How does this look for a budget gaming system?

[Blackhawk3D]

What do you guys think of this setup? I tried to pick what I thought were good components.

Case: Cooler Master Centurion 5
PS: Thermaltake TR2 430W
Motherboard: MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum
CPU: Athlon 64 X2 3800+
Memory: Corsair Valueselect 1GB
Video Card: eVGA 256MB P2 Geforce 7600GT
Sound Card: Creative X-Fi 7.1-not too sure on this, maybe Audigy2 ZS?
Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 120GB Serial ATA 7200rpm. 3Gb/s
Monitor: ViewSonic VX922

Could anything be better/cheaper etc? What are your opinions on this setup?

Thanks,
Nathan

 

[Ian]

That's a budget gaming system, jesus I need more money. Looks pretty good, if you are on a budget though, I wouldn't bother with the sound card. Also I can't say much about that MSI board, but I would recommend an ASUS A8N-E. That LCD rocks. Other stuff looks good, you might want to consider an Opty 165 instead of the 3800 if you plan to overclock at all.


ACTUALLY, if its mainly for gaming, I would strongly suggest getting a single core Athlon 64. Something like a 3700+, with the money saved you could get a 7900 GT. Those changes would make it a lot better.

 

[Blackhawk3D]

Okay, I did that, and it cut my price down too (Sweeeeeet duuuudddeee :lol: ). I was wondering how big a difference there would be between the 7900GT and 7800GT? I'm looking to get it as close to 1,000 total as possible, right now I'm at 1266, and switching to the 7800gt could put me in the 1100 range which would be even better. Of course, I wouldn't be able to tell much difference, because either would be immensely better than my current system, P4 2.4ghz, 512 ram, Geforce 4 Ti 4200. Embarrassing I know, but it was pretty good when I first got it. My parents like to hold on to computers for too long. :x

 

[Blackhawk3D]

Okay, I switched out the ram for some XMS stuff, it was only 20 bucks more.

 

[Arucard]

Dude, that's nothing. 'm still running a P4 1.6GHz, 512mb SDRAM, GF2 GTS Ti from 4 1/2 years ago. Only another $2000 (2 months of saving) until I can afford my $6000 dream machine I have planned AU dollars, of course.

As for your rig, yeah, I'd go with an ASUS Mobo and use the onboard sound, rather tha the X-Fi. Also, opty 165 and overclocking, from what I hear. For a budget, DEFINATELY drop to a 7800 instead of 7900, you shouldn't notice a difference for a couple of years, at least. Like right now I wouldn't notice the difference between my GF2 and a GF3.

 

[moparman390]

The MSI Motherboard is good, I have one. I would dump the X-fi, just get a basic Audigy SE if you want to go away from the onboard sound, they are like $30 and are a lot better then onboard audio and not much worse then X-fi. The biggest jump will be from onboard to Sound Blaster, the smaller jump will be from Audigy (SE,2,4, whatever) to X-fi. Take the money you save and buy a 7900GT, they are very powerful.

 

[Blackhawk3D]

I have a soundblaster Live! Value that I've had forever. Would that be better than the built in? Or would I be better off getting a newer $30 card or whatever.

 

[p8ntslinger676]

Go ahead and spend the $30 on the sound card, it will most deffintly be worth it in your future, much higher quality over onboard. i am thinking of getting a sound card after i do a few more things on my new rig, meaning new heatsing/fan, another gig of ram, and a wireless internet card. but yes deffinatly worth it.

 

[Blackhawk3D]

Okay, would you go with that MSI, or the Abit KN8 Ultra? The only difference I can find is that the Abit doesn't have built in firewire, which isn't a big deal as I do video editing on my mom's mac. It's 20 bucks cheaper. Another thing I was wondering, the case I chose has a firewire port in the front. Does that need built in firewire to work, or does it plug in like a pci card? Another option is the SLI version of the Abit board, it has firewire, and is the same price as the MSI. What about the Asus A8N boards? It seemed to me you didn't get as much for your mulah with them.

 

[SuperFly03]

I'd just like to add my 2 cents to the discussion.

As for the onboard sound debate, the current generation onboard sound doesn't do as bad a job as it used to. From what I understand it will still take up CPU cycles, which isn't as much of an issue now, but worht considering. ABout the X-Fi, dear god its amazing. Blew the freakin hell out of my Audigy 2 ZS. Makes me wonder what I did before it... ok maybe not that but its still very close, especially if you ever plan on using headphones for surround sound. Hey, don't knock it, with a good set of headphones its top-notch positioning and sound (no bass of course).

I recently went home for Spring break and toted my huge ass tower home, but left the 5.1 surround sound at home and brought the E3C headphones to play BF2. Hmmm that was a good week. I didn't think I would be able to pinpoint an enemy just by listening but I could. X-Fi is well worth the money UNLESS your on a budget, which you are so I woudl avoid it.

I agree with going single core while on a budget, its not a bad decision at all. I just bought my rig and had virtually no price limit and I stuck with a Venice core A64. It gets the job done, and well, just 5 sec slower than a FX hehe (im exagerating the 5 sec butyou get the point).

If you do go with the 7800GT, go eVGA and take advantage of the StepUp program. From the date of the invoice you have 90 days to choose to steup to ANY graphics card released within that 90 window. Here is the best part, eVGA will give you credit for the exact amount you paid for the old card, assuming you keep the box and all the crap that comes in it. I just ordered 7900 GTX's for $30 because I paid 469 for my 7800 GTX's and 7900GTX's are 499 MSRP (now thats a deal).

All around a solid build.

 

[Blackhawk3D]

Well, I'm going to just get the audigy for now, until I hear an X-fi I won't know any better . Rant:Why the heck does no one have the 7800Gt or 7900GT?!?! It's maddening. I really wish I could get it all from newegg, but nooooooooo. And then I go look other places, and they don't have it either, or they have obscene pricing. grrrr. Any input on the motherboard choice?

 

[SuperFly03]

I have never had any experiance with MSI. My friend has an Abit mobo (i built it for him) and I've had an Asus and currently run a DFI.

Straight up Asus and Abit work, but they limit your OC potential. DFI is for the insane, and those who wante very last Mhz and are willing to spend weeks and weeks on an overclock. If you want a board that will work and give you good performance I'd shoot for Abit or Asus. Again, I don't know a thing about MSI, they may be perfectly good boards, I just dont know.

Your problem with video cards is that the 7900 series was released in the 2nd week of march I think? so supplies are still limited, but they were availible in volume at launch, so just hang tight they are coming

Audigy will do you just fine, I had an Audigy 2 for 3 years, and still not one complaint about the actual card. I actually took it out of my old system (the audigy 2) and tossed into a POS system that now only serves as a file server and to play music via RCA adapter on a bedroom stereo and it sounds grand. So don't think just becuase its an audigy 2 it will suck, no no.

 

[Blackhawk3D]

Okay, so I'll go with the Abit board. Do you need built in firewire for the firewire ports built into the front of the case to work? Because I don't want useless ports...

 

[SuperFly03]

The firewire ports on the front of the case will have leads that will plug directly into the mobo itself, so if you want the ports to function you will need to have firewire on the board.

Edit: bedtime, Ill be back in 6 hours.

 

[Ian]

Definately go for a 7900 GT over 7800 GT. A 7900 GT performs better then a 7800 GTX.

 

[ravon]

Hi Ian... i think u mada a mistake about the 7900GT outperforming a 7900GTX.. a typo perhaps?? :lol: ...a 7900GTX is definetely faster than a 7900GT.

 

[Ian]

Woops, thanks. Fixed now.

 

[mitch074]

To correct something about onboard sound:
- onboard sound using AC'97 sound drivers indeed consume CPU cycles. However, Nforce integrated audio chips are dedicated audio chips (Realtek design) which allow hardware acceleration -> no more CPU hogs.
- onboard audio has increased quality tremendously: EAX 2 is not so rare anymore (I have it running smoothly on an Nforce430 mobo), and sound quality has gotten much better (I tested 24-bit, 48000Hz yesterday on a XM sound module on a pair of good quality speakers and some good headset): nice bass, good midrange, and good highs.

If you have good integrated audio (Nforce4x0), don't bother with an add-on card.

 

[Xanthropos]

'Budget' as in, no budget? I wish my idea of budget was like that

Yeah, I've been using my nforce3 mobo onboard sound which can support EAX2 in the most recent driver update, and it sounds awesome - I'd say theres not really any point even spending anything on an additional sound card.

I recommend going single-core for gaming, with a something like a 3700+ San Diego - very nice pricing and still powerful - and then you can spend the cash on a 7900GT or just save it.

Gaming is muchmore dependant on the graphics card than the CPU these days, bear that in mind when allocating money.

 

[mitch074]

Agreed. For gaming, dual-core AMD can be a bit troublesome on a few games (mainly Unreal3 engine based, such as Painkiller). This can be 100% corrected with a small utility and a batch file, but then you're better off using a single core solution.

 

[PX7800GT]

OK , Here Is My Idea ...
1- Get An AMD 3200 or 3500 ( Less Money , Can OC :twisted: To 3800 Speed ...)
2- Forget About Sound Card & Use OnBoard Sound Card :twisted:
3- Get MSI K8N Neo 4 FI ( Same as Platinum But Without 1394 & 20$ Less Expensive :twisted: )
4- Save Some More Money And Then Get An ATI X1900XT , Awesome PerFormance , Can Beat Even 4x7600GT & Can Be OverClocked To X1900XTX Performance ... Even If You Cant Afford X1900XT Go For 7900GT Or X1800XT ... They Are Far More Powerfull Than 7600GT :twisted:
Any Way ... Its Your Choice

 

[pmr]

Budget? Who´s your father? Roman Abramovich? Bill Gates?

 

[chuckshissle]

Yeah, I wouldn't recommend to get the soundcard unless you have a good set of speakers to go with it. It's better to spend that money and get a better card say 7900GT maybe. Go with dual core X2, trust me games are taking more advantage on this multi-core cpu thing. Love that choice of monitor, it's a super fast lcd and perfect for gaming. Good luck.

 

[jap0nes]

agreed

 

[Blackhawk3D]

Geez guys, too many opinions. I have two choices. Get the X2 processor and a 7600GT or similar vid card, or get the 3800 and the 7900GT vid card. Which would be better?