Trying to get a good bang for my buck

[Talis]

Hello, I plan on building a solid system for gaming and such will probably end up doing some photoshop on it too however the last time i ended up building a computer was almost 3yrs ago so i come to you people for advice on whether what i plan on buying will be worth it.


Specs:
Asus A8N SLI Deluxe NVIDIA Socket 939 Motherboard
152.99

Corsair Dual Channel TWINX 2048MB PC6400 DDR2 800MHz Memory
241.99

BFG GeForce 7900 GTX / 512MB GDDR3
609.99

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+
317.99

Seagate / 320GB / 7200 / 16MB / SATA-300 / OEM / Hard Drive
$139.99

+200 Monitor & case etc

comes to approx 1700, would like to see it come down a little, also wondewring whether or not the 609 vid card is nec *would sacrifice it for a lower vid card but i dont plan on upgrading for quite some time.

Any advice is much appreciated- & thanks
Tal.

 

[cochise22]

The new Intel C2D's out perform any AMD processor in Photoshop and 3d rendering. If you want I can point you in the direction of some benchmarks. Video cards don't affect the speed of rendering or anything like that, but it does make what's on your screen a lot better, and from what I hear ATI produces a lot better of a picture than nVidia. I'll post an example build if you want (and it will probobly be cheaper than what you were going to pay). As for the monitor, are you going to get a CRT? They seem to be preferred to most LCD's by professional gfx designers/gamers. Also, the new Intels out perform AMD atm in gaming as well.

 

[Talis]

I'd love for you to post a build. -As for monitor i havent put much thought into it yet wanted to get the system down before i bought a monitor. I was under the impression that for the price right now nvidia/amd were better options. I am not forcing iether one.

EDIT: if you do post a build please keep in mind 2 things firstly i dont plan on doing any sort of major upgrading for atleast 2-3 years, & i do have a budget of 12-1500 (will go over if i really need to but that is what i am looking to spend).

And again Thanks

 

[x1900xtcooler]

Hello, I plan on building a solid system for gaming and such will probably end up doing some photoshop on it too however the last time i ended up building a computer was almost 3yrs ago so i come to you people for advice on whether what i plan on buying will be worth it.


Specs:
Asus A8N SLI Deluxe NVIDIA Socket 939 Motherboard
152.99

Corsair Dual Channel TWINX 2048MB PC6400 DDR2 800MHz Memory
241.99

BFG GeForce 7900 GTX / 512MB GDDR3
609.99

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+
317.99

Seagate / 320GB / 7200 / 16MB / SATA-300 / OEM / Hard Drive
$139.99

+200 Monitor & case etc

comes to approx 1700, would like to see it come down a little, also wondewring whether or not the 609 vid card is nec *would sacrifice it for a lower vid card but i dont plan on upgrading for quite some time.

Any advice is much appreciated- & thanks
Tal.

Damn! someone is F ing you over on the prices! 8O

Hang on a sec and let me get something together for you.

 

[x1900xtcooler]

Also, the new Intels out perform AMD atm in gaming as well.

Unless you are gaming at anything less than 1024X768 and running low details you will never notice the difference. Most people with a 7900GTX or a X1900XT game at high resolutions and max settings where the GPU becomes the bottleneck.

 

[x1900xtcooler]

First of all that memory you picked out is incorrect for that motherboard. It needs DDR mem, not DDR2.


Here is what you can do if you are absolutly set on those parts you listed.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131517 $104.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145594 $215


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814127097 $418.99


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103546 $235

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822148140
$94.99


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824116363
$197.99


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811119077
$49.99

Total-$1316.95

Thats everything you need and using mostly the parts you picked out! The onlything missing is the sound card and speakers!



Now if it were me here is what I would do. SLI and Crossfire both are a waste if your not going to game over 1280X1024 so I will just assume your not.


Here is what I would build, its similar to my setup.

Asus A8n5x mother board $79.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131569

Corsair Xms 2gib ddr 433 $215

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145594

Saphire X1900XT $289.00 This card will give you better IQ and performance than Nvidia in shader intensive games such as Oblivion and Fear.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102025

Seagate Barracuda $94.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822148140

X2 4800 $307.00 Should OC a bit better than the X2 4400 and you did say you wanted your system to last 3 years.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103544

Viewsonic 19" LCD $197.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824116363

Cooler Master Centurion Case $49.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811119077

Total-$1233.96

Less expensive than the Nvidia configeration and this even includes a better CPU!!!

BTW if you dont mind not having the 1mb cache that the X2 4400 and 4800 have then you could go for the X2 3800 for only $150.00 and clock it up to about 2.6ghz on air which would essentially make it as fast as an FX 60 but with less cache.

That would get you out the door around $1083.96!!!!!!

 

[x1900xtcooler]

Alot of people will try to pursuade you to not go with S939 but in all honesty its just a matter of prefference.

S939 has ended its production life but at the same time that does not make it a bad platform as any X2 4400 or X2 4800 CPU will easily hold its own for 3 more years especially if you overclock it and there is not any benefit right now with ddr2 mem vs ddr mem due to the tighter timings on the ddr mem.

You also are on a budget and S939 has some great deals right now

 

[col-p-todd]

Instead of getting the asus deluxe mobo get the premium the deluxe has some issues with the fan. (unles they fixed it)

Check the ram because DDR2 won,t work with a 939 socket. But corsair is really good ram.

instead of the 7900GTX get the X1900XTX same alot cheaper and alot better peformance is on par with the 7950.


Instead of the X2 4400+ get the X2 5000+ (with the money you save on the GPU)

 

[shadowduck]

Instead of getting the asus deluxe mobo get the premium the deluxe has some issues with the fan. (unles they fixed it)

Check the ram because DDR2 won,t work with a 939 socket. But corsair is really good ram.

instead of the 7900GTX get the X1900XTX same alot cheaper and alot better peformance is on par with the 7950.


Instead of the X2 4400+ get the X2 5000+ (with the money you save on the GPU)

5000+ is AM2 only.

 

[Onthefarside]

939 is a fine socket but there's not much price difference in going AM2 and it'll leave the door open for upgradability, perhaps it wont be compatible in 3 years but if it is, hell why not, yeah you can go with the 939 and you'll never notice the difference, but if you feel like going AM2, the ASUS M2N-E Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce 570 Ultra MCP ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail $95

is an terrific budget mobo, never had ANY problems with it what so ever

there's also the ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce 570 SLI MCP ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail $150

you dont really need the latter, since SLI is really pointless unless you have a huge monitor and game at high res.

Prices between AM2 and 939 X2's isn't that great you could probably find a good one with saving a little on the $95 mobo

 

[J]

...oh, this thread is about computers... I wasn't sure when I read the title.
carry-on

 

[aj6065]

You should definetely go with AM2 in my opinion. I bought socket 754 because it was a little bit cheaper and still good at the time. Now look at where I am! I have to upgrade EVERYTHING when I rebuild. If you choose socket 939 now, a new platform will more than likely be out by the time you upgrade again. And then you will be in the same situation I'm in now... 2 generations behind! You can prevent that by building a new socket AM2 setup for the same price as a socket 939 system, and you will still be only one step behind the latest and greatest. Let's face it, 1 year from now (maybe 2) you won't be able to find socket 939 CPU's like you can today. The platform is already outdated.

 

[aj6065]

This setup uses the Core 2 Duo, and will kill any AMD system.

Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 - $153
Corsair ValueSelect 2gb DDR2-667 - $168
Core 2 Duo E6400 - $260
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 SATA II 320gb 16mb Cache - $100
Radeon X1900XT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 w/ VIVO - $313
Antec Solution Black Steel Case - $50
Antec SmartPower 2.0 500w - $70
Hanns·G HC-194D Black 19" 8ms LCD - $186 .......OR
Hanns·G JW-199DPB Black 19" 5ms Widescreen LCD - $185

The total is $1300 without any rebates. Like I said, It will kill any AMD system at stock. But, you can overclock that to 2.66ghz with all the parts I listed! That's the speed of the E6700! Just bump the FSB from 266 to 333, with a RAM divider of 1:1, and you're done!

You may not have heard of the LCD brand, and thats too bad. Just look at the reviews on Newegg or TigerDirect, if they have them in stock. I own a 19" one myself (different model, but specs are same), and I can honestly say they are the best LCD's available in this price range. I have to keep my brightness at 70% or below otherwise it gives me a headache! Oh, and they all have DVI connections too.

Good luck on your build

 

[Talis]

Yeah, the prices do seem a little high, but it would be because i am in canada (probably should have mentioned...) as to going with Intel. I guess your right after some further research, & the sli really isnt necessary though i will be running things on very high resolution. Thnks for the advice though will probably go with one of the new intel set ups now im really just price trying to find a good place to buy stuff. (yeah everyone knows newegg dsnt ship to can... i was going to use tigerdirect but thier inventory is shotty at best).

 

[shadowduck]

Yeah, the prices do seem a little high, but it would be because i am in canada (probably should have mentioned...) as to going with Intel. I guess your right after some further research, & the sli really isnt necessary though i will be running things on very high resolution. Thnks for the advice though will probably go with one of the new intel set ups now im really just price trying to find a good place to buy stuff. (yeah everyone knows newegg dsnt ship to can... i was going to use tigerdirect but thier inventory is shotty at best).

Never ever for any reason use Tiger Direct.

NCIX
Memory Express
Canada Computers

all good companies, I have personally shopped at all 3.

 

[Talis]

Just out of curiosity why is Tiger direct so bad - not beginning to see that it isnt good but wouldnt say by no means use it.

ps how does this look for an updated system...

MSI™ 975X Platinum V.2, Socket 775, Intel® 975X Chipset w/ PCI Express x16 (ATX)$224.99

TI® Radeon™ X1900XT - Radeon™ X1900XT VPU w/512Mb GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Retail Box $394.99

Intel® Core™2 Duo E6400, 2.13-GHz @ 1066Mhz w/ 2Mb Cache (Socket 775) (Retail Box) w/ Heat Sink & Fan $299.99

74GB Western Digital® Raptor™ SATA-150 10,000RPM 16Mb OEM $189.99

OCZ 2Gb PC2-5400 DDR2 EL Dual Channel Gold Edition $244.99

LG GSA-H10L Lightscribe Dual Layer DVD±R/RW Drive (IDE) OEM, Black $44.99

Asus MM17D 17in, Digital Active Matrix TFT LCD (Retail Box), Silver $214.99

Keep in mind again all prices are in Canadian- & any advice is still appriciated. Thanks.

 

[shadowduck]

Just out of curiosity why is Tiger direct so bad - not beginning to see that it isnt good but wouldnt say by no means use it.

1) Rebate Hell- they make it as hard as possible to redeem rebates and still give people hell about them.

2) They outright lied about their Conroe stock and cancelled what looks to be several hundred orders without any reason given after telling people Core2 chips are "IN STOCK",

3) Rude and unhelpful customer service, and slow shipping which is expensive.

 

[Talis]

IC.... Thanks for the info.... how about pccanada, are they any good?