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About to click purchase, any comments?

L

letsgetsilly

Senior member
(3-17) Please help me feel good about my decisions

Processor:
AMD Opteron 144 from Monarch @ 137...

Fan
Arctic Cooling ACS64U
$14

Motherboard
DFI nF4 Ultra-Infinity Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra
$88

Memory
CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB (2 x 512MB) Cas 2.5 DDR 400 (PC 3200)
$65.9

Video Card
eVGA 256-P2-N384 Geforce 6800 256MB
$100.00
Really can't decide if this is better than GS

Hard Drive
Looking for Hot Deal

Monitor
CMV CT-934D Silver 19" 8 ms (Tr+Tf) LCD Monitor
$190

Case:
Antec Solution SLK3800B Black 400Watt (SP400) SmartPower 2.0 ATX 12V 2.0
$89.99

DVD Burner
LG Black 16X 5X DVD-RAM GSA-4167B
36.99

Keyboard+mouse+speakers...find them eventually


Goal: Reasonable Price, Long-lasting, stable, play games over the next few years decent. Potential to minimal overclock
Uses: All-around PC, only stressful task will be PC games

I would like to have the option to overclock, but not much. Opteron seems like a safe bet, but I need a reasonable HSF.

Prices from newegg.com

Thanks,
Adam

 
I highly recommend 939 over 754. With the best of everything you've listed, except for the 89.99 case instead of the 99.99, you're at $903, easily giving you enough for a 939 3200+ venice. The rest looks good (higher end ram over value if you OC)

2gb isn't really feasible for OC and under $1000.
 
Case: CoolerMaster Centurion 5 - $45
PSU: Forton 450watts- $51
Motherboard: MSI K8N Neo-4F $80
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3700+-$212
RAM: Corsair ValueSelect 2GB (2x1GB)-$140
Hard Drive: Western Digital WD1600JS 160GB-$75
DVD Burner: NEC ND-3550A
GPU: ATI Sapphire X850XT 256mb-$173

Total-$814
 
Im thinking that the 7600GT is the way to go. Although I have the "Xtreme XXX" edition posted, there is the dumbed-down version that costs around 190 or so that out performs pretty much anything close to its price range, at least that's how I have interpreted the benchmarks. Let me know if you think otherwise.

I still don't see how it is necessary to spend $100 on a case and psu. Isn't there anything out there that is cheap, gets the job done, has a decent PSU, and doesn't look like a carnival game?
 
I'd recommend the ASRock (made by Asus) Dual939 motherboard. It's around $70, overclocks on par with the DFI Infinity and the ULi southbridge provides up to 26% better disk controller performance. Not to mention it has an AGP and a socket upgrade slot for AM2.

I'd upgrade to the 3700+ San Diego core. Typical overclock for a 3200+ is ~2500-2600Mhz, typical overclock for the SD is 2800Mhz+ and you get the extra 512KB cache.

At the same time I would recommend an aftermarket HSF for your CPU, namely the Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro which comes in around $28 on ZipZoomFly.

Value RAM is plenty given the ability to use dividers and the neglible hit on performance it provides with the onboard memory controller of the Athlon 64 chip.

I'd definitely recommend the X850XT. Not only is a steal at $169 but it's the most powerful GPU in the price range you listed and provides better IQ (no angle-dependant AF and better AA performance).

As far as the case I would recommend either of the Antec's as the power supplies you get with any of the cheaper cases you picked out will not only not be reliable, but not provide much power for overclocking. I'd personally prefer the 3800B because it's a bit easier to work in than the layout of the Sonata II. The Sonata is a good looking and quiet case, but it's generally a pain to work in, particularly for cable management.

The HDD and DVD burner are otherwise good choices.
 
i agree, the 3700+ is a good cpu
good brand choice on the motherboard...maybe you should check out the DFI Ultra-D for $115?
memory: i would take the g.skill Cas 2.5 2x1gig kit for $145. corsair is good too

video: the x850xt is good but it is also older...i'm not sure if the 7600GT will be better in newer games or not

hdd and dvd burner: perfect

case: i'm not sure 😛 both of the antecs are good
 
If I have to choose between x850xt and 7600GT, I think I will go with 7600GT. It is priced fairly well right now, and it seems like it is either as good as- or better than the 850XT in benchmarks.

I don't know anything about ATI vs Nvidia image quality, other than ATI has been traditionally superior. I don't know where it stands right now. What would you guys do?

Also, I don't care if the case is "hard" to work in. As long as it has holes for a motherboard I'm content.
 
Id say go with the 7600GT. It is supposed to be faster than the X850, isnt it?

All I know, is thats what im going with in that price range.
 
I'd have to recommend ditching the 3200+ in favor of an Opteron 146 for $175 from Monarch (good prices elsewhere as well). It has superior overclocking ability, as well as double the L2 cache.

The Corsair ValueSelect CAS2.5 is excellent... I've had a Gig of that in my backup rig for ages with no problems, and as was stated before, using memory dividers, OCing isn't a problem. The pair I have is still good for 220+ FSB anyways. I've been leery of the Ballistix after reading entirely too many posts here & elsewhere about getting bad sticks, or having it burn out on them for no good reason. Who cares about a lifetime warranty if your memory is in RMA more than it's in your rig?

I'd have to go with the X850XT... good solid performance, and superior eye candy for the most part. But if you decide to go team green with the 7600, you won't be a loser either.. You're gonna be happy either way. Let your wallet decide that one.

Good call on the mobo.. DFI makes some excellent mobos. My Infinity old nF2 is still going strong in my buddy's rig, and My DFI LanPart nF3 250GB is still running great in another friends gaming rig. No complaints from either of them.

Good choice on the HDD, I have one myself, no complaints.

Good luck on the monitor... Any 19" CRT is gonna work for the most part.

Go with one of the Antecs for a case... good quality cases, and you're getting a more stable power supply than you would with just about any of the other case/PSU bundles out there.

Just my $.02





 
Thanks everyone so far with the help.

The prices are from newegg. If you cannot find them there, it might be OOS.

As far as video card, I think I'll feel best going with 7600 because it is the latest thing, and the only complaints i've heard about it is that it has a 128bit (memory?) pipeline. I'm not sure what drawbacks that has, but the benchmarks are still good. If I'm going to throw an extra 20-50 bucks somewhere, I think it should be the GPU.

I don't know much about image quality. If you guys think there is a significant diference then I will go with the 850XT, but I just can't imagine that there is.

As far as bumping up the processor, are there going to be real benefits for gaming? I couldn't care less how much faster ms word will open. The bottom line is will the games scale with an increase in CPU? From what I understand, the workload is on the GPU, and that's that. Although I have been out of the hardware game until recently begining to research this computer.

Thanks again for your help.
 
Originally posted by: letsgetsilly
Thanks everyone so far with the help.

The prices are from newegg. If you cannot find them there, it might be OOS.

As far as video card, I think I'll feel best going with 7600 because it is the latest thing, and the only complaints i've heard about it is that it has a 128bit (memory?) pipeline. I'm not sure what drawbacks that has, but the benchmarks are still good. If I'm going to throw an extra 20-50 bucks somewhere, I think it should be the GPU.

I don't know much about image quality. If you guys think there is a significant diference then I will go with the 850XT, but I just can't imagine that there is.

As far as bumping up the processor, are there going to be real benefits for gaming? I couldn't care less how much faster ms word will open. The bottom line is will the games scale with an increase in CPU? From what I understand, the workload is on the GPU, and that's that. Although I have been out of the hardware game until recently begining to research this computer.

Thanks again for your help.
Click to expand...


I'll agree that the GPU does the lion's share of the workload during gaming, but in going with an Opteron vs. an Athlon 64 3200+, you're getting an increase in performance in ALL applications, gaming included, due to the larger L2 cache, better overclockability, and a faster CPU WILL make for a smoother gaming experience, plus the added bonus of getting a CPU that was made for and TESTED to survive 24/7/265 full load operation in a server/workstation environment. for the miniscule price difference, I kind of classify it as a no-brainer... anyone else have something to add to this that I might be overlooking?
 
Those are some good points, I think you've sold me on the opteron.

The best deal for an opteron is at monarch you say? I've been looking for it and can't find it. Could someone please point out the obvious for me? My search results have returned very expensive matches.

Thanks for all of the good advice
 
Originally posted by: Witchfire
I'll agree that the GPU does the lion's share of the workload during gaming, but in going with an Opteron vs. an Athlon 64 3200+, you're getting an increase in performance in ALL applications, gaming included, due to the larger L2 cache, better overclockability, and a faster CPU WILL make for a smoother gaming experience, plus the added bonus of getting a CPU that was made for and TESTED to survive 24/7/265 full load operation in a server/workstation environment. for the miniscule price difference, I kind of classify it as a no-brainer... anyone else have something to add to this that I might be overlooking?
Click to expand...

The L2 cache doesn't make a difference in most apps. However the rest is true, they do OC well.
 
Originally posted by: letsgetsilly
Those are some good points, I think you've sold me on the opteron.

The best deal for an opteron is at monarch you say? I've been looking for it and can't find it. Could someone please point out the obvious for me? My search results have returned very expensive matches.

Thanks for all of the good advice
Click to expand...


My bad on the Monarch reference... I just glanced& didn't notice the one I was looking at was a 940 pin.

TankGuys.com has the 939 Opteron 146 for $169.99
 
I'd like to get the AMD Opteron 144 from Monarch at $137. Does anyone have a suggestion for a reasonable HSF that will allow me to do minimal overclocking?

Thanks
 
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