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Gaming Build Redo

Sonikku

Sonikku

Lifer
After doing a great deal more research I came up with what I hope is my final selection of PC parts. As suggested in the title, it will be for heavy gaming first and foremost. I hope to be able to play Battlefield 2 at high quality settings. (along with Half Life 2, WoW, Doom 3, Far Cry ect.) I'm not really going to get into much OC, save for maybe getting my 1.8 ghz Venice up to 2 or 2.2 Ghz.

DVD Burner $40.99
NEC Black IDE DVD Burner Model ND-3540A - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16827152047

Case $109.00
Antec SONATA II Piano Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 450Watt SmartPower 2.0 ATX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16811129155

HDD $53.75
HITACHI Deskstar 7K80 HDS728080PLA380 -0A30356 80GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA II Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16822145082

SLI MOBO $160.99
ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813131517

X2
Video Card $158.00 (x2 = $308)
GIGABYTE GV-NX66T128D Geforce 6600GT 128MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16814125156

Ram $199
CORSAIR ValueSelect 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered System Memory Model VS2GBKIT400C3 - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16820145579

CPU $146
AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Venice 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Processor Model ADA3000BPBOX - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16819103537

Total:$1,064.04

The only two issues in my mind are the Ram and the Video Cards. With the ram, I'm tempted to go with 1GB (2x512) of Corsair Value ram for 80 bucks. I say this because it has lower latency that might be better for OC with my 6600gt's and Venice CPU. Also, it's cheaper and many say 1 gb is all you need for heavy gaming. On the other hand, I'm leaning towards a dual channel 2GB set for better BattleField 2 and WoW performance as it seems as though they like more ram. But the thing with that is that it costs 200 bucks and has a CAS latency of 3, hindering cpu and video cards OCing. As for the price, it seems cheaper to buy single 1gb sticks of corsair value ram as opposed to a dual channel kit. The question here is if it's worth it to go with the dual channel kit or buy two 1 gb sets seperate. If the two seperate sticks are similar and can be run in dual channel that would be prefered, but I just don't know in this case. Advice on this subject would be appreciated.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16820145579
or
X2 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145505

The other issue is my video card(s). My MOBO has seen great reviews and offers a Dual video card SLI setup. It is for that reason that I thought dual 6600GT's would be very nice for gaming. But in my original setup I had gone with a single X800XL for $292.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814127156
Are two 6600GT's in a dual SLI setup superior to a single X800XL for about the same price? The other thing I'm curious about is if my MOBO would be compatible with Crossfire. If it is, it could be considered to go with a X800XL now, then with costs fall on this card in a years time buy another and run a crossfire setup instead.

Comments would be appreciated.
 
no one would suggest the asus sli deluxe as it has many problems. and no nforce4 mobo is not crossfire compatible. you will not be overclocking that ram or the corsair vs any, both would probably top at out <210mhz, run a divider and you can oc the the cpu without being held back by your ram, and oc your video card has nothing to do with any other component in your system. and do you really need a sli mobo (the answer is no)? and your not gonna be playing battlefield on high quality(with a decent resolution) with a 6600gt.
 
Drop the 2x 6600gt and get one 6800GT, in which case you could also drop the SLI board unless you plan to drop in another 6800GT later.

OR

Drop the SLI board and get the X800Xl(~$250) or the x850 on sale for $350, check the hot deals.


 
if you can fit it in the buget get a 6800gt as it outpreforms sli 660gts and 4x512 for your ram it will be cheaper and the venice will keep it at 1t
 
Besides making sure that any further increases in ram would be difficult, don't Athlon 64 cpu's like 2 sticks instead of 4?

The thing I like about dual video card setups is that they give me room to expand. Everyone complains about how their video card goes down in price in 2-3 months. The way I see it, it would be cheaper to get a dual VC mobo upfront with a single high end card. Then, a year or so later when the costs have fallen on the same card I could get another and run it in a dual setup. That would build onto the power of my previous video card as opposed to tossing it and starting again with a single, much more expensive card.
 
Lose the SLI board. There is no reason to buy it when you have a 6600GT listed there. I would get the Epox NF4 Ultra.
 
dual 6600gt are beaten by a 6800gt, and maybe in cs:s or halflife by a x800xl. if you do a quick search in the forums you'll find that the sli deluxe had issue overclocking (fixed by a bios flash) and a fan that will have to be replaced when you get it, as it has has a high pitched squeel because it runs at 8000rpms
 
So assuming I go with the X800XL, what is the difference between the EPoX EP-9NPAJ MOBO and the EPoX EP-9NPA+Ultra? (As well as the SLI version for that matter) And which way should I lean with ram? 2 gigs or 1 gig. Four sticks or two.
 
Any ideas on the ram? Is it true 4 sticks of ram hurt the speed when running a Athlon 64, or does the new Venice model solve the problem?
 
The Venice solves the issue of dropping 2 sticks to 333 MHz. I've read that the Venice will also run 2 sticks at 1T, but but not sure abotu that. So you should be all right with 4x512. But as shoRunner stated, value RAM doesn't really OC, no matter what size or CL. Just run a divider for the RAM.

I also agree with the others to go with a single 6800GT or X800XL. I suggest the 6800GT because most will OC to Ultra speeds (or very close) without issue, but I'm probably a little biased. Both cards are excellent.
 
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