improve my build; i have money to spare

[strife220]

Hi guys,
I'm buying a new midrange computer for gaming and for school. Here's what I have. I have about $100-$200 to spare, but I'm not sure what I should be improving.

Case Antec Sonata II Black ATX 16IN Mid Tower Quiet Case 3X5.25 2X3.5 4X3.5IN 450W Air Duct 120MM Fan

Processor AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Dual Core Processor S939 Manchester 2.2GHZ 512KBX2 90NM

Motherboard ASUS A8N5X ATX S939 NFORCE4 DDR PCI-E16 SATA RAID Sound GBLAN Motherboard

Memory 2 sticks Samsung PC3200 1GB DDR400 184PIN DIMM Memory OEM

IDE Hard Drives Western Digital Caviar SE 250GB SATA2 7200RPM 8MB 8.9MS Hard Drive

Video Card EVGA E-GEFORCE 7600 GT CO 580MHZ PCI-E 256MB 128BIT 1.5GHZ GDDR3 Dual DVI HDTV Out Video Card

DVD Writer Samsung SH-W162 16X DVD+-RW 5X Dual Layer DVD Writer Black /W SW OEM

Optional Fans For intake on the front: Antec TriCool 120MM DBB Case Fan 3-SPEED 1200/1600/2200RPM 25/28/30DBA 39/56/79CFM 3 & 4PINS

LCD Display Viewsonic VA912B 19IN TFT LCD Monitor Black 1280X1024 8MS 500:1 0.264MM VGA DVI W/ Speakers

 

[shadowduck]

Hi guys,
I'm buying a new midrange computer for gaming and for school. Here's what I have. I have about $100-$200 to spare, but I'm not sure what I should be improving.

Case Antec Sonata II Black ATX 16IN Mid Tower Quiet Case 3X5.25 2X3.5 4X3.5IN 450W Air Duct 120MM Fan

Processor AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Dual Core Processor S939 Manchester 2.2GHZ 512KBX2 90NM

Motherboard ASUS A8N5X ATX S939 NFORCE4 DDR PCI-E16 SATA RAID Sound GBLAN Motherboard

Memory 2 sticks Samsung PC3200 1GB DDR400 184PIN DIMM Memory OEM

IDE Hard Drives Western Digital Caviar SE 250GB SATA2 7200RPM 8MB 8.9MS Hard Drive

Video Card EVGA E-GEFORCE 7600 GT CO 580MHZ PCI-E 256MB 128BIT 1.5GHZ GDDR3 Dual DVI HDTV Out Video Card

DVD Writer Samsung SH-W162 16X DVD+-RW 5X Dual Layer DVD Writer Black /W SW OEM

Optional Fans For intake on the front: Antec TriCool 120MM DBB Case Fan 3-SPEED 1200/1600/2200RPM 25/28/30DBA 39/56/79CFM 3 & 4PINS

LCD Display Viewsonic VA912B 19IN TFT LCD Monitor Black 1280X1024 8MS 500:1 0.264MM VGA DVI W/ Speakers

Upgrade #1: Cost $14- Change the motherboard to the Asus A8N-E. The Ultra NF4 chipset is worth the cost.

Change #1: Change the RAM for Corsair or OCZ

Change #2: Change the DVD burner to the NEC ND-3550A. It can burn dual layer 8x + 6x -.

Upgrade #2: Spend the rest of your extra money and make the 7600 a 790GT. You will be much happier with the results.

 

[oblivion]

If you don't have any speakers then i'd get a nice 2.1 or 5.1 set, you should be able to get a nice set for that price.

Your current system is fine, for $100 its not worth changing anything(unless your going to OC, then maybe some better ram for $140 from corsair).

Also on the mobo thing duck said, unless your going to be OC'ing its probably not going to make a massive difference. Also don't upgrade because you can, upgrade when its worth it(say upgrading to an x1900XT-X) or a better CPU.

 

[GherkinPekul]

1) upgrade to x1800xt- even the 256 MB ($289 @ Newegg)

2) if you are thinking about overclocking - better ram pc4000

3) if you haven't thought about a fan controller, you might want to

4) rounded cables

that's my 4 cents

 

[oblivion]

Hmm, since when was $289 between $100-200???

Please read the thread first .

StrangeStranger had the right idea with the sound card and a decent set of speakers, but do make sure they are decent or a 2.1system might be better.

If you OC then get a good set of RAM, not PC4000, way to expensive

THIS would be great for OC'ing, $140 after MIR, will OC great, PC3500 etc costs a lot more and its not worth it unless you have some serious OC'ing to do(say on an opty)

 

[mdd1963]

"Upgrade #2: Spend the rest of your extra money and make the 7600 a 7900GT."

If gaming is a factor, I agree quite strongly!

 

[strife220]

thanks for the advice so far guys,

'StrangeStranger had the right idea with the sound card and a decent set of speakers, but do make sure they are decent or a 2.1system might be better. '

I already have a pretty good set of 2.1 speakers, and I think I'm going to be pretty content with the onboard sound.


'Change #2: Change the DVD burner to the NEC ND-3550A. It can burn dual layer 8x + 6x -.
Upgrade #1: Cost $14- Change the motherboard to the Asus A8N-E. The Ultra NF4 chipset is worth the cost.

Changing the burner to the NEC is only a few $$ upgrade, so I may go ahead and do that. It's just a bit faster when burnin dual layer, is it?

I'll look into getting the A8N-E instead; it's also only a few extra $$. Same goes for the 16 MB cache harddrive.

I'm not interested in overclocking, so I figure the cheapest ram I can get is good enough for me.


'3) if you haven't thought about a fan controller, you might want to

4) rounded cables '

I'm not sure what you're talking about when you say a fan controller and rounded cables. Can you reference me to somewhere to learn?



I don't do too much gaming, so I figure a 7900GT is a bit overboard in that case. The price difference between the card i'm getting and the cheapest 7900 is $150, and I figure that might be better spent elsewhere. Maybe I could justify it by knocking the processor to a 3800+, but I feel my video card is more upgradeable if I feel the need to do so in a years time, while my processor is more likely to stay with me for years, so I don't like the idea of taking any money out of the good processor.

Any more opinions comments suggestions etc. are greatly appreciated!
Thanks

 

[sandmannight]

get a opty 165 and ave cash and then upgrade that card to a 7900 gt

 

[GherkinPekul]

Please read the thread first Razz.

Hey Douche-monkey
Was the 7600 he was going to put in free? Maybe you should have someone read the post to you. These are his ideas for the build, not stuff he already has. In the future, cupcake, if you want a fight, leave your head up your ass and fight for air.
ps. I will pray against you

 

[strife220]

I don't know much about the opteron processors; I guess I should do some research on it. Most people who've recommended it rave about how much they overclock it, which is not something I'm really looking into (it least not trying to boost it 40% or anything). Are there any other advantages over the athlon?

 

[mdd1963]

"Are there any other advantages over the athlon?"

They are essentially rebadged X2's, with good heatsink/fans, well tested and validated...

Given only a few dollar premium over an equivalant X2 with 1M cache (4400/4800), they are a good idea....

 

[oblivion]

Hiding would be a goodm thing here. Misunderstood the thread, maybe i've not been sleeping enough(getting up before 6 isn't a good idea) but yeah, my bad, misunderstanding, hope you guys don't mind :?

BTW- on the getting someone to read it for me, MS's speech util will do fine then . And no need 2 pray, it appears im still owned a brain

Now that i get this:

get an Opty 165, OC's great, but even if you don't OC its got the same performance as an X2 3800+(which i would get over a 4200+). However if you do OC, stock cooling or whatever it'l do great.

For the mobo an A8N-E would be better IMO, and is only about $95 or so last time i checked.

I would also spend my money on a sound card, e.g. an X-fi or audigy2 or 4 card, and a seagate HDD(nice 5year warranty)