Any advice about this setup I'm building this week?

tahoe5280

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I've been buying parts here and there for an EconoGamer I'm building. My main goals are value and compatibility for upcoming hardware evolution.

Click on the name for a link to the product's description and specs:

Case: LianLi PC-60 Plus

PSU: Fortron 600w (SLI rated)

Mobo: ASUS A8N-SLI Premium

CPU: AMD 64 3200+Venice (with the E4 stepping)

RAM: OCZ Gold 1gb (2x512)

Vid: XFX 6600GT (128mb, SLI, dual DVI)

Yea, I am aware the vid card is pretty weak, but it seemed like a good value at $100 bucks (with rebate), and I can always buy another one for an SLI setup. Or, since it was so inexpensive, I can just upgrade to a 7800GT in a month or two. Frankly, I just wanted a decent "value card" that I can use on the short term, and then upgrade later.

I'm temporarily using a spare HDD, so I won't bother with the details. However, I'm planning on either an 80g Seagate Barracuda (SATA 3gb/s), or a 74g Raptor. Sure, I'd love a Raptor, but I am having a really hard time convincing myself that the speed is really worth spending 2.5x as much as the 'Cuda.

And the optical drive is just a standard NEC DVD Burner.

Anyway, I think I made some solid choices with careful consideration for compatibility, upgradeability, and most importantly---value. I already have the case, psu, and all necessary drives. But I have an order pending for the cpu, ram, vid card, and the mobo. I might be able to change these last 4 items by tomorrow, which is why I'm posting this tonight.

I guess I'm looking for some feedback in case you guys have some input about any details I might be missing, or any compatibility problems I'm not aware of.
 

luminaris

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Yeah, I tend to agree with you on the HDD, I have a Seagate 250Gig Barracuda and its very zippy. Unless your gonna get dual Raptors, don't bother if you don't wanna spend the cash. With computers evolving so much, you can't go wrong by saving a few bucks for future upgrades and/or new builds. Your build looks good to me man. Go for it.
 

HideOut

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dont get that mobo or vid card, instead use the saved money from cheaper mobo and just get a 6800GS, bout the same speeds as the SLI but easier to run. Or save a bit more and get a 7800GT
 

chuckshissle

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Sounds good, but try considering your memory capacity for some software application and games requires more than 1 Gb of your system. If your into gaming, then definitely you need to increase your memory up to 2 Gb. Otherwise playing games like BF2 and Fear while cause a stutter while playing.
About your video card, its good but don't worry much about it. yeah like you mention, your planning to upgrade to 7800 GT sometime in the future. That's good since, Nvidia are launching the 7900 series thus, hopefully the price of the 7800 GT will be at the low $200 range.
 

tahoe5280

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dont get that mobo or vid card, instead use the saved money from cheaper mobo and just get a 6800GS, bout the same speeds as the SLI but easier to run. Or save a bit more and get a 7800GT

Sorry, but I'm not really sure what you're saying. So you're saying not to get that particular model, that particular brand, an SLI mobo, or all of the above?

Besides, the 6800GS is around $80-100 more expensive (including the rebate), and I'm not really going to get a good nF4 SLI mobo for $60-80 dollars. And like I said, the video card is temporary. It's just something I can use until I can afford a real card.

Also, I really like the passive heat pipe because they are quiet and are less prone to mechanical failure.
 

tahoe5280

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oh ya, that case is something ive looked at. Anyone know bout the fans on it? Newegg says 2 x 120 and 2 x 80 but i only see a rear 80...

Yea, this case is pretty amazing. Like I said, I've already received it, and I've already had the chance to break it down and re-assemble it. The parts are all very high quailty, from the fans (all 4 fans are included) all the way down to the thumbscrews. I would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone.

To answer your question, yes, there are 2x120mm fans and 2x80mm fans. There is an 80mm fan that is located on the top of the case, a standard 80mm fan that is located in the back of the case, a 120mm fan located at the front of the case to blow air over your hdd or raid array, and a cool 120mm fan that is side mounted, and blows air right on your video cards. Also, there's an "elbow" included that you can mount to the rear case fan. This way the air is directed to blow onto your CPU. And you have the option to not attach the elbow, or the 120mm video card fan if you don't want to.

All in all, it's a good case for a high-end gamer, but for my value-oriented needs, I probably would have been fine with the regular PC-60, instead of the plus. But if I decide to get twin Raptors in a RAID array and run an SLI setup, I probably would be in good shape with the Plus model.
 

tahoe5280

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Sounds good, but try considering your memory capacity for some software application and games requires more than 1 Gb of your system. If your into gaming, then definitely you need to increase your memory up to 2 Gb. Otherwise playing games like BF2 and Fear while cause a stutter while playing.
About your video card, its good but don't worry much about it. yeah like you mention, your planning to upgrade to 7800 GT sometime in the future. That's good since, Nvidia are launching the 7900 series thus, hopefully the price of the 7800 GT will be at the low $200 range.

Actually, that's great advice, thanks. I wasn't aware that I would need 2gb of mem to run most games. I thought I could get away with just 1.

Do you see any problem if I just get another 2 modules of this stuff and run all 4 channels? Or should I just have gotten some value ram and saved up for the real stuff? To be honest, there was just no way I could afford 2gb's of high-quality ram. I was thinking, 1gb of high quality ram would be a much better purchase than 2gb of value ram, since high-end mobos have problems when dealing with cheap ram. I know the DFI LanParty and Abit AN8-SLI & Fatal1ty boards are like that.
 

Vascular

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Yes is it recommended that you use 2Gb of ram to play new games such as Fear and BF2 but not neccesary. I play BF2 on a 2.8B, 1Gb ram and a 6600gt and it plays fine just not at high levels of resolution or the extra stuff. Sounds like you are trying to get your system going and the parts you have selected are fine. If you have the money I do how ever recommend getting 2x 1Gb sticks but, if not you can upgrade to 4x 512mb sticks and it will work fine.
 

tahoe5280

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Edit: Ok, I actually decided to buy the 2gb of memory. I cancelled my other order, and resubmitted it with 2gb (2x1gb) of Corsair XMS TwinX2048-3200C2PT

Thanks man. That was some solid advice. I'd rather run 2x1gb than 4x512. It seems like the board would end up too crowded, and now I can upgrade down the road if necessary.