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New systems. Sugestions?

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So I'm in the market for a new system. It will be mainly used for gaming (BattleField 2, CS source, DOD Source, and BattleField 2142). This is what I have come up with.

LITE-ON 20X DVD±R Burner with 12X DVD-RAM write and LightScribe Technology Black $38

Antec Solution SLK3800B Black Steel ATX Mid Tower W/ 400Watt (SP400) SmartPower $95

MITSUMI Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal USB 2.0 digital card reader with Floppy Drive $19

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 (Perpendicular Recording) ST3250620AS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive $80

GIGABYTE GA-M61PM-S2 Socket AM2 NVIDIA GeForce 6100 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard $75

XFX PVT71PUDP3 GeForce 7900GS 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 EXTREME Video Card $190 (there is a $30 rebate with the card)

CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X2048-6400C4 $276 w/ $40 mail in rebate

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Windsor 2.2GHz Socket AM2 Processor Model ADA4200CUBOX

Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 SP2b w/Upgrade Coupon for Vista $110 w/ free upgrade to vista business
:)  or :(  I've played around with vista but haven't been wowed yet.

I ideally want to keep this at about 1000 and still be able to play the games mentioned above with playable frame rates. I don't plan on SLI because I don't see any benefit to it. But I eventually want to get an 8800 series card or better. I Also wanted to include a 19 wide screen monitor, keyboard mouse (preferably the logitec G5), and a good gaming headset ether the Icemat or turtle beach. But I guess you cant have everything.

Let me know what you think.

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Drop the AMD, and go Intel C2D. The 6300 will beat the 4200 at stock, and will run rings around it OCd. Will cost more, but is worth it. Can probably find enough savings to cover it by changing your memory. Corsair is good, but you're paying for the name. If you don't OC, that memory is even more overkill.

Yea I would love to go C2D, however in all my attempts I have not been able to build one for 1000 or less. I know that Intel will be releasing a 4000 series processor this month and that there will be a price drop in Q2 of 07. I may hold out for that.

Also I couldn't agree more with your PSU comment. I would normally never use a PSU that came with a case but in this case im doing it to cut costs.

Can you guys suggest a C2D board that has, preferably, 1 PCIe slot? I want to avoid buying an SLI motherboard if I can.
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You don't have to get Conroe cpu right now if budget is limited. You can get a P-D 805 X2 & upgrade to C2D later. I posted this in another thread:

Intel BOXDG965SSCK LGA 775 Intel G965 Express Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail $106.99

Intel Pentium D 805 Smithfield 2.66GHz LGA 775 Dual Core,EM64T Processor Model BX80551PE2666FN - Retail $93.00

FSP Group (Fortron Source) AX450-PN, 12cm FAN, version 2.2, 2 SATA, PCI Express, 450W Power Supply - Retail $53.99

PD805 overclocks like mad. The ram you chose is overkill & overpriced for the setup. I wouldn't get ram that's more expensive than the video card - the most important in a gaming pc.

I could come up with a full atx c2d setup about $1000.

Any Centurion Coolermaster case $60
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?Brand=133...

Thermaltake 500W $60 after Mail in rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E1681...

Abit AB9 Mobo $130
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E1681...

X1950XT $225 after mail in rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E1681...

2GB G.Skill 800 4-4-4-12 $230
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E1682...

Seagate 7200.10 160GB $60
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E1682...

Core 2 Duo E6400 $223
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E1681...

Any DVD burner you choose $30-40



That puts you right around $1000. You could easily shave some money off this system. (ie cheaper ram, cheaper video card, step down to E6300). I'm not sure if you're 1000 mark included a monitor or not, i left it out and assumed you had one. I dunno just some ideas. It is very easy to build a C2d system for 1000, much cheaper if you need to.

Quote:
wants a user name and password

Was afraid of that. Couldn't figure out how to make it public.

Here it is the hard way:
COOLER MASTER Centurion 534 RC-534-KKN2-GP Black Aluminum
eVGA 256-P2-N624-AR GeForce 7900GS 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 KO Video Card - Retail
FSP Group (Fortron Source) AX450-PN, 12cm FAN, version 2.2, 2 SATA, PCI Express, 450W Power Supply - Retail
Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 Conroe 1.86GHz 2M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor - Retail
GIGABYTE GA-965P-S3 LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail
MITSUMI Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal USB 2.0 digital card reader with Floppy Drive Model FA404M BLK - OEM
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 (Perpendicular Recording) ST3250620AS 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache
LITE-ON Black 20X DVD+R
Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 SP2b w/Upgrade Coupon for Vista - OEM

Includes many of your spec'd parts, plus changes for C2D and monetary considerations. Total is $960.92 plus about $35 shipping.

Featherstone's list is nice, but it's around $1100 including your card reader and burner. That's before rebates, but you'll be lucky to see those in 6 weeks.

hmm that looks good to me. I was thinking of stepping up to the 7950GT but I'm not sure I want to because it pushes the final total to $1200. I have read up on both the cards and they both seem to be able to meet my needs. however the 7950GT seems to offer more.

Try the Asus X1950Pro. It's $189.99 at zipzoomfly with free shipping. Gives the 7950GT a run for it's money, and is only $15 more than the 7900GS. Better card too. It's the one that I have, and IMO is a great card.

Quote:
Drop the AMD, and go Intel C2D. The 6300 will beat the 4200 at stock, and will run rings around it OCd. Will cost more, but is worth it. Can probably find enough savings to cover it by changing your memory. Corsair is good, but you're paying for the name. If you don't OC, that memory is even more overkill.


Won't DDR2-800 still give better performance even when not overclocked? Or is it really just increasing timing safety margins allowing better overclocking with limited performance boost when not overclocked? What if one was going with an E6600 with an eye towards future upgraded CPUs?

Sorry for the dumb questions -- obviously I'm new to this and I can't seem to find any real good clear guides or articles that answer these types of questions..

Quote:
that sounds even better, thanks. I would have never have thought to go ATI =P.

funny thing is new egg has the same exact card for 219 and zip zoom has it for 189. talk about a price difference.

newegg has these cards too. are these as good.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E1681...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E1681...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E1681...


Just from what I've read on here, some of the Sapphire cards were having heat issues with the stock cooler. Then again, others have bought it and had no issues. THe ATI card you listed seems it somes with VIVO. not worth the extra $20 plus the shipping charges IMO. The HIS versions on newegg are supposed to have excellent coolers from what I hear, so might be worth the shipping. The good thing about the Asus EAX version at zipzoom, is the free shipping. And as I mentioned, it's the one that I have, and I love it.

I agree for the most part with the suggestions above, with the exception of two points:

Firstly, if you play games, with your budget, I would save cash by actually going back to amd, x2 3800, and go for the ATI 1950XT or the 7950GT. Yes, the processor is a bit slower, but you have no idea what a big difference the video card makes. It is disproportionately important.

Secondly, if you do stick with C2D, I went through to crappy gigabyte S3 boards, both RMA'd, and now I'm happy with my Asus P5B-E. I am not alone. There was stuttering in the gameplay, and the computer restarted every few hours. In both boards. I am happy to finally have a stable board. With your budget, you should go with the Asus P5B. It's basically the same, but can't overclock as much.

If my suggestions are blowing your budget, save more money with cheaper ram. I am happy with my Corsair XMS2 667 ram, but I installed PQI 533 ram for my father and his computer is humming along nicely.
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