Buying new rig..

b3six

Member
Oct 23, 2004
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Hello :) I am currently building a new rig since its that time again :) there are a bunch of things I need help with... I want to get the best hardware possible right now and I currently have these listed..


AMD Athlon-64 FX-55
BFG GeForce 6800 Ultra OC
Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS Platinum
PerfectFlat G220FB -I am not sure how good this monitor is but I noticed that it has the same viewable (20.0) as a 22" monitor but for the price of a 21"
PIONEER Black DVD±RW Drive, Model DVR-A08XL - Is this a good DVD R drive? Is there better options?


I need help with deciding the best
Motherboard
RAM
HD
Cooling Options..

money isnt a problem.. been saving for a couple yrs ;) I have some ideas for the mobo/ram/hd but I would rather hear what you guys think would be best.
thx in advance! :)
 

RadiclDreamer

Diamond Member
Aug 8, 2004
8,622
40
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Mobo = dont know, dont like any AMD board maker in particular
RAM = Crucial
HD = WD Raptor
Cooling = depends if you want it cool or quiet
 

Machine350

Senior member
Oct 8, 2004
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Motherboard - DFI LANPARTY UT NF3 250Gb
Ram - 1 GB Crucial Ballistix PC 3200
HD - Dual 74 GB WD Raptors in Raid 0 Config
Cooling - Thermalright XP-120 HS w/ Thermaltake 120mm Smartfan

 

SneakyStuff

Diamond Member
Jan 13, 2004
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my sincere advice to you PLEASE WAIT, the nforce 4 chipset will be out soon, and will give you SLI (dual gpu) options, and PCI-EX16 graphics support for the AMD platform. If you want top of the line, that will be the ticket. If you can slate your upgrade desire for another month or so, it should pay off. :)
 

yankeesfan

Diamond Member
Aug 6, 2004
5,922
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Originally posted by: Machine350
Motherboard - DFI LANPARTY UT NF3 250Gb
Ram - 2 GB Crucial Ballistix PC 3200
HD - Dual 74 GB WD Raptors in Raid 0 Config
Cooling - Thermalright XP-120 HS w/ Thermaltake 120mm Smartfan

I would get 2GB if you want it to be the best possible. Get this monitor, if possible..
 

Adn4n

Golden Member
Aug 6, 2004
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If you're going with SLI, then get 2 Ultras, but for AGP the ATI x800XT PE is king.
 

SneakyStuff

Diamond Member
Jan 13, 2004
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Originally posted by: Adn4n
If you're going with SLI, then get 2 Ultras, but for AGP the ATI x800XT PE is king.

lol the 6800 ULTRA RARE edition, and the X800XT PHANTOM edition are both very hard to find ;)
 

ts3433

Platinum Member
Jun 29, 2004
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You sure you wouldn't rather build a cheaper rig and put the rest toward a luxury car or something?

But yes, waiting for NF4 would be wise if you are going to spend this much. And for HDs, I know the Raptors are fast, but they don't provide for much storage and aren't too much faster than a 7200RPM/8MB; I'm hearing a good middle ground would be Maxtor's new 7200RPM/16MB cache drives. Maybe Raptor(s) for system/app partition(s), a MaxLine for data.

(Oh yes, and for optical drives, IIRC it is Plextor that reigns supreme.)
 

b3six

Member
Oct 23, 2004
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When is the Nvidia SLI boards coming out? I want to upgrade b4 HL2 comes out :) and those 74GB HDs would be 2 small :( I need something bigger..how much better would dual 6800s be? Is a asus a8v-deluxe better then the dfi lanboy?
 

b3six

Member
Oct 23, 2004
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Originally posted by: ts3433
You sure you wouldn't rather build a cheaper rig and put the rest toward a luxury car or something?
i dont need a car i live in ny :p
 

Peter D

Diamond Member
Oct 28, 2002
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Originally posted by: Machine350
Motherboard - DFI LANPARTY UT NF3 250Gb
Ram - 1 GB Crucial Ballistix PC 3200
HD - Dual 74 GB WD Raptors in Raid 0 Config
Cooling - Thermalright XP-120 HS w/ Thermaltake 120mm Smartfan

That motherboard is a different socket (754) IIRC ;)

I think the Asus A8V R2.0 would be a good choice, or MSI's offering.

Then again, their's NF4/KT890 coming soon...
 

b3six

Member
Oct 23, 2004
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Originally posted by: Vegetto
Originally posted by: Machine350
Motherboard - DFI LANPARTY UT NF3 250Gb
Ram - 1 GB Crucial Ballistix PC 3200
HD - Dual 74 GB WD Raptors in Raid 0 Config
Cooling - Thermalright XP-120 HS w/ Thermaltake 120mm Smartfan

That motherboard is a different socket (754) IIRC ;)

I think the Asus A8V R2.0 would be a good choice, or MSI's offering.

Then again, their's NF4/KT890 coming soon...

is there a date 4 the release? and wouldnt the first 2 NF4 motherboards come out before the SLI?
 

Peter D

Diamond Member
Oct 28, 2002
3,603
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Originally posted by: b3six
Originally posted by: Vegetto
Originally posted by: Machine350
Motherboard - DFI LANPARTY UT NF3 250Gb
Ram - 1 GB Crucial Ballistix PC 3200
HD - Dual 74 GB WD Raptors in Raid 0 Config
Cooling - Thermalright XP-120 HS w/ Thermaltake 120mm Smartfan

That motherboard is a different socket (754) IIRC ;)

I think the Asus A8V R2.0 would be a good choice, or MSI's offering.

Then again, their's NF4/KT890 coming soon...

is there a date 4 the release? and wouldnt the first 2 NF4 motherboards come out before the SLI?

From what I've read, the release is slated to be in a few weeks, but I've been hearing that for.. a few weeks ;)

 

b3six

Member
Oct 23, 2004
98
0
0
Originally posted by: Vegetto
Originally posted by: b3six
Originally posted by: Vegetto
Originally posted by: Machine350
Motherboard - DFI LANPARTY UT NF3 250Gb
Ram - 1 GB Crucial Ballistix PC 3200
HD - Dual 74 GB WD Raptors in Raid 0 Config
Cooling - Thermalright XP-120 HS w/ Thermaltake 120mm Smartfan

That motherboard is a different socket (754) IIRC ;)

I think the Asus A8V R2.0 would be a good choice, or MSI's offering.

Then again, their's NF4/KT890 coming soon...

is there a date 4 the release? and wouldnt the first 2 NF4 motherboards come out before the SLI?

From what I've read, the release is slated to be in a few weeks, but I've been hearing that for.. a few weeks ;)
lol ok :)
1. If I decided to get my rig now would I be able to switch to the SLI board later?

2. Does the Crucial Ballistix come in 1GB a stick or is 512MB the highest? I want 2GB of memory this time.. would 4 512 sticks be ok or is it not a good idea?


 

Peter D

Diamond Member
Oct 28, 2002
3,603
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0
Originally posted by: b3six
Originally posted by: Vegetto
Originally posted by: b3six
Originally posted by: Vegetto
Originally posted by: Machine350
Motherboard - DFI LANPARTY UT NF3 250Gb
Ram - 1 GB Crucial Ballistix PC 3200
HD - Dual 74 GB WD Raptors in Raid 0 Config
Cooling - Thermalright XP-120 HS w/ Thermaltake 120mm Smartfan

That motherboard is a different socket (754) IIRC ;)

I think the Asus A8V R2.0 would be a good choice, or MSI's offering.

Then again, their's NF4/KT890 coming soon...

is there a date 4 the release? and wouldnt the first 2 NF4 motherboards come out before the SLI?

From what I've read, the release is slated to be in a few weeks, but I've been hearing that for.. a few weeks ;)
lol ok :)
1. If I decided to get my rig now would I be able to switch to the SLI board later?

2. Does the Crucial Ballistix come in 1GB a stick or is 512MB the highest? I want 2GB of memory this time.. would 4 512 sticks be ok or is it not a good idea?

1. Yep, but you'd need to format, and also get new videocards that are SLI compatible (PCI-E with SLI connectivity).

2. I checked Crucial's site and it looks like 512MB is the biggest size the RAM comes in so I suppose 4x512MB would be the only option if you opted for Ballistix. I haven't heard of any problems with 4 sticks inthe Asus board or others, but perhaps owners could shed light on the topic ;)

Welcome to AnandTech, by the way :)
 

mastrduke

Senior member
Jun 20, 2004
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wait for sli if you already gonna spend that much money on a computer...i heard it should be out definately before christmas
 

Muscles

Senior member
Jul 16, 2003
424
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81
would the 2 GPU help alot instead of the 1?
Yes, bigtime. You sound like a hardcore gamer without price limitiations so I'd definitely wait for SLI. You're looking at about an 80% increase in performance... Almost double, definitely worth it! Here is some data you should look at regarding SLI performance:

HERE

Where in NY are you located btw?
 

b3six

Member
Oct 23, 2004
98
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im in manhattan :) thx for the info! I'm gunna try and wait a couple weeks before I make my decision :) i definately want a SLI though :D looks pretty cool :)