Check My Build

[Penth]

OK, so I've been thinking about this build for quite some time now. I'm pretty sure about everything except I might possibly wait for an nForce4 SLI board and a PCI-E Card. I'm hoping to pick up the Antec Sonata for $30.00 off at CompUSA on Black Friday. I think one of the stores also has the Western Digital 200GB drive for $50.00. All prices are from Newegg unless otherwise noted. Let me know what you think I could do better on. I'm also considering dropping the audigy or getting an M-Audio or even the non Platinum version of the ZS.

Samsung 997DF - $199 - Circuit City
Klipsch ProMedia Ultra 5.1 - $297 - Dell.com
Logitech MX1000 - $75
Microsoft Natural Multimedia Keyboard - $22
Antec Sonata - $99
MSI Neo2 Nforce3 939 Motherboard - $136
Athlon 64 90nm 939 3000+ Retail - $159
Western Digital Raptor 74GB - $152
NEC 3500A 16X DL DVD±RW - $68
Atech Pro9 Media Card Reader - $41
Western Digital 200GB IDE HD 8MB - $112
Crucial Ballistix PC4000 512MB * 2 - $263 - Crucial.com
eVGA 6800GT 256MB - $399
Audigy 2 ZS Platinum - $131

Edit: Forgot Total of: $2153

 

[jpeyton]

I'd ditch the Raptor; I don't think they're worth the money.

And the Crucial Ballistix is a terrible value for the money. It ranks consistently behind TCCD based memory by OCZ, GSkill, PQI, PDP, and Corsair. Ballistix is generally limited to 250MHz (DDR500) speeds at high latencies, while something like PDP XBL ($230 on Newegg) has been tested to 270MHz using 2.5-3-3-7 timings (and can go further with looser timings). TCCD is the way to go if you're overclocking Athlon 64s and want to maintain a fast 1:1 memory clock ratio.

 

[Penth]

Originally posted by: jpeyton
I'd ditch the Raptor; I don't think they're worth the money.

And the Crucial Ballistix is a terrible value for the money. It ranks consistently behind TCCD based memory by OCZ, GSkill, PQI, PDP, and Corsair. Ballistix is generally limited to 250MHz (DDR500) speeds at high latencies, while something like PDP XBL ($230 on Newegg) has been tested to 270MHz using 2.5-3-3-7 timings (and can go further with looser timings). TCCD is the way to go if you're overclocking Athlon 64s and want to maintain a fast 1:1 memory clock ratio.

Thanks for the advice on the ballistix. I feel it's a bit expensive as well, but was going to go with it as it received a gold here at AT. I'll consider ditching the raptor, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to stick with it. Do you have a link for the ram you suggested?

 

[jpeyton]

Here are some good TCCD based choices:

http://www.newegg.com/app/View...=20-220-033&depa=0

http://www.newegg.com/app/View...=20-141-148&depa=0

 

[imported_Reck]

I'd ditch that monitor it's ****. If you're going to get a budget monitor get the viewsonic g90f, it's better than the samsung. What I would do though (since you're already spending so much) is put out the money for a nice aperture grille monitor. The nec 930sb would fit the bill nicely...it's discontinued but you can still fine vendors with them in stock.

 

[Penth]

I've never read anything but good reviews of that monitor. I've got a 19" trinitron now. Have you ever seen the Samsung?