First build couple questions

[MysteriousWind]

Well, this will be my first real build, but I have taken apart my current computer a few times and swapped some stuff out. My goal for this PC is to be a decent gaming machine for under $700, but I could go as high as $800 if there was a good reason to. I've searched around online and here is the list of parts I think I want.

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice 1Ghz HT 512 KB L2 Cache Socket 939 (will be coming with a Thermaltake AMD K8 7+ heatsink fan)

MOBO: Asus A8N5X nForce4 (no firewire port, if there is a comparable mobo w/ a firewire port I'd be happy to get that one)

RAM: CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184 Pin DDR SDRAM. I have another 512 MB (2 x 126 MB) that may or may not fit (I forget what pin type they are). If it doesn't I will add more RAM when I get the money.

HD: Already have a 40 and 100

Video Card: eVGA GeForce 7600 GT CO 256MB 128-bit GDDR3

Sound Card: Already have a current one

PSU: ASPIRE ATX-CW500WP4 ATX 500W Power Supply 115/230 V

DVD/CD drive: Plextor, reads CD's @ 48x and DVD's @ 16x

CASE: COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-WW

Well, time for questions
1. A friend told me that basically any sound card will fit into any mobo without any problems, is this true?
2. The PSU has a potential fo 500W of power. I'm guessing this should be enough, but I'm not sure.
3. The case I plan on getting has a 80mm fan and a 120 mm fan. Will both of these be able to keep the machine cool.
4. What do you think about the Asus mobo, if you have a better one in mind I'd be happy to switch.
5. I think that all of the parts will mesh together nice, but I'm not 100% sure.

 

[mdd1963]

Looks like a quite adequate gaming rig to me, only suggestions I'd make are going to the 3500+ Venice core (over the 3200+), going with a 2gb memory set (2 x1 gb sticks) right off the bat if possible, and last, but not least....(if you can devote $357 towards the cpu, look hard at the X2-4200+, which is esentially a dual 3500+ rig!)

If you can find another $100 on video card (the most important selections for gaming), opt instead for a 7900GT card for $299...great framerates at high/max settings at fairly high resolutions in virtually all gaming titles available....

(yes, these changes might bust your budget by perhaps $150-$200, but...you'll thank me later when you see it in action!)

 

[S7A88Y]

nice, with that CPU cooler you can OC to 3500 speeds, also don't get a 7600, 128mb memory bus is to dam slow! a X850 XT from newegg cost about 10$ less and will desimate the GT.

 

[angry_ducky]

nice, with that CPU cooler you can OC to 3500 speeds, also don't get a 7600, 128mb memory bus is to dam slow! a X850 XT from newegg cost about 10$ less and will desimate the GT.

Actually, the X850XT is $40 less.

 

[g-paw]

Might want to check out a NEC or Lite-On DVD RW for around $40. While Plextor is good, they usually sell at a premium and not sure they're worth the money

 

[MysteriousWind]

Just a quick question about graphics cards when it comes to gaming. What kind of impact do core and memory clock speeds make when it comes to games. And is there a huge difference between a 128 bit and 256 bit memory interfaces. I don't think I'll be able to put much more money into it because I still need to figure in $50-$100 for the games that I'll be playing.

 

[yourmothersanastronaut]

Personally, I would change the motherboard to a DFI, then get either a single or dual-core 939 Opteron instead of an Athlon. With the DFI motherboard, you'll be able to overclock to close to 3.GHz. Plus, the stock cooler on the Opterons performs close to a Thermalright XP-90, one of the best heatsinks you can buy. The single core Venus 144 costs $170, while the dual core Denmark 165 is at $325. Plus, the Opterons have more cache, which will make the system seem more responsive.

If you can afford 2 GB of RAM, I would highly reccommend it. BF2 will sit up and bark on command with 2 GB, especially in online play. A gig will be ok for now, but this is a touchy area. If you go with 2 x 512 now, that provides better performance than a single gig stick. But, the best way to have 2 gigs is with 2 x 1 GB. Unfortunately, with your 2 x 512, that means thatg you will have to completely replace your 2 x 512. It's up to you, but I would suggest going with the 2 x 1 GB.

I agree with g-paw, look at some other DVD burners. It will free up some cash for better parts.

If you can afford a better video card, I would suggest it. The 7600 GT is a great card for under $150, and the 128-bit memory interface doesn't seem to be holding it back now, but it's uncertain how games to come will take advantage of a faster/bigger memory interface. Check out the 7800 or 7900 GT.

The Centurion case is pretty good, and it has lots of free empty space for modding. If the two included fans don't seem to be doing their job, bust out the dremel and add some more fans.

Good luck with the build!

 

[Akifuddin]

If you can go slightly higher to maybe about $950 (Because that is a good budget for a gaming system) you can try an Opteron 165 and overclock it a little bit (2.2-2.4 GHz) which would help in gaming not to mention it's dual-core. If you're not going to overclock and still want dual-core, an X2 3800+ would be good too. The 3500+ won't make a difference from the 3200+ but dual-core will. The 1GB sounds okay but remember to upgrade to 2GB later. Corsair is good for gaming. Try their ValueSelect series. Don't build yet though. Wait for prices on products that you're going to build with to drop in prices so you can get a better system for a cheaper price. You DO have a monitor right? If you don't have an LCD monitor, try a ViewSonic 8ms 19" LCD monitor. LCD makes a big difference in gaming. 8) Hmm, let me try and get you those in links and maybe better parts. This is assuming you CAN go upto $1000. And trust me the difference in performance is worth more than $200. Here:

Motherboard: $115.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813136159
That motherboard is good for overclocking and so are Opterons and I'm going to be using an Opteron CPU for this build I'm customizing for you.


Hard drive: $53.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822135106
Nothing too extreme like Raptors because you can't really afford it. You could but you'd have to sacrifice a quality-part and 10,000RPM doesn't make too much of a difference to sacrifice a good part right now.


Processor/CPU: #325.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103588
AMD Opteron 165 Socket 939: It's good for overclocking and it fits perfectly with the DFI LANPARTY motherboard I linked you to (I saw this in a review)

Memory: $195.00 ($155.00 with $40.00 mail-in rebate)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145575
2GB (2x 1GB) Corsair XMS RAM. Let's just say IT'S REALLY FAST!

Power supply: $83.99 (Weekend sale Original price $89.99)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103931
Antec TruePowerII 550W Power supply, it has a very good reputation and it is a very good power supply that can power SLi.

Case: Original price: $69.99+Instant savings:$64.99+Mail-in rebate:$54.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811144151
It has an average of 5 stars out of over 100 reviewers and some of them
said it makes a good gaming case.

DVD-ROM: $20.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827101131
SONY Black DVD-ROM (48x CD and 16x DVD read speed) Very good DVD ROM at a pretty cheap price.

Floppy drive: $10.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16821103202
Samsung internal floppy drive, it's very goood (5 stars average out of 100 reviewers) and it's only 10 bucks.

Video card: $179.00 ($164.00 with $15.00 mail-in rebate)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130283
Self-explanatory. Awesome card at an awesome price.

Total of about $950, you'll have about $50 left to buy games and together the system will DOMINATE, DOMINATE I tell you. I included everything needed and you have about $100 left to spend on games. If you are going to get the Opteron 165 and the DFI Lanparty motherboard (which alot of people will say you should), I think you should overclock to at least 2.4GHz because everyone who tried 2.4GHz, stayed there stable. I highly suggest you get these parts and overclock. If you do, this gaming system will be flying!(At a cheap price, too~)

EDIT: Changed a few parts and raised a few bucks to make your gaming experience EXTREME ($50 for 2GB Corsair XMS RAM and Sapphire X850XT (16 pixel pipelines)

 

[MysteriousWind]

Ok, well I think I have my build planned out. My budget really is $700, my friend said he'd lend me $100 if I needed it, but I'd rather not owe money to a friend.

CPU: AMD Athlong 64 3200+ Venice (Still has the heatsink fan)
I could upgrade to the 3500 version, but I'd rather not unless there will be a real difference.

MOBO: Asus A8N5X nForce4
I looked at the DFI, but the only real advantage I could find is the firewire port, which I don't need now. If I ever needed one I could buy a card. I've read that this mobo allows you to overclock well. I only plan to do some minor overclocking, but I will be overclocking.

RAM: CORSAIR XMS 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Kit System Memory.
Slight upgrade from the other set. For these the Cas Latency is 2 where the others were 3.

Video Card: Sapphire X850XT
It does use SM 2.0 instead of 3.0, but it is still a great card for the price

PSU: ASPIRE ATX-CW500WP4 ATX 500W Power Supply 115/230 V
Got some good reviews. Plenty of power for my needs

DVD/CD Drive: LITE-ON Beige 16X
Pretty much the same as the Plextor but cheaper. I'm going to have to download some stuff to make the drive work as it should, but that isn't a big deal.

CASE: COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-WW

There will also be Oblivion (loved Morrowind and the game looks awesome) which is $46.

All this puts me at roughly $650 w/o shipping. The CPU and mobo aren't bought from newegg because another site has them as a combo. Like I said, I could upgrade to the 3500, but that is real close to $700. I already have a pretty good LCD monitor and periferals. I generally use a jumpdrive so I don't need a floppy drive, but I might get a free one anyway.

 

[Akifuddin]

Good idea. Don't get the 3500+ it doesn't make a big difference at all. And don't get Corsair XMS. Instead, get Corsair ValueSelect and buy a 3500+ :lol: The 3500+ instead of the 3200+ will have a bigger performance boost than ValueSelect RAM to XMS RAM.

 

[MysteriousWind]

Ok, well the XMS was only an extra $10 so I should be able to keep the better RAM. I think I'll upgrade to the 3500 which would pretty much max out my budget that I can spend on computer stuff.

 

[Akifuddin]

Only 10 more bucks? In that case, it's a good deal. Yeah, get the 3500+ it's good.

 

[yourmothersanastronaut]

I would say to get a DFI, not necessarily a LANPARTY. Asus makes better Intel-based motherboards than AMD ones, and DFI's are very good OC'ers. Do you really need SLI?

If you get a cheaper DFI motherboard, that will free up some cash for other parts. F'rinstance, you could get a better video card, one that supports SM 3.0. As long as you're going to OC, I would say to get a 6800 GS, because that card overclocks like a mofo.

However, DFI boards are generally finicky when it comes to Corsair. If you can get some nice OCZ, Patriot, Mushkin, or high-end G.Skill, you'd be much better off. If you wanted to get really fancy, you could get some PC4000 (DDR500), which will give you a LOT of headroom.

I may post back later with some parts recommendations.