New Components Advice Requested

[dmi2002]

Good evening, everyone:

First, let me apologize - I know there are 100's of threads of "help me build a PC" flavors, and I'm just adding to the problem .

That said, I am (for the first time in years) building a new gaming PC. I have a few components I've decided on, but would like to get some comments on whether any of you had good luck with these, feel they are worth the money, are stable / reliable, etc.

Here it goes:

CPU: AMD Athlon FX-55 (I hear it beats Pentium Extreme Edition in most tests)
Mobo: ??? What supports the CPU above, and offers onboard RAID 0 capability?
RAM: 1GB PC3200 SDRAM of some sort (Kingston probably). Better to get 1 x 1GB stick or 2 x 512 MB sticks?
GPU: ATI Radeon X800 XT Platinum (my first ATI in a decade)
Sound / Speakers / Case: Keeping what I got (TB Santa Cruz, AltecLansing ACS 55, generic)
HDD: Two 7200 rpm 80-120 GB in RAID 0. Any specific HDD brand you'd recommend? I've had terrible luck with Maxtors and Western Digitals in the past, are they any better now?
Kbd: How good is game support for "programmable" macro buttons (such as M$ Programmable kbd offers?). Is a programmable kbd worth getting for gaming, or is it better to just use a "regular" kbd?
Heatsink / Fan unit: Any advice?
PSU: Would 300W be enough? Or better go straight to 480W?

I am not planning to overclock - just use all components "as specified" (I know, how lame of me ).

I would appreciate any advice, comments, etc. etc.

Regards,

AZeroni

 

[db2]

With the video card you have listed you do not want a 300W pws. Also - a quality power supply will be better than just one with the highest wattage unless it happens to be both a quality pws and the highest wattage you are looking at.
For HDD - I have had no problem with Western Digital for a number of years. If you want a better warranty on the HDD then go with SEAGATE as some of their HDD have 5 year warranties - check which ones before you buy.
RAM - depends on the mb as some require dual channel memory. Kingston , Corsair , Crucial all seem to be good. I have used Corsair in the last few systems I have built and had good results. I have also used Kingston with good results in other systems.

 

[Waylay00]

Here goes -

CPU - Good choice for Socket 939

Mobo - MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum (Onboard RAID) Best Socket 939 board period. (Overclocking or not)

RAM - Are you going to overclock? If so get 1GB (512x2) OCZ EL Rev. 2 PC-3200 Platinum. If not, just get good brand name RAM from OCZ, Corsair, Kingston, Crucial, etc.

GPU - sounds good

HDD - RAID 0 offers no performance boost in gaming. http://anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=2101
I'd say get a Western Digital Raptor 74gb SATA drive for apps and get a secondary 7,200 rpm SATA drive for storage like music, movies, etc. Or you could get one Maxtor Diamondmax 10. Very fast 7,200rpm SATA drive.

Heatsink - If you aren't overclocking, you should be fine with the stock heatsink/fan. If you are going to OC, I would get a thermalright XP-90 and pair it with a 92mm Tornado (very loud - use a fan controller) or a 92mm Panaflo.

PSU - OCZ Powerstream 470w. Remember, a quality 350w PSU is better than a generic low-quality 500w PSU. Quality is better.

Hope this helps. Feel free to PM me.

 

[dmi2002]

Thank you for your responses, everybody!

I had hoped to post a "thank-you" a bit earlier, but my faithful Creative GeForce2 Ultra has fried after 4 years of great service, and it took a couple of days to get a replacement.

Your advice has clarified matters for me significantly, (especially where RAID is concerned ) and I really appreciate all your help. I have a couple follow-up questions that I'd like to ask:

1. If a mobo is available in both VIA and nForce3 chipsets (such as MSI K8N NEO2 Platinum (nForce3) vs. MSI K8T NEO2-FIR (VIA)), what are the pro's and con's of each? Is either "better" than the other from gaming or stability standpoint? Again, I am not planning to overclock, just use "as suggested".

2. If I have a choice, should I go with a PCIe or AGP 8x model of the Radeon X800 XT PE? Besides the future expandability of PCIe, what are the pro's and con's? X800's availability isn't as much of a problem for me as making the "right" choice.

Thank you again,

AZeroni

 

[imported_whatever]

1) if you are not overclocking, you will see very little difference. for a64, the chipset has an almost negligible effect on performance, so just go with the feature set you want.
2) no current a64 mobos have PCIe, so you have to go with the AGP version. if you want to wait a bit and get an nforce4 mobo, you could get an SLI setup and go with 2* 6800GT in SLI for better performance at everything than the X800XT.

 

[Stangs55]

Nice rig....I just built one VERY similar...check my sig for the my specs and benchmarks. Hope that it helps you decide!

Good Luck!

 

[rammstein junkie]

what about a mouse every one needs a nice mouse

 

[dmi2002]

Once again, thank you everyone for your comments!

Invariably, I have come up with several more questions, which I hope you would be so kind as to answer for me.

1. Someone has recenty recommended that I get both a CDRW with a DVD-ROM and a DVD-Writer for the system I am building. At the risk of sounding naive, what is the advantage of such configuation? Why not simply get a CDRW/DVD-Writer (like Plextor's PX-712A) and not bother with the two drives? I am not planning to do much "on the fly" copying, so if I am going to be using a hard drive image anyway, why get both drives?

2. For a gaming PC with no plans for overclocking, how much actual difference is there between CAS latency CL2 and CL3 RAM? Is the performance improvement appreciable / noticeable? Or more of a "bragging rights" kind of difference? Again, I am not planning to OC.

3. I know that having high-quality brand RAM is very important. However, within a quality brand, how much difference in performance / quality is there between the "value" line and the "performance" line? I am specifically comparing Kingston ValueRAM (dual channel) with Kingston HyperX (dual channel), and Corsair ValueSelect (dual channel) with Corsair XMS (dual channel).

Originally posted by: rammstein junkie
what about a mouse every one needs a nice mouse

I am scavenging parts which I don't feel need upgrading from my current system (see below). My MS Intellimouse Explorer Optical, TB Santa Cruz (at least for now), MS Natural kbd, and case (with new PSU from Antec TBAcquired) are coming over to the new PC .

Thank you very much!

AZeroni

------------------------------
PIII-933 / ASUS CUV4x
512 MB Kingston
Creative GeForce2 Ultra (deceased)
Radeon 7000 (cheap replacement @ $15-)
30 GB Quantum Fireball 7200 rpm
TurtleBeach Santa Cruz / AltechLansing ACS something-or-ther

 

[db2]

1. No need to get both drives if you do not plan on using them.

2 & 3. Corsair Value Select has a good reputation. If you do not plan on OC then you can look at Corsair , Kingston , Crucial , Geil to name a few brands that have good memory. Some of them do not OC as well as others but it does not sound like that will be a problem.

 

[RussianSensation]

Originally posted by: rammstein junkie
what about a mouse every one needs a nice mouse

Mouse

Wait just a Bit longer for 939 + PCI, and get a PCIe videocard so you have a longer videocard and cpu upgrade paths. Nforce 4 all da way.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

RussianSensation --

Is there any new "news" afoot about AMD's intentions and mobo/chipset manufacturers re PCI-X?

__________
As to the dual optical drive idea -- I have one system with a TDK CDRW / Sony DRU510 DVD-burner and another system with just a Sony DRU700A.

"Simple is Best". If you can "do it" with one combo drive, no need for two. And if you had two, despite improvements in cabling options compared to when the earlier CDRW's were available, you'd almost want to have each as "Master" on its own controller.

But instead of exploring the pros and cons of "Master /Slave" combinations and using both Primary and Secondary IDE controllers -- I'd say . . . stick with one optical drive -- preferably the "combo" DVD/CDRW burner variety . . .