Sry if this has been asked a billion times

flamethrower205

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Jun 26, 2001
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But it's plain ass to look back. I remember there being probs with A64 mobos (agp not working to its full potential-> lower scores in games, etc.) I may be building a system for $2000 for a friend this winter vacation (2 weeks- o yeah :tongue: ) and I'm wanting to get one of the A64's. Anyways, is all this shizzle fixed?

The one and only "Monstrous BULLgarian!"
 

flamethrower205

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Jun 26, 2001
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Here's also a tentative list of things I was figuring:

A64 XP3200+ (2.0Ghz Clawhammer)
Gigabyte GA-K8VT800
2xDDR400 512 (1GB total)
For sound card, is the onboard sound kickass?
WD Raptor 74GB 10K RPM
Radeon 9800 Pro (I'm giving Ati another chance- if this system is unstable I'm writing a VERY mean letter to Ati's driver staff...)
400W PSU (will this be enough?)
52X Burner
52X reader
floppy
Some case w/ proper fans
Thinking of maybe a Dell 1800FP (18") or a 17" 16ms LCD (even tho I despise them...), or the grand motherload- Dell 2001FP (20" LCD)...or a good CRT

Sound good?- we got 2K to spend.

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Spitfire_x86

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Jun 26, 2002
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I recommend following stuff-

MSI K8T Neo-FIS2R (better overclocking)
LiteOn LWD-811S 8x DVD±RW burner (costs only $150)
LiteOn 16 x DVD-ROM

Onboard sound will is quite good, but it's not nForce APU. So you can think about buying Audigy2

Buy 128 MB Radeon 9800 PRO. I think you know 256 MB version runs hot and the extra VRAM is useless.

Athlon64 3000+ is already available. It may be 1.8 GHz + 1 MB L2 cahce or 2.0 GHz + 512kb L2 cache. If it's 2.0 GHz, then it won't me much slower than A64 3200+. But it costs significanly less (~$220). If it's 2.0 GHz, then I recommend buying this one ans spend extra money on something else.

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flamethrower205

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Jun 26, 2001
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Won't be doing any ocing, so I don't need a mobo for that and the MSI is more expensive.
DVD burners I still don't trust the tech, nor do I think he needs one. We're looking to get the sony blue lasers later on anyways...

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pitsi

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Jan 19, 2003
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About that problem you mentioned there with the AGP on A64 mobos, that has to do with motherboards that use the nForce 3 chipset. It hasn't been fixed yet nor it will be until a newer version from Nvidia comes out sometime in 2004. You won't have any problems with a K8T800 mobo though, as THG's recent review of A64 mobos showed anyway. So go for it!
 

Rob423

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What's up Flame, I just ordered the 811s Liteon.... I will deff post back and let you guys know how it's been working.. for 150$ you can't go wrong, also was very pleased with the 52X cdrw i got from liteon, excellent drive and i paid like 48? something like that..



Asus A7N8X Deluxe
80gb Maxtor
200gb WD 8mb cache..
Lian-Li PC-60
Lite-On 52X
AMD XP2800+
LeadTek GeForce 4 Ti4200 w/vivo 128mb 8x
Hitachi CML174
1 GB Corsair XMS PC3200 Cas2
 

SoDNighthawk

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We use many MSI motherboards in the P.C shop but up to date they are primarily the low end motherboards, also in many cases the cheapest ones as well.
That has changed in the last year as ASUS has made some real cutbacks in cost but has made leaps in board performance. They now offer the ASUS A7N8X Deluxe Motherboard that is specially designed for overclocking and fully supports the AMD XP ready 3000+ 333MHz/400MHz and the 3200+ 400MHz CPU's.

Read this link and you will see that Toms Hardware Guide chose this board above all other Motherboards for 2003 the board won all bench tests and uses the Nvidia nForce2 chipsets.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/IO_10206.html

Barton 3200+ 400MHz
A7N8X Deluxe
Liquid
2x512 KinstonHyperX PC3200
GeForce FX5900
Maxtor DiamondMaxPlus9@80Gig
SONY CD 52x
SONY RW 52x/24x/52x
SONY DVD 16x/40x
 

Snorkius

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Sep 16, 2003
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A64 boards, you [insert expletive here]. The A7N8X is NOT, contrary to what you might believe, an A64 board.

<font color=blue>If the <font color=yellow>laurel</font color=yellow> is to big for your head, it becomes a hoola-hoop, and you have to keep your butt really busy.</font color=blue>
 

Spitfire_x86

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Jun 26, 2002
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This is a typical SoDNighthawk suggestion

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Snaggle

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Dec 10, 2003
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don't know what you're using it for;but if gaming the asus k8v deluxe or the msi k8t neo might be better choices than the gigabyte,both those boards support cool and quiet(=automatic power saving and reduced heat) and the msi board has "corecell" which will overclock automatically for you by up to 10%.

Check out the samsung syncmaster monitors-never seen a lcd with a better picture-it looks almost as good as a hitachi tv!

Personally I would put in two raptors raid 0,even if I had to use the smaller one or even just two of the slower ones,two hard drives about double read speed and you'll see the performance difference more than the differnce between a 3000 and 3200 64.
 

SoDNighthawk

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Yes Flamthrower you are absolutely correct I was trying to drop the guy a hint that he doesn't need a Althon 64 system and all he really needs is a A7N8X Deluxe with a XP 3200+

Barton 3200+ 400MHz
A7N8X Deluxe
Liquid
2x512 KinstonHyperX PC3200
GeForce FX5900
Maxtor DiamondMaxPlus9@80Gig
SONY CD 52x
SONY RW 52x/24x/52x
SONY DVD 16x/40x
 

flamethrower205

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Jun 26, 2001
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The idea of raid has crossed my mind several times. Thing is, aren't the 32gb raptors more noisy? Also, I'm not too sure my friend will want a raid since if it does crash....boom there goes everything.

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Snorkius

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Sep 16, 2003
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I don't know what he needs. I know what you really need, but I'm too polite to type it.

<font color=blue>If the <font color=yellow>laurel</font color=yellow> is to big for your head, it becomes a hoola-hoop, and you have to keep your butt really busy.</font color=blue>
 

flamethrower205

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Jun 26, 2001
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SOD, for future reference, thank you for trying to help but realize that unless needs are explicitly specified, you are dealing wiht an unknown. In that case, just answer the question that is asked and go no further since the extraneous advice is based on nothing.

The one and only "Monstrous BULLgarian!"
 

Spitfire_x86

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Jun 26, 2002
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type it!

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