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[akgeek21]

Hey I was just wondering if this would be a good system to go through with on buying? just let me know what you think thanks!

Case- Thermaltake Xaser Armor extened ATX
Mobo- MSI SLI-F NVIDIA, Socket AM2, ATX Audio, PCI Express, SLI Ready, Gigabit LAN, USB 2.0, Serial ATA, RAID
CPU- AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+ 2.8GHz 2MB Cache 1000MHz Dual Core w/ Fan
RAM¬- (X2) Corsair Dual Channel TWINX 2GB PC6400 DDR2 800MHz (2x1GB)
GPU- (x2) NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 SLI Ready PCI Express
Sound Card- Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-FI XtremeGamer PCI
PSU- Thermaltake 850W Toughpower SLI Cross-Fire Ready
Monitor- Samsung 22-Inch Digital / Analog Widescreen LCD

 

[Maziar]

nice but go for x1950 pro instead

 

[aevm]

No idea about that case.

Don't get two crappy cards in SLI.

I would switch to E6750 and GA-P35-DS3R.

RAM: (Patriot DDR2-800 2GB for $67)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220144

Drop the 3rd and 4th GB of RAM, at least for now.
Drop the SoundBlaster, for now.
Maybe even downgrade to E6550 (and overclock it, if you want).
Downgrade the PSU a bit to save money. The PSU you picked is excellent, but overkill and expensive. Something like Corsair 620HX would do very well. Instead of $230+$9 you pay $140 (free shipping) at newegg.
Get an 8800 GTX.

If you still have money left after this then upgrade to Q6600 or add the SoundBlaster or add more RAM (in this order).

I'm assuming you already have a hard drive, DVD-RW, speakers, mouse, etc.

 

[Onus]

If you want an AMD system, I would suggest a higher quality mobo than MSI. If you're not restricted (for whatever reason) to AMD, then aevm has some good suggestions. Regardless, getting a single good card over two marginal ones in SLI is a good idea.

 

[WR2]

GPU- (x2) NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 SLI Ready PCI Express
Monitor- Samsung 22-Inch Digital / Analog Widescreen LCD
I'm not sure you'd be happy with the 2x8600GT SLI trying to run games on the 1680x1050 resolution widescreen monitor. A single 8800GTS would be a much better choice.

Thermaltake 850W Toughpower.
Far more PSU than you need for 2x8600GT SLI which have a recommended requirement of 400w and 24amps @ +12v. Even the 8800GTS has 450w 28amps reqmt.
Any of these PSUs will do fine.
CORSAIR CMPSU-450vX 450W 33amps $60
CORSAIR CMPSU-520HX 520W $90
Thermaltake Toughpower 600w $118

 

[T8RR8R]

Yeah, I'd squeeze out a few more bucks for an 8800GTS 320mb. It's roughly twice as fast and if you OC it'll be nearly as fast as an 8800GTX. Also, not all games utilize SLI, so in those games you'll only get the performance of just 1 card. If you don't want better performance than the 2 8600GT's I'd and don't want to spend alot, get a single 8600GTS and then later on you can grab another one when they are even cheaper.

I won't comment on the X2 5600, because it does a great job for the price. Although the current AMD upgrade path seems shorter than current Intel uprage path. Pick an Intel P35 board and an e6750 if you choose to go with a single GPU, or a 680i SLI or LT if you want 2 Nvidia cards later on. If you can hold off a while, check out the x38 boards when they come out.

850w is alot more than you need, but if you intend to upgrade often it might be worth it. Personally I'd save some money and get something closer to 650w. That'll still give you some room to grow and not be too much over kill, plus you'll be in a better efficiency range as well.

I'd also leave out the X-Fi card until you see how the onboard audio is. I'm not saying it's nearly as good as the X-Fi, but if you find that it's suits your needs you'll end up kicking yourself for spending the extra $85.

Love the Xaser, but there are alot of other cases with the same/similar design that are more affordable. Enermax Chakra, and CoolerMaster 690.

 

[akgeek21]

Here are the changes tell me what you think
i got rid of 2gb RAM and sound card for now

MOBO- http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2219333&sku=M452-2822
PSU- http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2932372&sku=T925-1178
GPU- http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2597918&sku=E145-8002

thanks for all the help guys

 

[aevm]

Nice. For example look at these charts, you get 23 fps instead of 17 fps because of the GPU change. It's a bit hard to compare what 1 card does with what 2 cards do but you can do it if you pick the same benchmark type at these URLs.

http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_2007.html?modelx=33&model1=707&model2=722&chart=297
http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_sli2007.html?modelx=33&model1=865&model2=819&chart=357

Apart from the additional fps, you don't have to care which games support SLI


I looked up the Xaser at newegg. Must admit I didn't like the user reviews.

 

[akgeek21]

Thanks man appreciate it..the game i play most is WoW and once Warhammer comes out ill be playing that as well..

oh haha..i totally forgot about the hard drives im wanting to get 2 http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3206369&sku=TSD-500AAKS%20R

 

[aevm]

Good choice for drives. I got 3 of those and have no objections to them.

WoW is much less demanding than Oblivion, you'll do great with the 8800 GTS.

 

[WR2]

Top blue score is 8800GTS - bottom blue score is SLI 8600GT.

Notice the 8800GTS/320 is slightly ahead of the 8800GTS/640 (probably within the margin of error in testing)
Instead of the 8800GTS/640 look at eVga 8800GTS/320 @ $270 or eVga 8800GTS/320 Superclocked @ $285

 

[T8RR8R]

I'd go for the 320mb version of the 8800GTS unless you plan on playing games "over" 1600x1200. I'd then use some of that left over cash and step up to a higher end mobo. Chances are that you'll keep your mobo longer than your GPU, so don't be affraid of puting some cash into the mobo.

 

[aevm]

Good point. Does anybody know if the onboard sound on that mobo is good?

 

[T8RR8R]

The term "good" is pretty suggestive. It really depends on what you expect and need from the audio source. I personally find onboard audio "good enough" for most cases. If you find that the built in audio doesn't provide all of the features you want or has too much distortion, noise, or doesn't produce enough clear tones, then I'd suggest an audio card. I feel that before investing in a quality audio card that you have a listen of the onboard audio for a few weeks before considering the upgrade. It also helps to start with a very good set of headphones, that have full range(20-20khz) or better capability, and are suited to your needs. It doesn't make alot of sense to use $5 headphones on a $80+ soundcard, and it doesn't make alot of sense to use a $50+ pair of headphones with onboard audio though. If you really want to take full advantage of the audio capabilities of both the sound source and speaker(headphones too) you'll want to make sure you properly match your audio components. High end stuff with high end stuff and low end with low end.

 

[Maziar]

well i use onboard sound , and thats inst bad , i am happy with it

 

[aevm]

I use an X-Fi and have some problems with its drivers on XP Media Center. TBH I'm tempted to try the onboard sound right now