How's this for an entry level High-End Gaming Machine

[Quiksilver]

Hi guys, it's been awhile since i posted last, i've been busy with life, work, and other mixed bags of goodies. Anyway back on topic. I'm building my own system and i wanted to get as many opinions from people as possible.

Here's the specs:

Case: Coolermaster PAC-T01-EK
Powersupply: Silverstone ST60F
Motherboard: Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe
Processor: AMD 4000+ San Diego Core
Video Card: Evga nVidia 7800GTX w/ ACS3
Sound Card: Soundblaster Audigy 2 ZS Gamer Edition *Newer model*
Optical Drive 1: Samsung W162C/BEBN
Optical Drive 2: Samsung W162C/BEBN
Floppy Drive: Sony MPF9201121-1
Hard Drive: Seagate 250GB SATA 7200.8
Heatsink/Fan: Zalman CNPS7700-Cu
Case Fans: 4x Panaflo H1A
Monitor: Viewsonic VX922
Thermal Paste: Arctic Silver 5
Speakers: Logitech Z-5500
Keyboard: Logitech Elite Keyboard
Mouse: Logitech G7
Operating System: Windows XP Professional w/ SP2


What is Left for me to buy:

Processor: AMD 4000+ San Diego Core
Video Card: Evga nVidia 7800GTX w/ ACS3
Monitor: Viewsonic VX922
Speakers: Logitech Z-5500
Keyboard: Logitech Elite Keyboard
Mouse: Logitech G7
Operating System: Windows XP Professional w/ SP2


So what do you guys think of this build? Also if you want reason's for certain part's i'll gladly post those at a later time, but until then thanks for reading.

Aresponse would be nice, Thanks.

 

[cx32]

it looks pretty nice. i think you should consider getting dual-core and maybe a better heatsink

 

[Rinaun]

Dual core and a name brand PSU. Never heard of silverstone.

 

[aatf510]

I had the Logitech G7 for a while, it wasn't the worst, but it was nothing compare to the G5 now I am using.
Almost for the price of eVGA GTX + ACS3, you are probably better off with x1800xt.

 

[SuperSilicon]

Looks pretty good to me, I have the logitech Elite Keyboard, I will reccomend a microsoft similar version over that model. Only because mine doesnt want to work in ms-dos (reformating etc) Just a suggestion.

 

[Quiksilver]

Could you give me a more specific reason to go dual core? The X2 3800+ is barely ahead of the 3700+ and 4000+ (if i am remembering correctly)
Silverstone, is however a name brand power supply company, falcon northwest uses them. Also they make cases, case fans, and a few other goodies.

I like wireless mice, would be the only realy reason why i'm going with the G7, i currently have the MX Duo for this family PC. So i know how the Logitech elite fuctions as well so i prefer not to change. As for MSDOS reforatting, if the elite doesn;t work, i have an extra Ps2 mouse a keyboard to use.


Oh and as fot the X1800 by ati, at the moment IMO nVidia is much better and i'm welling to choose the 7800GTX over the X1800.

 

[Rinaun]

everyone is getting so hyped up over ATI lately. Theyre gonna have a crapload of bugs come the new card and then everyone will be whining. IMO right now the most stable card you can get are 7800gtx's, esp from EVGA.

 

[SuperSilicon]

Originally posted by: Rinaun
everyone is getting so hyped up over ATI lately. Theyre gonna have a crapload of bugs come the new card and then everyone will be whining. IMO right now the most stable card you can get are 7800gtx's, esp from EVGA.

Agreed, seems like people havnt done there homework on the difference between the new cards.

 

[professor1942]

The heatsinks that come with the San Diego chips are MORE than sufficient unless you plan on doing some really extreme overclocking. My 3700+ @ 2.6 Ghz is currently running at 25 degrees idle, 40 under load with the stock heatsink.

 

[007ELmO]

Well since some of the comments are seemingly opinionated towards NVidia, I will just say I haven't owned an Nvidia card yet that has topped ATI in image quality.

That's not to say I'm not considreing a GTX.

 

[Quiksilver]

Well, i don't intend on doing any overclocking until my warranty's is up So until then, my goal is really to keep this thing "cold as ice" basically if i were to set a goal;
Idle: Under 22C
Load: Under 32C
Full Usage: Under 35C

Edit:
Also I really can't change the heatsink, as i alreayd have it.

Image quality towatrds ATI? hmm... When i was doing research between nVidia and ATI, it seemed like the image quality favored nVidia most of the time...

 

[007ELmO]

I'm not going to research to combat that. I feel the general consensus is that overall IQ goes to ATI, while framerate goes to Nvidia. That has changed a bit now and then, but I still believe it to be true.

 

[aatf510]

Originally posted by: QuiksilverX1
Well, i don't intend on doing any overclocking until my warranty's is up So until then, my goal is really to keep this thing "cold as ice" basically if i were to set a goal;

Then do not get the 3800+, the single core performance of the x2 3800+ isn't quite up to par for future use.

 

[Quiksilver]

Originally posted by: toattett

Originally posted by: QuiksilverX1
Well, i don't intend on doing any overclocking until my warranty's is up So until then, my goal is really to keep this thing "cold as ice" basically if i were to set a goal;

Then do not get the 3800+, the single core performance of the x2 3800+ isn't quite up to par for future use.

wasn't playing on it my san diego 4000+ will probably work jsut fine.

 

[cpacini]

Idle: Under 22C

Not gonna happen with that cooler. Unless you live in a freezer.

 

[Skott]

Silverstone is probably more known for their cases than anything else. They also make the cases for the FNW Fragbox and Fragbox2. Their psu units are pretty good but mostly found in their SFF lanboxes. Not sure how well they perform on the big boy systems.

 

[Quiksilver]

Originally posted by: cpacini

Idle: Under 22C

Not gonna happen with that cooler. Unless you live in a freezer.

I'll make it happen somehow

The ambient room tempature is 68 degrees Farneheit in my house.
4x case fans pushing 39.2CFM.
a well cabled case.

i might get it at 22 or perhaps lower.

 

[professor1942]

I've got mine down to 24c now with 5 case fans

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Originally posted by: QuiksilverX1

Originally posted by: cpacini

Idle: Under 22C

Not gonna happen with that cooler. Unless you live in a freezer.

I'll make it happen somehow

The ambient room tempature is 68 degrees Farneheit in my house.
4x case fans pushing 39.2CFM.
a well cabled case.

i might get it at 22 or perhaps lower.

Duh! NO!!!

Not unless you put in a chilled water system. Even highend watercooling won't provide those kind of temps. The coolest idle temps I have achieved with high end air is using CnQ with the CPU downclocked to 1.5ghz with 1.1v and my idle temps still only drop to 34-35c

 

[Quiksilver]

that doesn't sound right lol. when you did that were you using AS5 and a non-stock heatsink that was all copper?

 

[professor1942]

Everything I've read so far would suggest that the stock heatsink works better than any "high-end" solution.

24/35 here now...

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Not in my case, I've upgraded both of my A64 machines from the stock HSF and saw an improvement of idle and load by several degrees in both cases.

I will say that ambient room temps have a large impact on CPU temps, I live in Texas where even this time of year my room temps are 75-80f which will make my temps a few degrees higher than most. And there also seems to be a wide variety in how mobo's report temps which can also account for large differences.

My point is that expecting your idle temps to be 22c-70f in the majority of cases is wishful thinking, becuase no cooling solution is perfectly efficiant your CPU will always run at least a few degrees above the ambient temps.

 

[professor1942]

Ah yeah that would explain it, the room here is typically 65-70 (I'm in rainy Vancouver).