Comments on this rig?

[darXoul]

Here's the new rig I'm about to build:

AMD Athlon 64 3400+
Gigabyte 3D Cooler Ultra GT
2x 512 MB Kingston HyperX DDR434 CAS2/2.5
Leadtek GeForce 6800 GT
MSI K8N Neo Platinum
Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2
Seagate Barracuda 160 GB 7200 rpm 8 MB SATA
LG DVD/CDRW x52/x32/x52/x16 black
FDD any black
Be-Quiet Color Line 450W
Thermaltake Tsunami Dream black w. window
Logitech Z-640
HP OfficeJet PSC 2175

+ some hardware I already have and will keep using:

Seagate Barracuda 160 GB 7200 rpm 8 MB PATA
Philips Brilliance 109P4 19" CRT
Microsoft Sidewinder Precision 2
Logitech Internet Navigator Keyboard SE
Logitech MX 510 Performance Optical Mouse blue
Allsop Raindrop black pad


What do you think about this comp? As for socket 754, I think I'll get it because s939's "upgradeability" and "future-proofness" are an illusion in my eyes. Why?
1. I upgrade my comp every 2 years or so. So far, I've never been able to keep my mobo. Standards change so fast that making a large upgrade w/o mobo is pretty much impossible.
2. When upgrading and spending like $1000 on video card/CPU/RAM, does it really make a difference to spend another $100 or a bit more on a new mobo? I don't think so.
3. Current s939 boards have no PCI-Express, DDRII, BTX. Where's the "future" on them? I can't see it, even though it's possible that not all of the aforementioned new standards really take over the market soon.

BTW, I don't think I'll be getting a DVD-R burner now since usefulness seems to be limited and their development is so fast at the moment that I think I'll wait a bit until it slows down.

Anyway, what do you think about this rig? What would you change, modify, substitute?

 

[Dufrane]

You will be very happy with the A64. I have the a64 3000. I agree with you on the upgradeability. That is why I did not wait on socket 939.

 

[darXoul]

Good to see that I'm not alone regarding my opinion on current s939 hardware

As for the processor, yep, A64 is the only option for me. Those CPUs don't run too hot and offer great performance at reasonable prices. I was just hesitating whether I should get A64 3000+ for $216 or A64 3400+ for $418... The price difference is way more significant than performance difference but I still decided to get 3400+ for 1MB cache and higher clock. In some cases, it's visibly faster - even though I can't help feeling like I might be wasting some money here

Any more opinions?

 

[Dufrane]

Those prices are high. Have you lookes at newegg.com. The 3000 is $167 right now and the 3400 is $289. If cost is really an issue, you can get a 3100 Sempron which is socket 754 for 125 I believe. The only draw back to Sempron is that it does not have the 64 bit extensions and it has 256 of l2 cache. However you can always upgrade it to a 3400 or 3700 later.

 

[Dufrane]

I am sorry you already have the hardware.

 

[darXoul]

Nope, I don't have the hardware yet but those prices are pretty normal in my country. I'm from Poland. You know, I tend to get a bit frustrated when I compare European prices to US prices. You know for how much Tt Tsunami goes this side of the pond? 273 bucks!!! newegg sells it for ca. 130 bucks. $550 is a GOOD price if you want to buy the 6800GT Leadtek. Even the Gigabyte fan is more expensive (by 10 USD). I won't even comment on that :/

 

[Dufrane]

Ouch!!!!