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My Rig, Need Opinions/Suggestions

S

shortkid422

Member
Ok, so im new here and decided to post my rig. Im working 2 jobs (only 16) to save up the money for a computer of my own. Here is what I hope to have and would like some opinions on what to have/change/keep/suggestions/opinions. Thanks

My Soon To Be Rig
 
hello shorty welcome to the forums!looks like as good as you can get as far as that system goes.
be aware there are some grumpy types here on anandtech that dislike double and miss posts so remember to search before you ask.
just a note but if you went with a 32 bit system with a mobile you will get about the same performance as with a 64 bit system if you oc and cool itfor 1800 you could get a dual proc setup with 2 cpus as well. just a thaught
 
Well for one thing, you have there a socket 939 motherboard paired with a socket 754 CPU, which doesn't exactly work.

I'd get something along these lines:

CPU: A64 3000+ Newcastle or 3200+ Clawhammer (...I assume you'll be overclocking?)
HSF: Zalman CNPS7000A-(Al)Cu or Thermalright SLK948U+fan
MB: Asus K8N-E Deluxe, alternately MSI K8N Neo Platinum
RAM: 2x 512MB PC3200 value
VGA: GeForce 6800GT or Radeon X800XT
The Asus K8N-E is currently in stock at ZipZoomFly, while the 6800GT is at eVGA's website.

The rest of it looks about right, except you'd want a monitor that supports at least 75Hz @ 1600x1200. Dunno many off the top of my head, but iirc the Viewsonic P95f+?
 
First things first, that CPU doesn't fit that motherboard.

And for a $2000 system, I certainly wouldn't be getting a low-end 19". The ViewSonic is a slightly better monitor for less, but I'd recommend an NEC aperture grille screen or the BenQ 19" LCD.

I wouldn't get that WD 120G drive when you can get a faster, quieter, cooler, bigger 160G Hitachi for $92. Actually, since you're spending so much and not concerned about noise, you should really be looking at a Raptor 74.
 
Thing is, if he buys a big, expensive LCD, it'll no longer be $2000 system, more like $3000. And he'll have to get an even bigger monitor to go with it... 🙂
 
updated the mobo. gotta head out now but i will look at the viewsonics. can you explain briefly dual processing, pros cons, or a link to something like that?
 
Well, I think it's hilarious that he's so concerned about how good the case looks but he doesn't want a nice monitor.

He's getting a fan controller (which is really just for the look -- if you cared about noise you'd just get nice quiet fans to begin with). He's replacing the nice quiet back Antec fan with a blue LED one. He's getting some random power supply because it has blue LED's in it.

What really doesn't make sense is the memory. He's obviously not overclocking, because he's getting a retail CPU and he's not replacing the heatsink, but check out the RAM! PC3700 CL3? Totally useless. It's slower than the $79 Mushkin 512MB CL2.5, and he has no use for it being PC3700 since he can't overclock.
 
I just don't think an $1852.72 budget has room for a nice 800 FSB Newcastle, a Radeon X800, $147 speakers and all the pretty case stuff (no round IDE cables?). The other parts suffer too much.

If I wanted to build a similar system, I'd go with:

$245 + $35 19" SuperBright Diamondtron
$87 Mobile Athlon XP 2400+ 35W
$85 Abit NF7-S
$418 + $6 Sapphire Radeon X800 Pro
$185 Raptor 74GB
$66 Hitachi 80GB SATA 8MB 3-year
$260 2 x 512MB OCZ EL Platinum PC3200 CL 2-3-2-5
$48.50 Lite-On combo drive
$80 + $15 Antec Lan Boy
$18 + $6 Antec 120MM blue LED fan
$49 + $6 Antec 350W blue LED PSU
$36 + $4 Turtle Beach Santa Cruz
$139 + $8 Logitech Z-5300 speakers
$11.99 Sony floppy
$2.25 + $4 round floppy cable
$35.99 + $4 Zalman 7000A-AlCu heatsink

$1,848.48 delivered (before $20 Raptor rebate)

By the time you overclocked it past 3200+ speeds it'd be a much better system.

I suppose you could keep the system pretty similar and just change things a little bit:

$245 + $35 19" SuperBright Diamondtron
$223 Athlon 64 3000+ Retail
$130 K8N Neo Platinum
$418 + $6 Sapphire Radeon X800 Pro
$92 Hitachi 160GB ATA 8MB 3-year
$243 2 x 512MB OCZ EL PC3200 CL 2-3-2-6
$48.50 Lite-On combo drive
$80 + $15 Antec Lan Boy
$18 + $6 Antec 120MM blue LED fan
$49 + $6 Antec 350W blue LED PSU
$36 + $4 Turtle Beach Santa Cruz
$139 + $8 Logitech Z-5300 speakers

$1,860.49 delivered

The way I'd do either system, though, would be to substitute these for the CRT/video.

$529 + $18 BenQ 19" LCD
$199 Radeon 9800 Pro with XT core
$12.99 + 4 Vantec IceBerg 4 video heatsink

There's no reason I know of to get an Audigy 1. If you get speakers that have digital 5.1 input, get an Audigy 2 ZS, but otherwise I think the Santa Cruz is a better card.

It's a fact that the monitor is the best investment in the system and the video card is the worst. The monitor will still be good in 5 years, but next year your video card's value will be half what you paid if you're lucky. Look on eBay. A year ago the GeForce FX5800 Ultra was $400. Now there's one going for $150 and one for $220 with no bids. A $600 flat Trinitron/Diamondtron from 3 years ago is still just as good as a new $600 CRT, though.
 
You guys are saying that the mobo is for s939 and from what i know it is also, so that means newegg has a mistake there because it says "Supported CPU: Socket 754 AMD Athlon64 Processors" am i wrong?

It also says Here that this mobo is for s754 systems.
 
Originally posted by: Tostada
Well, I think it's hilarious that he's so concerned about how good the case looks but he doesn't want a nice monitor.

He's replacing the nice quiet back Antec fan with a blue LED one.

He's getting some random power supply because it has blue LED's in it.
Click to expand...

Im not replacing the antex fan, im getting an extra one for my desk, as im gonna splice the cables extend it, and put it on my desk for a nice controllable fan (gets hot in basement, cheap solution)

Also, its not a random PS as i need some descent power, i dont want it to crap out on me.
 
1. Will you be overclocking? If so, (a) get an MSI K8N Neo Platinum for the board (the KV8 Pro has issues with the PCI/AGP lock afaik), it's not much more expensive; (b) replace the CPU with either a Clawhammer version, or save $50-60 and get a 3000+. (Again, this is only if you're overclocking, otherwise it's fine.)

2. Get value RAM. Crucial, Corsair, whatever. It's rather cheaper ($160 vs $240) and the differences in performance range from nonexistant up to unnoticeable outside of dedicated memory benchmarks (Sandra, et al).

3. I assume you just forgot to update the monitor...

4. The GeForce 6800GT is by general consensus better than the X800 Pro (it's in stock at eVGA's website (.com) if Newegg doesn't currently have it), see any number of threads in the video forum for why. If you just prefer ATi that's fine, in that case save a bunch of money by going with the Sapphire instead ($418 vs. iirc $461 you had there?), or the Connect3D ($425) if we're sticking to stuff actually in stock.
 
Originally posted by: Illissius
1. Will you be overclocking? If so, (a) get an MSI K8N Neo Platinum for the board (the KV8 Pro has issues with the PCI/AGP lock afaik), it's not much more expensive; (b) replace the CPU with either a Clawhammer version, or save $50-60 and get a 3000+. (Again, this is only if you're overclocking, otherwise it's fine.)

2. Get value RAM. Crucial, Corsair, whatever. It's rather cheaper ($160 vs $240) and the differences in performance range from nonexistant up to unnoticeable outside of dedicated memory benchmarks (Sandra, et al).

3. I assume you just forgot to update the monitor...

4. The GeForce 6800GT is by general consensus better than the X800 Pro (it's in stock at eVGA's website (.com) if Newegg doesn't currently have it), see any number of threads in the video forum for why. If you just prefer ATi that's fine, in that case save a bunch of money by going with the Sapphire instead ($418 vs. iirc $461 you had there?), or the Connect3D ($425) if we're sticking to stuff actually in stock.
Click to expand...

1. ill look into as i am overclocking.
2. im thinking of switching back to an older version of my rig with corsair
3. yup
4. i found it at cdw for $389
 
Get the Neo Platnium Nforce 2 chipset.

And you don't need two CD-Roms. The CD-Rw has a 48x read speed. Get a DVD Rom at least.
 
ok, i updated my computer and dropped the x800 to 9800pro to save money for my vacation. anyways, im still looking for a good monitor lcd or crt. any suggestions on them would be great.
 
 
Things I would change:

1) You don't need a CDRW along side a DVDRW.
I would get a DVD drive + a DVDRW... and if you can spare an extra $10 get the NEC 2510A
Believe me, having a DVD drive + a DVDRW is worth it... *wink wink*
DVDRW Link
DVD Link
Note that the DVD is actually less than the CDRW.

2) I would replace the HD with a Hitachi 160GB SATA, I just put a Hitachi SATA drive in mine, and it is quiet as hell! not to mention its incredibly fast. It was on sale for like $90 a few weeks ago at newegg I believe. But its $98 now, its still only $10 more than your current drive, but you also get an extra 40GB's.
Link

3) Just my personal preference, but I would rather get a Antec TruePower supply
430W $72
380W $57

4) If you can wait out on the video card, just wait a week or two. New egg will drop it back down to $224. Thats when I picked up my 9800Pro 256MB. Then get a VGA Silencer, and modify the card to 9800XT.
 
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