Comments and suggestions on the system I am setting up.

[I rule]

Antec Sonata case with 980W Power supply -Already bought
MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum MoBo Socket 939
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Socket 939
Mushkin Blue 184 Pin 512MB(256MBx2) DDR PC-3200
SAMSUNG 160GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive
NEC 16X Double Layer DVD±RW Drive - Already Bought
M-AUDIO 7.1 Channel PCI Sound Card
Logitech X-620 6.1 Speaker
SAPPHIRE ATI RADEON 9600PRO Video Card, 128MB DDR, 128-bit, DVI/TV-Out, 8X AGP

I am untaught in the ways of video cards. So that one I could use more suggestions than comments because I have no idea what the best mid-range Video card is.

Save me some money!

Ooo and suggestions on monitors Flat Screen and LCD's would be excellent!

Thank you

 

[jpeyton]

Antec Sonata case with 980W Power supply -Already bought

Damn that's a sweet PSU :shocked:

I would recommend switching the X-620s for the X-530s; the latter are a newer model, with better dual-driver sats.

If you want to save some dough, the Chaintech AV-710 7.1 channel sound card is a great alternative to the M-Audio; it sells for around $26, and is based on the same audio decoder as the M-Audio card (VIA Envy24).

 

[overst33r]

bump down the cpu to a 3000 winchester like this one here http://www.newegg.com/app/view...=19-103-501&depa=0

and OC it a little bit and you have a 3200, if you dont wanna OC it wont hurt you because you wont really notice the difference.

 

[deldd]

For a mid-range vid card get a 9800 pro. Where did you find a 980W power supply?

 

[I rule]

For a mid-range vid card get a 9800 pro. Where did you find a 980W power supply?

The 980W power supply comes with the Antec Sonata case. And thanks for the suggestion but $230 is a bit too much to spend on a video card right now.

OC it a little bit and you have a 3200, if you dont wanna OC it wont hurt you because you wont really notice the difference.

What is OCing a CPU and how do I do it?

 

[Gerbil333]

Originally posted by: I rule

For a mid-range vid card get a 9800 pro. Where did you find a 980W power supply?

The 980W power supply comes with the Antec Sonata case. And thanks for the suggestion but $230 is a bit too much to spend on a video card right now.

OC it a little bit and you have a 3200, if you dont wanna OC it wont hurt you because you wont really notice the difference.

What is OCing a CPU and how do I do it?

LOL! No, the Sonata comes with a 380 W PSU.

OC'ing is a method of increasing the clock speed of your computer's components so that they run faster than they were sold to run at. It means you get something faster than what you paid for...many Athlon XP 1700+'s would OC from their stock speed of 1.47GHz to well beyond 2 GHz, and many 2500+'s would do 3200+ speeds with ease.

It's done by increasing the FSB speed in the motherboard's BIOS (and changing the multipliers if possible--most are factory locked these days).

For a mid-range vid card get a 9800 pro.

I'll second that. You'll REALLY hold the system back with only a 9600 Pro. The 9800 Pro isn't much more expensive, and it will pack a lot more punch.

 

[ts3433]

I would drop the sound card for now, get the X-530 set, maybe go down to a 3000+ and a slightly less expensive mobo and see if you can't get a 6600 GT. OCing=overclocking, which a 90nm Winchester core A64 can do with ease.

 

[I rule]

If I decide to get a 3000+ and overclock it won't I need a different heatsink and fan rather than the fan and heatsink a retail CPU comes with?

 

[I rule]

Oh and the x-530 set is more expensive than the X-620 which is a 6.1 rather than 5.1. So is the set X-530 better?

 

[Mik3y]

Originally posted by: I rule
If I decide to get a 3000+ and overclock it won't I need a different heatsink and fan rather than the fan and heatsink a retail CPU comes with?

no, but an aftermarket hsf is recommended for better cooling. i recommend you try and oc with ur stock hsf and if it runs too hot or pulling your oc back, then get a better one. some people have actually gotten very high oc's on a stock hsf, though they sacrifice noise also.

 

[Duvie]

I would go with a better vid card then setting up a 7.1 sound system....Your call but sweeter vid card of latest architecture is what I would go for...

 

[ts3433]

The stock cooling can handle moderate OCing. You should be fine if all you need to do is get to 3200+ speeds. If you want to go higher later, then you can pick up an aftermarket HSF.

As for the X-530s, the difference at Newegg is around $3 after shipping is figured in ($8 on the X-620, $0 on the X-530). The X-530 set will be better for the money. It's a newer design, of course, but the SNR is also about 25 dB greater (I only cite this kind of comparison since it's within the same manufacturer).