Hoping for Advice on New S939 System

[SpencerL]

Hi, this is my first post here, but I've been reading the forums for quite a while, so I know you guys are quite helpful. I'm tired of my old P4 1.8 system, and I'm looking forward to buying a new system. I will primarily be using it for gaming, video editing, multimedia viewing and I do a fair bit of multitasking. I have come up with the following system, and I'd really appreciate any comments or arguments. I'd like to stay in this approximate price range, but I'm willing to go up or down slightly if the argument is logical Thanks in advance for any help!

Case: Antec P180 21" Aluminum No Power Supply (11xbays)
Power: Antec TruePower 2.0 TP2-550 550Watt ATX12V 24 pin
MB: Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe S939 nForce4 SLIX16
CPU: Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Dual Core 1000HT 512KBx2
Video: eVGA E-GEFORCE 7900GT 256M DDR3 PCI-E
HD: (x2) Maxtor 250GB HD 7200rpm 16MB (SATAII) --> I intend to buy two of these drives and raid them for a 500GB C: drive on the new system.

Lastly, the RAM. I've decided to go for 2GB in total, and I know it has to be 184 pin...but past that I'm not really sure what to get. At this point, I've chosen this: Corsair VS2GBKIT400C3 2GB Kit(2x1G) PC3200 400Mhz

I chose the case because I really liked it, even though its a bit on the expensive side. I went with SLI because the option of adding a 2nd video card down the road sounds like a money saver (ie: prolonging the need for a system upgrade).

I eagerly await any comments...... =)

 

[ikjadoon]

I hate to bring up ANOTHER one of these comments, but do you HAVE to have this PC now? Because I'd say wait a little while for AM2 to pan out, better motherboards, better selection of well, everything. That leads to my ultimate argument: I would say the 4400+ becuase of higher clock speed and more cache. Yet the 4400+ costs a butload more than the 3800+, so I would say the X2 4000+ but it is only socket AM2. Also, no CD/DVD drives? Otherwise, great system! How much is the total cost, by the way?

~Ibrahim~

 

[ethel]

Personally I'd change to the following:

1) X1800XT 256MB Video card - pretty much the same price as the 7900GT, but generally performs better when doing AA and AF, and can also do AA at the same time as HDR. Get an aftermarket cooler though, unless you like loads of noise (Zalman is good). These overclock pretty well, too.

2) Consider a Raptor for the c: drive - I know this will add to the cost, but they really are very fast in practise (although a little noisy when seeking - the old coffee grinder noise). I guess you know that having RAID 0 will increase the chance of losing your data quite significantly?

Rest of the system is spot on for me, but Conroe is coming out soonish, and it looks like it will be very fast. But then again, there's always something around the corner, so I wouldn't let that bother me.

Anyway, good luck - hope it all goes well for you.

 

[ikjadoon]

Raptors aren't worth it when you have 7.2k drives in RAID 0, though... You do increase the chances, but even then the chances aren't huge.

~Ibrahim~

 

[baracuda73]

Have you ever loaded windows on the 74gb raptor it is an 8 minute load plus it have a far faster seek time than any 7200 rpm drive on the market.

 

[SpencerL]

I hate to bring up ANOTHER one of these comments, but do you HAVE to have this PC now? Because I'd say wait a little while for AM2 to pan out, better motherboards, better selection of well, everything. That leads to my ultimate argument: I would say the 4400+ becuase of higher clock speed and more cache. Yet the 4400+ costs a butload more than the 3800+, so I would say the X2 4000+ but it is only socket AM2. Also, no CD/DVD drives? Otherwise, great system! How much is the total cost, by the way?

~Ibrahim~

Thanks for the reply. I'm looking at buying a system now because I'll have much more time to use it during the summer. If I wait until the fall, it will not really be worth the money to buy a system, based on how much time I will be able to use it.

I see at my local computer store they are selling AM2 CPUs now. However,. they don't seem to list AM2 motherboards at this time. I'm not totally up to speed on what is happening with AM2 at this point...how long will I have to wait until AM2 is a feasible option for me? I would be looking at a $50CAD increase to go from a S939 X2 3800+ to an AM2 X2 4000+...but of course this doesn't take into account the changes in motherboard prices or RAM.

As for the total cost of my current system, it might be tough to compare because I am in Canada. However, in Canadian dollars, the total cost is $1578 (not including tax). I have done significant price comparison, and for the parts I listed, this is basically the cheapest price I can find in Canada.

Lastly, I have a Pioneer DVR-109 which I was planning to just pop into the new system from my current one. I figure that'll do the trick.

Thanks again.

 

[sandmannight]

Have you ever loaded windows on the 74gb raptor it is an 8 minute load plus it have a far faster seek time than any 7200 rpm drive on the market.

impatient canadians

 

[SpencerL]

I considered a raptor, but since storage space is also important to me, and I feel that the raid system will be pretty fast anyway, a raptor wasn't quite right for my use. Although, an 8 minute install of XP does sound fun

Spencer

 

[ikjadoon]

Well, if you think about it, the price/performance ratio isn't worth it. Nearly costing double and a much higher price per GB ratio as well. But the 150X Raptor isn't that bad.

~Ibrahim~