Need some assistance on a home build

[Televideoguy]

Hello all,

I am in the process of buying a new PC, Here is what I have so far:

Thermaltake Tsunami Black $109
DFI LanParty UT RDX200 CF-DR $164
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Manchester 2000MHz $357
ASUS EAX850XT/PE/2DHTV/256 Radeon X850XT Express x16 $385
CORSAIR ValueSelect 2GB (2 x 1GB) SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) $154
Maxtor DiamondMax 10 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s $ 88
ViewSonic VA912b Black 19" 8ms LCD $256
ZALMAN CNPS9500 LED $ 57

Total at NewEgg $1571

I still have in my possesion:
1 16X DVD writer
1 DVD-ROM
1 Wired keyboard
1 Optical Mouse (suggestions a new mouse would be nice)


If you have any suggestions, I would appreciate them. I have $1500 to spend on a PC, plus a little overhead. Needless to say I would like to bring the price down a little.

Primarily I will use thie machine for Gaming. I play Shooters and very little of anything else.

The second thing I am looking to do is use this PC to create Shapes in Visio. The shapes I have created so far are very detailed, and I need a PC that can handle this type of work, and an LCD that will make the shapes look clean.

Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Also if I missed anything let me know.

If there is something better for less, I am more than happy to change anything.

This PC will be the primary PC for years to come, so I need to make it as good as possible for the money I am spending.

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[mdd1963]

Depending on what the video card is costing you, I'd try hard to get at least a 7900GT if it is to last you a couple of years, or perhaps an 1800XT...

The X850XT is still decent, but showing it's age with modern shoot-em-ups at high res....

The 7600GT is also a lot of card for $200....

 

[Televideoguy]

I added the prices for each individual peice, to the original post

 

[bilbo3660]

With an 7900GT or 1800XT you would be getting a faster card for less money as they are both ~$300. The Maxtor's have had reliability issues so you should consider Seagate, Western Digital or Hitachi.

 

[rickpcnerd]

are u going to overclock CPU? if u are why dont go with an AMD OPTERON 165. These suckers overclocks nicecly. These Opterons over clocks up to a stable 2.6 or 2.7., wish is the same speed of an FX-60, then u will have a very powerful computer.

I u dont care about desk space, why not considering getting a CRT with .20mm dot pixels..85h.. 1900x1400 for 190 dollars. CRT have better image for gaming, and much better monitor than LCD u have listed. for sure that LCD go up to 1400x1400 and 60hz.

try to get an X1600 or X1800 card. Dont go with Nvidia. ATI are able to run HDR and Antiliasing at the same time, Nvidia are not capable of doing this. Running HDR and Antiliasing will show u a more better image than an Nvidia card. Dont waste money on a nvidia card that will show u crap.

 

[Televideoguy]

Thanks for your responses.

I have never overclocked a system before, but I am not afraid of trying something new.

How hard is it to overclock a system? Would the Mobo I picked out be good for overclocking?

I suppose the Zalman Cooling Fan would be good for this venture. Should I think about Water cooling?

 

[RichPLS]

I had the A8R-MVP and now the A8R32-MVP, which I got the latter for $180 and is a much better pricewise and hardware wise too, imo.

 

[bilbo3660]

DFI makes the best mobo's for overclocking. OC'ing is not easy to do and you might void the warranty of several components. This said, Asus, among others, boards have a nice feature where you can let it make all the OC settings for you.

You should read some articles about overclocking and watercooling as neither is something to be done cavalierly.

 

[Televideoguy]

thanks for your help, and I will do a lot of reading before I overclock.

So here is my updated list

Thermaltake Tsunami Black------------------------------------- $109
DFI LanParty UT RDX200 CF-DR ------------------------------- $164
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Manchester 2000MHz--------------- $357
SAPPHIRE Radeon X1800XT PCI Express x16----------------- $279
CORSAIR XMS 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR 400 (PC 3200)----------- $189
Maxtor DiamondMax 10 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s -----$ 88
ViewSonic VX922 Black/Silver 19" 2ms LCD -------------------$298
ZALMAN CNPS9500 LED ------------------------------------------$ 64

Total Newegg Price $1402
I have all theother parts I need.

Anyother suggestions?

 

[ForzaItalia4]

The Sapphire radeon x1800xt 512 is only $309, compared to $280 256 it's not that big of a difference in price, I'd go for the 512 if you plan on going high res and graphics. The 3800+x2 apparently is a good overclocker, so you could save money if you wanted, if not, the processor you picked is also awesome. Whatever you do don't get the x850 PE for 385, it's an older card, although good, and the price should be updated. If you really wanted the x850 go for the ones that are priced around 170, but be advised the x1000 series runs AA and HDR at the same time, thus giving you an awesome look. If you can fork out the cash, get the sapphire x1900xt for 459, which has 3x the pixel shaders compared to the x1800xt. It's up to you.

 

[sandmannight]

Hello all,

I am in the process of buying a new PC, Here is what I have so far:

Thermaltake Tsunami Black $109
DFI LanParty UT RDX200 CF-DR $164
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Manchester 2000MHz $357
ASUS EAX850XT/PE/2DHTV/256 Radeon X850XT Express x16 $385
CORSAIR ValueSelect 2GB (2 x 1GB) SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) $154
Maxtor DiamondMax 10 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s $ 88
ViewSonic VA912b Black 19" 8ms LCD $256
ZALMAN CNPS9500 LED $ 57

Total at NewEgg $1571

I still have in my possesion:
1 16X DVD writer
1 DVD-ROM
1 Wired keyboard
1 Optical Mouse (suggestions a new mouse would be nice)


If you have any suggestions, I would appreciate them. I have $1500 to spend on a PC, plus a little overhead. Needless to say I would like to bring the price down a little.

Primarily I will use thie machine for Gaming. I play Shooters and very little of anything else.

The second thing I am looking to do is use this PC to create Shapes in Visio. The shapes I have created so far are very detailed, and I need a PC that can handle this type of work, and an LCD that will make the shapes look clean.

Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Also if I missed anything let me know.

If there is something better for less, I am more than happy to change anything.

This PC will be the primary PC for years to come, so I need to make it as good as possible for the money I am spending.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Definately step up to a x1900xt for very little more. I am talking like a extra 40 bucks

 

[bilbo3660]

Lookin' good. Consider the Tuniq TowerT-120 as this is the best cooler on the market and pointedly better and less expensive than the Zalman CNPS9500 LED. Don't take my word for it. See reviews by xbitlabs, bjorn3d, etc.

I assumed the X1800XT you listed was the 512mb model. If not, you should get it for $20 more. Selling at newegg for ~$299. Hey, I saved you $15 on the cooler. lol. :lol:

Both the opty 165 and X2 3800 are great overclockers and if you got either one you could save some money...but you would HAVE to OC to make it worthwhile. A mild OC and you have performance at least as good as the cpu you are looking at. A big OC and your at FX60 speed...and you won't need watercooling.

 

[Televideoguy]

Thanks for all the help, I will post the finished product as soon as I am done purchasing which will be within a few weeks.

I really appreciate everyones answers, thanks again.

 

[Morph]

With an 7900GT or 1800XT you would be getting a faster card for less money as they are both ~$300. The Maxtor's have had reliability issues so you should consider Seagate, Western Digital or Hitachi.

I've heard alot of Maxtor horror stories, so many that you can't ignore.

However, Ive had 2 Maxtors running now for 4+ years without a glitch. Maybe I'm just the lucky one!

 

[bilbo3660]

With an 7900GT or 1800XT you would be getting a faster card for less money as they are both ~$300. The Maxtor's have had reliability issues so you should consider Seagate, Western Digital or Hitachi.

I've heard alot of Maxtor horror stories, so many that you can't ignore.

However, Ive had 2 Maxtors running now for 4+ years without a glitch. Maybe I'm just the lucky one!

There is a site (I think "warranty" is in the name) that shows how much major companies have to pay out for warranty/repairs. For every $100 in revenue Maxtor had to pay out $5 for failed drives. This is 3 times what Seagate pays out, is the reason Maxtor sales have nosedived, and is the reason Maxtor had to be bought out by Seagate. Of course most Maxtor drives are ok (19 out of 20?) or else the company would have failed sooner. Reliability is a reason Maxtor had their warranty down to 1 year while others were at 3 and 5 years.

 

[steveosazninvazn]

System overall looks great, get a Logitech MX518 mouse or one of those Razer Copperhead (Is that what it's called?) mice.