Critique my order

[Nocturnal]

ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ retail (Was going to get the 3400+ but the warranty threw that out the window)
1GB PC3200 Crucial Ballistix memory
1x74GB Raptor
1x300GB Maxtor Maxline 10 HDD
Antec P160 case
Antec True 580W PSU
Plextor 716SA
eVGA Geforce 6800GT

Is this good? Should I have gotten a faster CPU?

I'm upgrading from:

ASUS A7N8X-Deluxe
AMD Athlon 2500+ Barton
1GB PC2100 Crucial DDR SDRAM
1x74GB Raptor
Antec SOHO case
Antec TRUE 480W PSU
Plextor 708A
ATi 9800XT

Your comments please.

 

[Mik3y]

are you an ocer? if so, then speed's fine. i would rather get the g.skill tccd ram. it's one HELL of an overclocker! many have gotten 290mhz off them!

 

[ts3433]

I like it, though the Plextor burner's a tad overpriced and I probably would have gone with a Seasonic PSU (Antec's still great, though).

Have fun with that.

Originally posted by: Mik3y
are you an ocer? if so, then speed's fine. i would rather get the g.skill tccd ram. it's one HELL of an overclocker! many have gotten 290mhz off them!

I thought tests had shown that Micron G doing 2-2-2 at somewhat overclocked levels (say, 250MHz when the HTT is 300MHz) performed better than TCCD 1:1 at 3-3-3 on A64s...

 

[Nocturnal]

Not really an overclocker. I am just worried about the warranty. I don't want to kill my CPU. Is 2.0GHZ good enough? What speed Intel CPU is it comparable to?

 

[ts3433]

The A64 PR ratings compare quite favorably to 800FSB P4s, so you have more or less something that's a bit better than a 3.2GHz P4.

If you aren't an overclocker at all, the Ballistix is overkill.

 

[Nocturnal]

I had no idea Ballistix was overkill. I guess I should have gone with the Mushkin ram... it was like $130.00 for 1GB? Value Mushkin?

 

[ts3433]

Now that kind of value RAM stuff is $90-100 for a gig... but nick1985 found some G.skill 2-3-3-6 that's between $200+ TCCD and your typical good cheap Kingmax for $110 at Newegg recently.

I've actually heard from others that CL2 sometimes makes the computer feel a bit snappier overall, but I doubt any of this really warrants spending 2-3 times as much as you have to on RAM.

 

[Zugzwang152]

I was thinking of a similar setup for my next upgrade, though it will be at least a few months away.

Maybe ditch the Plextor for a cheaper brand, and apply the savings towards a faster processor? I was looking at the 3500+ for my setup.

I'm not a big fan of low latency memory either. My opinion, since you are not overclocking, is that the money would be better spent on a faster processor. Get CL2.5 memory instead of the ballistix's CL2, and apply that savings as well to a faster CPU. Someone with better knowledge of hardware may be able to refute me on this one.

Nice choice of video card, I'm looking at the exact same one, though I'm not sure on eVGA's quality.

 

[Zugzwang152]

Originally posted by: Nocturnal
I had no idea Ballistix was overkill. I guess I should have gone with the Mushkin ram... it was like $130.00 for 1GB? Value Mushkin?

Kingston ValueRAM is the best bargain typically. Get their 2x512 1GB kit.

 

[ts3433]

eVGA's a top-notch manufacturer of nV cards.

 

[Nocturnal]

Originally posted by: ts3433
eVGA's a top-notch manufacturer of nV cards.

Yes, this is the main reason I went with them. Although I would have gone with BFG if they had one available. I was going to go through ZZF but I didn't want the order to be split up. Life-time warranty > *

 

[Nocturnal]

Is my case any good? Antec P160. It's a mid-ATX but fits full size ATX mobos. I have an Antec SOHO server case already. I thought something like the P160 was really nice.

 

[Zugzwang152]

Originally posted by: Nocturnal

Originally posted by: ts3433
eVGA's a top-notch manufacturer of nV cards.

Yes, this is the main reason I went with them. Although I would have gone with BFG if they had one available. I was going to go through ZZF but I didn't want the order to be split up. Life-time warranty > *

ZZF's shipping policies to your location are second to none.

 

[ts3433]

The P160's pretty good (Antec, after all, and the stuff they market rarely is a complete disappointment)... if I was going for all-aluminum, I'd probably have gotten a Lian Li, though.

Also--please correct me if I'm wrong; I only started to really get into computers about a year ago--but there's no such board size as mid-ATX. The whole mini-tower/mid-tower/full-tower thing just refers to how big the case is (and usually is a ballpark indicator of the number of drive bays). Your case will fit regular ATX and microATX.

 

[Nocturnal]

Originally posted by: Zugzwang152

Originally posted by: Nocturnal

Originally posted by: ts3433
eVGA's a top-notch manufacturer of nV cards.

Yes, this is the main reason I went with them. Although I would have gone with BFG if they had one available. I was going to go through ZZF but I didn't want the order to be split up. Life-time warranty > *

ZZF's shipping policies to your location are second to none.

Yes, I know. However I needed it OVERNIGHT by Friday. I have a project due on Monday and my computer is a goners.

 

[l Xes l]

not bad