Calling the experts to my aid

[ohlmsjm]

It's about time for me to retire my current system (donating to my brother):

Athlon XP 2100+
Radeon 9800
512megs of Corsair PC2700
WD 120Gig SE (8M cache)
Asus A7V333 Motherboard
Generic power supply
Lian LC PC-60 Case
Sound Blaster Audigy Gamer
3Com 3c905b NIC
Sony 19" MM400 Monitor
Toshiba DVD (16x)
Plextor CDRW (48x)

The following is what I have put together after reading various sources for the last couple of months but I am falling short on what to purchase to round out the system so I would highly appreciate any feedback the experts can give and please don't hesitate to critique the build.

Requirements (in no particular order):
FPS/MMPORPG Gamer
Graphic/Multimedia Designer (including visual and aural content not professional, mainly hobby)
Need a COOL system as in temperature
I don't plan to overclock, I thrive on stability and cooling (no liquid solutions)

So with that, here's the proposed system so far:

Power Supply: Enermax Noisetaker AX EG495AX-VE SFMA ATX 12v Version 2.0 485W
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 FX-53, 1MB L2 Cache, Windows Compatible 64-bit Processor 939pin
Heatsink/Fan: Taking suggestions
Motherboard: MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum
Memory: OCZ EL Platinum Revision 2 Dual Channel Kit 184-Pin 1GB(512MBx2) DDR PC-3200 - Retail
Case: Thermaltake Tsunami VA3000SWA Case
Network: onboard
Sound: Taking suggestions on an Audigy model
Video: Taking suggestions on the GeForce 6800 (non ultra) probably Leadtek Ultra
Monitor: NEC/Mitsubishi FP2141SB 22" Diamondtron CRT
Hard Drive: Hitachi 80GB 7200 RPM SATA HDS722580VLSA80 (boot) + Hitachi 250GB 7200RPM SATA 8Mb
Cooling Options: Need suggestions here for any additional even though the Tsunami case has remarkable cooling

Any other suggestions are welcome!

 

[uOpt]

Hitachi harddrives? Me no liking (ex IBM). I only trust Seagate and Samsung appears to be decent as well.

I found that the fan shipped with my 3400+ is very good, CPU temp doesn't go up much when using it and it is very quiet, much better than the one shipped with my Athlon XP. So if you don't overclock I don't see why you would have to get a third-party one.

 

[ohlmsjm]

The CPU will be retail and no overclocking for me. Again, I want stability, cooling, and straight up performance.

I really haven't settled on a budget yet so I'm definitely open to changes.

 

[Sonic587]

1.) The FX-53 is overkill, IMO. Drop that down to a new 90nm CPU (3000+, 3200+, 3500+...your choice).

2.) I'd go with Seagates Harddrives. The 5 year warranty should appeal to you.

3.) The Audigy 2 ZS is suggested around here often. However, are you into any serious music listening? Or is it all 128 kb/s MP3s?

4.) As for cooling, are you concerned about keeping this system quiet?

 

[ts3433]

For games, a 90nm 3500+ and a 6800 GT would be better. You won't need an aftermarket HSF.

 

[ohlmsjm]

1.) The FX-53 is overkill, IMO. Drop that down to a new 90nm CPU (3000+, 3200+, 3500+...your choice).

2.) I'd go with Seagates Harddrives. The 5 year warranty should appeal to you.

3.) The Audigy 2 ZS is suggested around here often. However, are you into any serious music listening? Or is it all 128 kb/s MP3s?

4.) As for cooling, are you concerned about keeping this system quiet?

The FX-53 has received quite a few rave reviews and correct me if i am wrong doesn't it outperform the 90nm CPU's substantially? Of course not for the $800 price tag, but if one had money to burn hehe

I owned a Seagate quite a few years ago, long before my WD streak and wasn't impressed, have they finally gotten a head up in the storage market and started to put out quality drives?

Sound will be around 256k mp3's, some audio editing (not much), and yes serious music listening.

In regards to cooling, I could careless if the machine sounded like a jet taking off, as long as it does its job, that makes me happy.

 

[NarcoticHobo]

You would see better performance overall by sinking the $600 you would save into other components... hey that extra amount may even be enough to go SLI.

 

[ohlmsjm]

You would see better performance overall by sinking the $600 you would save into other components... hey that extra amount may even be enough to go SLI.

How would you go about redistributing that $600 into other components?

 

[Sonic587]

Originally posted by: ohlmsjm

1.) The FX-53 is overkill, IMO. Drop that down to a new 90nm CPU (3000+, 3200+, 3500+...your choice).

2.) I'd go with Seagates Harddrives. The 5 year warranty should appeal to you.

3.) The Audigy 2 ZS is suggested around here often. However, are you into any serious music listening? Or is it all 128 kb/s MP3s?

4.) As for cooling, are you concerned about keeping this system quiet?

The FX-53 has received quite a few rave reviews and correct me if i am wrong doesn't it outperform the 90nm CPU's substantially? Of course not for the $800 price tag, but if one had money to burn hehe

I owned a Seagate quite a few years ago, long before my WD streak and wasn't impressed, have they finally gotten a head up in the storage market and started to put out quality drives?

Sound will be around 256k mp3's, some audio editing (not much), and yes serious music listening.

In regards to cooling, I could careless if the machine sounded like a jet taking off, as long as it does its job, that makes me happy.

No doubt that the FX-53 outperforms the other CPUs, but you would be wise to balance out your system more. The 3500+/6800GT combo as suggested above would be money better spent, IMO.

Judging from all the positive press they've recieved around here, Seagate is definitely a quality brand. They are quiet, decently fast, and the 5 year warranty protects your investment.

As for music listening, I would suggest a dual sound-card system if you're really into it. Audigys are pretty terrible for music (But good for games) in comparison to higher end cards. What speaker/headphones setup do you have?

If you're not concerned about noise, the stock fans of the Thermaltake should be fine.

 

[imported_Computer MAn]

If you really want to get the fastest processor get the new FX-55.

 

[Blackjack2000]

Originally posted by: ohlmsjm

The FX-53 has received quite a few rave reviews and correct me if i am wrong doesn't it outperform the 90nm CPU's substantially? Of course not for the $800 price tag, but if one had money to burn hehe

I think a lot of advice on this board is geared to overclockers, so since you're not going to overclock, it might be a good idea to get a fast processor like the 53. One reason that people might advise against it when they look at your rig is the 6800nu which will probably be a bottleneck when playing games. If you went to a 6800 GT or a x800 pro that would probably be a little more balanced.

Also, I don't think you have to worry about cooling if you're not overclocking. The stock cooling gear should be more than adequete, assuming of course that you buy the chip retail.

 

[ohlmsjm]

I was under the impression that the GT/Ultra would only offer a mere 6% performance gain vs a non-ultra since the core clock wasn't but about 200mhz faster.

Is this incorrect information?

 

[Blackjack2000]

GT has 4 more pipelines, it's alot faster than the 6800nu. stock 6800s are comparable to 6600GTs until you turn AA on.