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Alright, My final $580 gaming system most likely. Should everything work together properly? Recommendations?

W

wakawaka

Senior member
WinFast CK804K8MA-KS nForce 4 $99.00
link

AMD Athlon 64 3000+ (939)(retail box-w-fan) $156.00
link

Hitachi 80GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive $58.49
link

pqi POWER Series 184-Pin 512MB DDR PC-3200 60.99 (will be x2, but not currently)
link

GIGABYTE nVIDIA GeForce 6600GT Video Card(Refurbed,OEM) $149.99
link

Rosewill Value Series Black ATX Mid-Tower Super Case with 350W Power Supply $24.00
link

Monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers, dvd-rom, cdwriter already owned. 🙂

Total after shipping: $580.38

The motherboard/cpu will be a combo from monarch. The rest will be from New Egg. Should I have any compatibility problems with these items?

This will be a gaming(at 800x600 or 1024x768, possibly through s-video at lowest resolution possible)/media center/surfing/other small things very rarely(3d rendering, 2d work, video editing)

I had received some information earlier about not getting the Hitachi hard drive, but I'd really like to keep it at this price or below. It has some decent reviews and if it turns out to be bad, I'll RMA it. If anyone would like to recommend some better parts at equal or lower price, I'd appreciate it tremendously.

Also, any other gadgets I need to toss in my order before putting this thing together?

This should be fun 😎

 
A WD 80GB will be a little cheaper that the Hitachi, and they've always been solid for me.

System looks pretty decent for the money. 🙂
 
I'm not so sure how reliable the WinFast board is, but I would spend an extra $30 for a Chaintech Nforce 4 full ATX board at newegg. As for the case that generic 350W psu might (and prolly) won't cut it. I would suggest you spend a little more for an ANtec case with a 350W smartpower. Or purchase a separate >$40 psu, maybe a Thermaltake 420w or Fortron 350W.

 
I'd suggest an Antec 3700AMB case it comes w/ a quality 350watt supply w/ 21A on the 12V rail, dual 120mm Fan cooling and looks good too 🙂 I'd aslo 2nd the rec. for the full sized Chaintech Nforce 4 board
 
Originally posted by: Lyfer
I'm not so sure how reliable the WinFast board is, but I would spend an extra $30 for a Chaintech Nforce 4 full ATX board at newegg. As for the case that generic 350W psu might (and prolly) won't cut it. I would suggest you spend a little more for an ANtec case with a 350W smartpower. Or purchase a separate >$40 psu, maybe a Thermaltake 420w or Fortron 350W.
Click to expand...

From what I've read at:
http://www.ocworkbench.com/2005/foxconn/winfast%20NF4UK8AA/g1.htm

The foxconn board seems to be of decent quality and performance.

The Rosewill was given a good review on here and said to have
nice stable rails
Click to expand...
by BentValve. 🙂 as well as on egghead(although, I don't know if you can trust those reviews)

 
Ah, yes. Another question I forgot to include in my first post. Other than gaming(which this laptop I'm on cannot do whatsoever with decent quality) , how will that set up compare to this 2 year old compaq presario 2100 laptop (amd athlon mobile 2400+xp, 512 megs of ram, shared memory gpu, 30 gig 4200rpm hard drive)? Will I be blown away once I start the sucker up? 😛

Ahh, my debit card is trembling, just waiting to be used :laugh:
 
I have been researching the best mobo/cpu combo for gaming on a budget atm and have come up with this from reading many AT threads & articles....

AMD 3400+ skt754 with a DFI LANparty UT mobo

High end gaming and someone said they found it for $317 in another thread. I can post the link if you'd like. Now this is a great "right now" bargain high end setup, but you will have to go AGP for your GPU. While alot of people are buying into the PCIx hype, many others, including me, don't think the current top flight AGP cards will be outdated in the next 2-4 years. Plus I have seen someone overclock this CPU to above FX-55 levels if you're into that kind of thing.
 
Originally posted by: Pr0d1gy
While alot of people are buying into the PCIx hype, many others, including me, don't think the current top flight AGP cards will be outdated in the next 2-4 years. Plus I have seen someone overclock this CPU to above FX-55 levels if you're into that kind of thing.
Click to expand...

The problem with not going PCIx would be my budget being blown(over the amount I would like to spend on a computer). I would have to spend more on an agp card(they are higher priced due to demand) and $57 over the current price of my cpu/board chosen 🙁

I seriously doubt I would ever overclock. Possibly out of curiosity, but thats about it.
 
recheck your prices. Newegg likes to change theirs constantly. Your chip is a days lunch less at newegg.
 
Anyone know if these old drives would have any problems connecting to a new system?

GCE-8160B CD-RW
SD-608 cd/dvd-rom

These drives are pretty ancient, but will hold me over til I grab a cdrw/dvd drive+ another 512mb of ram if they will work with the system.
 
Originally posted by: Azzy64
of course, they would be fine.
Click to expand...


OK, great. I don't know specifics on the drives, other than what I got out of clicking through its properties(which I just got the name)
 
First off, on suggestions....stick with www.newegg.com for new parts. If you want to divert from NewEgg (or want something cheaper).....search here for AWESOME deals on NEW as well as BARELY used equipment. As always, when buying computer parts online, ALWAYS check with www.resellerratings.com to see how they rate. Just remember that NO company can please EVERYBODY, ALL OF THE TIME...but Monarch does tend to have quite a few negative and indecicive posts....whereas Newegg is one of the most prestigious reputations ever...even if you do have to RMA.
 
My next suggestion is to stick with Maxtor hard drives. I realize others have high ratings, but Maxtor is the BEST (in my opinion) at providing stable, long lasting drives....as well as going 'above and beyond' replacement procedures for any faulty items (just remember....there is ALWAYS a chance of a defective product....with ANY company, no matter how good...Maxor just tends to have the least deffective...IF you buy it new and don't get it as part of a prefab syste). To elaborate...prefab systems tend to have only, what I would call, 'half breed' drives (no matter what brand they claim it is). It may say Maxtor or IBM or Western Digital on it....but when prefab, they make a deal with companies to make the items cheaper (in bulk) so they can lower the prices of their prefab (for higher sales) without loosing any $ in their bank accounts.

As you can tell, I'm NO lover of prefabs....but they are simply a must (at times) in today's PC society.
 
As for your choice in a 'Gaming System'...you made the BEST choice, as far as using AMD (for Motherboard & Processor) and nVIDIA (for video). Notice that most games out today sport the Nvidia logo...NOT ATI. Don't get me wrong....ATI is find and dandy...but for gamers like us.....nVIDIA is the way to go.
 
Sorry for so many posts....I'm just nutorious for answering one issue/question at a time in each post....makes for easier reference as well as that's just the way I work.

The tower looks great....and if you want to see an AWESOME tower for the price, check THIS out: http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=11-171-052&DEPA=1

This is an AWESOME tower in looks, lighting and functionality...not to mention is has MORE than ample space for a decent amount of CD/DVD drives as well as internal hard drives and floppy drives. There's room for FOUR CD/DVD drives, TWO floppy (I prefer two...but most don't...just preference for dual floppies) drives, and FOUR hard drives! NICE! Not to mention that if you choose NOT to go with the 2nd floppy drive, you can fit a FIFTH hard drive there. LOL! I know, overkill...I just don't like to be limited. Let's also not forget the red LCD (rare for red LCD) that gives Temperature display as well as LOTS of other info. That's ALWAYS important....ESPECIALLY when it doesn't occupy a CD/DVD drive bay to give that panel info. Oh yes, let's not forget the whopping 500 watt power supply that comes with it.
 
Originally posted by: DreamerSpawn
As for your choice in a 'Gaming System'...you made the BEST choice, as far as using AMD (for Motherboard & Processor) and nVIDIA (for video). Notice that most games out today sport the Nvidia logo...NOT ATI. Don't get me wrong....ATI is find and dandy...but for gamers like us.....nVIDIA is the way to go.
Click to expand...

What a bunch of FUD. ATI is every bit as good as nVidia in games.
 
I suppose it's a matter of preference. I meant no offense...none at all. I just believe in sticking with a card that 95% of the games out are designed around. Notice, they don't sport ATI...they sport nVIDIA on the opening screens.

Again, no offense was intended. Sure, ATI will work fine for games....I just believe that for a TOTAL gaming system, nVIDIA is best, since it's what they have targeted the building blocks of the games on. That's all.

My apologies for any possible offense...it's just my experience and opinion is all.
 
Does that mean if you like football...you should only drink Gatoraide because that's who their largest sponsor is. 🙂 Just cause it might say nVidia on it doesn't mean nVidia is better. I guess their paid advertisments work?
 
Well, I emailed monarch. If it comes up that they are no longer selling the board, I might just have to spend the extra money and go chaintech. I cannot find any other merchant selling this board alone.

edit: new egg has it, but for $122 :|
 
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