model TWINX1024-4400C25PT - Retail $404.00

That would make 4 DIMMs eh? Just get 2 1gig sticks if ya want a total of 2 gigs. I believe if you use all 4 slots it slows timing down or something like that. Mem guru's will surely jump in here I'm a mem n00b heh

My only suggestions so far. More to come lata, works callin me :roll:

 

[zoridon]

1. if your going to go duel core and sli 500W may be a little light on the power supply.

2. get two ati xtx 512 vid cards $579 each on pricewatch

3. Only 1 gig of memory for this monster system is a crime and $404 for it is insane you should be able to get 2 gigs for that price

4. Get the new 150 gb raptor runs around $300

5. back off on the processor to a 4800 duel core and save about $550 to purchase the better components above.

this will run you about $200 more than what you have shown and you will not need any upgrades for a long long time.

my two cents

 

[zoridon]

if that is four sticks I agree. It will force him to relax his overclocking and timings if he overclocks

 

[maxxum]

I would go with 2 x 1G sticks.

 

[sleepdeprived82]

Yeh I agree using all four slots detrimental to performace, better to get good 1gb sticks than 4 512.

I would get x1900xts but thats my ati bias showing, still geting them means even more time before the next upgrade.

Also I would go for a opteron 180 for $775 rather than the fx60, you have the overclocking gear so getting the opteron up and over the fx60 will be easy and you will save a few $.


Prehaps get the new 150gb raptor that seems to offer more performance over the older raptors now as well.

 

[Heyyou27]

Yeah, that and I'd never pay 600 retail for a 7800 GTX. Also, a FX-60 is pretty much useless, considering you could get an Athlon X2 4800+ for around 650-700$.

 

[IAM_CA]

1
2. get two ati xtx 512 vid cards $579 each on pricewatch

The X1900 Crossfire cards only come as a XT, not the XTX... so if you are going to run two cards, get an X1900XT and an X1900XT-crossfire card.

 

[NoOnesHome]

Thanks for all the input guys, I've made a few modifications. I've listed them below.

Thermaltake VA8000BWS
DFI LanParty UT RDX200 CF-DR ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
Thermaltake PurePower 680W, W0049
AMD Athlon 64 x2 4800+ dual-core 1024k per core for 2mb cache - 90nm 939pin - amd retail box - 3 year warranty
Part No - AMDA64X24800PR"
Corsair TWINX2048-4000PT (2x1GB)
ATI RADEON X1900 XTX 512MB GDDR3 PCI-Express Dual DVI/VIVO (OEM)
Creative SOUND BLASTER X-Fi Fatal1ty FPS 8 (7.1) Channels PCI Interface Sound Card - Retail
Plextor Black IDE Slot Load DVD Burner Model PX-716AL/SW - Retail
Asus Black IDE DVD-ROM Drive Model DVD-E616A BLACK - Retail
Western Digital Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD 150GB 10,000 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive x2
Thermaltake CL-P0257 Blue Orb II Silent For 945/K8/775 Dual Core CPU Fan

From what I've seen IAM_CA you can still dual card with XTX, just that the crossfire card is buildt off the XT clock.

By the way, I put this as totally right around $2900.00

Will end up buying the crossfire card, and the monitor a little later, but this should be a fairly decent rig.

Let me know if anyone has any other thoughts on this.

 

[unreal_nl]

1
2. get two ati xtx 512 vid cards $579 each on pricewatch

The X1900 Crossfire cards only come as a XT, not the XTX... so if you are going to run two cards, get an X1900XT and an X1900XT-crossfire card.

Actually the site im mostly ordering from says the x1900XTX from msi is both master and slave?

 

[sleepdeprived82]

Well I would say that is a dam nice system.

Yep getting the xtx is fine it will still run at xtx speeds coupled with a xt as thats one of the advantages of crossfire over sli, you can use diff speed cards.

May want to consider the ThermalRight SI-120 for ultimate air cooling coupled with a decent fan.

 

[Sekeru]

Everything looks excelent but i would say to go with a X1900XT instead because you could easily overclock it past the xtx,but if if you want to spend the extra money on it then i say go for it.

 

[Snale]

If tou get that extrememly sweet rig, get a really good PSU, like a PC Power & Cooling. 8)

 

[Ycon]

Are you gonna OC? If so, drop that FX and get a Core Duo T2600 when the boards arrive.

 

[sleepdeprived82]

From the ati website:

Q. What happens when your CrossFire Edition card and and a compatible standard Radeon (CrossFire Ready) graphics card have different clock speeds?

A. Both cards will continue to operate at their individual clock speeds.

 

[unreal_nl]

so that meas the 2 XTX i have in my future build here:
http://forumz.tomshardware.com/hardware/Buying-system-help-ftopict174222.html
wont go in corssfire without replacing one with a XT crossfire edition?

 

[sleepdeprived82]

You will need a CrossFire Edition graphics card which is the master card
and a CrossFire Ready card as the slave. I think the marketing of the could be a lot clearer.

The cards you have are both esseintialy slaves so you will need to swap one for a master.

 

[Newf]

...About the only thing that is questionable is what OS to run, will mostly like end up dual booting, at least until Vista comes out...

The OS you run depends on what you want to do.

 

[unreal_nl]

You will need a CrossFire Edition graphics card which is the master card
and a CrossFire Ready card as the slave. I think them marketing of the could be a lot clearer.

The cards you have are both esseintialy slaves so you will need to swap one for a master.

Okay thanks for the help.. Dammit why didnt anyone noticed that in my topic

 

[NoOnesHome]

The OS you run depends on what you want to do.

Yeah, I kind of know that. I've been a network/Systems Admin for 10 years.

My thought was to dual boot XP Pro, and XP Pro x64 until Vista is released. I've read that people are still having problems gaming with XP Pro 64 (Driver related I assume)...

NoOnesHome