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Need advice selecting components for a new system

C

CoreZman

Member
Hello all. I'm going to build a new gaming box soon and need help selecting a few things. My budget is $1500 or so, and my approach is that this will be a system that let's me play new games (see sig for current system) but is only to hold me over for a year or so until the pci-x based systems have all the wrinkles worked out. It's been 4 years since I built my last box so I'm a little out of touch with components.

So far my system looks like this (none of the selections are final, this is a first stab):

Gigabyte GA-K8NS PRO nForce3 250 - $122
AMD64 3400+ retail - $416 OR
AMD64 3200+ retail - $282
Western Digital Raptor 74GB 10,000RPM SATA - $165 after rebate
SAPPHIRE ATI RADEON 9800PRO Video Card, 128MB DDR - $209

Any comments on the mb? Should I be looking at something different? I've heard a lot of good things about the nf3 chipst - is this the right way to go vs a KV8 Pro K8T800 for example?

Is it worth the extra $134 for the A64 3400+ over the A64 3200+?

For my hard drive selection, is this drive ok by itself or does it need to be in RAID to take advantage of it's potential? Is RAID worth the extra expense of another hard drive if I'm primarily concerned with gaming? By itself, is the Raptor any better than say, a huge 7200 rpm IDE drive?

What brand/type memory do you all recommend? I want a leats 1GB. I'm not so concerned about overclocking memory, although I might want to overclock my cpu. I just want solid, dependable ram.

Thanks for the help.
 
#1.Drop the 3400+ and spend that extra cash on a 6800GT.
#2.The raptor is okay by itself. But , IMO, it's not worth it in terms of space VS performance.
#3.I suggest Mushkin RAM.
#4. I don't know too much about that motherboard, so I can't help there.
 
like sonic said id suggest loosing the 3400 for a 3200 or 3000 preferably newcastle core. for motherboards the msi and other nf3 boards seemed to be favored but i went with an asus k8v for a couple reasons: i didnt feel comfortable going with one of the nf3 mobos is that from a company that doesnt have the best track record in quality or releiability, it seems like by having the onboard memory controller on the a64 there isnt as many differences between chipsets in overall performance, and i dont oc so the pci/agp lock isnt important to me. as for ram ocz el and eb are a good choice along with corsair xms or even value ram if you are on a budget. u will not see much of a difference from lower timings but make sure u use quality name brand ram. for your use i dont think u will see much benefit from going raid-0, but u might want a larger secondary hard drive or just one nice 160gig seagate/samsung
 
Drop the 3400+. The performance difference is not worth the $134.

The Raptor may be fastest IDE drive, but price-performance wise its pathetic compared to the standard 7200rpm 8MB drives. And don't even try to waste money to RAID 2 Raptors, the performance increase can be described as non-existent.
 
If you only want to use this for a year until you upgrade to a PCI-E rig:

Athlon XP 2400+ 35W Mobile / 2600+ 45W Mobile
Abit NF7-S/AN7 (only difference iirc is the latter has uGuru)
2x 512MB PC3200 value RAM
Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB

If you want something a bit faster, then: (but it doesn't exactly qualify as a stopgap solution, most people are getting these sort of things to hold them for like 3-4 years, not 1)

Athlon 64 3000+ Newcastle / 3200+ Clawhammer
Asus K8N-E Deluxe, or MSI K8N Neo Platinum if doesn't become available soon (moot point as it's in stock at zipzoomfly)
2x 512MB PC3200 value RAM
GeForce 6800GT

The nForce3 250Gb is the best A64 chipset currently out there. It's only one with an actual, 100% working PCI/AGP lock, for one thing.
 
Ok I've revised/added to my component list based on feedback here and elsewhere. Here's what I've got:

AMD Athlon64 3200+ Retail - $282
MSI Neo Platinum nForce3 - $130
Maxtor 200GB 8MB 7200rpm - $123
Crucial pc3200 1GB (512x2) - $156
MSI ATI RX9800PRO - $195
Antec True480Blue PSU - $80
Plextor PX-712A - $159
Coolermaster Wave Case "TAC-T01-E1C" - $140

Total: $1265

Comments?
 
Looks about right. Only thing that really sticks out is the Maxtor drive, which seems to be subpar in both performance and reliability, most people like Seagate and WD.
Up to you whether you want to get a 6800GT/X800Pro or the 9800 Pro, either is a fine choice and worth the money, just be aware that the former is, in fact, twice as fast.
 
Originally posted by: Illissius
Looks about right. Only thing that really sticks out is the Maxtor drive, which seems to be subpar in both performance and reliability, most people like Seagate and WD.
Up to you whether you want to get a 6800GT/X800Pro or the 9800 Pro, either is a fine choice and worth the money, just be aware that the former is, in fact, twice as fast.
Click to expand...


Well as far as the Maxtor goes, I wouldn't say I'm a "fanboy" but my personal experience has steered me away from WD, along with IBM. My current Maxtor is over a year old with zero trouble and good, solid, reliable performance.

As for the video card, I see the 9800Pro as the biggest bang for the buck (I intend to run it as an XT). The 9800XT's, x800's, and 6800GT's are all well outside of my budget right now. When I go pic-x I'll look at those.

Thanks for the feedback 🙂.
 
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