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Definitely need some help designing a new rig!

H

HaelWho

Member
Alright guys, definitely need some help here. I'm not necessarily a PC guru by any means, but I can put a PC together fairly well, and I would like to build this one as well.

My current setup is:
Intel D845EBG2 with a broken second RAM slot
Radeon 9800 Pro 128
512mb of Kingston ValueRAM which has basically been crapping out on me now
32x CD-RW Drive
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Gamer
H/K Soundsticks 2
DVD Drive
80GB HD (I'm not even sure of the brand anymore)

My hard drive is a mess, it only has 5 gigs free and I've already cleared and formatted it multiple times. Basically, I need something new. At this point I've given up on upgrading. This computer is nearly 3 years old if I remember right.

First off I'd like to note that I want to keep this PC intact, so I'll only be willing to take the Soundcard and Speakers and move them to my new one. I can live with onboard sound and basic speakers on it.

Now then, I was looking at this setup:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16811144026
ASPIRE X-Dreamer II ATXB4KLW-BK Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 420W Power Supply - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813131517
ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16817103932
Antec TruePower 2.0 TP2-550 EPS12V ATX12V 550W Power Supply - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822148034[/Lhttp://[/L]
2x Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 SATA NCQ 3.5" Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16820145505
2x CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered System Memory - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/product/Product.asp?item=N82E16819103529
AMD Athlon 64 4000+ San Diego Integrated into Chip FSB Socket 939 Processor - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16814130215
eVGA 256-P2-N376-AX Geforce 6800GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16827106966
LITE-ON Black IDE DVD Burner Model SOHW-1673S BK

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16827131410
LITE-ON Black IDE DVD-ROM Drive Model SOHD-16P9SBLK

With Newegg prices, tax, and shipping, this comes out to $1,714.31

I'm looking to spend quite a bit less than that, but I really don't want to lose performance. Now, my question is, what can a change as far as components to lower price but keep the same (or boost 😀) my performance? I'd prefer to keep everything stock, and keep in mind that I've only picked these parts out based on recommendations from friends/web, so I'm perfectly happy to adjust, I have my heart set on nothing but:

-An AMD processor
-DVD burner
-250GB or more HD space, and I'd prefer to use Raid

Thanks a ton
-Josh

EDIT: Also wondering if I need to update my monitor. When I got it, it was the biggest I could fit in the area I had, but now I have enough space.

Samsung Syncmaster 570v TFT, 15"

It's never had any problems.
 
Alright. Get rid of the Asus board. They're nothing but trouble. If you want SLI, go for the DFI Lanparty NF4 SLI-DR or the MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum SLI. The DFI board is for overclockers, and is quite advanced. If you want ease of use, go with MSI.

Drop the 4000+ down to a 3700+ San Diego. You can easily overclock past the FX-55 mark with the stock cooler.

Get an ATI Radeon X800XL if you really want to save money. You can overclock it quite a bit, and it'll outperform the 6800GT in most cases.

NEVER NEVER NEVER get an Aspire case. Antec, Lian Li, Silverstone, or Thermaltake. Nothing else. 🙂
 
Looks like a great system to me. If you want to lower price you are going to have to take a good hard look at the CPU and grab one a bit on the cheaper side. You might also take off one each of the HD and RAM and do an upgrade later when you have more cash. Granted you lose the dual channel stuff with just one stick of RAM, but you gain the advantage of easily doing 2GB. Or downsize to 1GB (2x 512MB) If I did the priority thing I would remove the one HD and keep the 2GB of RAM. Shoot other than that I'm curious what is the price range you're ultimately shotting for?
 
Originally posted by: cscpianoman
Looks like a great system to me. If you want to lower price you are going to have to take a good hard look at the CPU and grab one a bit on the cheaper side. You might also take off one each of the HD and RAM and do an upgrade later when you have more cash. Granted you lose the dual channel stuff with just one stick of RAM, but you gain the advantage of easily doing 2GB. Or downsize to 1GB (2x 512MB) If I did the priority thing I would remove the one HD and keep the 2GB of RAM. Shoot other than that I'm curious what is the price range you're ultimately shotting for?
Click to expand...


Was hoping around $1,250-$1,500 actually, but if it's worth it to keep everything and pay the $300 dollars more, I might be able to stomach it.

-Josh
 
Originally posted by: TheFlamingDead
Jw, what on earth do you need 500gigs for? I mean I can hardly use 100.
Click to expand...

I was planning on one originally, but I'd like to use Raid. The 250gb Barracuda runs $121 from Newegg and the 200gb $115. But, now that you mentioned that, the 160gb Barracuda is $93, so there's $56 more for me 😀
 
Originally posted by: Bona Fide

Get an ATI Radeon X800XL if you really want to save money. You can overclock it quite a bit, and it'll outperform the 6800GT in most cases.

NEVER NEVER NEVER get an Aspire case. Antec, Lian Li, Silverstone, or Thermaltake. Nothing else. 🙂
Click to expand...

the x800xl will barely overclock at all. they have a great price/performace ratio but they are terrible overclockers.

here's what i'd change:

DVD burner $46

AMD 3700+ $323

EPoX ep-9npa $107

Enermax 535w $89

thats about $220 cheaper and you haven't lost any performace. the 3700+ will easily overclock 200mhz and the epox board is one of the best overclockers. if you go with the dfi you'll probably want to change the corsair ram because the DFI board is notorious for compatiblity issues with corsair value ram.
 
Alright, it's looking good so far. Can anyone be so kind as to make sure that all these parts are compatible? Thanks a bunch.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16811112040
Lian Li PC-65B Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813123236
EPoX EP-9NPA+Ultra Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16822148034
2x Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 SATA NCQ ST3160827AS 160GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16814130215
eVGA 256-P2-N376-AX Geforce 6800GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16817153009
THERMALTAKE Silent Purepower W0010 ATX 480W Power Supply - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16820227210
OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Platinum System Memory Model OCZ4002048ELDCPE-K - Retail (2-3-2-5)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16819103539
AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Processor Model ADA3700BNBOX - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16827131410
LITE-ON Black IDE DVD-ROM Drive Model SOHD-16P9SBLK - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16827106966
LITE-ON Black IDE DVD Burner Model SOHW-1673S BK - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16821103116
SONY Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive Windows 98SE/ ME/ 2000/ XP - OEM

Coming in at a total of $1,668.36 shipped.

Just as another question, how long will I be able to compete with this rig? Thanks
 
Case - Personally i dislike Lian Li cases but many many others rave about them so thats good (I guess)
Mobo - Epox 9NPA+ - Perfect choice, better overclockability then even the DFI, cheaper, and a bit easier to initially setup
HD's - Seagate rock, i would think about getting the 7200.8 versions though, they have better performance, even beat raptors in many cases.
Vid card - 6800gt is excellent card, but if you want to save some money go get a x800xl. You wont notice the diff. between a few fps higher or lower depending on the game.
PSU - Good psu, you dont even need 480W but that more the better

2 options -
CPU - I would say get a Venice 3000+ or 3200+ and luckily be able to overclock it to 2.7Ghz beating the 3700 Deigo. XP-90 HSF
Ram - Keep either the OCZ plats, or Patriots so you dont suffer too much on the latency.

CPU - Stay with the 3700+ Diego, and overclock it a bit
Ram - Use Valueram and with low OC it shouldnt suffer too much.

Optical drives are fine.

 
Originally posted by: DerelictDev

HD's - Seagate rock, i would think about getting the 7200.8 versions though, they have better performance, even beat raptors in many cases.
Click to expand...

Switched to the 250gb Barracuda 7200.8 with an 80gb Caviar SE. Ended up saving 5 dollars and got 10 gigs more space 😀
 
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