Is this setup The best BANG for its buck????

[Googer]

Originally posted by: Tostada
I certainly wouldn't call it "best bang for the buck." That CPU and video card are "a lotta bang for a lotta buck."

Like others have said, I'd go with the Venice A64, or get a San Diego if you want something nicer.

I have to disagree with people saying the NEC is better than the Pioneer. That's just not true. For $3 more the Pioneer is significantly faster in many things, especially ripping movies, ripping audio, and burning DL. 12X (dual-layer) and 16X (single-layer) ripping vs. 5X on the NEC is a huge difference. The NEC doesn't support 6X DL burning, and doesn't support DVD-R DL at all. The Pioneer doesn't have as many good reviews simply because it's a newer drive (and because you have to flash it to an A09 to get the faster ripping and quieter operation). I've expained this ad nauseam in a couple other recent threads, though, so I'll shut up.

...except to say that the NEC is just plain old and if you want an NEC you should wait a couple weeks for the 3540A.

Like others have said, I'd go with the Venice A64, or get a San Diego if you want something nicer.

San Diego is the Next FX chip and will bust his budget. I would not recommend it to him. Stick with the 3000+ or 3200+ Venice it is on or above PAR performance. An FX won't give him that much extra performance, it's not worth the wait. Wating for new technology to arrice is fruitless buy what is here and now.



My NEC drive is a POS, it blows. I would Agree with you when it comes to Pioneer and would Add Plextor to my recomendations. both drives are of very high quality design, manufacture, and construction.

 

[Gerbil333]

Originally posted by: Tostada
I certainly wouldn't call it "best bang for the buck." That CPU and video card are "a lotta bang for a lotta buck."

Like others have said, I'd go with the Venice A64, or get a San Diego if you want something nicer.

I have to disagree with people saying the NEC is better than the Pioneer. That's just not true. For $3 more the Pioneer is significantly faster in many things, especially ripping movies, ripping audio, and burning DL. 12X (dual-layer) and 16X (single-layer) ripping vs. 5X on the NEC is a huge difference. The NEC doesn't support 6X DL burning, and doesn't support DVD-R DL at all. The Pioneer doesn't have as many good reviews simply because it's a newer drive (and because you have to flash it to an A09 to get the faster ripping and quieter operation). I've expained this ad nauseam in a couple other recent threads, though, so I'll shut up.

...except to say that the NEC is just plain old and if you want an NEC you should wait a couple weeks for the 3540A.

That's some good advice. I was bothered by the slow ripping and CD-R burning, so I bought a 52x combo drive to do those jobs 🙂

 

[Chosonman]

The best bang for the buck:

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=27&threadid=1600366&enterthread=y

 

[Tostada]

Originally posted by: Googer
My NEC drive is a POS, it blows. I would Agree with you when it comes to Pioneer and would Add Plextor to my recomendations. both drives are of very high quality design, manufacture, and construction.

I had a Pioneer 104 (that ancient 2X drive) start making a clicking noise and die on me, too (although I don't suppose a 2nd-generation drive that needed a fan was really intended to last much more than 4 years). I really doubt Pioneer is much more reliable than NEC. There are just too many people around here who seem to love the drives. Those old NEC Multi-Spin CD-ROMs lasted forever.

I have an old UltraPlex that will probably never die, but I've even heard of people having Plextor drives die within a year.

Of course, it's hard not to write off a brand after you've had a few failures (for example, no matter how good the MaxLine drives are, it would be hard for me to get another Maxtor after the number of them I've had die, usually about a month after the warranty expired).

 

[Googer]

Originally posted by: Tostada

Originally posted by: Googer
My NEC drive is a POS, it blows. I would Agree with you when it comes to Pioneer and would Add Plextor to my recomendations. both drives are of very high quality design, manufacture, and construction.

I had a Pioneer 104 (that ancient 2X drive) start making a clicking noise and die on me, too (although I don't suppose a 2nd-generation drive that needed a fan was really intended to last much more than 4 years). I really doubt Pioneer is much more reliable than NEC. There are just too many people around here who seem to love the drives. Those old NEC Multi-Spin CD-ROMs lasted forever.

I have an old UltraPlex that will probably never die, but I've even heard of people having Plextor drives die within a year.

Of course, it's hard not to write off a brand after you've had a few failures (for example, no matter how good the MaxLine drives are, it would be hard for me to get another Maxtor after the number of them I've had die, usually about a month after the warranty expired).

All manufacturers have some failiure, MTBF is all part of the game. Some will Die sooner than others and much of it also depends on the user and the drives enviroment. But there is no denying that Most premature failures are the result of manufactureing defects.

Anyways My plextor drives are blazing fast, rock solid, and reliable. Plextor Rocks!
Second Place is Pioneer and Lite on Makes a decent budget drive, but is my last resort.

Also I have a whole stack of (at least 10) maxtor drives that range in size from 1.5, 2.0, 10, and 40gb, all of them have tons of useage on them. I have droped and abused them all; they all still work.

 

[Nodscene]

Googer, thanks for the input but there are reasons I ordered what I did. I got the 6600 for $255 and the cheapest 6800 is $410 Can. To me that is too big of a price difference. Frankly it's just not worth it for the amount of gaming I do. The same kind of applies to the mouse....I don't play fps at all so it would make no sense for me to spend more money on a mouse.

I have owned several LG's and have no complaints with them whatsoever. Also, every single review I read on them were positive and got the editors choice award. The second LG drive is for everyday use, plus it's always nice to have redundancy in a system in case anything goes wrong. Same reason why I bought 2 hd's instead of one big one.

Even though budget wasn't a huge concern I wanted to keep a full system under $2000. With your suggestions I would be at the $2000 dollar mark and I still wouldn't have a monitor or speakers.

 

[Googer]

Originally posted by: Nodscene
Googer, thanks for the input but there are reasons I ordered what I did. I got the 6600 for $255 and the cheapest 6800 is $410 Can. To me that is too big of a price difference. Frankly it's just not worth it for the amount of gaming I do. The same kind of applies to the mouse....I don't play fps at all so it would make no sense for me to spend more money on a mouse.

I have owned several LG's and have no complaints with them whatsoever. Also, every single review I read on them were positive and got the editors choice award. The second LG drive is for everyday use, plus it's always nice to have redundancy in a system in case anything goes wrong. Same reason why I bought 2 hd's instead of one big one.

Even though budget wasn't a huge concern I wanted to keep a full system under $2000. With your suggestions I would be at the $2000 dollar mark and I still wouldn't have a monitor or speakers.

I paid the same price for my MX518 and my MX500 they were both $49, but I think the price of the MX500 dropped 10 but that should not be a deal breaker. Best Buy is the only place localy that had any in stock.

This 6800GT Video Card is with in your Price Range it is just $45 more,
$299 6800 GT

 

[Googer]

Originally posted by: Nodscene
Googer, thanks for the input but there are reasons I ordered what I did. I got the 6600 for $255 and the cheapest 6800 is $410 Can. To me that is too big of a price difference. Frankly it's just not worth it for the amount of gaming I do. The same kind of applies to the mouse....I don't play fps at all so it would make no sense for me to spend more money on a mouse.

I have owned several LG's and have no complaints with them whatsoever. Also, every single review I read on them were positive and got the editors choice award. The second LG drive is for everyday use, plus it's always nice to have redundancy in a system in case anything goes wrong. Same reason why I bought 2 hd's instead of one big one.

Even though budget wasn't a huge concern I wanted to keep a full system under $2000. With your suggestions I would be at the $2000 dollar mark and I still wouldn't have a monitor or speakers.

I did not realise that you were canidian, oops!

 

[MDE]

Originally posted by: ShadowBlade
if youre buying a new os and have the extra $$, get xp pro 64
home is stupid, especially if you use the internet

WTH? Home is fine as long as you aren't joining a Domain. My laptop came preloaded with Home and it works perfectly fine, even for the internet. :roll:

 

[Googer]

Originally posted by: ShadowBlade
if youre buying a new os and have the extra $$, get xp pro 64
home is stupid, especially if you use the internet

What a moronic and insolent comment that is.

 

[gatorade]

ok let me break it down i am geting opinions from everyone and i apprechiate that so here it goes

this is my first build ever! and i am trying to pick stuff that is very easy to work with and i am not overclocking at all i think i have made a setup that is good and here it is

Lian Li PC-65B Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16811112040

ABIT AN8 Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16813127197

eVGA 256-P2-N376-AX Geforce 6800GT 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI-Express x16 Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130215

ENERMAX Whisper II EG465P-VE FMA(24) ATX12V 460W Power Supply 95V~135V or 180V~265V (selected by slide switch) UL, cUL, TUV, CB, DEMKO , NEMKO , SEMKO, FIMKO - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16817103464

AMD Athlon 64 3500+ ClawHammer/Hammer Integrated into Chip FSB 512KB L2 Cache Socket 939 Processor - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103514

CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Kit System Memory - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16820145440

NEC FD1231H-302 Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16821152005

SAMSUNG SpinPoint P Series SP1213C 120GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822152017

HYUNDAI L90D+ Silver 19" 8ms LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 700:1 Built in Speakers 0.294mm Pixel Pitch - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824179014

NEC Black 16X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 4X DVD+R DL 16X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 24X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2M Cache IDE DVD Burner - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16827152035

Logitech X-530 70 Watts 5.1 Speaker - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16836121118

Microsoft Windows XP HOME Edition With Service Pack 2 - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16837102151

$1,662.92

what do you guys think of that anything i should change there?

i know that i could make it better but what do you think so far

also the reason i chose that motherboard is cause it comes with its own sound card and a floppy drive so i dont have to make my own floppy drive and it loosk easy to work with cause i dont know how to make floppys drive for windows and i chose windows home cause i wont even use 2 monitors and windows home is all i need

 

[hurtstotalktoyou]

That is one heck of a video card.

I'm curious: can't you play even the most graphic-intensive games with a basic $50 video card? I mean, you'd have to reduce the resolution, but you'd still be able to play the games, right?

 

[Twsmit]

I dont see why you sare spenind that much money on a NF4 regular board. Just get the DFI NF4 Ultra. Its actually cheaper than that abit.


EDIT: Also dropping down to a x800XL would be more bang for buck.

 

[Gerbil333]

Originally posted by: hurtstotalktoyou
That is one heck of a video card.

I'm curious: can't you play even the most graphic-intensive games with a basic $50 video card? I mean, you'd have to reduce the resolution, but you'd still be able to play the games, right?

With that logic, there's no point to building a new machine at all. Sure, an Athlon 1GHz CPU and a GeForce 2 GTS will play Half-Life 2, but not very quickly, and only at low quality settings.

Have you used a high-end video card? They run with much better image quality and it's much smoother. I can't stand gaming on slow video cards.

 

[hurtstotalktoyou]

Originally posted by: Gerbil333

With that logic, there's no point to building a new machine at all. Sure, an Athlon 1GHz CPU and a GeForce 2 GTS will play Half-Life 2, but not very quickly, and only at low quality settings.

Have you used a high-end video card? They run with much better image quality and it's much smoother. I can't stand gaming on slow video cards.

Speed and lag are different from resolution and image quality. What kind of graphics card is necessary to play these modern games, like Doom 3, for instance, without compromising the actual game play?

 

[Gerbil333]

Originally posted by: hurtstotalktoyou
Speed and lag are different from resolution and image quality.

Right, and with a slow video card, image quality AND speed decrease. Why would you want that? My GeForce 4 Ti 4200 64 MB doesn't play Doom 3 very smoothly even at low settings at 1024x768. My 9800 Pro barely plays smoothly at medium settings at 1280x960. I wouldn't use anything less than a 6600 GT / 9800 Pro for modern games (about $120-$150 minimum), and I prefer better performance and image quality. The X800 XL is roughly twice as fast, so I should expect a price of $240-$360. X800 XL's can be had for roughly from $240-$295 for an OEM card. In my opinion, there's nothing wrong with that deal, and I will utilize the extra performance.