AM2 System, that needs a glance from TH Gods!

[Vyker]

Hi, my pc died a couple of months ago, so ive been using my very underpowered laptop.
ive been reading about current hardware, and have come up with the following system.

what do you all think?
i do have some reservations with it though.
1) everyone says wait till conroe, as it will be better, and am2 setup will drop in price.
i cant wait much longer, and wanted to know how much cheaper would this system be once conroe is released?
the cpu is £181, i assume this is where the price will drop, would it be wise to get the much cheaper athlon 64 single core at £70 then upgrade it later?
2) is the samsung drives a good choice over hitachi eqv.?
3) will i have problems with ram timings using this setup?
4) is this board bug free? should i worry about it as its a new board?

Asus M2N32-SLi-DLX nForce 590 SLi (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ 2.00GHz (Socket AM2)
Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2-6400C5 TwinX (2x1GB)
Samsung SpinPoint P SP2504C 250GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM
Enermax Noisetaker 535W EG565AX-VE(W) SFMA ATX2.0 SLI Compliant PSU
Pioneer DVR-111DSV 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter - (Silver) OEM
Thermaltake VC6000SWA Eclipse SuperMidi Tower - Silver (CA-030-TT)
XFX GeForce 7600 GS Extreme Edition 256MB DDR2 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail

Total £939.06

Thanks for all your help

 

[sailer]

If you need a system now, go ahead with the AM2 and don't worry about Conroe. Rumour has it that Conroe may be delayed, wouldn't be the first time anything got delayed and won't be the last.

If money is an issue, get the single core now and upgrade later, perhaps waiting until the 65 nm chips come out. You may not notice any difference between the single core and dual core chip anyway, at least in games, until new games come out that can take advantage of the dual core.

I think Samsung is as good as Hitachi, but that's just my opinion. Check out the reviews on these drives and make a choice. Probably whichever is cheapest will be good enough.

The memory is alright, but if you can afford the 6400C4 or 6400C3, go for it. Remember, faster timing is better. Better memory is a good place to spend the money that you save on the CPU.

Same with the video card, if you can afford a better one, get it. A better video card will last you longer before its too out of date to be useful

The motherboard is anybody's guess because its new on the market, but ASUS is generally a good company. Some may make a good argument for DFI, but those boards take more expertise to set up correctly. Don't know if they have a board out for AM2 yet, either.

Other than that, I think you have a good setup in mind. Go for it.

 

[ikjadoon]

Agree 100%. I would just make two small changes. Upgrade the video card to a GT, the performance increase is worth it. Another would be to see if there are any hard drives that come with 16MB of cache, over the 8MB. Otherwise: Great!

~Ibrahim~

 

[MrsD]

Agree 100%. I would just make two small changes. Upgrade the video card to a GT, the performance increase is worth it. Another would be to see if there are any hard drives that come with 16MB of cache, over the 8MB. Otherwise: Great!

~Ibrahim~

Yes! Id get the single core 3800+ its dirt cheap and you can upgrade to 65nm X2 in 6 months. Definately get the 7600GT, its only like $150. Definately a 16mb cache Hardrive, they are just a couple dollars more, go with a western digital.

 

[ikjadoon]

I hope I not jacking your thread, but MrsD, I'm buying another MSI AM2 board, how is the one you have? How are the overclocking options, I noticed you've OC'ed. Thanks!

~Ibrahim~

 

[Vyker]

thanks very much guys.
your opinions help greatly.

ive recompiled my little shopping basket.
ive changed the gfx card to the GT model,
ive downgraded the CPU to athlon 64 3200,
i cant afford to buy c3 or c4 ram, so ill stick with the c5, and
as for hdd cache, samsung dont do a 16mb, and from what ive been reading it doesnt really make that much difference.

Total £815.69

ive saved a bit cash too.

anything else that i might have missed, or you could recommend ?

 

[ikjadoon]

Looks good! If you are OC'ing, that 3200+ will probably surpass or come close to FX-57 speeds. I've even seen it done on stock. Yeah, cache doesn't make much difference, but sometimes they'll offer one for a just a few dollars more, might all be hype, though, like SATA 300Mbps... Looks good, I'm glad you upgraded the GPU. Thanks!

~Ibrahim~

 

[foshizzle]

I don't know what the prices are for you but I see that the 3200+ is about $110, the 3500+ is about $120 and the 3800+ is about $150. You might want to consider going with the 3800+ for just $40 dollars more (not sure what that translates into in £). I have a 3800+ and can say that I am very pleased with it. If you plan on overclocking this is a great choice as well.

 

[Vyker]

foshizzle:
it seems the prices in US [i assume thats where your from] are much cheaper then here.
the 3200+ is £61
and the 3800+ is £171 thats about $300.

prozac26:
the 7900GT is about £80 more, i think the saving ive made on the cpu, i will use to get the dual core later on as im not much of a gamer!

ikjadoon:
Thanks for you help, its reassuring.

and thanks to MrsD and Sailer for your help.

looks like im done. ill order in the morning

 

[ikjadoon]

lol, thanks! Good luck!

~Ibrahim~

 

[sailer]

You're welcome Vyker, and good luck with your new machine.

 

[kais]

why not get the x2 4000+ for 20 dollars more at monarch pc. and the ram isnt looking to good either. get someg skill or some ocz pc2 6400 platinum xtc