My New system Looking for a critique:

[alazeer]

Also loking for a suggestion as to what to use for a heatsink for my CPU and whagt to use for my CD/DVD and what to use for my CD/DVDRW Burner.

This system is mostly going to be used for gaming, but I mauy be getting into some digital Photo/Video Editing in the future? I just bought a Sony Sony Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar DCR-DVD92NTSC Camcorder and I'm interedted in the whol Photo/video editing thing. Any suggestions for some good software for that would be appreciated as well.

AMD Athlon 64 FX60 Toledo 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Dual Core Processor Model ADAFX60CDBOX - Retail

ASUS A8N-SLI Premium Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

Patriot 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered System Memory Model PDC2G3200LLK - Retail

Thermaltake Armor VA8000SWA Silver Aluminum ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Retail

Western Digital Caviar RE WD3200SD 320GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM X 2

JATON Video-PX7800GT Geforce 7800GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail X 2

JATON Video-PX7800GT Geforce 7800GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail

ENERMAX Liberty ELT620AWT ATX12V 620W Power Supply - Retail

Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 Speaker - Retail

Microsoft Windows XP Professional Upgrade with SP2 - Retail

Symantec Norton Antivirus 2006 - Retail

ViewSonic G220fb Black 21" CRT Monitor 15-pin mini D-sub - Retail

Ideazon Zboard Gaming PW1USE1-B3ZBD01 2-Tone USB Wired Standard Keyboard - Retail

Logitech Trackman Wheel 904353-0403 Grey 3 Buttons 1x Wheel USB + PS/2 TrackBall Mouse - Retail

Logitech 980374-0403 USB Connector Premium Headset 350 - Retail

Thanks any and all Input will be appreciated!! BTW In case You didn't catch any of my previous posts the gaming I do is mainly online but I also play games such as Black & White 2, Act of War etc...

 

[godlyatheist]

Holy cow the FX-60!!!

Okay, you don't need that bad boy. A 4800+ or even 5200+ will get you the same results. Also consider Opteron 170/175/180.

Patriot RAMs are not for high-end system. Invest in some Corsair XMS or OCZ Gold or Crucial Ballistix.

I see 3 video card on here, how do you plan to fit them on a 2 video card slot mobo?

Don't get JATON, with your money you should get one GTX instead of two GT, or more chop off $500 from CPU and get two GTX, or a single 512mb GTX. Preferably some name brand like eVGA, XFX, MSI, or BFG.

DO you want massive pop-up and game incompatibility? IF yes, keep the Norton. Other wise, choose something that doesn't do that, like Aluria Anti-spyware + AVG Pro.

 

[morg]

also, try to avoid asus big board, get a gigabyte, a dfi or an msi, but asus had trouble with these especially the premium series. bad bios setting too.
fx-60 is a big one ( talking about waste of money ) get the biggest dual core opteron instead ( or a small one and overclock it ) cpu fan, you ll like the quietness of a 120mm fan so get a zalman 7700cu or an xp-120 there are well rated. for the ram, pick anything, but low latency specialized as using a divider is ok on s939 nf4.
and the worst of all ---}}} get a sata300 not a 150 and the 320 ones are very noisy i would rather pick 4 sata300 250 gb in raid 5

norton is one of the worst ( 1st to be targeted ) get an uncommon one
if you plan on using microsoft service, get box xp
if you<re ok alone, get an oem one.

 

[alazeer]

Holy cow the FX-60!!!

Okay, you don't need that bad boy. A 4800+ or even 5200+ will get you the same results. Also consider Opteron 170/175/180.

Patriot RAMs are not for high-end system. Invest in some Corsair XMS or OCZ Gold or Crucial Ballistix.

I see 3 video card on here, how do you plan to fit them on a 2 video card slot mobo?

LOL, yah I guess I got trigger happy and included one too many video cards there .

Don't get JATON, with your money you should get one GTX instead of two GT, or more chop off $500 from CPU and get two GTX, or a single 512mb GTX. Preferably some name brand like eVGA, XFX, MSI, or BFG.

I was wondering about that and didn't know for sure about the GT and GTX, Thanks for the advice.

DO you want massive pop-up and game incompatibility? IF yes, keep the Norton. Other wise, choose something that doesn't do that, like Aluria Anti-spyware + AVG Pro.

As far as Norton goes I myself have never had one single problem with it, as long as it's setup correctly you shouldn't either. The same thing goes for the people who use Zone Alarm, I hear people say bad things about that all the time but there again i've never ever had any trouble with that either?

 

[Heyyou27]

Holy cow the FX-60!!!

Okay, you don't need that bad boy. A 4800+ or even 5200+ will get you the same results. Also consider Opteron 170/175/180.

Patriot RAMs are not for high-end system. Invest in some Corsair XMS or OCZ Gold or Crucial Ballistix.

I see 3 video card on here, how do you plan to fit them on a 2 video card slot mobo?

LOL, yah I guess I got trigger happy and included one too many video cards there .

Don't get JATON, with your money you should get one GTX instead of two GT, or more chop off $500 from CPU and get two GTX, or a single 512mb GTX. Preferably some name brand like eVGA, XFX, MSI, or BFG.

I was wondering about that and didn't know for sure about the GT and GTX, Thanks for the advice.

DO you want massive pop-up and game incompatibility? IF yes, keep the Norton. Other wise, choose something that doesn't do that, like Aluria Anti-spyware + AVG Pro.

As far as Norton goes I myself have never had one single problem with it, as long as it's setup correctly you shouldn't either. The same thing goes for the people who use Zone Alarm, I hear people say bad things about that all the time but there again i've never ever had any trouble with that either?
But when was the last time Norton found something for you? Nothing for me.

 

[alazeer]

Holy cow the FX-60!!!

Okay, you don't need that bad boy. A 4800+ or even 5200+ will get you the same results. Also consider Opteron 170/175/180.

Ok I went for this one:

AMD Opteron 180 Denmark 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Dual Core Processor Model OSA180CDBOX - Retail

Patriot RAMs are not for high-end system. Invest in some Corsair XMS or OCZ Gold or Crucial Ballistix.

With this Ram:

CORSAIR XMS 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model Twinx2048-3200c2pt - Retail


I see 3 video card on here, how do you plan to fit them on a 2 video card slot mobo?

Don't get JATON, with your money you should get one GTX instead of two GT, or more chop off $500 from CPU and get two GTX, or a single 512mb GTX. Preferably some name brand like eVGA, XFX, MSI, or BFG.

With this Video Card, do I need two?

DO you want massive pop-up and game incompatibility? IF yes, keep the Norton. Other wise, choose something that doesn't do that, like Aluria Anti-spyware + AVG Pro.

What about my original questions about CD/DVD and DVD Burner what does everyone in here reccomend? Anything else I should change, add/subtract before I order this stuff and build it?

Thanks

 

[godlyatheist]

CD-RW or DVD-RW doesn't matter what brand you use. Get some cheap Lite-on or Sony and it will work fine. IF you really want, a dual-layer DVD-RW will float your boat.

 

[hella-d]

For The CD/DVD Burner Id Go With Some Of The Lightscribe Ones From HP Lightscribe Can Be Handy) And The Drives Are Good For The $$, For The CPU Id Go With The 4800+ X2 (It Cheaper And Will Often "Ride The Heels' Of A Far More Expensive FX60 + They Are Good Overclockers), The Zalman Is Nice But There Are Cheaper And Just As Effective Soultions...Look Around Id Reccomend: www.frozencpu.com, www.crazypc.com, www.xoxide.com Or www.newegg.com, As For Everything Else Its Fine (The 7800GT Is Only About 5% Slower Than The 7800GTX And Quite A Bit Cheaper (Two Would Be Cool)

 

[alazeer]

OK after getting the GREAT help here I think these are my final specs unless anyone here can think of anything I'm Missing or I can add/subtract etc?

Thermaltake Armor VA8000SWA Silver Aluminum ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Retail

DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 SLI-DR Expert Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

AMD Opteron 180 Denmark 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Dual Core Processor Model OSA180CDBOX - Retail

ZALMAN CNPS7700-CU 120mm 2 Ball Cooling Fan with Copper Heatsink - Retail

CORSAIR XMS 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model Twinx2048-3200c2pt - Retail

eVGA 256-P2-N529-AX Geforce 7800GTX 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail

Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM X-2

ENERMAX Liberty ELT620AWT ATX12V 620W Power Supply - Retail

Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic 8 (7.1) Channels PCI Interface Sound Card - Retail

Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 Speaker - Retail

PLEXTOR Black IDE Slot Load DVD Burner Model PX-716AL/SW - Retail

SONY Black IDE DVD-ROM Drive Model DDU1615/B2s - OEM

Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - OEM

Ideazon Zboard Gaming PW1USE1-B3ZBD01 2-Tone USB Wired Standard Keyboard - Retail

Logitech Trackman Wheel 904353-0403 Grey 3 Buttons 1x Wheel USB + PS/2 TrackBall Mouse - Retail

Logitech 980374-0403 USB Connector Premium Headset 350 - Retail

Microsoft Windows XP Professional Upgrade with SP2 - Retail

Symantec Norton Antivirus 2006 - Retail

ViewSonic G220fb Black 21" CRT Monitor 15-pin mini D-sub - Retail

 

[hella-d]

Ill Respect The Decision, But As I Said The GT Isnt Much Slower (About 5%) And That Can Be Negated By An Overclock) And You Could Use The $$ For Some Games? LOL

 

[Jagger]

Asus is a great board. However, go for the new 32X (not the full name). In SLI, almost all boards only operate each card at 8X speeds. The Asus 32X actually runs each card at 16X speeds. The preformance gains are modest (not nearly twice as fast), but you might as well squeeze every drop of power out of your new system since it is clearly high end stuff.

For the love of Pete, don't get Norton. The thing is a resource hog consuming 5% of your CPU and memory just running in the background. Go with TrendMicro.

 

[alazeer]

Asus is a great board. However, go for the new 32X (not the full name). In SLI, almost all boards only operate each card at 8X speeds. The Asus 32X actually runs each card at 16X speeds. The preformance gains are modest (not nearly twice as fast), but you might as well squeeze every drop of power out of your new system since it is clearly high end stuff.

For the love of Pete, don't get Norton. The thing is a resource hog consuming 5% of your CPU and memory just running in the background. Go with TrendMicro.

Are you talking about the deluxe model? If you are I've heard pro's and con's about that model? I orginally wanted that Mobo but I allowed someone in here in another thread I wrote to talk me out of it, and I would have to order it from somewhere else, Newegg does not have it in stock, they never have it in stock .

 

[alazeer]

Anyone else have any other input on this system of mine because I'm going to order today and I would like to get all possible input possitive and negitive as possible before I go ahead and order it.

Do you think I'm using the correct Motherboard, CD-Rom, DVD-Burner, Ram, HD's etc??? What about the Monitor is there a Good Flat screen 21" out there as good or better for around the same money or just a bit more that is just as good or better for gaming? Should I be using two video cards. All help will be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Jagger]

For moniters, check out the consumer electronics section of the forum.

Take the plung on your system. You are guarnteed, no matter how much research you put into it, that you will be annoyed/dissatisified/irked/etc. with some part of it. It is the joy of homebuilt computers - but man is it worth it.

 

[godlyatheist]

remember to put the RAM in slot 2 and 4......

 

[Vascular]

I know im gonna hear it but if I had the cash to burn I would get the FX-60. They use the same standards for FX as for testing the opterons. The FX-60 is dual core and is smoking fast.

For your xp pro, dont buy an upgrade buy an OEM version. Should be same price and you dont have to worry about inputting a past version of windows cd-key.

I use Norton internet security and have for many years with no problems.

Good choice on the ram.

Nothing is wrong with ASUS motherboards but get a DFI if you want to over clock.

Video card with a 21" monitor you need a lot of video card to push high native resolutions in games. Again you seem to have money to burn might as well go for broke and get sli gt's or go all out and get sli gtx.

I use a Dell 2005FPW lcd and have nothing but go things to say about it. Games no artifacts no ghosting and no dead pixels. It is a widescreen but wouldnt go back now that is have used one. With coupons and discounts you should be able to get is for around 500.

 

[INeedCache]

Go with the Sony DRU-810A, it's based on the BenQ DW1640 that has become quite difficult to find, but a great drive. Ditch the Norton, it's a resource hog, a pain in rump, and much too pervasive. I'd opt for PC-cillin Internet Security from Trend Micro or Norman Internet Control from Norman. Nothing wrong with Asus boards but typically overpriced, and boards just as good can be had for less. Overclocking get DFI, otherwise try Foxconn/Winfast. My two cents.