please comment on this setup...

[foofyter]

Hey everyone, I'm building a comp for my bro. Mainly for gaming and school. We're not going for a screaming system but something a little more mid-range and around a grand. I've done some research and it looks like everything here would be compatible. I would appreciate any advice. Thanks.

Case: Antec LifeStyle SONATA II
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811129155

Mobo: Gigabyte GA-K8N Pro-SLI
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813128301

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego 2000MHz HT 1MB L2 Cache Socket 939
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103539

Video Card: eVGA Geforce 7600GT 256MB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130283

RAM: CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145505

HDD: Western Digital Caviar SE 250GB 3.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144417

CD Burner: LITE-ON Black 52X CD-R 32X CD-RW 52X CD-ROM 1.5M
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827106997

DVD Burner: NEC 16X DVD±R DVD Burner
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827152058


The video card is not the best, but it's SLI (for the future upgrade) and seems to be the best bang for the buck. Also, what's everyone's opinions on a good LCD for gaming? Probably something around $250. Thanks!

 

[vulefu]

Buy one more stick of ram.

And LCD if you wanna http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824014090

 

[mdd1963]

Many people using the Gigabyte NF4 boards somplain of stuttering sound, regardless of onboard or Xfi/SB Live use...

I'd go with DFI, Asus, or Epox....

 

[Shifty52]

I'd swap the CD Burner just for a CD/DVD Reader to save a few more bucks. 1 good DVD Burner can burn CD's as well and there will be little to[/list] no time when you actually will be burning 2 things at the same exact time so it is a 'little" waste of money IMO. But hey, other than that for the price range, looks decent.

 

[vulefu]

I'd swap the CD Burner just for a CD/DVD Reader to save a few more bucks. 1 good DVD Burner can burn CD's as well and there will be little to[/list] no time when you actually will be burning 2 things at the same exact time so it is a 'little" waste of money IMO. But hey, other than that for the price range, looks decent.

Yeah.

And Epox thing, I say this to bunch of ppl and i will say one more time(hope so) take it its a exellante board i have it, DFI isnt bad but I think epox is cheaper.
For a single PCI-X:[/quote] http://www.epox.com/USA/product.asp?id=EP-9NPAplusULTRA

 

[foofyter]

Thanks for the advice everyone. mdd1963, I didn't know that about that board. I guess this board should be fine...

ASUS A8N-SLI
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131524

 

[ak47is1337]

Hey everyone, I'm building a comp for my bro. Mainly for gaming and school. We're not going for a screaming system but something a little more mid-range and around a grand. I've done some research and it looks like everything here would be compatible. I would appreciate any advice. Thanks.

Case: Antec LifeStyle SONATA II
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811129155

Mobo: Gigabyte GA-K8N Pro-SLI
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813128301

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego 2000MHz HT 1MB L2 Cache Socket 939
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103539

Video Card: eVGA Geforce 7600GT 256MB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130283

RAM: CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145505

HDD: Western Digital Caviar SE 250GB 3.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144417

CD Burner: LITE-ON Black 52X CD-R 32X CD-RW 52X CD-ROM 1.5M
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827106997

DVD Burner: NEC 16X DVD±R DVD Burner
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827152058


The video card is not the best, but it's SLI (for the future upgrade) and seems to be the best bang for the buck. Also, what's everyone's opinions on a good LCD for gaming? Probably something around $250. Thanks!

Go dual-core. And yeah, a different motherboard would be good.

 

[carpcmelee]

whats pci-x?
i only know pci-e

 

[shadowduck]

Thanks for the advice everyone. mdd1963, I didn't know that about that board. I guess this board should be fine...

ASUS A8N-SLI
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131524

NOOOOOOO not that one, this board has has problems since 2 days before its release. DO not buy it unless you like having weird problems.

Instead:
DFI Lanparty Ultra D ($122) if you want to overclock or SLI otherwise
Asus A8N-E ($93)

 

[bweir]

Avoid the SLI board if you aren't using SLI. Also, SLI is a waste of money unless you are using the best card (>$400) available at the time.

Upgrade to a DVD/CD-R drive

 

[shadowduck]

Avoid the SLI board if you aren't using SLI. Also, SLI is a waste of money unless you are using the best card (>$400) available at the time.

Upgrade to a DVD/CD-R drive

Actually as far as the DFI board goes, its one of the best overclocking boards out there. Yes it is an SLI board, but I recommend it more on its overclock potential then the fact it can do SLI.

 

[foofyter]

Cool. Thanks everyone for the advice and opinions. Looks like he couldn't wait and went ahead and ordered the aforementioned setup. I'll be sure to post if there are any issues with the Gigabyte mobo. My only question is... The AMD chip comes with it's own heatsink and fan that has a thermal pad, right? So would some Arctic Silver do any good? http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16835100007
What is everyone's experience with the stuff? Thanks!

 

[ak47is1337]

Cool. Thanks everyone for the advice and opinions. Looks like he couldn't wait and went ahead and ordered the aforementioned setup. I'll be sure to post if there are any issues with the Gigabyte mobo. My only question is... The AMD chip comes with it's own heatsink and fan that has a thermal pad, right? So would some Arctic Silver do any good? http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16835100007
What is everyone's experience with the stuff? Thanks!

arcic silver ownzzzzzzzzz i would never use anything else

 

[sandmannight]

good a cheap CRT and upgrade to 2 gigs of ram and also if you can get a 7900gt. Dont spend 1/4 of your cash on a monitor.

 

[shadowduck]

Cool. Thanks everyone for the advice and opinions. Looks like he couldn't wait and went ahead and ordered the aforementioned setup. I'll be sure to post if there are any issues with the Gigabyte mobo. My only question is... The AMD chip comes with it's own heatsink and fan that has a thermal pad, right? So would some Arctic Silver do any good? http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16835100007
What is everyone's experience with the stuff? Thanks!

The thermal pad, well frankly sucks, Arctic Silver is much better use it.

 

[DDay629]

I haven't exactly been looking around for this info, but what kind of increases do you get using Arctic Silver. I mean, yeah, lower temps, but by how much? For instance on my planned machine.

DDay

 

[shadowduck]

I haven't exactly been looking around for this info, but what kind of increases do you get using Arctic Silver. I mean, yeah, lower temps, but by how much? For instance on my planned machine.

DDay

Back on the old Athlon XPs the thermal pad raised the core CPU temp in our systems where I worked 7-10 degrees C over using real thermal compound. Now the A64/Opty coolers are better, so I would say 3-5 degrees is a good guess of the temperature reduction. The fact that almost every third party cooler comes with thermal paste NOT a pad says enough.

 

[foofyter]

The thermal pad, well frankly sucks, Arctic Silver is much better use it.

Cool. So would I completely remove the thermal pad to do that?

 

[foofyter]

good a cheap CRT and upgrade to 2 gigs of ram and also if you can get a 7900gt. Dont spend 1/4 of your cash on a monitor.

I'd love to, but my bro has a budget and he really wants an LCD. Keep in mind that he's not looking to play the latest and greatest at 1600X1200 with everything maxed out. The extra gig of RAM and a better video card with be good upgrades for the future, though.