Building a new rig

[memo]

This is my new machine I'm hoping to build soon
Newegg Link

I will also be getting the XFX 7800 GT deal from ZipZoomFly.

Opinions on the power supply, cpu and memory please.

I have been looking at the Patriot ram too but I'm not to familiar with the different types of memory at the moment. What is the deal with dual-channel? I am buying this 1 GB stick, but I did notice that the DFI mobo has "paired" ram slots, does that mean I have to upgrade in pair with this mobo?

In terms of the power supply, I want to shoot for something as quiet as possible, hence the P180 case as well. I was looking at some fanless psu's but I don't know if I feel safe leaving that on all day, anyone have a good fanless psu to recommend?

I think the CPU is kind of a sweet spot to be at right now. It's the most affordable Amd 64 with 1Mb of L2 cache.

Is there anything I am not thinking of right now that I need? I will be trying out the 120mm fan included with the P180, but if thats too noisy I might try to get a Panasonic fan or something along those lines.

Thanks for the help guys and gals.

 

[t3h l337 n3wb]

1. Drop the SLI-DR and get the Ultra-D. SLI is a useless waste of money.
2. That 430W S-12 is a bit weak... You can get the Enermax Whisper II 430W with 33A on the +12V on Newegg for about $75.
3. The 3700+ is not the cheapest Athlon 64 with 1MB cache. The cheapest would be the 1.8ghz Opteron 144 Socket 939 San Diego core (officially called "Venus"). It has server grade silicon, so it should overclock very well.
4. Definitely get 2GB of RAM. 1GB just won't cut it nowadays. Go for Corsair/Crucial/OCZ value RAM.

 

[memo]

Originally posted by: t3h l337 n3wb
1. Drop the SLI-DR and get the Ultra-D. SLI is a useless waste of money.
2. That 430W S-12 is a bit weak... You can get the Enermax Whisper II 430W with 33A on the +12V on Newegg for about $75.
3. The 3700+ is not the cheapest Athlon 64 with 1MB cache. The cheapest would be the 1.8ghz Opteron 144 Socket 939 San Diego core (officially called "Venus"). It has server grade silicon, so it should overclock very well.
4. Definitely get 2GB of RAM. 1GB just won't cut it nowadays. Go for Corsair/Crucial/OCZ value RAM.

Well, I figure I may someday get another 7800GT down the road and pair it up, and I also like the additional flexibility that the additional SATA RAID controller gives, but with that price difference, ~70, i'd have to reevaluate whether the SLI is an option and whether I will be using that additional RAID controller.

I never noticed that Opteron chip. I was looking at prices on pricegrabber and its a huge difference between this and the 3700, about 50-60 bucks. Any reason why there is a large gap here? I am mostly going to be using this box for gaming anyway, so would that be a reason to steer clear of the Opteron?

 

[t3h l337 n3wb]

The Opteron 144 is the exact same as an San Diego Athlon 64 except for the material used. The Opterons use higher quality silicon I believe, which will let you get a higher overclock. Also, the MSI Neo4 Platinum looks like an even better board for you. 8 SATA ports, including RAID 5 support. I have it myself, and it's excellent. By the time you get another 7800GT, performance will be terrible. It would be like SLI'ing 2 FX5200's together now.

 

[alimoalem]

Originally posted by: t3h l337 n3wb
By the time you get another 7800GT, performance will be terrible. It would be like SLI'ing 2 FX5200's together now.

bit exagerrated. basically it's like getting the 6800 ultra and then wanting to SLI it but then seeing the 7800GTX at a cheaper price. rarely happens. but whatever. SLI sounds like a good future. the true x16 mobos (Asus has one....article on it on anandtech.com) sounds like something worthwhile. so now instead of getting card a that runs at x speed for $y, you can get 2 of card "b" that runs at x/2 speed for $y/3. current SLI doesn't truly double the speeds but the new x16 will

 

[t3h l337 n3wb]

Originally posted by: alimoalem

Originally posted by: t3h l337 n3wb
By the time you get another 7800GT, performance will be terrible. It would be like SLI'ing 2 FX5200's together now.

bit exagerrated. basically it's like getting the 6800 ultra and then wanting to SLI it but then seeing the 7800GTX at a cheaper price. rarely happens. but whatever. SLI sounds like a good future. the true x16 mobos (Asus has one....article on it on anandtech.com) sounds like something worthwhile. so now instead of getting card a that runs at x speed for $y, you can get 2 of card "b" that runs at x/2 speed for $y/3. current SLI doesn't truly double the speeds but the new x16 will

SLI'd 7800GTX's shouldn't even come close to saturating the combined 32x power of dual 16x slots. I doubt that they would even saturate the 16x bus.

 

[eXx08]

You could try for a Opteron 165 only $80 more and it's dual core.

 

[memo]

would getting an opteron be overkill for me? The main purpose of the machine is a gaming one, and ill mostly be playing age of empires 3, and some other adventure style games, and sports. no first person shooters really.

 

[ribbon13]

Nah, dual-core will help for future gaming. Once you get a nice dual core opteron, OCed to the max stable, you probably wont need to upgrade anything but your video cards for quite a long time.