is my build ok ?

Gadzookie · Sep 23, 2005

Antec LifeStyle SONATA II Piano Black Mid Tower Case
450Watt SmartPower 2.0 Power Supply 104.00

AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego Socket 939 Processor 289.00
EPoX EP-9NPA+Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard 95.00
CORSAIR ValueSelect (2 x 1GB) DDR 400 (PC 3200) Memory 216.00
Maxtor DiamondMax 10 6B250S0 250GB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive 97.00
NEC Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive 7.99
NEC Black IDE DVD Burner Model ND-3540A 39.75
GIGABYTE Geforce 6600GT 128MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI-E 148.00

Total 996.74

what do you guys think ? for a gaming rig ? everything comptaible going to order today

inthell · Sep 23, 2005

cpu great
board epox is good you may also want to check out MSI or ABIT (just make sure its a NFORCE4 chipset)
value select is not great for ocing my value select memory only overclocks to DDR426 at cas2.5
the 6600GT is good but EVGA is a better brand IMO or get a 6800

thats my 2cents

HMSRevenant · Sep 23, 2005

I agree with the video card recommendation (I think the system has good components but upgrade the video card since it will be holding your system back pefromance-wise; that is, if you're not on a strict budget of $1000) and I would also suggest upgrading the PSU or getting a PSU separately from the case. I read the power output on that PSU on newegg (which I believe comes with the case) and it only has 17A on the 12V rail. Around here, I believe that a rating of 18A or higher is recommended - not exactly sure how much higher for your set up but I think 28-32A on a single rail PSU or 16-18A on both rails of dual rail PSU will be more than enough (if not overkill). I know this because a friend of mine had crash problems running his comptuer because the 12V rail on his PSU only had 15A and was running an x800xl. Hope this helps.

CraigRT · Sep 23, 2005

Looks excellent to me..

Gadzookie · Sep 23, 2005

Antec Solution SLK3000-B Black Mid Tower Case 49.00
FSP Group (Fortron Source) AX450-PN 450W Power Supply 49.99

AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego Socket 939 Processor 289.00
EPoX EP-9NPA+Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard 95.00
GeIL Value 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR 400 (PC 3200) Memory 203.51
Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 80GB 3.5" SATA Hard Drive 65.00
NEC Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive 7.99
NEC Black IDE DVD Burner Model ND-3540A 39.75
GIGABYTE Geforce 6800 256MB DDR PCI Express Video Card 198.00

Total 997.24

how about that i lowered the hardrive to 80 gigs i dont need all that space and i bumped up the card

also went with geil memory are those good ?

GamerExpress · Sep 23, 2005

Originally posted by: Gadzookie
Antec Solution SLK3000-B Black Mid Tower Case 49.00
FSP Group (Fortron Source) AX450-PN 450W Power Supply 49.99

AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego Socket 939 Processor 289.00
EPoX EP-9NPA+Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard 95.00
GeIL Value 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR 400 (PC 3200) Memory 203.51
Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 80GB 3.5" SATA Hard Drive 65.00
NEC Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive 7.99
NEC Black IDE DVD Burner Model ND-3540A 39.75
GIGABYTE Geforce 6800 256MB DDR PCI Express Video Card 198.00

Total 997.24

how about that i lowered the hardrive to 80 gigs i dont need all that space and i bumped up the card

also went with geil memory are those good ?

You are always asking for advice here on your build, I think asking for advice here is great!!!! The only problem I have is I have seen like 3 very diferent builds from you on here and you still haven't bought anything??? Strange that's all.

I think it all looks good except I would change a couple things. I would go with the Venice 3200+ instead of the San Diego as well as going back to the Corsair Value select. I would then go with an x800xl, this should get you in right around that $1000 amount.

HMSRevenant · Sep 23, 2005

I've heard good reviews about Forton Source and while price isn't always a determining factor of quality, I'm a little hesitant to OK that PSU. IF you could plop down an additional $24 I would recommend this instead : Antec SmartPower 2.0 SP-500 ($74 shipped from ZZF). Someone please second this if you agree. A good PSU will ensure a healthy system.

Kyanzes · Sep 23, 2005

Originally posted by: Gadzookie
Antec Solution SLK3000-B Black Mid Tower Case 49.00
FSP Group (Fortron Source) AX450-PN 450W Power Supply 49.99

AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego Socket 939 Processor 289.00
EPoX EP-9NPA+Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard 95.00
GeIL Value 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR 400 (PC 3200) Memory 203.51
Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 80GB 3.5" SATA Hard Drive 65.00
NEC Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive 7.99
NEC Black IDE DVD Burner Model ND-3540A 39.75
GIGABYTE Geforce 6800 256MB DDR PCI Express Video Card 198.00

Total 997.24

how about that i lowered the hardrive to 80 gigs i dont need all that space and i bumped up the card

also went with geil memory are those good ?

Drop to the smallest available Athlon 64 (if on budget) and pair it up with a 7800GT or 7800GTX If on a limited budget I would even consider reducing the RAM to half of it instead of giving up on 7800GT/GTX

Fresh Daemon · Sep 23, 2005

I don't think this build is a good idea at all!

For a gaming rig it's poorly matched. You're blowing all your money on a CPU, when your graphics card is relatively underpowered. The bottleneck in modern games happens at the graphics card, not the CPU. Downgrade to a 3200+ or 3000+ Venice and upgrade the graphics card instead. This will give much better framerates in games - especially if you overclock it, which should be no great shakes on an Epox board.

There's no point spending money on 2GB of RAM with that graphics card. The only games that will take advantage of it are FEAR and BF2, and with that graphics card, there's no way you'll be able to run those at the detail levels where 2GB really helps.

You are the best judge of how much storage space you need, but you could also consider shaving off some hard drive space.

It just seems to me that for a gaming rig, you're skimping on the most important component of all and splurging on everything else!

Fresh Daemon · Sep 23, 2005

Damn, beaten to it by Kyanzes. Consider it a QFT.

Kyanzes · Sep 23, 2005

Originally posted by: Fresh Daemon
Damn, beaten to it by Kyanzes. Consider it a QFT.

I swear I didn't see your post before editing mine

DerelictDev · Sep 23, 2005

the build is perfectly fine.
I own the same mobo and love it!
The card is absolutely fine for practically any games.
Runs BF2 w/o and lag or jittery @ 1186 X 800? (some number around 800) with all high settings!
But if u want to run at higher res than yea you probably need a better vid card.

I use a LCD so thats the max res BF2 can go ;p

inthell · Sep 23, 2005

$198 for a 6800 is a great card but a little high you could consider getting a x800 pro refurb from ATI.com for cheaper as long as they're still instock and you dont mind buying a refurb

oh and you can get a Antec Solution SLK3000-B Black Mid Tower Case cheaper at amazon.com

Kyanzes · Sep 23, 2005

Originally posted by: DerelictDev
the build is perfectly fine.
I own the same mobo and love it!
The card is absolutely fine for practically any games.
Runs BF2 w/o and lag or jittery @ 1186 X 800? (some number around 800) with all high settings!
But if u want to run at higher res than yea you probably need a better vid card.

I use a LCD so thats the max res BF2 can go ;p

I wouldn't say that his initial idea of the config is worthless or anything, I merely think that as we are talking about a gaming PC it is best to tune up the card in the first place. Everything else is secondary. It's easy and inexpensive to upgrade the rig later with memory and even a CPU upgrade wouldn't be that pricy in comparison to a video card.

HMSRevenant · Sep 23, 2005

I second inthell ... IF you're not going for the better video card (which I agree with them you should) the x800PRO is on sale as a refurb on ATI right now for 179 +s&h.

Something cheaper from Amazon? Hah, that's novel...*takes out gift card and buys some crap*

Gadzookie · Sep 23, 2005

if i drop down to a 3200 and get a 7800 gt will the cpu handle it ? i kinda want a gaming system that will last as long as possiable thats also why i went with 2 gigs and a crappy vid card i can always upgrade that

0o · Sep 23, 2005

Looks good. But you might want to buy a BFG card instead. Great tech support and warrenty.

Kyanzes · Sep 23, 2005

Originally posted by: Gadzookie
if i drop down to a 3200 and get a 7800 gt will the cpu handle it ? i kinda want a gaming system that will last as long as possiable thats also why i went with 2 gigs and a crappy vid card i can always upgrade that

If you always want to upgrade your 'crappy vid card' then sure, your original build is the way to go. It's not a bad config. A rig with a 7800GT/GTX with a 'low-end' A64 and 'mere' 1GB of RAM however will easily eat your 2GIG/3700+/6600GT for breakfast. It's NOT a bad config though.

Fresh Daemon · Sep 23, 2005

if i drop down to a 3200 and get a 7800 gt will the cpu handle it ?

Yup. Check it out: http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/athlon_64_geforce_7800_gtx_scaling/

You can always overclock the 3200. On an Epox it should be a snap to reach at least 3500+ speeds if not higher. But the graphics card is the heart of any gaming rig. The CPU is just a supporting actor.

Gadzookie · Sep 23, 2005

Antec Solution SLK3000-B Black Mid Tower Case 49.00
FSP Group (Fortron Source) AX450-PN 450W Power Supply 49.99

AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice Socket 939 Processor 190.00
EPoX EP-9NPA+Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard 95.00
CORSAIR ValueSelect 2 x 512MB DDR 400 PC 3200 Memory 90.50
Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 80GB 3.5" SATA Hard Drive 65.00
NEC Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive 7.99
NEC Black IDE DVD Burner Model ND-3540A 39.75
XFX Geforce 7800GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express Video Card 384.00

Total 971.23

ok i think i will go with this what do you think i get farcry too !

stelleg151 · Sep 23, 2005

Great gaming rig, but maybe drop down to the 3000+, OC it, and you might be able to afford getting that second gig. If you dont want to OC then your system looks great.

Fresh Daemon · Sep 23, 2005

Great gaming rig, but maybe drop down to the 3000+, OC it

QFT.

Drop down to the 3000+, it will overclock as far as the 3200+ on that Epox anyway. Spend that extra money and scrape together enough for 2GB of RAM if you can. Put together that CPU, 2GB and a 7800GT and you have a great system for FEAR, BF2 and other high-powered games.

Gadzookie · Sep 23, 2005

i decided to put in some more money i dont want to compromise thisis what i got now

Antec Solution SLK3000-B Black Mid Tower Case 49.00
FSP Group (Fortron Source) AX450-PN 450W Power Supply 49.99
AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Venice Socket 939 Processor 219.00
EPoX EP-9NPA+Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard 95.00
CORSAIR ValueSelect 2 x 1GB DDR 400 PC 3200 Memory 216.00
Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 80GB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive 65.00
NEC Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive 7.99
NEC Black IDE DVD Burner Model ND-3540A 39.75
XFX Geforce 7800GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express Video Card 384.00

Total 1125.73

i know everyone will say drop the 3500 to a 3200 or a 3000 but i do not want to overclock and its only 30 bucks more then a 3200

what do you guys think ?

can anyone recomend a good crt monitor ?

Kyanzes · Sep 23, 2005

Much more sound.

inthell · Sep 23, 2005

the 3200 has a 10 multi which is better IMO

and if you plan on buying BF2 get the EVGA 7800GT it comes with BF2 so thats a $50 savings

is my build ok ?

Senior member

Senior member

Junior Member

Lifer

Senior member

Banned

Junior Member

Golden Member

Senior member

Senior member

Golden Member

Senior member

Senior member

Golden Member

Junior Member

Senior member

Banned

Golden Member

Senior member

Senior member

Senior member

Senior member

Senior member

Golden Member

Senior member