New System Build - AMD AM2 BASED w/Athlon 64 X2 6000+

[mercdeking]

With the same funds, what would you have done?

Biostar TF 7025-m2 (63.00)
Mushkin pc 6400 2 gig kit (92 - $5 dollar rebate)
Hec 6K28BB8F Case with 585 watt PSU (54.99)
Amd Athlon 64 X2 6000+ (169.99)
Saphire Radeon HD 2600XT 256mb GDDR4 PCI Express vid card, model: 100210L, (144.00)
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64 bit. Verified that my games play on this 64 bit version !!! (107.90)
WD 160 gig Sata HDD (51.90)

Total (not including rebates): 683.78
With Shipping: 714.64
Rebates I should be getting: about ~21-22 dollars after Neweggs ram rebate and ebates (had some prior credit in there from some purchases): so that should offset shipping a bit.

Bonuses: Got Call of Juarez and Rainbow Six Vegas for free in the combos I chose: video card came with call of juarez and my cpu had a combo with rainbow six vegas. Can now play multiplayer or coop with my brother who has the rainbow six vegas. That was a $90 dollar savings; lot of people dislike rainbow six but I always liked that series bonus for me!

Some notes, some places didn't have the card I wanted or it was set for an indefinite preorder period which I find dumb so later down the road I'm going to be looking for a gddr4 512mb HD 2600 xt graphics card! Not sure if they're made now though but I'm betting someone will.

So as I posted what edits would you have done to this build or how good is it as it stands; I think its a solid build and should play most games for at least 1 year or two as long as I upgrade my vid card in the future and maybe buy another kit of ram for 4 gigs to max out the motherboard slots.

 

[mercdeking]

Going to keep some of the old parts off my old system and insert them in here like my DVD Writer since I have a few old cd writer that I can put in to replace the missing optical drive. I'm going to use that old system as a 'file server' for my music and junk that I collect. Have 200 gigs of space in there plus an external 250 gig hdd that I have connected to it.

 

[tehrobzorz]

it looks alright.. but that 2600xt aint gonna give you good frame rates.

why a intergrated mobo tho? you should choose one with more functionality than that biostar.

 

[mercdeking]

It met my needs, sound and lan, otherwise I would have to buy a sound card and lan card. I don't really notice a sound quality difference most of the time so for me on board works. Yeah the vid card wasn't my first choice but I didn't really want to spend more when I realized that in a few months some new cards might come out that would be better. Sort of an in between card since I don't have an old pci express card to use. kept looking at some 8600 gts for the same price but I really don't know why I didn't buy one since everyone I talked to said that nvidia card might be better but I really didn't want to spend more than the cpu for a graphics card that I would be upgrading down the road. Also the only other card I was interested in was 139 and it was an x1950 gt 512mb which tempted me but eh.. sometimes we don't make great choices on all things.

 

[Valdis]

i wouldnt take vista. else is ok

 

[theuprightman24]

Not sure why everyone feels the need to run Vista down... I have got Vista64 and apart from a few teething problems, something that XP also suffered with, I have had no problem - a quick search on the net and all has been sorted.

So my advice is good setup might want to think about graphics card but keep Vista!

 

[zenmaster]

Way too much on the CPU.

Get a slower X2 for about $100 less and grab a 8800GTS 320Mb with the saved funds.

1) Games are far more GPU than CPU dependent
2) Its easy to clock a low CPU much much higher

 

[turboflame]

The price of that 2600XT shopuld be dropping (supposedly the twin 2600XT "gemini" card is supposed to be in that price range). Plus it can't even beat a 7600gt.

I would go with a X1950pro, much more performance and you can upgrade when more reasonably priced DX10 cards hit the shelves.

Another way to save money is to go with a 5600+, since it has an even multiplier it sometimes beats the 6000+ since the ram on the 6000+ can only run at DDR2733. And chances are you can OC it 200Mhz without too much trouble.

 

[TSIMonster]

I don't trust the PSU. Also, 99.9% of the motherboards on the market today have built-in lan and sound. However, other then the PSU, I think your system is pretty good. You would have been better served going with an x1950/7900 GPU for the same price as they have much better performance (unless this is an HTPC)

 

[TSIMonster]

I also agree that the 5600+ offers a better bang for buck solution.

 

[jitpublisher]

5600+ cpu
7600 series video card, or spent the extra to get a X1950pro (it would have been worth it)
Any motherboard other than Biostar (I have had 3, may just be my bad luck, but I swear I'll never own another one)
Windows XP

 

[firetatoo]

unless you realy have some 64 bit aplication you b-needen to use, you could have stuck with 32 bit. (unless you also plan on goung past 3.5 gb of ram in the future.) i agree with everyone on the video card. you would get better performance out of a x1950 than that 2600... but if you are happy.
i also have a 6000+ but i put it on an Asus M2N-E with 2gb wintec Ampx.

 

[ethel]

Looks like a good setup to me - except if you're an overclocker in which case C2D is the way to go.

 

[emp]

This is what I would've done

AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ Windsor 2.6GHz 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket AM2 Processor - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103759

Kingston 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134488

SAPPHIRE 100186L Radeon X1950XT 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 VIVO HDCP Video Card - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102067

Antec NeoHE 500 ATX12V 500W Power Supply 100Vac to 240Vac +/- 10% UL, CUL, TUV, CE, FCC, CCC, CB, C-tick - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817103940&Tp k=Antec%2bneoHE%2b500

GIGABYTE GA-M61P-S3 Socket AM2 NVIDIA GeForce 6100 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128034

Western Digital Caviar SE WD1600JS 160GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822144415

Microsoft Windows Vista 64-Bit Home Basic for System Builders Single Pack DVD - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116200

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

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119047

Tot al $756 before rebates, spent a little more but got better gaming performance and quality components. Never would've gotten that POS known as HD2600XT.

 

[mercdeking]

Lot of good points maybe I should have posted a reply before buying the graphics card for a recommendation. Was willing to spend about 170 max for the card; I went with vista since I want the system to be able to run future junk. Got xp pro and I'm happy with it but I also had Windows 2000 pro and that lost support eventually with xp around. Damn, should have expected that comment from Emp since the signature mentions 2600xt hater. I was pretty much pissed off with all the stores running out of the x1950 pro card that I wanted. Or the price at other stores was $199 or more. Figured I might save that money and get a more powerful card down the line when I save up some more funds.

Not into overclocking so I figured I better get the best system for the buck hence my choice for the 3 gig processor. I originally did think of getting the 5600+ but when the price of the 6000+ was withing 20-30 bucks I went with the 6000+.

Went with home premium mostly because I wanted to see aero; only about 18 bucks more in cost; went 64 bit since I plan to add more ram and the games I play are supported since they ran on my brother pc which runs vista basic 64 bit.

Can't think why but tsimonster might be right on the psu, unfortunately emp's suggestion at 99.00 seems damn expensive. read a few reviews and the hec orion power supply got the job done; hopefully for me they were not sponsored reviews, otherwise I'm in trouble. I'll post how well everything sets up. Just about everything is set for delivery tomorrow with my 2 games coming in a day later from Tennessee.

 

[emp]

PSUs are the most important pieces on a computer, it is the heart and soul of your computer and that PSU I mentioned is the same I use and very affordable for the kind of power it provides, the next most important item is probably the graphics card. You probably didn't know but usually one tries to spend AT LEAST twice as much on the graphics as you do on the CPU, that's a common misconception that people tend to do (thinking that fast CPU and low end graphics will net them decent fps)

One thing I MUST congratulate you on is on picking a 64-bit OS, it is the future after all and only natural, if you had bought a 32-bit OS then down the road you would've shelled out another $150 on a 64-bit version because you'd need more memory.

All and all, what can be done now is sell the HD2600XT to a soul less fortunate than yours and buy yourself an X1950XT for $169.99.

 

[mercdeking]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102075
SAPPHIRE 100196L Radeon X1950PRO 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card

Damn its back in stock, this was the card I was originally interested in; 512mb card that I bought for my brother; plays everything great. Kept running out of stock by the time I wanted to get it.

Definitely regretting my choice now but oh well; I looked at the benchmarks and the 2600xt at least this gddr4 version was decent. That's all I cared about when I got it since the above card was out of stock.

 

[reader850]

Don't open the 2600xt - seriously think about sending it back. Order the X1950Pro quick!

 

[apache_lives]

overclocking? then perhaps a lower end cpu (even Intel perhaps, your choice) and overclock it, and with the cash saved spend more on the video card?