Build me a PC for a friend!

[Diasper]

I'd go with the FDI board just because of the lower CPU utilisation - unless you're willing to fork out for the Audigy2 ZS in which case look at the Epox.

RAM if you with DFI you may really want to reconsider Corsair Value Select as DFI and it typically don't play nice together.

For great system go for 2GB of RAM (2x1GB) unless you want to become an expert at playing around with XP settings to cut out every sort of bloat and tweaking settings of all other key programs to lower RAM usage (batch files when playing). etc

Great 1GB sticks of RAM includes Muskin Blue3200 which overclocks very well. Otherwise Crucial Value RAM which also overclocks well but not quite as well.

I'd go with that as in the future sometime you will need 2Gb of RAM. Later on you can upgrade to dual-core, PHysX PPU and newer graphics card and you could still have a nigh cutting edge system.

So the logic is don't scrimp on any of the parts except the ones you're willing to upgrade in the future - RAM you'd lose money upgrading later to 2GB. But scrimping = chpeaest good graphics card to play BF2 so X800XL or so. Cheapest AMD Venice proc so the 3000+. Make sense?

Build a system with upgradeability in mind and you'll save money in the longer term.


(edit - regards PSU don't scrimp. In my experience Antec have fallen behind the curve when it comes to quality as I feel others surpass it notably Seasonic, Enermax and Tagan. Make sure to get a PSU with high A on the +12V line as it should last you through all potential upgrades and overclocking. My personal favourite would be the Tagan 530W with 48A +5V 32A +12V, single rail, 3 yr warranty and has the best fan placement for cases like the P180. But depending on where you are accessinbility and cost might make another PSU a better choice)

 

[BOLt]

Scrimping aside, overpaying is also bad.

Antec's quality is fine and it doesn't burn a hole in your wallet like PC Power & Cooling or like brands do. Neither my friends nor myself have ever had a problem with Antec's quality or their (excellent) service.

A huge PSU isn't always needed. 400W should do for most. My rig is very stable. Also helps to get dual 12V rails to spread the load on the PSU of the more demanding PC components. Smartpower 2.0 and I believe Truepower 2.0 Antec PSUs have this. Enermax is also a good choice.

Diasper is right about the RAM. If you get DFI, get high quality RAM like Mushkin Redline, OCZ, or Crucial Ballistix. Corsair RAM and DFI fight each other, so as a general note, stay away from DFI if you've got Corsair RAM and vice versa. Before dismissing DFI as being too picky, keep in mind that the OCing potential of DFI + AMD64 far outweighs and downsides to the combo. You're going to get lots of free performance (and stability) with an AMD64 on a DFI when you OC.

It's hard to use 2GB of RAM; most users will not need more than 1GB unless you do an unusually large amount of multitasking (read: 10+ applications at a time of which at least 2 are extremely CPU/HDD/RAM intensive). You don't need to be an expert to get great performance out of a system on 1GB of RAM. Your paging file makes up for most inadequacies of the RAM, and while slower, it is only accessed under heavy load. With 1GB of RAM, you will probably not notice any performance loss as compared to 2. BF2 doesn't need it after you update to the latest version -- they fixed the memory leak.

Build a system with upgradeability in mind and you'll save money in the longer term.

Indeed. That's just what you're doing with an AMD64 rig, so go with that. Don't skimp on your GPU if you are a gamer. A gaming rig should focus on the GPU, processor, and low latency RAM like Ballistix, Redline, or high quality OCZ.

 

[Diasper]

Well expensive RAM is nice (read - not saying high quality), it is an unnecessary waste of money as RAM especially regards AMD64 platform is the one area where you can spend the largest % increase for the least real performance %. This is especially when there is plenty of high quality value RAm that overclocks very well.

You don't need to buy premium RAM to get top performance. You only need look at Zebo's tests.

If you're going with value 1GB stick RAM as I said the Mushkin HP3200 uses the same infineon chips as more expensive OCZ. Rise4310 got his to 257mhz at 2.5-3-2 @2.8V @1T which is damn impressive. Maybe some luck involved as well. Crucial Value is another option as its speed binned Ballistix (last time I checked already check the manufacturing codes against Ballistix again) ie Crucial Value are produced by the exact same manufacturing process - the modules that can do slightly higher speeds at tighter timings get labelled Ballistix. Of course, that still means you get plenty of great Value sticks. Crucial Value is a bit better documented can typically do 235-250mhz at 3-3-3 @2.8V - depending on luck.

As you see spending on premium RAM because it is higher quality is erroneous as often it is made on the same process or else uses the same chips as more expensive modules.

 

[Diasper]

Buy 'good' value RAM and with the money you save spend it elsewhere on parts that yield better performance.

Perhaps an idea is to buy a 1GB stick now - later you can add a second for 2GB (and dual-channel performance although it has been shown to offer only small performance advantages for A64 - of course that might be different for dual-core).

That way I guess you get the best of both worlds cost now, into the future and upgradeability

 

[rise]

for dfi nf4's spend the extra ~$20 and get some decent ram. like diasper says, he may not even need 2 gigs now.

 

[t3h l337 n3wb]

If your friend's budget is through the roof:

Athlon 64 3700+/3200+
Thermalright XP90
2x1GB OCZ Value RAM
DFI Lanparty Ultra-D
7800GTX
Pick a ~450W+ PSU from Antec, Enermax, Fortron, Sparkle, XClio, OCZ, or any other reputable manufacturer that I forgot to list...
Pick a nice alluminum case. Antec P180 is very nice.

Lower budget:

Athlon 64 3000+ Retail with stock HSF
2x1GB or 2x512MB Corsair Value Select RAM
EPoX EP-9NPA+Ultra
X800XL
PSU (see above)
Antec P160 is only ~$100 now, but if you're on a tighter budget, Antec Solution is ~$50.

 

[BOLt]

Originally posted by: t3h l337 n3wb
If your friend's budget is through the roof:

Athlon 64 3700+/3200+
Thermalright XP90
2x1GB OCZ Value RAM
DFI Lanparty Ultra-D
7800GTX
Pick a ~450W+ PSU from Antec, Enermax, Fortron, Sparkle, XClio, OCZ, or any other reputable manufacturer that I forgot to list...
Pick a nice alluminum case. Antec P180 is very nice.

Lower budget:

Athlon 64 3000+ Retail with stock HSF
2x1GB or 2x512MB Corsair Value Select RAM
EPoX EP-9NPA+Ultra
X800XL
PSU (see above)
Antec P160 is only ~$100 now, but if you're on a tighter budget, Antec Solution is ~$50.

There's always that.

 

[discounteggroll]

sorry to crap in here, but I just wanna get a quickie answered. would this setup be sufficient for BF2?

1 gig (either 2x512 or 1x1gb) corsair or valueRam
AMD 64 3000+
geforce 6600GT pci-x video
I also need someone to recommend a mobo. I am NOT an overclocker, I am completely uneducated in that field and dont want to risk hurting my system. DFI boards seem kind of pricey compared to other brands.

also, can I add another 512 stick sometime in the future if I decided to go with a 1.5gig route? if so can i do 3 sticks of 512 and/or 1 stick of 1gb and a stick of 512?

 

[BOLt]

If you're not overclocking, there is no point to DFI. Get one of the MSI Neo4 nF4 Ultra or SLI boards.

The graphics card depends on the monitor. Find Anandtech's BF2 GPU guide to help you pick the right GPU for your needs/monitor. For LCDs: 17" is 6600 GT, 19" is 6800 GT, and 20"+ is 7800 GTX, IMO. However, if you have a CRT, these will not be correct because CRTs can do crazy high resolutions even on just a 17" or 19" one.

Go with 1GB or 2GB of RAM in two sticks (512MBx2 or 1GBx2). I'm not sure that the problem with the timings being slower when you use 4 DIMMS has been fixed for the AMD64s. If you have 4, you'll be forced down to 2T regardless of your RAM quality. 2T is said to be significantly slower on Athlons according to AT.

 

[coomar]

use the stock cooler, i get 50 while priming at 2.6

 

[theMan]

Originally posted by: Lucifer
He has his eyes set on an Athlon XP 3000+ and 1gb of OCZ platinum memory. And he already had the 5600 ultra, but everyone says it sucks.

wait, an athlon XP 3000+???? wha? get an a64 for sure! and you dont need expensive ram. just get corsair value select ram.

 

[Skyhanger]

Most of those guys above have good suggestions. I'll recap what I'll build if i had the most bang for the buck:

AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Venice ~150
Epox EP-9NPA+Ultra ~110
2x1GB value RAM ~200
X800XL ~250

CPU: Really easy to OC, so don't pay the extra money for more expensive CPUs, since the only diff is stock clock

Mobo: Pretty cheap and still a solid OCer and performer. It's got good reviews. You don't need an DFI unless you want to go insane in OCing. It's pretty picky on the RAM and PSU you use so I advise you to stay away if you're new to building.

RAM: You'll need 2GB for BF2. 1GB is not enough for the newest games and BF2 is one of them. Just get value ram since ram gives you the least performance increase for price increase. Corsair and OCZ are two reliable brands. Use memory dividers if you need to for OCing, since you have AMD chips.

GPU: This is what you DON'T want to skimp on. GPU performance is the most important factor in modern games. A X800XL currently has the biggest bang for the buck and can be had for $250. You might even look at the 7800GT which can be had for $350-$400. Don't bother with the 6 series Geforce cards since the 7800GT or X800XL has better performance for a similar price.

That above pretty much sums up your core of the system. Is your friend recycling HDDs, optical drives, or cases? You could get pretty good Antec case and PSU combos instead of buying them seperately. The Sonata, Sonata ii, SLK3700, and SLK3800 all provide a good PSU w/ the case.

 

[Skyhanger]

Oh yeah, you can save $ by going w/ the stock CPU cooler. It's pretty good and can even take moderate OCing. Get one if you're interested with going for insane OCs

 

[coomar]

45% is a moderate overclock?

but yeah skyhanger's suggestions are the way to go

 

[discounteggroll]

ive gotta acer AL1912 LCD 91" VGA (no DVI) with 12ms RT, would the 6600GT pci-x card be workable? also, prices on the x800xt and x850xt are dropping a LOT ($220-$230, respectively) so I might just shell out for that.

im kinda uncomfortable OC'ing as I have no clue where to start and how to maintain it, so I think im gonna run stock settings for now. can anyone recommend a respectable NF4 mobo that I can rely on that's under $100? also, can I get a single stick of 1gb ram now (prob. corsair) and then get another 512 if I feel its necessary? or am I better off getting 2x512 and an addt'l 512 later instead.

 

[t3h l337 n3wb]

@discounteggroll: PCI-E !=(not equals) PCI-X btw...

The EPoX board that SkyHanger mentioned is excellent. It's the 2nd best overclocker, 2nd only to the DFi, and it only costs ~$105. I would go for 1 1GB stick of RAM now, since you'll want 2GB in the future, and non dual-channel will probably hurt you a lot less than 2T.

 

[discounteggroll]

since im not gonna do much (if any) OC'ing, I think I have narrowed my mobo selection down pretty much to a chaintech VNF4 ultra for $86. however, I've heard there are some memory compatibility issues with it...can anyone pitch in?

 

[KoolDrew]

Athlon 64 3000+ Retail
2x1GB Value RAM
EPoX EP-9NPA+Ultra
X800XL
Fortron AX500-A
Cooler Master Centurion 5

There you go. Spend more on the video card if he has more money left over. Also if the 6800Gt is close in price with the X800XL grab it instead.