Building a new rig (moderate-high end)

[FireStormX86]

I was first going to go all out and build a crazy rig with a athlon64fx55, and dual 6800u's in SLI, but now I'm reconsidering due to the obvious lack of available parts and some budget constraints. Currently the only thing I have for the new machine is my new monitor, viewsonic 2048X1536@85hz 22" flat crt so I want something to make it look pretty. Even though I said budget constraints, there is a minimal worry to the budget, but cheaper is always better! The machine will primarily be used for high end gaming and mass storage(does serial ata let you have more drives?). I'm unsure on the whole PCI-E SLI thing at the moment. So any of you who want to help me pick out some parts, it would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Jassi]

Wait for the DFI SLI boards if you can, that will probably be one of the top picks.

 

[Paktu]

SLI is too spendy right now given the performance boost you get. I'd say get an nforce 3 ultra board ($90) with a socket 939 3500+ ($250) and use an AGP geforce 6800gt for graphics ($375).

 

[FireStormX86]

Alright, after doing some research I have narrowed down my potential parts:

First off, I think I'm still going to go with SLI but not the fx55.

MOBO - ASUS "A8N-SLI Deluxe" nForce4 SLI Chipset Motherboard For AMD Socket 939 CPU -RETAIL
http://www.newegg.com/app/view...tion=13-131-517&depa=0

CPU - AMD Athlon 64 3500+ 512K (939) (Retail Box-w-Fan)
http://www.monarchcomputer.com...=M&Product_Code=120467

VIDEO (2 CARDS) - BFG GeForce 6800 GT OC 256MB GDDR3/PCI-E/TV-Out/Dual-DVI (Retail Box)
http://www.monarchcomputer.com...=M&Product_Code=190482

RAM - Unsure, recommend? Looking to overclock but new to it.

HARD DRIVE (PRIMARY) - Western Digital 74 GB SATA 10K Raptor (WD740GD)
http://www.monarchcomputer.com...=M&Product_Code=150239

HARD DRIVE (AUXILIARY) -
Hitachi (HDS724040KLSA80S) Deskstar 7K400 400 GB 7200 RPM SATA
http://www.monarchcomputer.com...ry_Code=SATAHardDrives

PSU - Unsure, recommend? I've always heard people saying to spend a lot here.

CASE - Unsure, recommend? I want a nice one, willing to spend a little extra.

OPTICAL - Looking for a Dual Layered DVD-RW that does both formats, or does DL only come in + flavor?

Did I miss anything? Also the prices are probably cheaper at different places but I primarily was looking at monarch and newegg, I also want all the main stuff to be retail for warranty reasons. Also, will I have to buy an adapter for the video card(s) since I'm running a CRT and these are DVI? Also what about the Molex power thingy? And yes...I know I'm spending way too much, but fvck it, I want power damnit.

 

[jterrell]

Look at the Lian Li cases and the 600 watt Noisetaker from Enermax.
Go with 1 gig of Value ram from corsair, crucial, kingston, pdp, ocz or any major name brand. Using dividers and running asynch won't hurt you and if you just want minimal OC's your namebrand memory won't be an issue anyway.

I am not a fan of Hitachi drives so would probably go with a 300 gig Seagate or another WD.

With 2 6800 GT OCs make sure you get a lot of fans for cooling.

 

[MTDEW]

Monarch have several great dual layer /dual format burners.

I know people will give their personal opinions on which brand is best.

My 1st dvd burner, i bought a Plextor, cuz nobody seemed to dispute they were top of the line.
And they were right, no complaints with my plextor AT ALL.

But since then ive purchased /own an NEC and a Samsung DVd burner in my other pc's and ive gotta say from personal experience, they are great burners also and they cost less than my plextor.

Personally i'd get this one NEC 16X Double Layer DVD±RW Drive


Power supply, i'd get this. OCZ PowerStream 520W

Case, well that has ALOT to do with personal tastes as to what is nice looking case or not.
I know i usually HATE some cases people say are nice and people hate my pics too...LOL

so heres my "personal" pics.

Best airflow and looks combined - Thermaltake Blue Highest Xaser III

I also have these two other cases(the links below), and i can tell you neither have near the airflow of the the Thermaltake, but its not like my stuff is overheating or anything...LOL, just felt is was worth mentioning in case you're looking for one one with MAXIMUM airflow and dont care about noise.

If you do care about noise and want silence, this is the quietest case ive ever owned! RAIDMAX Samurai
I have the red one, pics dont do the paintjobs on these things justice at all!
Best factory paintjobs ive ever seen on a case!

And this is a nice case, its ALOT heavier than i expected though.
Cooler Master Wave Master

Now, just say all those are FUGLY and ask for more opinions...LOL

 

[FireStormX86]

Thank you jterrell and MTDEW for your suggestions. So far it looks like these will be my choices:

CASE - Lian-Li Silver ATX Full Tower Case, Model "PC-V2000A" -RETAIL
http://www.newegg.com/app/view...tion=11-112-053&DEPA=0

OPTICAL - NEC 16X Double Layer DVD±RW Drive, Black, Model ND-3520A BK, OEM
http://www.newegg.com/app/View...tion=27-152-035&depa=0

I also liked the PSU you recommended jterrell, will it be okay for my SLI needs and such? If so I think i'll get that then. That case works especially well since I'll be throwing in a few extra 120GB HDDs and I want to have room. I would like to get this PC ordered by later today since I've heard about how fast PCI-E cards can go out of stock.

About the cooling, with that kind of case what kind of further cooling modifications would you recommend?

 

[jterrell]

That psu is ideal for SLI and OC'ing. Its got great rails. If my budget were larger and I was going SLI I would have selected it.
I plan to get it when I grab a DFI SLI board in 6 months or so.

I also have that dvd burner on the way to me as we speak.

With those 2 quality 120 mm fans you should be good for cooling. If you see the temps are a bit high then just grab a pci slot cooler for right next to the vid cards.
For 3.99 you can't beat something like this provided you are ordering lots of stuff to eat shipping.
http://www.newegg.com/app/view...tion=35-150-006&depa=0

Also if you want to go Seagate 120 gig HDDs then you might consider a HD coller as they do run warm.
This is a nice solution but will run over 30 bucks. There's cheaper HD coolers but not as nice.
http://www.newegg.com/app/View...tion=35-888-111&depa=0

 

[FireStormX86]

Thanks for the advice. I already have the 120GB hard drives from a PC I never actually got around to building. But as for the DFI board, do you think it would be worth it to wait for it? I'm looking at it now and it looks pretty nice but I was looking forward to finally ordering everything. I've been waiting for quite a while to upgrade (currently i'm on a craptastic sony vaio laptop with INTEL EXTREME INTEGRATED GRAPHICS TECHNOLOGY lol), but I could wait a few more days if it is worth it.

Also...will it be a paper launch or will I actually be able to find them in stock on the release date?

 

[FireStormX86]

bump

 

[ts3433]

NF4 stuff is getting pushed back frequently, so don't get your hopes up.

Since a single 6800GT should last you quite a while anyway, consider building a config like this:

Epox EP-9NDA3+ ($120; nice OCing board)
A64 3200+ (Winchester) retail ($210; these things can be overclocked very well even on stock cooling)
[Zalman 7000A AlCu ($30-40 if you need more effective or quieter cooling)]
eVGA AGP 6800GT ($388; compare to the usual $500 for a PCIe 6800GT)
(Seagate HDD(s) to fit your needs) ($???)
2x512MB Corsair Value Select PC3200 ($140)
Antec Sonata ($100; the included True380 PSU is very good and perfectly fine for this setup)

This does leave you with a bit less of a supposed upgrade path, but by the time you need a new videocard your CPU would probably be a huge bottleneck anyway.

If you want a different case, look at Lian Li, CoolerMaster, and Antec for the cases. Get a Fortron (their parts are used in OCZ, Zippy/Emacs, and PCP&C's TurboCools), Seasonic (used in PCP&C's Silencers), Antec, or Enermax to go with it.

 

[crimson117]

Originally posted by: FireStormX86
VIDEO (2 CARDS) - BFG GeForce 6800 GT OC 256MB GDDR3/PCI-E/TV-Out/Dual-DVI (Retail Box)

These are pretty loud with the fans going (though they're quiet without them in 2d mode).