Need advice with new system. MB/CPU/PSU/ect

[SirOblivious]

Hi everyone, newly joined forum member here.

My current system:

P4 2.4Ghz
512 MB of DDR2 ram (can't recall clock rate)
AGP Geforce 4MX video card (pitiful I know)
Asus unknown model Mother Board(At work atm, will check when I get home)
Onboard sound card - bleeds electrical noise through speakers badly
some crap 350Watt power supply that likes to randomly reboot my computer
A very disliked 15inch generic LCD display
2x80GB & 1x120GB PATA hard drives
Sony DVD writer

I've recently graduate with a computer engineering degree and have now got a decent salaried job. So now that I got some cash, this hunk has gotta go. The only things I plan on keeping are the hard drives and DVD writer. The LCD wll probably stay at first and then be replaced later.

One of the first things I would like some advice/discussion over is what I should replace first. When I get a new motherboard, I imagine it will have PCIe on it. So getting a new video should probably wait since I think a PCIe video card will have more useful life to it.

The processor I think I want to shoot for is an AMD 3500+ or better CPU. I have no idea what type of mother board to get though. I am already planning on getting a quality PSU of around 400+ Watts. The current one I have is tolerable. It generally reboots when I perform large data transfers between hard drives or really load the CPU down. The moniter I'm looking at eventually getting is the Dell 20.1in Wide screen LCD I've been hearing alot about. With this new rig I will be gaming mostly (HL2, WoW, Doom3, ect).

Feel free to blurt out criticism, advice, remarks, good deals, or anything you think may be helpful.

Thanks,
SirOblivious

 

[Rip the Jacker]

Get the Chaintech nForce 4 Motherboard on Newegg, AMD 3500+, 6800GT, 1GB CORSAIR/MUSHKIN/CRUCIAL ram, ANTEC PSU, ANTEC SONATA/CM PRAETORIAN/LIAN LI Case, some LCD, and AUDIGY 2 ZS.

 

[ts3433]

How do you have a P4 2.4 and DDR2 memory? IIRC, there are no 2.4s out for LGA 775, and I don't think there are any DDR2 chipsets for Socket 478. Weird...

In any event, if I know exactly what you're going to use this for I can probably help you a bit more.

 

[SirOblivious]

TS:
I'm pulling all this from memory. As best I can remember it was DDR2 ram, but as I haven't looked in my case for quite awhile I can be wrong. If it sounds funny about the chipset, I probably am. In my first post I stated the new setup will be used pretty much for gaming. Eventually I may get a TV tuner card, but that is low priority.

ItmPls:
Thanks for the component suggestions. Everyone keep em coming please.
Is the Audigy2 the new average "standard" sound card now?

 

[ts3433]

I must not have seen that, sorry.

If overclocking, go with a 939 3200+; if not, get a 3500+ Newcastle (cheaper). Get value RAM (Corsair/Mushkin CL2.5 PC3200) even if overclocking for reasons mentioned in the CPU/OC forum. Probably go with one of the cheap NF4 Ultra motherboards and pair that with a 6800GT or X800 Pro, though if you can wait a little while for the X800 XL (if/when it materializes), that'd probably be better (near-6800GT performance for $300). Get your choice of quality case/PSU (consider Antecs, Enermaxes, Fortrons, and Seasonics). (Since you have a generic 350W that's been giving you random reboots, I suppose you know now not to skimp on the PSU. Don't go overboard, though.)

Only invest in a sound card if you have high-end speakers. If not, onboard should be plenty fine (though if you need slightly better music quality, get a Chaintech AV710 for $25--this is probably the best value in music playback-oriented sound cards).

There was a thread in here posted recently about some 16ms Princeton 17" LCDs selling at pretty good prices at Newegg, so you may want to search for that and dig it up.

 

[SirOblivious]

I don't plan on OC'ing anything. Since my current Video card is AGP and the new motherboard will have PCIe, I'll need to buy them both at the same time. The main complaint I have about onboard sound cards is the noise that bleeds through. I'll probably wait on a new sound card to see if the new MB has the same problem with that as my current one does.

On the display front. I want something atleast 19". I don't really mind it being a CRT, but if I have the cash after everything else I will go with a LCD.

 

[KoolDrew]

A P4 should not even be considered for a gaming Rig.

 

[DerwenArtos12]

Case is pretty much up to you, get something you like. I'd definatly look for somehting with a 120mm in teh rear at least.
Motherboard, I am a huge DFI fan so I am waiting for their NF4 contributions to make the market but the Chainteck is a good bet for whats out now if you don't need/want SLI.
Processor, I would say get the S939 3200, overclocking is not as much black magick as is sounds and you can get the same performance out of it as the 3500 very easily.
Ram, I am against the grain on this one, i prefer to get a step above value ram because i have always had really really bad overclocking performance with valueram, I would suggest getting some of the ram with the samsung tccd chips, I liek the OCZ but any of them are roughly the same.
Video, Definatly go with a 6800GT, they really don't have a good price/performance competitor right now. My only brand suggestion here is stay away from XFX.
Audio, if you are pickey about your audio which you seem to be then get a good card, you will regret anything less.
I will definatly suggest getting a 74 gigabyte raptor drive for your boot drive then just use al thos pata drives you have as your real storage. Put them in raid even, make the most of your space.
Definatly get out from under that 15" monitor you have. that is just bad for your eyes. 17" is really not bad but i love my 19" CRT. For gaming I still like CRTs to aviod any possible ghosting or color bleeding and they allow you to do higher resolutions. With a powerful graphics card like the 6800gt there is almost no reason to play games below 1600x1200.
DO NOT GO CHEAP ON YOUR PSU! Get a good reliable one. I don't have any brand prefereance so long as you know what your getting. I would personally look for one that is up to date and includes all the extra connectors you need for your PCI-Express so you don't have to use adapter cables. I am a fan of either getting a modualr PSU or making you great PSU modular but I have a windowed case so it makes a bigger difference than if you are going to get a case without a window. I would suggest getting one near 500w if you are going to get a power hungry card, use multiple harddrives, overclock use a lot of peripherals. I know that seems high but with everything i have in my case right now my 450 is showing some signs of not being good enough.

 

[dnuggett]

I will definatly suggest getting a 74 gigabyte raptor drive for your boot drive then just use al thos pata drives you have as your real storage. Put them in raid even, make the most of your space.

A Raptor is not really necessary, and you will see only marginal performance increases. Nothing to write home about. Also if you put your drives in RAID make sure you know what happens when a drive in RAID 0 fails. (hint- all of your data is gone on both drives)

Also- a 500W PSU is overkill. A good 400ish will be just fine assuming you don't run dual vid cards. Some of the brands to look at are Antec, OCZ and PC Power and Cooling.

 

[SirOblivious]

I appreciate all that detal derwen. Im not really concerned about the hard disks atm. With OC'ing, is a OC'ed 3200 superior to a 3500?

 

[ts3433]

You can probably get 2.4 or 2.6 out of the 3200, so it would of course be superior to the 2.2 3500 at stock. All three Winchesters can usually make 2.6, though, and I wouldn't be surprised if Newcastle 3500s overclock acceptably too.

By the way, if you plan on a 19" CRT, remember that a 17" LCD is most comparable to that tube's viewable size (I believe most 17-inch panels are 1280x1024), not a 19". If you're gaming, I'm not sure how many available 19" panels there are with the specs you'll want at a good price (and they'll still be 12x10, for the most part), but you can see.

On a side note, related information on why expensive RAM is no better than value RAM for overclocking an A64 is here (I didn't point you to the thread last time, sorry).

 

[DerwenArtos12]

Originally posted by: dnuggett

I will definatly suggest getting a 74 gigabyte raptor drive for your boot drive then just use al thos pata drives you have as your real storage. Put them in raid even, make the most of your space.

A Raptor is not really necessary, and you will see only marginal performance increases. Nothing to write home about. Also if you put your drives in RAID make sure you know what happens when a drive in RAID 0 fails. (hint- all of your data is gone on both drives)

Also- a 500W PSU is overkill. A good 400ish will be just fine assuming you don't run dual vid cards. Some of the brands to look at are Antec, OCZ and PC Power and Cooling.

ha, yah i jsut friend one of the drives I had in a raid 0 array about 3 weeks ago. I was pissed, my own fault though. Be smart and do 0+1 or 3 or 5. The back-up is worth the loss of space.

 

[DerwenArtos12]

Originally posted by: ts3433
You can probably get 2.4 or 2.6 out of the 3200, so it would of course be superior to the 2.2 3500 at stock. All three Winchesters can usually make 2.6, though, and I wouldn't be surprised if Newcastle 3500s overclock acceptably too.

By the way, if you plan on a 19" CRT, remember that a 17" LCD is most comparable to that tube's viewable size (I believe most 17-inch panels are 1280x1024), not a 19". If you're gaming, I'm not sure how many available 19" panels there are with the specs you'll want at a good price (and they'll still be 12x10, for the most part), but you can see.

On a side note, related information on why expensive RAM is no better than value RAM for overclocking an A64 is here (I didn't point you to the thread last time, sorry).

yeah, i have only built one A64 machine and it was with value ram, i'm just not used to the new rules or an on-board memory controller.

 

[SirOblivious]

Will a CPU such as this:
http://www.newegg.com/app/View...=19-103-494&depa=1

come with a heat sink and fan? Or do I need to purchase one?

 

[WaxHaX0rS]

No, you need to get a separate HSF or get the retail, not OEM.

 

[SrGuapo]

Originally posted by: SirOblivious
Will a CPU such as this:
http://www.newegg.com/app/View...=19-103-494&depa=1

come with a heat sink and fan? Or do I need to purchase one?

No you need the retail CPU. Also, look aty the price on that chip. It is about $100 more than it was only 1 month ago. I would definately get a 3200+ or even a 3000+, then overclock it to 2.2 GHz (it will give a bit better performance because of the increased FSB). If you really want a 3500+, go with the newcastle. It is alot cheaper than the winchester and is still a decent OCer.

 

[SirOblivious]

Okay, I think I'm done scouting out parts. I decided to stick with a high end AGP video card due to the enourmous prices of equivalent PCIe cards. I also decided to order everything from newegg. That way it hopefully will all get shipped together. If someone knows of the same component going somewhere else considerably cheaper let me know. Here it goes:

CASE: 59.00
Antec Solution Series Black ATX Mid Tower Case, Model "SLK3000-B" -RETAIL
http://www.newegg.com/app/view...amp;manufactory=BROWSE

PSU: 87.50
Antec 480W Power Supply with Blue LED Fan, Model "TRUE480BLUE" -RETAIL
http://www.newegg.com/app/view...amp;manufactory=BROWSE

MB: 138.00
ASUS "A8V Deluxe" VIA K8T800 Pro Chipset Motherboard For AMD Socket 939 CPU -RETAIL
http://www.newegg.com/app/view...amp;manufactory=BROWSE

CPU: 225.00
AMD Athlon 64 3200+, 512KB L2 Cache, Socket 939 64-bit Processor - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/app/view...amp;manufactory=BROWSE

Memory: 78.00
Corsair Value Select Dual Kits 184 Pin 512MB(256MBx2) DDR PC-3200 - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/app/view...amp;manufactory=BROWSE

Video Card: 388.00
eVGA nVIDIA GeForce 6800GT Video Card, 256MB GDDR3, 256-Bit, DVI/TV-Out, 8X AGP, Model "256-A8-N344-AX" -RETAIL
http://www.newegg.com/app/view...amp;manufactory=BROWSE

Salveged parts from old system:
3x PATA hard drives - 1x120GB,2x80GB
Pioneer 16x16 DVD burner
generic floppy
keyboard
mouse
monitor(for now)

If someone or everyone would double check my choices I'd greatly appreciate it. Mainly that everything will match up as in PSU connecters to MB, Mem to MB. I know the PSU is "big" but I also plan on getting yet another hard drive sometime and eventually OC'ing the CPU.

The CPU comes with a heat sink and fan. Will I be fine with those or are they a joke?

 

[DragonFire]

The only thing I would really really change is the motherboard. I myself would get a board with the nForce3. If the heatsinks that come with the A64 are the same as the one that came with my FX-55, it will be more then enough!

 

[SirOblivious]

only other choices I could find are EPOX MSI and GIGABYTE boards with nforce3 chipsets. I heard MSI boards have troubles but are OC feature rich. I haven't heard any about any of the others.

 

[Rip the Jacker]

Who cares if MSI has OC features.

DFI > MSI anyway.

And MSI isn't THAT much better than the rest of the boards.

Would you like...

A) An MSI board that OCed the best with a burned 6800 GT, and AMD A64 3000+?
B) Any other nF3 board that OCs just as well without a burned 6800GT and A64 3000+

 

[Twofootputt]

Consider this case

Case

 

[SirOblivious]

Man that case is a pretty good deal.

ItmPls:
I can't find a DFI board for an AMD 939 chip on newegg. Some other site that may have em?
Also you miss understood my post. I wasn't advocating MSI. I've read people complaining alot about them.

 

[Rip the Jacker]

Eh. Dumb me. Thought you were talkin about 754.

But..Don't get a board yet.. Wait until all the 939 boards come out and you have a good selection. There's only like a few GOOD boards out.

I'd wait for Soltek/DFI to come out with a good one.