Building new computer- suggestions

[Mattax]

I have been reading posts and am trying to come up with a new computer. I do not care to do a dual SLI and no need to overclock but I do want a great gaming computer.

From what I have been reading I will go with the following:

CPU: AMD 64
MB: MSI K8N NEO2 Platinum NFORCE3
VIDEO CARD: 6800GT

19"or larger LCD flat panel

Can anyone give me specifics on which video card brand and which monitor to purchase?

I already have a full tower case and Enermax 550 PS

I will also be upgrading HD and SOUND CARD and speakers

Thanks.

 

[Anubis]

BFG 6800GT or 6800GT OC - lifetime warrenty
Audigy 2 ZS
Klipsch promedia 2.1s

dell makes cheap LCDs

 

[olds]

Which hdd and sound card?

 

[Mattax]

Okay, for sake of argument. I am not up on abbreviations for manufacturers, so if you could spell them out and provide a link (if possible) that would be great.


For the video card what is BFG 6800GT or 6800GT OC - lifetime warrenty

Audigy 2 - does it support 7.1 ? I have placed speaker jacks int he walls for a 7.1 surround sound system in my new computer room. So I need a 7.1 speaker system.

Hard drive. Not sure what to get, that is why I am asking. I currently have 4 ATA100 HD. 1- 30GB 2- 40 GB and 1- 80 GB.

the 30 is now the OS
both 40 are for data storage
the 80 is for video capture.

If you have a beeter recomendation for OS, data storage, video capture and gaming, let me know.

What monitor will support gaming?

Thanks

 

[Mrvile]

Anubis, aren't all BFG 6 series cards OC'd?

Mattax, everything you have down looks great, but if this is your first build ever, and you don't care to OC, get the Asus nForce3 (I think it's the A8V-Deluxe, I can never remember the names to those damn Asus mobos) motherboard. Much more stable than the MSI, and although it's not a great OCer, it's stability makes up for it.

For hard drive, get a Seagate SATA 160GB hard drive. You won't need a Raptor.

For sound card, the Audigy2 ZS is the best card. An absolutely GREAT combo is the Audigy2 ZS + Logitech X-530 5.1 speakers. The speakers are about 65 bucks and the card is about 85. Mine completely blow me away, you'll love it! But if you don't have room for a 5.1 system, get the Klipsches.

Yes, Dell makes nice LCDs and they always have big rebates on them.

 

[Anubis]

Originally posted by: Mrvile
Anubis, aren't all BFG 6 series cards OC'd?
.

no idea i just assumed they made both, beause the OCed one would cost more

 

[Mattax]

I have been building ever since I started upgrading my first computer in 98, but for my primary computer I have not done anything since 2001 and have been away from the boards and computer sites, so I am out of the loop.

I figure with all the research and knowledge on this board I can build a decent gaming computer.

I do not want to OC, I want a stable PC. I do not have the time to mess with it as my jobs and personal life supercede the aggravatin that it entails. If I could remember the motherboard that went through 20 BIOS updates in one month, I would say it here. That was enough aggravation for me. So, no OC and such.

I have been an AMD buyer from day one, so will stay with it.

I want the PC to be fast enough to support a great gaming PC.

Thanks

 

[Mrvile]

Here are some links:

BFG 6800GT OC - Lifetime warranty, stock OC.
Purchase BFG 6800GT OC

BFG 6800 Ultra OC - Lifetime warranty, stock OC.
Purchase BFG 6800 Ultra OC

Yes, the Audigy2 ZS supports 7.1
Purchase Soundblaster Audigy2 ZS - It's 92 bucks, a bit more than I purchased it for. I got it for 85 with a 15 dollar mail in rebate, I guess Newegg up'd prices.

As for monitors, they all support gaming, but for good gaming the Dell 1905FP is a great LCD for gaming, but is pretty pricey (630 bucks). But for a 19in LCD expect to pay at least 500. CRTs are actually better for gaming than anything because they usually are a bit faster, but LCD is fine, and is "higher class."

For hard drives, I guess you could get several small hard drives for various usage. One is usually cheaper, but if you have the money go for:

34GB Raptor for OS
120GB for general usage
160 - 200 for video capture (if you're a huge video guy, video these days can hit like 15GB per shot)

Make sure these are all SATA, or even SCSI if you can afford it.

EDIT: I thought about the hard drives. How big of a video capture fan are you? Unless you do excessive video capture/edit etc, don't get an extra HDD for it. Just get a small Raptor for the OS and a big 7200 for everything else. The Raptor isn't even necessary. It's really all up to you.

 

[Mattax]

So far....


CPU: AMD 64 (what speed/model?)
MB: MSI K8N NEO2 Platinum NFORCE3
RAM: DDR 3200 CRUCIAL 2 GB - 4 x 512MB @ $80.99ea for the 4 available slots
VIDEO CARD: BFG 6800GT OC or BFG 6800 ULTRA OC (which is better?)
AUDIO CARD: SOUNDBLASTER AUDIGY 2 ZS
VIDEO CAPTURE CARD: PINNACLE 7.0 (HAVE)
NETWORK CARD: D-LINK 10/100 (HAVE)
SPEAKERS: ?
HDD: SEAGATE SATA 160GB (is the SATA faster than the ATA100? If so, then I will need three HD, I do not partation. 1- OS, 2- GAMING, 3- VIDEO CAPTURE. I can reuse the 80 for data storage.)

HDD 1: SATA 34GB RAPTOR OS
HDD 2: SATA 120 GB (BRAND?) GAMING
HDD 3: SATA 160-200GB (BRAND?) VIDEO CAPTURE
HDD 4: ATA100 80 GB MAXTOR DATA STORAGE


PS: ENERMAX 550 (HAVE)
CASE: ANTEC FULL TOWER (HAVE)
DVD BURNER: ?
CD_BURNER: TDK 24X (HAVE)
CD ROM: ASUS 52X (HAVE)
DVD ROM: CREATIVE 12X (HAVE) Can replace and combine any of the CD/DVD drives
MONITOR: ? (want 19" plus LCD)

KEYBOARD: ?
MOUSE: LOGITECH CORDLESS RECHARGABLE MX700 OPTICAL (HAVE)

Anything else I am missing?

 

[Mrvile]

Ok, here we go:

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 Socket 939 3000+, 3200+, or 3500+, Winchester. Speed is up to you, but they pretty much all run the same, I say go with the 3200+.

Mobo: Asus A8V-Deluxe nForce3. Best motherboard when not overclocking, period. Stable as hell. I'd definately pick this over the MSI in terms of stability, the MSI is actually really unstable.

RAM: 1, ONE, GB of DDR400 (PC3200) Crucial, Corsair, OCZ, or Mushkin Valueram. You really don't need anything special such as XMS or Ballistix, and you absolutely do not need more than 1GB.

Video card: BFG 6800GT OC. Actually, PCavailable has the Ultra in stock for a very nice price, get that for now but as soon as they go out of stock (2 days?), the 6800GT is a great card. You can get the single-fan model for about 400.

Sound card: Soundblaster Audigy2 ZS

Speakers: Depends on what kind of setup you want. For 2.1, Klipsch Promedia. For 5.1, definately the Logitech X-530s. For 7.1, I'd have to say the Creative Inspire T7700s, although I've never tried them myself, they're really cheap (92 bucks) and everyone else loves em.

HDD: You have well, a bit too many there. I would just get: 34GB Raptor SATA for OS, 80GB SATA for gaming, 200GB SATA for video and general storage. Seagate makes the best hard drives.

PSU: Nice. That's all I have to say.

DVD Burner: How much burning will you be doing? NEC's DVD+-RW Dual Layer is great for normal use, if you do excessive burning, get something a bit higher quality like Pioneer or Plextor.

Other optical drives: You really need 4?? Two is more than enough...

Monitor: Dell 1905FP. If you want something a bit cheaper LG, BenQ, and ViewSonic make nicely priced LCD monitors.

Keyboard: I have the Logitech Elite keyboard, has a LOT of buttons and hotkeys, and is really nice. I heard that the Saitek gaming keyboard is really nice but kinda expensive at 50 bucks. I really don't care what kind of keyboard I use though, as long as it works.

Makes sure you have other misc hardware such as fans, heatsink for the CPU, thermal paste, etc etc.

 

[ts3433]

The A8V is a K8T800 Pro. To stick with nForce3, try the Epox.

Other than that, Mrvile presents good suggestions.

 

[Mrvile]

lol oops, yeah I meant the K8T800 (why was I thinking NF3?). Anyway the Asus is the most stable socket 939 motherboard out there.

 

[olds]

Save some money on RAM and get 1 GB.
Didn't I read that the 74GB Raptor was faster than the 36GB?
<---- Runs 2 X 36 in RAID 0 (for now)

 

[Mrvile]

Yes, oldsmoboat, the 74GB is faster but also about 100 bucks more expensive.

 

[Mattax]

On the RAM, I require more for the animated GIFs I am assembling,. I have 1.5GB in my current set up and still find that I need more RAM. So I will have to double the RAM for that usage, even though GAMING will not require it.

For the HDD I want to keep the VIDEO CAPTURE and DATA STORAGE seperate.
You recommend SEAGATE for all HDD? Is RAPTOR a brand or a type of SEAGATE HDD?

I do not need more than two optical drives. I currently have three but will reduce it to 2. I figure the CREATIVE DVD ROM and the DVD BURNER will do everything including making CD ROMs, correct?

I plan on doing a lot of video editing and burning onto DVD.

I will go ahead and get the VIDEO CARD asap since the Ultra is "cheap" right now.

Need 7.1 for the speakers to fulfill the computer room set up, as I already have the wiring in place.

I will check on the LCD monitor you recommend. The two reasons I am going with LCD is to reduce heat from a CRT monitor and for the slim size to fit into my roll up computer desk. The hole I can fit into is 18 3/4" H x 27" W x 21" D. MAX

My current case has lots of fans and I have the round IDE cables. I will need to get more heatsink compound for the CPU. What fan do you recommend for the CPU?


ALso, what is the name of the motherborad again. You had written out one and said it was something different.

Thanks.

 

[Mrvile]

Well for no OC, the retail heat sink is fine. You probably want the retail package anyway for the warranty as well.

Raptor is not a brand. Raptor just means 10000rpm. SATA cables are nice and thin (like a quarter inch), and are easy to connect. Seagate makes Raptors, Western Digital makes Raptors, Maxtor makes Raptors, etc. Seagate all the way.

Yeah, anything less than 500 for a 6800 Ultra is crazy cheap. Wish I had waited and jumped on it now.

Your optical drive setup right now is fine. One DVD-Rom, one DVD burner.

What program do you use to make GIFs btw?

 

[Mattax]

COST


CPU: AMD Athlon 64 Socket 939 3000+- $155 3200+ - $187 3500+ - $266 (pricewatch.com)
MB: Asus A8V-Deluxe K8T800 $125.95 (pricewatch.com)
RAM: CRUCIAL DDR PC3200 512MB x4 $80.99 ea = $323.96 or 1GB x2 $259.99 ea = $519.98 (Crucial.com)
VIDEO CARD: BFG Technologies GEFORCE 6800 ULTRA OC 256MB DDR3 AGP8X $489
DVD BURNER: PIONEER
SOUND CARD: Soundblaster Audigy2 ZS $31 (pricewatch.com)
SPEAKERS: Creative Inspire P7700 $92
MONITOR:
HDD 1:
HDD 2:
HDD 3:
KEYBOARD:

TOTAL:

 

[Mattax]

What program do you use to make GIFs btw?

I use Adobe Image Ready 3.0.

If you would like to see an example go to http://www.oemqualityparts.com...-Thunderbird-LH-Lf.gif

OK on the HDD. I understand, thanks.

I thought that $489 was expensive. I paid $500 for the ASUS Geforce 3 when it first came out. I am still running it on this computer but ASUS has never provided support for when Windows XP came out and actually told me that they never would when I inquired.

Yeah, I thought that using the factory provided CPU fan was the way to go. Warranty and all.

 

[ts3433]

Originally posted by: Mrvile
Raptor is not a brand. Raptor just means 10000rpm. SATA cables are nice and thin (like a quarter inch), and are easy to connect. Seagate makes Raptors, Western Digital makes Raptors, Maxtor makes Raptors, etc. Seagate all the way.

I hope you're joking. Raptors are Western Digital's specifically, it's the marketing name for their 10,000 RPM SATA drives. The others also make drives with spindle speeds like that and greater (up to 15,000 RPM), but those are SCSI and--of course--are not called Raptors.

 

[Mattax]

SO this means I need a WESTERN DIGITAL RAPTOR hard drive for the OS.

I can still use non Raptor Drives for the GAMING, DATA STORAGE and VIDEO CAPTURE? correct?

 

[Mattax]

So does the SEAGATE HDD have RAPTOR or do they call it something else?

 

[ts3433]

The Seagate isn't 10,000 RPM. Standard 7200 RPM/8 MB drives will be fine, though--a Raptor isn't necessary. They aren't worth the cost, giving, for example, only about 3 seconds faster loading time in games. If you really needed fast HD access across the board, you'd be looking at SCSI without any of us ATers prompting you to do so

 

[NightCrawler]

Raptors are nice for the 5 year warranty and they are built more rugged then standard 7200 drives but you really sacrifice on the space.

I haven't used a 74 gig raptor so I really can't comment about the speed.

 

[ts3433]

Seagates have a 5 year warranty too.

 

[NightCrawler]

My Recommendations:

1. Asus Socket 939 MB
2. Athlon 64 3000 Socket 939 { overclocking ? }
3. 7200 RPM drive or WD Raptor 74 Gig