Building New PC

[jclore]

Hi Guys,

Here it is so far. Keep in mind that I'll probably pillage a couple of parts from my old system

Parts I have already:
TI4200 64MB AGP Card (This would be the first thing to go when budget allows)
NEC 16X DVD Burner (This should keep me happy for a while)
Floppy
Keyboard/Mouse/Monitor

Here is my list so far (Tried to stay under $500.00)
Go Here


I know the power supply isn't the greatest but I'm not going to be powering a lot of devices as you can see. Also, I would definately budget in a power supply upgrade when throwing additional hardware at this thing. I'm wondering if the budget solution I am toying around with here will give me decent flexibility for future upgrades. One thing that is a minor concern is this is a socket 754 solution. If I'm thinking that I want flexibility for future upgrades perhaps I should rethink this with a socket 939 solution... What do you guys think? I know all the rage right now is nForce 4 but I'm not sure I want to wait and it may be hard to squeeze that into my budget. I could probably skip the SATA drive to start (allocate the money elsewhere) and use an ATA100 drive that I have available...

I'm looking for a faster gaming machine than I have now (Asus A7V w/Athlon 1.1Ghz). Don't need a huge HDD as I can store files on my network file server that I built. Any comments/suggestions to help maximize price/performance are welcome.

Thanks!

 

[Fern]

Hi jclore and Welcome to the Forums!

I tried your link, but not sure whitch list I should be looking at?

As far as the 754 skt, yeah if you want a longer upgrade path the 939 is said to be the way to go. But as far as I am concerned, that only holds true if you will NOT be upgrading the mobo when you get a new cpu. And I generally get a new mobo. The 754 looks better for bang-for-buck to me. And hear of some good OC's with the 754 systems too.

Since this is a gaming rig, IMHO I'd get a 754 combo and use the money I saved on it (compared to a 939 system) to upgrade the gfx card.

I'd forgo the SATA Raid too. I don't hear of persausive evidence that it adds much for gaming.

Fern

 

[jclore]

Thanks for the input The link should be working properly now.

 

[screwd01]

I built this system two summers ago and its still strong (with exception to vid card), keeping up with a friend with a athlon64 with a 6800gt in gaming tests

an intel 2.4C (with any 865/875 intel board) which can OC to 3.0 easily, i have mine at 3.2...some people are at 3.6
a 6800nu unlocked and a raid 0 setup with a gig of ddr400 ram

the prices are so muh cheaper now....and my raid setup is using ide>sata converters so its not at its full potential

if you dont want to OC then its not for you


and if you don't like intel

 

[DaveSimmons]

Good advice from Fern.

Socket 754 is a great deal since odds are you'll want a new motherboard for your next CPU anyway

Check prices on the CPU, yesterday the _retail_ socket 754 A64 2800+ with decent HSF was a couple of dollars cheaper than OEM one in your list.

The SLK3700 is a great case, it's a good 350w PSU that should be fine for your parts.

If you want a Raptor you want the 74 GB it's faster and quieter. Click the "Storage" tab at the top of this page and read the "Raptors in RAID" article to see whether you really do want one.

 

[sxr7171]

But verdict on RAID on a desktop from the AT review "Raptors in Raid":

"If you haven't gotten the hint by now, we'll spell it out for you: there is no place, and no need for a RAID-0 array on a desktop computer. The real world performance increases are negligible at best and the reduction in reliability, thanks to a halving of the mean time between failure, makes RAID-0 far from worth it on the desktop."

 

[jclore]

Thanks for all the great info guys. I really do appreciate the responses Great community on this site. On the whole raid thing I wasn't going to go that direction as I have also read the pros/cons of raid on the desktop. I was more interested in the Raptor because 10,000RPM + SATA = Great Performance. Not sure at this point if it's worth the expense.