making sure this possible system will be ok

[Luckoheirish213]

hi im a first time pc builder and i would like toknow if this system would be able to run BF2 and expansions and HL2 the budget is around $1,300 or higher US
AMD system

MOBO: ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce SPP 100 ATX AMD Motherboard MOBO

Processor: AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice 2000MHz HT 512KB L2 Cache Socket 939 Processor

Memory: pqi TURBO 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM Unbuffered DDR2 667 (PC2 5400) Dual Channel Kit System Memory

Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 (Perpendicular Recording) ST3320620A 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache IDE Ultra ATA100 Hard Drive - OEM

GPU: eVGA 256-P2-N554-AX Geforce 7600GT KO 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card

PSU: Antec TRUEPOWERII TPII-550 ATX12V 550W Power Supply 115/230 V UL, TUV, CB, FCC CLASS B, CUL PSU

DVD/CD: NEC Black 16X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 16X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2M Cache IDE/ATAPI DVD Burner -OEM

Case: COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-WW Black/Silver Aluminum Bezel, SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

OS: Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 w/SP2B - Oem

i would like this system to last for a year or two at least
if guys have any advice or suggestions please post them. thanks in advance for the help.

 

[Luckoheirish213]

i would also like this possible system with upgrades if needed be able to run BF2 and HL2 on high settings and the newest expansion (when it comes out) for BF2 on high settings

 

[sleepdeprived82]

1. You have the wrong ram for s939 you want ddr not ddr2.
2. To run high settings and last the time period you are after I would get a 7900gt rather than the 7600.
3. Dual cores are so cheap you might as well get the x2 3800+ as that should also last longer than the single core.
4. Could change to a AM2 system in which case you would have the right ram and better future upgrade options and again it should last longer.

 

[angry_ducky]

DDR2 RAM isn't compatible with socket 939. I'd go socket AM2 with an Athlon 64 X2 3800+ and a non-SLI motherboard. The rest of the system looks good.

 

[Luckoheirish213]

could you recomend a good ram that is still not to expensive
im a noob to the some of these terms could you also recommend a good AM2 system

 

[Luckoheirish213]

and could you recomend a good non sli motherboard to fit my system thanks for all the help

 

[navyseal2101]

Thats very expensive for that computer. My computer was 1,100. I could buy it now for hundreds less even. Are you buying from a site.

My 1,100 computer:

AM2 X2 3800+ @2.6GHz
1024MB DDR2 800 RAM (new upgrade, not much better than my 667)
250GB Hard Drive
eVGA 7900GT
and rest.

You could get a way better system for less than 1,300 if you buy parts off newegg and build yourself.

 

[Luckoheirish213]

yeah im buying it all from newegg.com and building it my self but im still not sure on a good non sli motherboard and good ram , sry but i am still not sure what a AM2 system is??

 

[Luckoheirish213]

would this harddrive be better i read around and sata seems to be better choice Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD3200KS 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM hard drive

 

[bigsby]

the western digital caviars are pretty good preformers, I've got the caviar 250 and it's very quiet and very fast.

A good non-SLI motherboard for AM2 is the Asus M2N-E motherboard. The only thing is that it doesn't have any firewire ports, but if that doesn't bother you, then this is a great board. One thing you have to watch out for is that OCZ ram does NOT work with this board, so don't even try it. There are some good corsair ram sets out there, and all corsair works well with Asus. You may want to pick up a 2 gig set (possibly ddr2-667 instead of 800 because it's much cheaper) because bf2 is definetally a ram hog. I've got 2.5 gigs in this machine and I still get the "insufficient pagefile, increasing size" thing (speaking of which, does anyone know how to make it not do that?). A 7600gt will work quite well, it gets very good framerates in BF2 with lots of eye candy and shtuff. No clue what resolution you're gonna play it on, but if it's something REALLY big, like 2050 or whatever it is, you'll need the 7900. The 7600 is more of a 1280 or 1650 card

 

[Luckoheirish213]

here is the updated system specs could u guys just check it once more thanks for all your help
all parts from new egg

am2 system

mobo: ASUS M2N-E Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce 570 Ultra MCP ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

Processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Manchester 2000MHz HT 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket 939 Dual Core Processor - Retail

Memory: CORSAIR ValueSelect 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) System Memory - Retail

Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD3200KS 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

GPU: eVGA 256-P2-N584-AR Geforce 7900GT KO 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail

PSU: Antec TRUEPOWERII TPII-550 ATX12V 550W Power Supply 115/230 V UL, TUV, CB, FCC CLASS B, CUL - Retail

DVD/CD: NEC Black 16X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 16X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2M Cache IDE/ATAPI DVD Burner - OEM

Case: COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-WW Black/Silver Aluminum Bezel, SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

OS: Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 w/SP2B - OEM

plus i got a nice monitor i think BenQ FP202W Black 20.1" 8ms Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 600:1 0.258mm Pixel Pitch - Retail

if u guys see compatability issues or have suggestions please post thanks again hopefully building will be simple lol i have guide thouugh so im good

 

[raven3x7]

Why are you getting the media center edition i dont think its made for normal PCs. Id be getting WinXP 64bit edition if i was you. Also ATi probably provides the best bang for your buck right now. You could probably get a X1900XT at a similar price point

 

[kukito]

yeah im buying it all from newegg.com and building it my self but im still not sure on a good non sli motherboard and good ram , sry but i am still not sure what a AM2 system is??

AM2 is the new CPU/socket AMD introduced this summer. Because AMD CPUs use an integrated memory controller and the one in socket 939 CPUs only supports standard DDR memory, they had to develop a new IMC to support DDR2. AM2 is the result . Since this is a new build, you should definitely go with AM2 as it will give you more options to upgrade in the future. You might as well take advantage of the cheap X2s now available and skip the single core CPU. Also, because of the IMC, you should get the fastest memory you can afford to extract the most performance from your AM2 CPU.

 

[raven3x7]

Also, because of the IMC, you should get the fastest memory you can afford to extract the most performance from your AM2 CPU.

Nah i dont think the 3800 could take advantage of it. Always remember that memory performance on AMD cpus is tied to processor speed. So unless you overclock you should be fine

 

[kukito]

Why are you getting the media center edition i dont think its made for normal PCs. Id be getting WinXP 64bit edition if i was you. Also ATi probably provides the best bang for your buck right now. You could probably get a X1900XT at a similar price point

XP Media Center has media center features (obviously), including DVR functionality with a TV tuner. If Luckoheirish213 wants to use these features, then he needs XP MCE. If not, then he should go for XP Pro or Home. I wouldn't even bother with XP 64-bit unless he has 64-bit applications he needs to run. 64-bit Windows will become mainstream in Vista and that's the best time to make the jump.

 

[Luckoheirish213]

Processor update it is now

AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Windsor 2000MHz HT 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 Dual Core Processor - Retail if this is a probblem or if u guys notice any other problems post it once again a appreciate this a lot and i have learned a lot thanks

 

[kukito]

Nah i dont think the 3800 could take advantage of it. Always remember that memory performance on AMD cpus is tied to processor speed. So unless you overclock you should be fine

You're right. DDR2 667 should be fine, unless he intends to overclock.

 

[shadowduck]

Nah i dont think the 3800 could take advantage of it. Always remember that memory performance on AMD cpus is tied to processor speed. So unless you overclock you should be fine

You're right. DDR2 667 should be fine, unless he intends to overclock.

NO.

On AM2 you need DDR2-800 CAS4 for any kind of performance gain over S939. AM2 loves high bandwidth low latency RAM due to Hypertransport.

 

[Luckoheirish213]

so is my ram ok or not?

 

[kukito]

I'll defer to what more knowledgeable AMD users say. I'm not qualified to break the tie. I only jumped in when I noticed nobody was answering your question about AM2. At any rate, I bought that same memory kit a few weeks ago and it works flawlessly but you need to set the timings manually in BIOS for it to run at 667 with 4-4-4-12 timings.

 

[Luckoheirish213]

would it be better to just get this ram instead i can afford it ??

CORSAIR XMS 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Kit System Memory - Retail better ram?

 

[rubberjohnson]

No dude, that is DDR ram, since you've now decided to go AM2 you need DDR2 to work with your new processor. As sleepdeprived82 said s939=DDR, AM2=DDR2.

Just get some cheap corsair DDR2. IMHO unless you overclock there is no way you would 'feel' the increase in speed from going to faster, more expensive RAM.

 

[Luckoheirish213]

o thanks i'll find another ram and i'll post it to check again

 

[Luckoheirish213]

ok so this is the ddr2 ram that i think will work fine it is what i had CORSAIR ValueSelect 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) System Memory - Retail

but here are the hopefully final specs lol

AM2 system

mobo: ASUS M2N-E Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce 570 Ultra MCP ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

Processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Windsor 2000MHz HT 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 Dual Core Processor - Retail

Memory: CORSAIR ValueSelect 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) System Memory - Retail

Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD3200KS 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

GPU: eVGA 256-P2-N584-AR Geforce 7900GT KO 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail

PSU: Antec TRUEPOWERII TPII-550 ATX12V 550W Power Supply 115/230 V UL, TUV, CB, FCC CLASS B, CUL - Retail

DVD/CD: NEC Black 16X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 16X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2M Cache IDE/ATAPI DVD Burner - OEM

Case: COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-WW Black/Silver Aluminum Bezel, SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

OS: Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 w/SP2B - OEM

and one more thing which of these monitors would you guys suggest or suggest another around this price range if you want thanks again

1. SCEPTRE X20G-Naga III Black 20.1" 8ms Widescreen HD Ready LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 800:1 Built in Speakers 0.255mm Pixel Pitch - Retail

or

2. BenQ FP202W Black 20.1" 8ms Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 600:1 0.258mm Pixel Pitch - Retail

or perhaps a different one at around the $250 to $300 price range
thanks

 

[rubberjohnson]

That system is lookin pretty good now.

There should be a Viewsonic 20 inch widescreens available for around that price, they have a sweet picture on them. I've never heard of Scptre before so i cant comment on those but i've had a couple Benq LCDs die on me recently.