Going to Purchase This ... Gaming Box

[rajs]

Hello -- I've gone through the forums and managed to narrow down what I want to buy by around 11 AM Eastern on Friday morning (August 5th). I am trying to stick with 1 or 2 vendors -- NewEgg seemed cheaper the ZipZoomFly on the whole so far.

The RIG will be used for GAMING only and the items I am thinking about getting are listed below:

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Venice Socket 939 - OEM - $ 149
Motherboard: <a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16813123236">EPoX EP-9NPA+Ultra- $ 108
</a>PowerSupply: ENERMAX Noisetaker 485W Power Supply - $ 82
Case: COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 ATX Mid Tower Case - $ 55
CPU HSF: XP-90 - $ 43 with Panaflo 92mm Fan - $ 15
Thermal Compound: Arctic Silver 5 - $ 8
RAM: OCZ Value Series 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR400(PC 3200) Dual Channel - $ 194
HD: Maxtor DiamondMax10 300GB w/16MB Cache 7200 RPM SATA 150 - $ 145
DVD-DL: PLEXTOR DVD-DL Burner Model PX-740A - $ 71
Sound: Audigy 2 Value - $ 50
Wireless NIC: GIGABYTE PCI Wireless 802.11 b/g - $ 23
Floppy: MITSUMI 3.5 Floppy and 7 in 1 INTERNAL - $ 21

Things I have already:
GPU: eVGA 7800GTX factory overclocked Version with Batlefield2
Monitor: Dell 2405FP 24" LCD
Mouse: Logitech MX518 Mouse
GamePad: Belkin Nostromo n52 GamePad
Headphones: Sony MDR-3000
Head Amp: Ray Samuels Emmeline HR-2 Headphone Amp

I am not sure about the RAM -- I want 2GB of VALUE RAM that I can overclock with the CPU. Which is better outta these - Corsair ValueSelect - QTY 2 or OCZ Value Series - QTY 1 or is there something better in the same $$$ range.

The other question I had is there a place where I can get the ThermalRight XP-90 w/Panaflo 92mm fan cheaper then NewEgg ?


Thanks for the suggestions in helping me feel confident in pulling the trigger.

- raj

 

[Hacp]

Try these chips..
http://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/Fee...tratingReview.asp?item=N82E16820146970
I would assume that they all use the same chips...

These chips if you want Cas 2... Does provide an increase in performance...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820227210

I would get the NEC 3540A and buy the processor from Ewiz..
http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?src=eb&name=A64-3000BP

2-2-3-X will provide around 3-5% over 3-3-3-X and more over 3-4-4-X ram.......

 

[d2arcturus]

Stick with the OCZ and get a DFI LanParty Ultra-D. Best OCing NF4 board you can get.

Would your last name happen to be Swamidass?

 

[rajs]

d2arcturus -- Nope -- different last name -- based on what I am reading so far and what you and Hacp are saying ... I'll stick with the OCZ ... now I just need to figure out if moving up from what I have in my basket to one of the ones Hacp suggusted is worth the additional $$$ or not. I was considering the DFI UT Lanparty Ultra board but decided on the EPoX since it's apparently a pretty good OC'er also (not as good as DFI) but easier for a retard like me to handle configuring it. The last time I put together a machine was in the days of the old original Celerons that could be OC'ed like a MOFO -- back then I had a dual Celeron that was OC'ed -- man that case was L O U D with all the fans ...

Hacp - Thanks for the suggustions -- I ponder over 'em for another 8-9 hrs before I pull the gun.

Take care,

- raj

 

[w00t]

Originally posted by: d2arcturus
Stick with the OCZ and get a DFI LanParty Ultra-D. Best OCing NF4 board you can get.

Would your last name happen to be Swamidass?

dont listen to him.

 

[mOeeOm]

Originally posted by: d2arcturus
Stick with the OCZ and get a DFI LanParty Ultra-D. Best OCing NF4 board you can get.

Would your last name happen to be Swamidass?

Only suggestion I can make, oh and don't worry, my first build I did completly alone and it was the one in my sig...very easy and it went flawless, DFI arent as hard as people make em seem.

 

[Hacp]

IMO, DFI's best attribute (4.0 Vdimm) isn't used with 1gb modules. The Epox mobo will do just fine.

 

[d2arcturus]

Originally posted by: w00t

Originally posted by: d2arcturus
Stick with the OCZ and get a DFI LanParty Ultra-D. Best OCing NF4 board you can get.

Would your last name happen to be Swamidass?

dont listen to him.

You deny that it is the best NF4 OCing board?

 

[Hacp]

DFI is defenetly the best ocing board, but will the few extra oc perks be worth it? IMO, the extra money isn't worth it if hes getting 1gb sticks. If hes gettign 512 sticks,and can use UTT,then the extra money is defenetly worth it.

 

[rajs]

Guys -- I'll definitely be getting 2 GB total and using 1 GB sticks in it -- just makes it easier down the road to go to 4 GB if / when I decide to move to WinXP 64 down the road ... and some game starts taking advantage of the additional user space ram addressing that the Win64API has over the Win32API

 

[rajs]

All - Thanks for the help ... I pulled the trigger and got everything listed above except for making the following changes:

Instead of the OCZ memory listed above I got 2 of the Crucial 1 GB RAM. I read on other threads that this is pretty good stuff. Also I changed the color of my DVD drive bezel from beige to black -- whoohoo ... <grin>

The item I didn't order though was the CPU HSF: XP-90 - $ 43 with Panaflo 92mm Fan - $ 15 and the thermal compound: Arctic Silver 5 - $ 8

Prices from NewEgg seemed high -- any recommendations for another place that has it cheaper -- and is there a better HSF combo out there that is aircooled based and priced with the same range ?

Thanks again!

- raj