ORDERING TOMMOROW! How does this look?

Jeffreyg4

Distinguished
Mar 21, 2006
34
0
18,530
Hey all im going to be ordering my new pc tommorow and would like to know how this setup will preform and if theres anything i should change to incrsese preformance without making it cost much more.

the system consists of:

CPU : AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ Dual Core Processor S939 Toledo 2.2GHZ 1MBX2 90NM Retail Box

GPU : BFG GeForce 7900 GTX OC PCI-E 512MB 256BIT DDR3 SLI Ready Video Card

Sound Card :Creative Sound Blaster X-FI Xtreme Music 24BIT Sound Card

OS : Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition OEM

Mobo :ASUS A8N-SLI Premium ATX S939 NFORCE4 SLI DDR 2PCI-E16 2PCI-E 3PCI SATA RAID Sound GBLAN Motherboard

PSU : Fortron FSP AX500-A 500W ATX12V 2.0 24PIN Blue Storm Power Supply W/ 120MM Fan Retail

Case: Antec P180 ATX Advanced Mid Tower Aluminum Case 4X5.25 1X3.5 6X3.5INT No PS W/ USB & Audio Ports

RAM : Mushkin HP PC3200 2GB 2X1GB DDR400 CL2-3-2 184PIN DIMM Dual Channel Memory Kit

Drive : LG GSA-H10A 16X DVD+-RW 16X Dual Layer Writer IDE 2MB Black OEM W/ SW Burner

HDD : Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB SATA2 7200RPM 16MB 8.9MS Hard Drive 3 Year MFR Warranty

Please tell me if this is good and if i should change anything!

Thanks alot!
 

timberwolf1

Distinguished
Mar 24, 2003
397
0
18,780
Hi Jeffreyg4,

Congrats on your new system! Here are some of my comments:

1) GPU : BFG GeForce 7900 GTX
Great choice. Currently, there is nothing faster than the 7900GTX on the market. One thing about this card - availablity. Not a flaw of the card, just the manufacturer. Supply and demand pushes the price on this card higher than it needs to be.

2) Mobo :ASUS A8N-SLI Premium ATX S939 NFORCE4 SLI
Wonderful board. This is currently one of few mobos that can support two 7900GTX cards and still leave 2 PCI slots free. Plenty of connectivity options, includes on-board SATA / SATA 3.0GB/s RAID controllers (SI...
and nVRaid). Comes with more cables and cards than I thought possible - including a PCI card for SATA connections, so you can plug in a pair of SATA drives without seating them in the case.


3) Fortron FSP AX500-A 500W
The power supply's voltage is stable as a rock. Excellent power supply. Downside is that it only has 2 SATA connectors - it could use at least 4.
 

scoobertscoobydoo

Distinguished
Jan 30, 2006
238
0
18,680
Hey all im going to be ordering my new pc tommorow and would like to know how this setup will preform and if theres anything i should change to incrsese preformance without making it cost much more.

the system consists of:

CPU : AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ Dual Core Processor S939 Toledo 2.2GHZ 1MBX2 90NM Retail Box

GPU : BFG GeForce 7900 GTX OC PCI-E 512MB 256BIT DDR3 SLI Ready Video Card

Sound Card :Creative Sound Blaster X-FI Xtreme Music 24BIT Sound Card

OS : Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition OEM

Mobo :ASUS A8N-SLI Premium ATX S939 NFORCE4 SLI DDR 2PCI-E16 2PCI-E 3PCI SATA RAID Sound GBLAN Motherboard

PSU : Fortron FSP AX500-A 500W ATX12V 2.0 24PIN Blue Storm Power Supply W/ 120MM Fan Retail

Case: Antec P180 ATX Advanced Mid Tower Aluminum Case 4X5.25 1X3.5 6X3.5INT No PS W/ USB & Audio Ports

RAM : Mushkin HP PC3200 2GB 2X1GB DDR400 CL2-3-2 184PIN DIMM Dual Channel Memory Kit

Drive : LG GSA-H10A 16X DVD+-RW 16X Dual Layer Writer IDE 2MB Black OEM W/ SW Burner

HDD : Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB SATA2 7200RPM 16MB 8.9MS Hard Drive 3 Year MFR Warranty

Please tell me if this is good and if i should change anything!

Thanks alot!

IMO

A} i would go with the opteron 165, or the 4600+, if you want 2.2 go with the 4200+ as AMD's do not benefit mutch from the extra cashe.

B} get an evga card, evga has a step-up program, as long as the new card comes in 90days or less, full credit tword an upgrade.

C}win XP PRO, it is more stable, and recomended most by overclockers everywhere.

D} if you plan to OC get ddr500, then you can keep it 1:1 with the FSB.

E} if you plan to game at all, pick up a raptor.

F? do you really need a soundcard?
 

nick_000000

Distinguished
Mar 5, 2006
243
0
18,680
I like the look of your intended system:

Cpu - all good

GPU - 7900 good cards but 1900xtx is also very good, cheaper and win in alot of benchmarks

Sound card - maybe if you have the money go for the Fatal1ty FPS Edition as it has 64MB of X-Ram which the music doesn't

OS - Pro is better just trust me

Mobo - all good

PSU - I would go for seasonic S12 600W but personal chioce

Case - all good

RAM - can't comment haven't seen in use or benches

Drive - if you live functions maybe go for a lightscribe drive like the NEC ND4551

HDD - all good although raptors are good for gaming (expencive though)
 

Jeffreyg4

Distinguished
Mar 21, 2006
34
0
18,530
im getting a sound card because i want music to sound really good plus so i can take advantage of EAX and so games wont lag. i will not be overclocking at all so most of those parts are useless to me but instead of the Xfi how about the audigy 4 wich is only $50
 

bweir

Distinguished
Feb 22, 2006
179
0
18,680
Nice choices fpr hardware. Here are some thoughts:

-Get XP Pro, its only 50 bucks more, and overall, it's better than Home by a long stretch.

-Consider a slightly higher powered PSU. Fortron is a solid brand, but 550-600watts instead of 500w would insure against being slightly underpowered. Also, it might help to see what type of connectors it offers as a form of "future proofing" for your next system/upgrade.

-Also, completely an opinion of mine, with such a high-powered rig, you might want to think about using a smaller HDD (A Raptor, perhaps :lol: ) as a standalone for the XP installation (including the games you play regularly), and offloading all of your media onto that 250Gb drive. Of course, I'd be happy to spend your money, but in the end, its not completely necessary, so I'll leave that up to you.
 

nick_000000

Distinguished
Mar 5, 2006
243
0
18,680
The audigy 4 may be cheaper but the xfi's apparently have an increased sound quality and the software is nicer too and the Fatal1ty FPS edition is very good for gaming!
 

shadowduck

Distinguished
Jan 24, 2006
2,641
0
20,790
Unless you are going to buy another 7900GTX within the next 90 days (as the other poster suggested by getting the eVGA card) SLI is a complete waste of money, and that motherboard is vastly overpriced to go along with it. The 7900GTX will rock all games on max settings for a while to come. Get the $122 DFI Lanparty board as it is great for overclocking. If you don't really care about O/Cing get the Asus A8N-E at $92.

I love that case! I have the P160, and its great. The P180 is even better! As other posters have said, get XP Pro. Home is awful and causes nothing but issues on machines I support. Pro is much more stable and worth the extra $40.

Other than these quibbles, I really like your system!
 

Jeffreyg4

Distinguished
Mar 21, 2006
34
0
18,530
Isent the A8N-E a "lower end motherboard" and wouldent that be a bad choice for such a high end system?

Speakers are New logitech 2.1 system
monitor is New Viewsonic E90fb 19" CRT (Flatscreen)
 

ches111

Distinguished
Feb 4, 2006
1,958
0
19,780
I would consider the Dell 20.1" Widescreen display before the Viewsonic.

And I like Viewsonic....

I have the Dell and it has been one of my best purchases.

I tend to agree with the few posts that mention the Raptors. Right now the biggest bottleneck for system performance (optical drives aside) are the HD speeds for read and write transfers. I would think about adding the 36gb Raptor (this is not as fast as the 74 or 150) as a system drive that is also used for some of your MORE intensive games.

Just my .02
 

Jeffreyg4

Distinguished
Mar 21, 2006
34
0
18,530
Isent the A8N-E a "lower end motherboard" and wouldent that be a bad choice for such a high end system?

It uses the NF4 Ultra chipset, and it NOT a low end board. The only feature it really lacks is onboard 1394.

what is 1394?
 

Cheshyr

Distinguished
Apr 7, 2006
11
0
18,510
I just built a new system last month, and i have to asy the A8N-E is a very solid board unless you're planning on overclocking or using SLI. Saves you a good chunk of cash too.

That said, I agree withe veryone's suggestion about the WD Raptors. Your HDD will always be the bottleneck in your system, so spending a little more to give it a significant boost is worth it.

ATI vs NVidia... blah blah blah. 7900 is a good card. So is the 1900XT. I chose the 1900XT because it takes less of a perforamnce hit when you turn on AA, and it has hardware support for AA + HDR, even though there isn't a single game out that does. To each their own.

Good call on the X2 4400+. I was considering that, but found that for gaming, a single core CPU outperformed it... for the time being... and I settled on a 4000+ (San Diego). The extra $200 for the dual-core isn't a waste, however, unless you buy XP Home. Also, the dual-core destroys the single when doing video, and on general responsiveness when running multiple apps at once.

DON'T BUY XP HOME! Buy PRO! That extra money right there will save you hours of headaches.

Firewire is very useful if you're doing video, otherswise don't worry about it.

The nForce4 chipset has a very nice audio capability, but an external like the xFi will always sound better... IF you have the speakers to make a difference. Don't buy the XFi, and use 2.1 speakers. That's a serious waste of money. nForce4 supports EAX.

2GB RAM is a minimum at this point. Make sure you buy them in 1GB sticks, so you can upgrade later.

Like everyone else, my 2-cents. Oh, and if you're not doing SLI, don't worry about the pwoer supply too much. Anything 450W+ will work nicely... even with a power-hungry beast of a video card.

Have fun!
 

Hale73

Distinguished
Feb 14, 2006
93
0
18,630
try DFI mobos :) :) and get some DDR500 Corsair XMS memory modules.
4400+X2 is a very powerfull but too expensive CPU, try the Opteron 165, it's cheaper and they both have the same cache size and overclock it to 4400+speeds or you might exceed it to 2.4ghz with nice aftermarket cooling kit 8)