my new pc build

[micah]

my 100 gig media hard drive fried out finally after 5 years of abuse. figure if i have to start all over from scratch it will be on a new pc. gonna give this one to my girlfriend and her daughter.

already ordered everything but dvd/cd drive, havent decided on that yet, but have a few ideas...

mobo - biostar tforce4u nforce 4 939
cpu - amd athlon 64 3500+ venice 1ghz fsb -> can be overclocked to 4000+
vid - xfx 6800gs xxx 256mb ddr3 pci-x -> can be overclocked to over 6800 ultra settings.
ram - pqi turbo 2x512 184 pin ddr400 -> highest stable overclock settings on record for pc3200 ram
hd - seagate barracuda 80gig SATA -> purely for gaming, dont need whole lot of room
psu - ultra xconnect 500 watt /w 20 to 24 pin cable for mobo power
case - 10 bay atx case from geeks.com, not a big fan of huge flashy las vegas cases


running total is 782 - 160 in rebates = $622

after cd/dvd and 19" lcd monitor ill be at around 900 bucks and will be able to play every current game flawlessly.

not too shabby id say

 

[CiViC_SOHC]

Quoted post[/post]]
my 100 gig media hard drive fried out finally after 5 years of abuse. figure if i have to start all over from scratch it will be on a new pc. gonna give this one to my girlfriend and her daughter.

already ordered everything but dvd/cd drive, havent decided on that yet, but have a few ideas...

mobo - biostar tforce4u nforce 4 939
cpu - amd athlon 64 3500+ venice 1ghz fsb -> can be overclocked to 4000+
vid - xfx 6800gs xxx 256mb ddr3 pci-x -> can be overclocked to over 6800 ultra settings.
ram - pqi turbo 2x512 184 pin ddr400 -> highest stable overclock settings on record for pc3200 ram
hd - seagate barracuda 80gig SATA -> purely for gaming, dont need whole lot of room
psu - ultra xconnect 500 watt /w 20 to 24 pin cable for mobo power
case - 10 bay atx case from geeks.com, not a big fan of huge flashy las vegas cases


running total is 782 - 160 in rebates = $622

after cd/dvd and 19" lcd monitor ill be at around 900 bucks and will be able to play every current game flawlessly.

not too shabby id say

newegg.com? I might copy your stuff there lol. It was gonna cost me 900 bucks JUST for the system I was gonna buy lol. Thats all you need? Thought you needed more stuff?

 

[micah]

well you need an OS, other then that its just fans and cables and anything else you wanna throw in.
i already have a sound card and some surround sound.

the mobo i got from directron, newegg was sold out
case from geeks.com
psu from radioshack - see my thread in deals and special offers forum
everything else from newegg

depending on what you want to use your comp for then you could build a system real cheap. i built mine to play all current games on max settings. if your not as concerned with gaming then you could go with a 754 socket board to save 50 bucks, then drop to a 3000+ or 3200+ processor to save 100 bucks, then you could also go with a 6600 series vid card to drop 100 bucks, then drop to a 17" lcd to save 50-100 bucks.
would still play all current games, just maybe not at max settings. would be more then capable of doing day to day tasks.

if you just want a pc for surfing the net and homework and dumb shit like that then you could build one for 500 bucks easy.

 

[endlesszeal]

Nice choices. But may I make a few suggestions?

Newegg has the Evga 6800GS for 154 plus tax and shipping. It comes with a Lifetime warranty. I think they even allow overclocking as long as it doesnt physically damage the card like burning a hole in the chipset.

Also it seems like you're going to overclock. May I suggest the Opteron 144/146? Of course you have to make sure it'll run on your motherboard, but people are getting FX57 speeds. 2.6ghzish with the extra cache. If you stick with the Athlon's the San Diego cores seem to be a better buy. As for the motherboard, I know the old 754 TForces are monster overclockers, but Im not too sure about the new ones. Can still be. The DFI Infinities are good budget overlcokers.

Also I think it'll be better to get 1GB stick instead of 2X512s because games are starting to take advantage like BF2, FEAR, etc... If you ever decide to go 4X512s, most of the Nforce boards will only run it at 2T command rates and will yeild less overclock because the stress of all 4 dimms being populated. I think outpost/fry's as a good set of OCZ 2X1GB modules for 150 after rebate?

Now moving on to the powersupply. It seems like a good choice, but it seems like a hit or miss. Some are getting good units will other are getting DOA. Other suggestions would be a Forton bluestorm.
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.as...7&enterthread=y

These are just suggestions, but you have a solid build already. The only thign i would really recommend is the ram. Soon 1GB isn't going to cut it, and 2GB modules have faster load times to about 10secs!

Either way, nice build.

 

[micah]

well all the stuff i listed is already payed for
the xfx 6800gs comes with a higher base overclock which is covered by manufacture warranty. plus it had a mail in rebate AND a combo discount with the 3500+ cpu i got. i was originally gonna get the 3700+.
i got the 3500+ cpu + the xfx 6800gs for 390 shipped. the card also has a 25$ mail in rebate.
so 365 for that card and cpu is an awesome deal.

i was originally gonna get the dfi lan party nforce 4 939 board, but the new biostar that i went with had better reviews.

as far as ram goes, ive read from 3 dif sites that the pqi turbo is the fastest pc3200 ram theyve ever tested and 1 site even said its the fastest ram theyve ever tested, period.
on top of that it was only 62 shipped for the 2x512's.
and i went with 2x512's because they are much faster then a single 1gb stick. if i ever feel like i need 2gb ram ill go with 2x1gb

the powersupply wasnt my first choice, but it was free i figured what the hell ill buy it and see, but then i started researching it and it actually gets really awesome reviews. check out my thread in the special deals forum for link to reviews. (as a side note, it came in today... the thing is badass lol)

and about the whole 1gb vs 2gb ram debate. every single site that tests ram has said that the difference form 1gb to 2gb is very minimal. at this point, the price difference doesnt justify the gains, IMO. paying twice as much and getting an extra gig of ram just for MAYBE another 5 fps in the most advanced games out right now just isnt worth it to me.

thanks for the suggestions. all my shit is already bought, but i appreciate some good pc discussions

 

[endlesszeal]

Wow that is a good deal for the card and cpu. Hope the 3500+ won't be a dud. Is it used? Seems like you're certain it'll reach over 2.4ghz. I think 92B18vx or watever, has one and hes stuck somewhere around there. And as for the DFI, I have the Ultra. All I can say is it is freaking stable and can easily be turned into SLi, but I wont because SLi is for the rich. The only quam is its friggin picky as hella about RAM and power supply. Besides that, its an overclockers dream. Have heard good things about the Tforces too.

And true, 512 is way faster than 1GB but its catching up. But again I would rather get 2GB because games and ram hungry apps like photoshop like it more. Oh yeah, the gains I was talking about wasn't FPS, but actual load times. 10secs is definately noticible. Besides, eventually when dual-core really gets rolling, 2GB will probably be norm.

Good luck on the power supply too. Hope it doesn't shit out on you. In the course of about 4 mos, I've had to replace 3 power supplys along with motherboards because the psu gave out. Of course 2 of the 3 were ema-shits

Anyway, post pics and see what kind of results you get. Superpi and 3DMark.

 

[micah]

the board and vid card combo was from new egg brand new

and fuck sli, i was gonna do it originally, but the majority of the time it actually decreases your in game performance or gives no gain. there arent any games out yet that are made specifically for it so there are very few that actually benefit from it.

im not worried about the psu either, every review ive read for it, professional and consumer, have been outstanding.

 

[endlesszeal]

My thoughts exactly about the SLi setups. Unless you absolutely need all that eye candy or just fucking rich, there is no point in dumping your money to graphic cards that will be outdated soon enough. I think two 6800GTs at 450 a piece matches up to 1 7800GTX for 500 in about a year?

On the other hand some of the SLi boards are really worth it like coming with HD audio, higher RAID functions, more SATA connectors and like the ASUS A8N32-SLI, 8phase power controller.

Anyway, Im jealous of the gfx card. Im stuck with a 6600GT. But then again I hardly game so haha its all gravy.

 

[micah]

you overclocked your 6600?

the 6600gt is a good card, depending on what brand you got you can overclock them pretty high.
like the msi pci 6600gt can get about 55mhz stable, the bfgtech pci can get about 85mhz stable overclock, while the bfgtech agp has been pushed as high as 100mhz overclock stabely.

what exact card you got?