How does this Rig sound for about $1000

[ahurtt]

Ok, I can get this stuff for about $925 US. Just need to pick a motherboard and case to finish it out.

AMD Athlon 64 3200, Socket 939 Winchester 90nm @ 2.0 GHz
1 Gig (2 X 512) Corsair XMS Low Latency PC 3200 (DDR 400) @ 2-2-2-5
BFG GeForce 6600 GT OC - PCI express
Maxtor 250 Gig SATA 7200 RPM Hard Drive / 16MB cache
Sony OEM DVD-ROM/CD-RW combo drive 16x- 52x,24x,52x
(I never use the DVD drive I have now and rarely even burn CD's let alone DVD's)

How does this sound as a starting point? All I need to do is decide if I want to do SLI graphics in the future then and pick a motherboard and a case. I couldn't justify the more than $300 for a 6800 card and if I decide to save up some money and go SLI in the future it will probably be better than I need using 2 6600 GT's. So I'll probably go ahead an spring for an nForce 4 SLI board. . . likely the Asus A8N everybody seems to be raving about. I have heard a lot of people say good things about Lian-Li cases so I'll take a look at those too. Anybody recommend any case makers that ship cases with non-sucky PSU included? I'm trying to keep this system around $1200 because I still have got to buy a monitor too on top of the machine and I want to get a nice flat panel one with quick response time for games. Will this system rock or flop?

 

[Relion]

Sounds right...*if* it would be me...I d save in Ram and buy a 6800GT but seems like a nice build anyway

 

[ts3433]

Dump the expensive RAM (see the sticky in the CPU/OC forum for why expensive RAM is a waste on the A64), move up to a 6800GT AGP with a good motherboard (Epox EP-9NDA3+ or MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum), and you're set. You could also wait for more PCIe availability and more reasonable prices.

 

[w00t]

Originally posted by: Relion
Sounds right...*if* it would be me...I d save in Ram and buy a 6800GT but seems like a nice build anyway

ya get better ram and go with an nf4 sli get one 6800gt than if u decide u can get another 6800gt

 

[ahurtt]

well I have already decided to go socket 939 and I figured while I'm at it, might as well go PCI express as well. So I have locked in my decision there. As for the video card, I figured out that if I get an nForce SLI board like the Asus A8N, I can actually buy 2 BFG 6600 GT PCI-X cards and run them in SLI for less than I can buy 1 6800 GT card in either AGP or PCI. Have there been any performance comparisons on how a dual configuration with a lesser card stacks up against a single "better" card? Any links appreciated. Thanks!

 

[ts3433]

Two 6600GTs are almost on par with one 6800GT, but that kinda kills the upgradeability part of SLI (buy one card now, upgrade later for ~60-70% more performance when necessary). If you don't plan to run above 1280x1024 very high details, though, a single 6600GT will be great.

 

[Petty Blue]

* bump *

I don't mean to hijack your thread, ahurtt. Glad you're posting this. I'm currently contemplating the same, with an identical budget in mind.

Either:
PCI-E SLI with one 6800 GT and another in a year or less (or one or two completely different GPUs)?

Or
PCI-E non-SLI with the same single 6800 GT?

Or
PCI-E SLI with two 6600 GTs?

My goal is good fps on Doom/Farcry/MOH/COD.

Anyone have the PCI-E non-SLI with one 6800 GT and playing these aforementioned? If so, what resolutions and settings?

Anyone have the PCI-E SLI and playing these with two 6600 GTs? What resolutions and settings?

Thanks in advance. I know I sound like a total noob.

 

[ts3433]

This all depends on what resolutions/details you want to run. You can get good FPS with a Ti4200, but that's running something like 800x600 with low-medium details.

 

[Petty Blue]

I'm sorry. I should have been more specific.

I guess I mean what's the best resolutions and settings you can run these and other more graphic - intensive games with these motherboard/videocard setups?

Thanks again.

 

[ahurtt]

In a couple years, assuming I don't rebuild altogether a whole new machine, I can probably put 2 6800 GT's in there and run them in SLI mode for less than I'm gonna pay for 2 6600 GT's today. But right now I'm focused on immediate cost. And if I can get nearly the same performance of a 6800 GT for cheaper by buying 2 lesser cards, I'll do it (Granted it won't be ALOT cheaper but it will be cheaper maybe $50 or so). Although I think using even one 6600 GT for me is probably gonna blow me away since Doom 3 and Half Life 2 run fine on my current rig with an mildly overclocked Geforce FX 5900 XT 8x AGP from Gainward, a P4 2.53 GHz (not HT) 533 FSB, and a Gig of PC 2700. The only game that seems to tax this system now is Far Cry with high detail settings. The nice thing about this is, I only have to buy 1 6600 GT right now and I can see if it works well enough alone. If not, I buy another and I still come out cheaper than if I blew the whole wad on 1 6800 GT.

 

[ts3433]

A 6800GT will probably get you 1600x1200 very smoothly with maximum details and more AA on top of that. Two 6600GTs should be close to that. A single 6600GT will probably get you 1280x1024 on near-maximum details (it can't handle AA as well as the 6800), or maybe 1600x1200 with more moderate details. The choice all comes down to what you're willing to spend and what you're expecting from this.

 

[nick1985]

you are spending money in all the wrong places...i could make a cheap socket 754 rig with a 6800GT that will blow the crap out of the rig you are making...for less money!

 

[ahurtt]

Originally posted by: Petty Blue
I'm sorry. I should have been more specific.

I guess I mean what's the best resolutions and settings you can run these and other more graphic - intensive games with these motherboard/videocard setups?

Thanks again.

The best resolution you can run is also gonna depend on how much eye candy and other effects you turn on. I think what a lot of people are shooting for is to run every game in like 1600 x 1200 resolution with 8x Antialias and like 8x antistropic filtering with all textures and detail levels set to ultra high. All fine and good if you have several thousand bucks. For me, running in 1024 X 768 or 1152 X 864 is fine. Detail for me at this level is more than acceptable and with 2 6600 GT's (overclocked at that) I should easily be able to attain that and more with lots of other goodies turned on. Would I like to have that dual 6800 Ultra system? Yeah, if I happen to win one in a raffle or one happens to just "fall off a truck" somewhere. But for now I have to pay for this thing outta pocket haha I will see what one 6600 GT gets me first, and then if I'm not happy I'll put in another one.

 

[ahurtt]

Originally posted by: nick1985
you are spending money in all the wrong places...i could make a cheap socket 754 rig with a 6800GT that will blow the crap out of the rig you are making...for less money!

And in one year from now when AMD no longer makes socket 754 packaged cpu's, you will have what to upgrade to? Nada. . .new system time. Current socket 939 boards will work with the upcoming dual core cpu's with only a Bios update. And you can now get an Athlon 64 90nm Winchester CPU for less than $200. This is a new low pricepoint for breaking into 64 bit processors. But opinions are like buttholes. . .we all got 'em, they all stink.

 

[nick1985]

Originally posted by: ahurtt

Originally posted by: nick1985
you are spending money in all the wrong places...i could make a cheap socket 754 rig with a 6800GT that will blow the crap out of the rig you are making...for less money!

And in one year from now when AMD no longer makes socket 754 packaged cpu's, you will have what to upgrade to? Nada. . .new system time. Current socket 939 boards will work with the upcoming dual core cpu's with only a Bios update. And you can now get an Athlon 64 90nm Winchester CPU for less than $200. This is a new low pricepoint for breaking into 64 bit processors. But opinions are like buttholes. . .we all got 'em, they all stink.

im well aware of the cost of a winchester...

and i said 754 just for the sake of argurment.

hows this: i can make a 939 rig that will kick the crap out of yours in games for cheaper. better?

 

[beany323]

hi all,

well i have been deciding over the last week or two about a new system...

based on both having identical parts and buying made from cyberguys and atm having only gt6800 ultras here is what their cost is:

sli = 2821.00 (no tax)
pci-e = 2742.00 (no tax also)

both have:
fx-55 sony 16x dvd-rom
nec 3500a 16 dvd dual
hdd:
seagate 120 7200
western digital 200 gb 7200
motherboard: asus a8n sli deluxe (not sure for the non-sli if i should get same board as the sli one)(probably not)
powersupply: super alien 500watt see through (ok i like the lights!!)
sound: ceative labs sb audigy 2 value 7.1 (need to check what is better/best for gaming)
speakers: creative labs inspire p7800 7.1
video card: both have a single gt6800 ultra
fan amd antlon64 cert cpu fan and heatsink = 2 extra 3 color led case fans(ok so i play with the lights off!!)
memory: 1024 (512x3) pc3200 400 mhz dual cannel ddr (cosair xms high preformance memory w/heat spreader)
no RAID

thats basically it...

i will/plan on pricing to do it myself, after getting some magazines on buildig your own comp... looks like i can do that.... (probably what scares me is the bios, i have yet to deal with those/that)


just some food for thought. i will start looking around online and see what the cost is gonna be for same/similar parts and decide for myself if i should attempt to do it myself. (the magazines make it look pretty simple!)

thanks!!

NOTE: no spell check..need to go home from work! laterz

 

[ahurtt]

Originally posted by: nick1985

Originally posted by: ahurtt

Originally posted by: nick1985
you are spending money in all the wrong places...i could make a cheap socket 754 rig with a 6800GT that will blow the crap out of the rig you are making...for less money!

And in one year from now when AMD no longer makes socket 754 packaged cpu's, you will have what to upgrade to? Nada. . .new system time. Current socket 939 boards will work with the upcoming dual core cpu's with only a Bios update. And you can now get an Athlon 64 90nm Winchester CPU for less than $200. This is a new low pricepoint for breaking into 64 bit processors. But opinions are like buttholes. . .we all got 'em, they all stink.

im well aware of the cost of a winchester...

and i said 754 just for the sake of argurment.

hows this: i can make a 939 rig that will kick the crap out of yours in games for cheaper. better?

Yes, much better. Please go on. Elaborate. Be specific please. Details details

 

[nick1985]

just get an nforce3 250 939 board and a $400 6800GT

 

[ahurtt]

Ok that makes sense and I had thought of that. But that would be an AGP system. I'd like to be able to pop 2 GeForce 6800's in this thing one day when they come down in price though. And right now, even 1 6600 GT is better than what I have at the moment. I dunno. . .it'll all work out even in the end somehow anyway. In for a penny in for a pound I say.