Building a new system--lend me your advice!

[modedepe]

So I'm looking to build a new rig. This one needs to last me probably at least 2 years. It'll be used mostly for school stuff, some gaming, and video encoding. I'm looking to spend around $500, and I'll be using a some old parts I have. So far I've got..

case - antec lanboy
psu - antec 350w smart blue
video - ti4200
hd - 160gb maxtor/40gb wd

So mostly what I need is cpu, motherboard, and ram. I might also pick up a dvd-rw since they've come down in price quite a bit.

Originally I was leaning towards getting an athlon 64, but after looking at some more benchmarks it looks like the 2.8c is close in performance. Plus I've seen a lot of 2.8c's with nice overclocks.

Also, if I get an athlon 64, which is the one to get? Is the 3000+ worth the extra cash over the 2800+? Thanks for any input!

 

[jessieqwert]

You didn't mention RAM or a mobo for that matter but make sure you get at least 512MB of DDR RAM.
If video encoding is one of your main uses consider 1 GB of RAM

 

[Lyfer]

If you plan on gaming you need a 1gb. Athlon 64's are faster for gaming compared to P4's, and P4's are faster for video encoding. Since you are getting the Lanboy I assume you are gaming and should take the A64 route. With a decent Nforce 3 250 board and a A64 3000, you should be able to overclock to 2.2-2.5ghz with good air cooling. Anandtech reached 2.46GHZ with the MSI Nforce 3 250 board and some Mushkin Level 2 PC3500 using an Athlon 64 3200. Here's what I would get:

CPU- Athlon 64 3000 (only difference between this and the A64 3200 is 512k cache which is minor)- $211
Motherboard- Gigabyte K8NS Nforce 3 250 Board- $135
RAM- Mushkin Level 1 PC3500- $259 (from monarchcomputer)
Cooling- Thermalright SLK948- $37

A little more than $500, but worth it.

 

[RussianSoldier]

I'd lend you my advice, but experience has shown me that people tend not to return it...

 

[modedepe]

Yeah I was planning on probably getting 1gb. My rig now has a gig and it's helped out a lot of my apps.

Do you have a link to a review for that motherboard? Thanks!

 

[modedepe]

Bump for more opinions

 

[CountZero]

What kind of games do you play? I kinda doubt the 4200 will hold up for two more years of newer games though if you can do a video card upgrade down the road a bit you'd be doing well with RussianSoldier's suggestion.

 

[modedepe]

Originally posted by: CountZero
What kind of games do you play? I kinda doubt the 4200 will hold up for two more years of newer games though if you can do a video card upgrade down the road a bit you'd be doing well with RussianSoldier's suggestion.

I play fps games mostly. Some rts games too. I will be upgrading the ti4200 before two years, but for now it's enough for the games I'm playing.