My 1100-1500$ rig

Praytus

Senior member
Mar 27, 2005
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I've looked through the other 1900 and 1500 build threads, but mine is slightly different so I'm soliciting recommendations.
I don't plan on overclocking, already have a hard drive and cd drive. I plan on playing EQ2 almost exclusively with this machine as well.

So far I'm looking at:

Thermaltake Tsunami Dream case
Emermax EG495P 485W PSU
Sapphire X850 XT
1GB Corsair value Ram
DFI Lan party nForce4 Ultra
Athlon 3200+

Looks like 1130$ or so shipped. I'd consider bumping up the processor but I'm not sure how much of a performance increase I would get in EQ2 using the X850 XT already.

Thanks in advance.
 

YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Moderator<br>A/V & Home Theater<br>Elite member
Aug 6, 2001
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Welcome to the forums.

Looks like a solid system. Thanks for looking at other threads first to get some ideas.

Is that the Noisetaker enermax you're thinking about? I'm sure you've seen the threads about Seasonic around here, but here's a link to the 430watt model if you want to check it out. (looks to be a similar price to the enermax)

Nothing wrong with having a nice $100 powersupply, but if you're not overclocking and you're running a single videocard and hard drive, you can get away with something less expensive if you're looking to save some money.
 

Praytus

Senior member
Mar 27, 2005
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Any particular reason for the Asus board? What is the general concensus on the DFI ultra boards?
 

Praytus

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Mar 27, 2005
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I'm new to the AMD side of the house- looking at the 939 pins, is there a major difference between Newcastle and Winchester? I see the newcastle 3500+ are a lot cheaper then Winchesters. Any recommendation for this system, or does anyone not think I would see much of a difference in EQ2?
 

ribbon13

Diamond Member
Feb 1, 2005
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Winchester is a new core that is 90nm. Generally runs cooler and can be overclocked more. It's stick with a 3200 winchester (ADA3200BIBOX).
 

akshayt

Banned
Feb 13, 2004
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shouldn't you take 3500 or 3800 or higher,other system parts outpar the cpu

there is no balance
 

Praytus

Senior member
Mar 27, 2005
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I've considered the 3500 and 3800, but I'm not sure what performance increase they would give specificially on EQ2.
 

crimson117

Platinum Member
Aug 25, 2001
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There are a lot of non-graphical calculations that go on in MMORPG's, so a fast CPU does help. See Anand's World Of Warcraft Performance Guide, it should be similar for EQ2 (though EQ2 may be more graphically demanding, but you've got that covered with the 850XT).

And if your budget really up to $1500, then go ahead and get another 2x512mb ram for $92; 2gb rules :)
 

YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Moderator<br>A/V & Home Theater<br>Elite member
Aug 6, 2001
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Originally posted by: crimson117
There are a lot of non-graphical calculations that go on in MMORPG's, so a fast CPU does help. See Anand's World Of Warcraft Performance Guide, it should be similar for EQ2 (though EQ2 may be more graphically demanding, but you've got that covered with the 850XT).

And if your budget really up to $1500, then go ahead and get another 2x512mb ram for $92; 2gb rules :)

I think you'll get a performance hit with 4 512mb sticks. 2 1gig sticks will be better, but they will cost more.

I'm not so sure 2gigs is a good idea if you're trying to keep costs down. I'm not sure if EQ2 benefits from a ton of ram.
 

imported_bum

Golden Member
Jan 15, 2005
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Eh, having 4 sticks will actually slow you down unless you actually utilize all of it at once. 1 GB is plenty for now. And like others said, the DFI is really an overclocking board, so I would take some suggestions for cheaper/better stock boards.
 

Waylay00

Golden Member
Nov 15, 2004
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EQ2 benefits greatly from 2GB of RAM. And your chances of having problems are greater with the DFI board. Stick with MSI or ASUS.

Also, I'd get the 3500+ Newcastle over the 3200+ Winchester anyday. But the Venice core Athlon's are coming out in a week, so I would wait for a week and then see the prices.
 

Praytus

Senior member
Mar 27, 2005
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So you would recommend 2x1024 over 4x512?
I like the prices of the newcastle core much better then winchester. Just don't really know the performance difference, specific to EQ2.
As I said, I've been an intel person so most of my knowledge is along that line.
 

Praytus

Senior member
Mar 27, 2005
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Can anyone give me an idea, or linkage, on what performance difference I would see between them?
I've also seen some 1024 sticks from companies I've never heard of like ADATA for under 100$. Any comments on this?

Specific to EQ2, how much more would I benefit from 320$ on 2x1024 Patriot performance linked earlier vs 190$ on the value 4x512.

If the end result would be like 2-4fps I'd stick with the 4x512 value stuff.
 

Praytus

Senior member
Mar 27, 2005
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Hmm. Well then what would you appraise the fps in eq2 difference between:

2x512 value
2x 512 performance
4x512 value
2x1gb value
2x1gb performance (the Patriot stuff you linked)

?
 

stelleg151

Senior member
Sep 2, 2004
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2x1 gb usually isnt hot performance because of the high density, so I would go with the 2x1 value.
 

Ahill

Member
Oct 14, 2004
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Originally posted by: Waylay00
EQ2 benefits greatly from 2GB of RAM. And your chances of having problems are greater with the DFI board. Stick with MSI or ASUS.

Also, I'd get the 3500+ Newcastle over the 3200+ Winchester anyday. But the Venice core Athlon's are coming out in a week, so I would wait for a week and then see the prices.

Yes EQ2 GREATLY benefits from 2GB. I have a VNF4 and manually clocked my 2 GB back to 200mhz 2-3-3-7. I dont O/C at the moment. All I do with my computer is play EQ2:) If I was building today, I would do everything the same except I would get a 6800 GT vice my 6600GT. PCI-e cards were just so expensive when I built.(now you can get a 6800 for $389)