Need Your Opinion on This Rig

[MrControversial]

Gigabyte GA-K8NS
AMD Athlon 64 3000/3200 Winnie
1GB Geil Dual Channel PC3200
PowerColor Radeon X800 XT
WD 37GB Raptor (OS)
Seagate 200GB HDD (Apps)
MS Digital Media KB
Nyko Air Flo Optical Mouse
ViewSonic E70F+SB 17" CRT
Sony CDRWSamsung DVD Burner
Zalman CNPS7700-Cu HSF

I already have a case and an Antec TruePower 480 that I'm sleeve modding at the moment. I hit a couple of snags since I bought a cheap molex extractor from Xoxide that broke off. Now I need to order a better set of ATX molex tools.

I'm about to nail down these specs and hit the buy button in a couple of weeks, but I need you guys to point out any weaknesses. Secondly, should I buy the 3200 Winnie or the 3000 which is ~$50 cheaper? Thank you guys in advance.

 

[mwmorph]

if you have the money, go 3200 for the extra ~200mhz oc on air.(2.5v.s.2.7) if $50 is a big deal, id go 3000+. it's plenty fast.

 

[blackinches]

do you plan on overclocking? if you doh't you can get corsair value ram 1gb kit and save about 40 dollars.

everything looks to be in order. except blackinches would suggest the 6800gt over the x800xt.

also is that mouse any good?

 

[MrControversial]

Thank you. I've seen the OC's as well. But is the 200MHz worth it?

 

[MrControversial]

Originally posted by: blackinches
do you plan on overclocking? if you doh't you can get corsair value ram 1gb kit and save about 40 dollars.

everything looks to be in order. except blackinches would suggest the 6800gt over the x800xt.

also is that mouse any good?

I will overclock, definately, that's why I'm going with the Geil since I know for sure that they OC well in Gigabyte mobos. Secondly, why should I go with the 6800GT instead of the X800XT?

I read some New Egg reviews on the Nyko mouse and the overall response was good. Secondly, it has a little fan inside that lightly blows air on your hand to keep it from sweating. I wonder what dat be like!!! Plus it's only $10.

 

[Mik3y]

ditch the raptor. its only worth getting if its 74gb one. the 36.7gb raptor is comparable to new 7200rpm drives in performance.

 

[MrControversial]

Interesting.

 

[imported_brad]

i'd spend a little less on ram and a little more on the CPU, but its nice regardless.

 

[Waylay00]

Ditch the raptor. Total waste for such a large amount of money.

 

[Ike0069]

I would upgrade to a 19" monitor. You will be happy you did.
As low as $67

 

[biostud]

No reason to get such a powerfull video card for such a small monitor. Get a 19" CRT.

 

[Crescent13]

Looks nice! But if I were you, I would go with this instead. I think it will be worth the extra money to go with pci-express.

 

[blackinches]

the agp versions of the 6800gt may be cheaper than the x800xt.

getting a 19" is a good suggestion. the nec/mitsubishi monitors are very nice.

 

[nick1985]

down down the ram to the corsair or mushkin value pack for about $130.

also get the 3000+, they do overclock well (see sig)

with the money saved buy a 19" monitor

 

[Terumo]

Agree with the others on the Raptor and monitor. The Raptor is too small to be of any use if you plan to play games (saved game files can be huge, especially if you have several games on the disk). And 19" is the way to go, 1024x768 resolution is too small today to have (when your videocard goes way beyond it).

 

[MrControversial]

Originally posted by: Terumo
Agree with the others on the Raptor and monitor. The Raptor is too small to be of any use if you plan to play games (saved game files can be huge, especially if you have several games on the disk). And 19" is the way to go, 1024x768 resolution is too small today to have (when your videocard goes way beyond it).

I use the Raptor for the OS and the 200GB Seagate for apps. So are you saying that maybe I should go with one 74GB Raptor instead?

 

[Ike0069]

You don't need a seperate drive for the OS. Use only the Seagate HD and use the extra money on a 19" CRT.

 

[MrControversial]

Okay I made some revisions. How does this look?
19" KDS DynaFlat

74GB Raptor

I'm keeping the X800 XT until someone can convince me that the 6800GT is a better value. I don't want Nvidia fans trying to push something on me.

 

[Terumo]

Take Ike's advise. Raptors are okay but the real world speed of a Raptor on a game rig isn't that noticeable. That's money spent that can be used to buy a kick butt PSU (which is a critical link in computing today, as the wattage and volts increase).

One look at this forum and all the PSU problems will show you how critical it is.

 

[CraigRT]

Since you are buying a whole new rig, I would advise going with PCI-E for your platform.

 

[MrControversial]

Okay, I ditched the Raptors. Happy now?

As far as PCI-E is concerned, I'm on a budget and I can't afford $150 for a motherboard. Plus I'm not too sure about the maturity of the NF4 PCI-X platform.

 

[MrControversial]

Originally posted by: Terumo
Take Ike's advise. Raptors are okay but the real world speed of a Raptor on a game rig isn't that noticeable. That's money spent that can be used to buy a kick butt PSU (which is a critical link in computing today, as the wattage and volts increase).

One look at this forum and all the PSU problems will show you how critical it is.

I already have a Antec TruePower 480W.

 

[Terumo]

Not bad, it's one I have in a box that I never finished modding and sleeving. :/

 

[ts3433]

Originally posted by: MrControversial
As far as PCI-E is concerned, I'm on a budget and I can't afford $150 for a motherboard. Plus I'm not too sure about the maturity of the NF4 PCI-X platform.

You can if you go for a 6800GT, which provides nearly the same level of performance as a 6800U or X800XT at a significantly lower price point (considering the small gains of the other cards). It's a much better value, and there are some PCIe 6800GTs you can actually get closer to MSRP now ($425 sound good?). The savings can go towards a Chaintech VNF4/Ultra or MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum. You can also go for Corsair value RAM, as the others have said. Expensive RAM provides very little benefit on an A64.

 

[Gerbil333]

Originally posted by: MrControversial
Okay, I ditched the Raptors. Happy now?

As far as PCI-E is concerned, I'm on a budget and I can't afford $150 for a motherboard. Plus I'm not too sure about the maturity of the NF4 PCI-X platform.

I was going to say to ditch the 36GB Raptor for the 74GB model. The 36gb drive doesn't offer any advantages, but I can feel a huge difference between my 74GB Raptor and my Seagate 120gb 7200.7. The Raptor is quieter when idling...go figure. Seek noise is much quieter on the Seagate though; I personally don't care about seek noise.

I'd go with some different optical drives. NEC and Pioneer have the best DVD burners right now. The ratings reflect that. Lite-On has the highest rated CD-RW and CD-RW/DVD combo drive on Newegg. The comparable drives are all within $5 of each other, so you may want to look closer at the ratings.