Gamers PC, suggestions please!

[asanlun]

Hi all,
I'm planing on buying a new system the upcoming month, it is the first time will put one together myself. Mostly I want the pc for gaming and programming too. I don't want to make any mistakes, so ... I'm asking for help and advice, regarding compatibility of the components and suggestions. I want to stay on the same budget, so if you have any suggestions, let the be on the same price range.

This is what I planned:

AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Winchester (tray)
Arctic Cooling Freezer 64
Asus A8N-SLI Premium
2x DDR-RAM 512MB PC400 CL2.5 Corsair (VS512MB400)
Samsung SpinPoint P120 200GB SATA II (SP2004C)
Gigabyte GeForce 6600GT 128MB DDR3 (GV-NX66T128VP)
ATX Midi Arctic Cooling Silentium T2 (350 Watt)
Toshiba SD-M1912, 16x/48x bulk (DVD-ROM)
Pioneer DVR-109 (A09) bulk (DVD-burner)
CRT 19" Samtron 98PDF 96kHz TCO03
Creative Inspire T7900 7.1
Microsoft Wireless Optical Desktop 1000 USB
(and I already have a Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Platinum Pro)


Thank very much in advance!
Alejo

 

[dmroeder]

That's a pretty spendy MB, are you going to use all the features (SLI, 8 SATA's)? With the money you could save on the MB you could get a better video card.

Might as well get the Venice core

If you do plan on using SLI down the road then it might be worthwhile to get a larger PSU now.

Just some thoughts. Good looking rig though

 

[TheRod]

I agree that a NON-SLI mobo with a better GPU would be better in terms of gaming performance.

-
GA-K8NF-9 / <b><font color=green>Athlon 64 3200+</font color=green> @ 3800+</b>
Infineon DDR400 (CL2.5) 2x512Megs
<font color=green>GeForce 6600GT 128Megs</font color=green>
<A HREF="http://www.getfirefox.com" target="_new">Get Firefox!</A>

 

[fate]

I agree with dmroeder, either go with non-SLI board and that psu, or upgrade the psu for SLI. Dual 6600's won't need as much as top SLI configs, but I still wouldn't trust a 350 for it.

 

[TheRod]

Here is my comments...

Why do you get a "Arctic Cooling Freezer 64"? If you don't plan to overclock your system, get a BOXED AMD CPU and keep your money for a better GPU.

For your information, I have a MSI 6600GT 128Megs which is nearly silent and (SLI-READY), you should consider it.

You could get a NON-SLI motherboard, and spend the saved money on a faster GPU (6800GT). If you do so, I strongly recommends you a more powerful PSU, Antec TruePower Series is a good reference.

-
GA-K8NF-9 / <b><font color=green>Athlon 64 3200+</font color=green> @ 3800+</b>
Infineon DDR400 (CL2.5) 2x512Megs
<font color=green>GeForce 6600GT 128Megs</font color=green>
<A HREF="http://www.getfirefox.com" target="_new">Get Firefox!</A>

 

[asanlun]

Hi all, and thank you for your comments!

First of all I made a mistake, im planning of course on a Venice Core (3000+) for the CPU, not a Winchester sorry...

About overclocking... I´m not planning it, because I have no experience... but surely I would like to have the possibility and to try it. If it works, why not??

I chose a Premium MB over a faster GPU, because I thought it would be easier to upgrade my system in the future with a MB like the A8N-SLI Premium (SLI, SATA2, and is now compatible with the new AMD Athlon 64 X2 CPUs). With a non-sli board I save like $100, and that is not enough for the jump from 6600GT to 6800GT anyways... Am I right?

Thank you again!
Alejo

 

[dmroeder]

<A HREF="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813123236" target="_new">Here</A> is the board that I would recommend for you. It supports SATA II like you wanted and is cheaper. Plus if you do get into OC'ing, it's one of the better ones.

 

[Guest]

I second the Epox board, I dont know about samsung drive didnt heard much for them...I know you want SATA-II(it doesnt bring much improvement but its nice to be current with tech).
I think the Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 supports SATAII if you can find it, great drive! also Western Digital are top rated!

Asus P4P800DX, P4C 2.6ghz@3.25ghz, 2X512 OCZ PC4000 3-4-4-8, MSI 6800Ultra stock, 2X30gig Raid0

 

[shawnlizzle =]]

dfi works also

<font color=red>gforce mx100/200 @ 230/440 =]</font color=red>

 

[dunklegend]

This board has very good OCing capabilities maybe the DFI lanparty will be better for OCing but in the anandtech review it was the fastest board at stock speeds and second to DFI in OCing capabilities

<b><font color=orange>Beauty is only skin deep, ugly goes to the bone.<font color=orange></b>

 

[dunklegend]

Who are you replying to?
All that southpark is messing your head.

<b><font color=orange>Beauty is only skin deep, ugly goes to the bone.<font color=orange></b>

 

[emogoch]

And why would a first-time overclocker go with anyhting beyond that? 320MHz is more than 50% higher than stock speed.

While I do agreee than the SLI premium is a bit of an overkill for the appearent budget, pound for pound, the DFI boards I've seen are more expensive than the Asus ones (and I'd imagine the same for Epox). Asus might not be the best overclocker, but it should have enough juice behind it that you can get your hands wet.

 

[dunklegend]

wusy is right the Epox is not expensive at all when I bought it I paid around $110. I think that it's worth that money even if it wasn't as good OCing board as it is.
It's really solid.
I like Epox, DFI and ASUS.
ASUS has the worst price/performance ratio of the 3, the best board is the DFI with Epox being a close second.
DFI is more expensive so your options are:
1.- The best OCing board, 2nd running stock, big price. DFI
2.- The best running stock, 2nd OCing, good price. Epox
3.- You can't get Epox or DFI. ASUS

<b><font color=orange>Beauty is only skin deep, ugly goes to the bone.<font color=orange></b>