Advice on my budget build/rebuild

[MotorcycleGiant]

Hello, this is my first posting. I am building a new system sicne my old one is outdated (4+ years old)
I have a pretty small budget but I do have a little elbow room on it. As far as how much I am willing to spend, unfortunately "as little as possible" I am looking to do some casual gaming, along with utilizing my Aupage (sp?) to watch tv on my 20.1" monitor. I want to be able to upgrade some components in the next 6 months, however for now I have to watch my budget. I am fairly savy in the realm of building computers, however I would not qualify myself as anything near expert. I will be running win xp with a possibility of moving to Vista in the next year.
I have the ability to recycle my old optical drives and case. I believe my old PSU will need to be upgraded, it is over 2 years old. I had my old asus A8NX deluxe (again sp?) with a mobile AMD 800 processor with unlocked multiplier overclocked to the max and I had pretty decent performance (a lot more than expected) I am an AMD fan and would want to OC the new system also.
So would someone please give me advice on the following components please?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131013

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127329

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817189005

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103194

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145034

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151155

total price is just under $600...I may (depending on the cost) add a new case, of course Im using my old drives and peripherals. I amy do SLI for the 800GT in the next 3 or 4 months.

Any help would be appreciated since I have been dragging my decision to hit the order button!

Hope everyone has a great Easter weekend, and I apologize for my long post!

 

[goldragon_70]

I don't know about the PSU. It's been a while since I've worked with the numbers for rail deliverable power, but I don't think it will handle two 8800GT's especially when they come OC'd.

 

[vonbose]

If I were building an AMD system today at your price range, I would pick an AMD chipset; either 790FX, 790X or 770 (if you don't want to Crossfire later). This way, if AMD can churn out a decent processor - phenom or whatever - in the future you can pop it in when you have more cash.
This may seem blasphimous, if you are an Nvidia fan, but your system will be more future-proof and cheaper to upgrade, because chances are Nvidia is going to come out with some phenom chipset if it ever becomes worth it for them.

This MSI 790X board has two-way Crossfire and is $100:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130138

DDR 1066 can be found at the same price:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231144

You could get an ATI 3870 for the same price as the 8800 you picked out:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814103050

or a 3850 for even cheaper:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161215

Later when you want to upgrade you can pop in another ATI video card and crossfire, for what will be greater performance than the SLI on the nvidia 570 mobo your have picked out.

Final note: The processor you picked is perfect.

 

[MotorcycleGiant]

Thanks, so does anyone else have any advice? I chose the 8800gt initially because of an article I read,and the asus mobo because the last one worked so well...but if its going to work just as well im very open to otehr options....hope I get more input its scary I dont want to find out later that I didnt get more advice...will the ddr 1066 work with the msi mobo? Thanks again..patinetly waiting to "hit the button" Thanks so much for your advice!

 

[vonbose]

I am pretty sure the 1066 ram will run as 800 untill you upgrade to a phenom and update the bios. I pointed to the 1066 as a way to future proof the system. One thought about the ram is that you will want to up the voltage to 2.1 or whater the ram wants, manually.

 

[MotorcycleGiant]

Thanks! So are you really sold on the ati card rather than the 8800GT?
I was always ATI guy but last one really dissapointed me,,here all this "hype" on the 800GT and its family ...also do you think your suggested changes would handle playing crysis? wouldnt be on an HD monitor ...I really appreciate the help here!

 

[ohiou_grad_06]

Looking at the ASUS board you looked at originally, save a little cash.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128014

This is gigabyte's version of the ASUS with the nvidia chipset you wanted for 135, this one is 90. Same chipset I think, SLI support, nice mobo. Only troubles I had were the holes on the far right didn't line up exactly right, easily fixed though. The plastic standoffs, cut the tops off a couple of those and put them in where the holes are to keep the mobo from touching your case. Also, you could simply go to walmart, and the stick on rubber pads in hardware/crafts, get a pack of those. Long as the mobo doesn't touch. Another problem I had was the onboard NIC was kinda flaky. Put in a cheap add in NIC, disable onboard in bios, no more problems, sound outputs are great on that board. HD outputs even.

I also encourage you to look around on memory. That's a little high when the cheapest stuff is 36 bucks for the same memory, though not as good of latencies, but I think you could do better. Good processor choice on a budget, don't forget a cooler. Also, if you are open to it, maybe consider a 9600gt, little less performance than say an nvidia 8800gt, but when you are talking 150 for the cheapest one on newegg vs 214 for the card you picked......Your saving about 150 right there on those 3 things, also on SLI, someone else could tell you better, but don't the 9000 series scale better in SLI than the 8000 series?

Oh, btw, on that board, if you get the gigabyte, when you go into bios, hit Control-F1 if memory serves. That opens up more advanced overclocking options in the bios.

 

[MotorcycleGiant]

Thanks man! Much appreciated! So I am thinking about just laying down the money for the 8800GT but I may get the ATI suggested above...Im gonna just roll with it...what Memory is recommended for the MSI Board anything special like the ASUS boards? I looked but either im blind or I cnat seem to find a recomended memory?

 

[ohiou_grad_06]

If you look on their website, you should be able to download a manual and it ought to tell you. As far as the 8800 vs ATI cards. Check out the reviews. I think even the 8800gt's beat the 3870's that ATI has out, also I think the 9600's even give them a run, so do your homework....

 

[ohiou_grad_06]

Check out these charts, right off of toms

http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_2007.html?modelx=33&model1=1060&model2=1057&chart=318

That's an overclocked 8800gt vs a 3870. The blue are the selected ones, and I set it on the overall, check out how much better the overclocked does. So cut a little off, I think you may see a difference.

Check out these benchies...even the 9600gt is hanging with the 3870. And it can be found for 150, just a different brand. The 9600 even beats it in a few things. But clearly the 8800 gt beats both of them. If price is your concern though, get the 9600.

Oh, and on your memory choice, I said you could do better, here's some right now. Almost the same latencies as the corsair, maybe even the exact same. Save 20 bucks.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148076

And crucial isn't junk. If you want to save another 3-4 dollars, they've got some geil brand memory that is 46.99. Btw, the gigabyte board is what I run, however you may want to spend slightly more and get an AM2+ board, I do agree on that, if you find one with SLI support since your saying you may do that. The reason I say AM2+ is you'd probably be more ready for the quad core chips whenever you upgrade to those, though the gigabyte board I showed you is supposed to support them with bios update, I just think the bus speed isn't as fast as a full blown AM2+ board.

 

[iluvgillgill]

the new spider platform should be very future prove in all area include CPD,mem,graphics.even though im an intel fan.but i have also look into AMD platform,AMD is doing smart tactics to grab the Low-Mid market budget conscious people.

 

[vonbose]

In regards to the video card suggestions from others, they are right about the nvidia cards being slightly more powerful. I chose the ATI cards because the difference is unoticably slight and if you do choose to get a second card in the future, it will be better than one or two nvidia cards sli.

I myself just bought a 9600 gt, but I wouldn't if I had an AMD mobo. (I built a nvidia 570 system about 6 months ago). So my advice is based on what I would have done differently.

 

[Shadow703793]

My recommendations ( considering no need for SLI):
E2180 Oced to 3.1+Ghz
P35-DS3x or P5K-x
Crucial Ballastix DDR2 800 (2*1GB)
8800GT 512
Every thing else the same

If possible:
Corsair 550VX/520HX or PP&C 610

 

[MotorcycleGiant]

Ok so I went with the MSI board the AMD 5k BE and the 8800 GT..was very close to getting the GTS but decided on the GT will OC it..read some really great reviews on the GTS but hoped I could save a few bucks (and ONLY a few bucks after MIR the GTS was a killer deal but I passed on it) Im hoping the GT will OC well enough to play crisis...the Ram recomended (crucial balistics) would have been great but I waited too long and NewEgg "removed it from my cart" sucks...oh well I him-Hawed around and thats what I get =) I think I might be happy though! ANY advice on trying to use my old HDD'S? with the XP on it already?(and my ms office 2007...etc..) I also have an empty Raptor 80gig...my old dvd-rw and dvd rom's really wanted xifi gamer but im trying to get off cheap as well as the GF will complain if I crank it up...lol..im like a kid at xmas now ..its been so long since I had a mediocre set up...=) My old asus board is actually scorched from OC'ing the 800 mobile processor..shes about to crumble..ok imrembling..Thanks everyone! Ill let you know what happens..and..err..ummm..anyone wishes to critiques im still all ears..ive got 30 days to change my mind..=)

 

[iluvgillgill]

your existing windows wouldnt work anymore.you need to reinstall.