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New gaming comp $1500 limit (sort of)

A

AiponGkooja

Senior member
Thermaltake Black Highest Xaser III Super Tower without Power Supply, Model "V1000A" RETAIL--$129

Pioneer Black DVD+RW/-RW Drive, Model DVR-108, OEM --$75

Maxtor 300GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive, Model 6B300S0, 16MB Buffer, OEM Drive Only --$205

Corsair Value Select (Dual Pack) 184 Pin 512MBx2 DDR PC-3200 OEM --$135

ASUS "A8N-SLI Deluxe" nForce4 SLI Chipset Motherboard For AMD Socket 939 CPU RETAIL--$269

Fortron 530W Power Supply, Model "FSP530-60GNA" RETAIL--$78

AMD Athlon 64 3500+, 512K, L2 Cache, Socket 939 Windows Compatible 64-bit Processor RETAIL--$274

2 x GIGABYTE nVIDIA GeForce 6600GT Video Card, 128MB GDDR3, 128-Bit, DVI/TV-Out, PCI-Express, Model "GV-NX66T128D" RETAIL--$186 x 2 = $372

Mostly I am wondering if this is an efficient way to spend the money I am putting towards it. I wanted to make a really good gaming rig, which may not be overclocked for a while (I still need to learn), and tried to get the most out of the $1500 (which I probably failed at, need help!!) I chose SLI after reading up on it a lot, and decided that it would be a good decision for later upgrades (as the board itself is also very good). Had to go with the 6600GT's because NOWHERE ever has 6800GT's in stock (I would have to wait until mid January it seems, which I may not have time for). Also, please assume I have nothing extra aside from a monitor/mouse/keyboard, because I may be missing something obvious, but I'm new to home building so please tell me 🙂

Thanks for any help/opinions/suggestions.

Aipon

ps. I can supply all the newegg sites also if needed, just thought they were too much clutter
 
do NOT get 2 * 6600GT. they are not worth it. put your money into a 1 6800GT, and then get another down the road. other than that, nice rig
 
I would REALLY LIKE a 6800GT, but like I said they are NOWHERE to be found. I usually see expected dates of mid January, which may not work out (I go back to school before then and it would make everything a hassle). I probably should have bought it back in late November BEFORE SLI came out...but I was waiting for SLI before I bought anything, heh.
 
I would toss in a second drive, a DVD/CD reader. Also, would you consider perhaps a 74GB raptor as a boot drive and keep the 300GB maxtor as a secondary HD? I ask because you have a hefty budget...

Maybe get the NEC instead of the prioneer

Will you be using onboard audio?
 
See if you can upgrade your ram to something better than value select if you plan on doing any overclocking later. You can get some better ram for not too much more i believe.

Everything else looks ok.

If you don't want to use onboard sound, try to find an Audigy 2 from CreativeLabs. However, there is nothing wrong with onboard sound on most mobo's today. I think they do just fine.


No need to supply newegg sites. I think most of us know exactly what we're looking at just by reading it. Thanks for the details you saved everyone lots of time.
 
Originally posted by: Byers
I would toss in a second drive, a DVD/CD reader. Also, would you consider perhaps a 74GB raptor as a boot drive and keep the 300GB maxtor as a secondary HD? I ask because you have a hefty budget...

Maybe get the NEC instead of the prioneer

Will you be using onboard audio?
Click to expand...

Unless I am mistaken, that DVD drive reads also...here's from newegg:

Write Speed: DVD+R DL 4X,16X DVD+R, 4X DVD+RW, 16X DVD-R,4X DVD-RW, 32X CD-R, 24X CD-RW
Read Speed: 40X CD-ROM, 16X DVD-ROM

That appears like it reads, but I wouldn't know for sure 🙂


Also, don't know much about harddrives in general...I ended up going with this one because it was 16mb buffer and has more space than I'll ever need. It also costs about the same as a 10k RPM 74GB Raptor, so I don't know 🙂
 
Wasting money on SLI from the start. Get the board and a single 6800GT (faster than 6600GT SLI) and add a second 6800GT down the line if you need it.
 
Originally posted by: Byers
I would toss in a second drive, a DVD/CD reader. Also, would you consider perhaps a 74GB raptor as a boot drive and keep the 300GB maxtor as a secondary HD? I ask because you have a hefty budget...

Maybe get the NEC instead of the prioneer

Will you be using onboard audio?
Click to expand...

I was also thinking that too Byers. Get a second drive. I also recommend the NEC, i believe it's also a few dollars cheaper.
Perhaps get the 74gb raptor and a smaller secondary HD(200gb?). Try to think if you really need 300gb, if not, save the money and find the 6800gt.

nick1986~
What's wrong with the 6600gt? It will save money. The costs of 2 6800GT's can get up to $1000 in itself. His budget is only around $1500, and if he wants to run dual vids the 6600 will work for that budget.
 
Originally posted by: Insomniak
Wasting money on SLI from the start. Get the board and a single 6800GT (faster than 6600GT SLI) and add a second 6800GT down the line if you need it.
Click to expand...

Yeah that was my original plan, and from what everyone is saying it seems like the vid cards WILL be back in stock sooner than mid-January? Trust me when I say I looked nearly EVERYWHERE for cards that were in stock, and I did all the auto-notify e-mail things that I can find. As long as I can order and obtain the card before the 12th or so it should be ok.
 
What's wrong with the 6600gt? It will save money. The costs of 2 6800GT's can get up to $1000 in itself. His budget is only around $1500, and if he wants to run dual vids the 6600 will work for that budget.
Click to expand...

Because he can buy 2 6600GT's only perform as good as 1 6800Gt so it is best to buy 1 6800Gt and then later you have the option to buy another when your games are starting to lag or you need a upgrade. That is what SLI is good for. Starting off and buying 2 6600GT's is stupid. The only reason to start off with SLI is if you buy like 2 6800 Ultra or something.
 
Originally posted by: AiponGkooja
Originally posted by: Insomniak
Wasting money on SLI from the start. Get the board and a single 6800GT (faster than 6600GT SLI) and add a second 6800GT down the line if you need it.
Click to expand...

Yeah that was my original plan, and from what everyone is saying it seems like the vid cards WILL be back in stock sooner than mid-January? Trust me when I say I looked nearly EVERYWHERE for cards that were in stock, and I did all the auto-notify e-mail things that I can find. As long as I can order and obtain the card before the 12th or so it should be ok.
Click to expand...

newegg has them in stock...
 
Originally posted by: AiponGkooja
Originally posted by: Byers
I would toss in a second drive, a DVD/CD reader. Also, would you consider perhaps a 74GB raptor as a boot drive and keep the 300GB maxtor as a secondary HD? I ask because you have a hefty budget...

Maybe get the NEC instead of the prioneer

Will you be using onboard audio?
Click to expand...

Unless I am mistaken, that DVD drive reads also...here's from newegg:

Write Speed: DVD+R DL 4X,16X DVD+R, 4X DVD+RW, 16X DVD-R,4X DVD-RW, 32X CD-R, 24X CD-RW
Read Speed: 40X CD-ROM, 16X DVD-ROM

That appears like it reads, but I wouldn't know for sure 🙂


Also, don't know much about harddrives in general...I ended up going with this one because it was 16mb buffer and has more space than I'll ever need. It also costs about the same as a 10k RPM 74GB Raptor, so I don't know 🙂
Click to expand...

Having a second drive makes creating direct copies of CDs much easier. A CD-ROM drive costs nothing nowadays.

You might want to get a smaller drive for storage and pick up a 36 GB Raptor for your OS and programs- it'll shorten load times and increase responsiveness in general.
 
Originally posted by: KoolDrew
What's wrong with the 6600gt? It will save money. The costs of 2 6800GT's can get up to $1000 in itself. His budget is only around $1500, and if he wants to run dual vids the 6600 will work for that budget.
Click to expand...

Because he can buy 2 6600GT's only perform as good as 1 6800Gt so it is best to buy 1 6800Gt and then later you have the option to buy another when your games are starting to lag or you need a upgrade. That is what SLI is good for. Starting off and buying 2 6600GT's is stupid. The only reason to start off with SLI is if you buy like 2 6800 Ultra or something.
Click to expand...

Yes I understand that, and I will repeat, that was my initial plan. I just got fed up with everywhere being out of stock. I agree 100% that 1 6800gt would be a better idea. That said, let's please not turn this into an argument over the 6600 vs 6800's please, I have read enough of those already 🙂

At chumbo.com if it says "on order" does that mean I can reserve one of the next batch that come in? Or is it still first come first serve on there.

Also, to expand the topic a little more, what do people think about my money allocation on the different parts. Eg. should I be spending more on a CPU since it will probably be one of the last things to be replaced (aside from mobo maybe)
 
Originally posted by: coejus
Originally posted by: AiponGkooja
Originally posted by: Byers
I would toss in a second drive, a DVD/CD reader. Also, would you consider perhaps a 74GB raptor as a boot drive and keep the 300GB maxtor as a secondary HD? I ask because you have a hefty budget...

Maybe get the NEC instead of the prioneer

Will you be using onboard audio?
Click to expand...

Unless I am mistaken, that DVD drive reads also...here's from newegg:

Write Speed: DVD+R DL 4X,16X DVD+R, 4X DVD+RW, 16X DVD-R,4X DVD-RW, 32X CD-R, 24X CD-RW
Read Speed: 40X CD-ROM, 16X DVD-ROM

That appears like it reads, but I wouldn't know for sure 🙂


Also, don't know much about harddrives in general...I ended up going with this one because it was 16mb buffer and has more space than I'll ever need. It also costs about the same as a 10k RPM 74GB Raptor, so I don't know 🙂
Click to expand...

Having a second drive makes creating direct copies of CDs much easier. A CD-ROM drive costs nothing nowadays.

You might want to get a smaller drive for storage and pick up a 36 GB Raptor for your OS and programs- it'll shorten load times and increase responsiveness in general.
Click to expand...


Hmmmm, have to clear up a few things here I guess 🙂 I most likely won't be burning much in the first place, but yeah that makes sense. As the Topic Title says, I want it to be optimized for gaming. That said, I have read many things on the benefits of 10k HD's and RAID and whatnot, but it seems to have a very minimal effect on actual gaming itself. If there IS something that it helps with please tell me, because harddrives are one thing that I didn't research all that heavily when I set this up.
 
Originally posted by: KoolDrew
Do you really like that case? I think it is really ugly.
Click to expand...

Eh *shrug*...I do kind of like how it looks, and it has lots of pretty fans and stuff lol. I don't know a whole lot about cooling, so I just picked one with plenty of fans (it has seven). If anyone has suggestions to replace it that'd be fine. I am just fairly certain that whatever I get will be rather heat intensive. Same with the PSU; I don't know if it's necessary, but it seemed to have good reviews.
 
Fan placement is alot more important then # of fans. I can put 7 all around the same spot facing the same direction and it wouldn't help any. Actually having 3 well placed fans would col much better.
 
Originally posted by: AiponGkooja
Hmmmm, have to clear up a few things here I guess 🙂 I most likely won't be burning much in the first place, but yeah that makes sense. As the Topic Title says, I want it to be optimized for gaming. That said, I have read many things on the benefits of 10k HD's and RAID and whatnot, but it seems to have a very minimal effect on actual gaming itself. If there IS something that it helps with please tell me, because harddrives are one thing that I didn't research all that heavily when I set this up.
Click to expand...

If you're playing games, it's going to be much quicker loading levels/maps/etc if you have a faster hard disk. In Half-Life 2, for example, there are a bunch of long loading periods that seemed to take forever with my 7200 RPM Caviar disk. Having a fast drive, whether it's a Raptor or Cheetah or some SCSI drive, is going to cut back on those load times substantially.
 
Originally posted by: coejus
Originally posted by: AiponGkooja
Hmmmm, have to clear up a few things here I guess 🙂 I most likely won't be burning much in the first place, but yeah that makes sense. As the Topic Title says, I want it to be optimized for gaming. That said, I have read many things on the benefits of 10k HD's and RAID and whatnot, but it seems to have a very minimal effect on actual gaming itself. If there IS something that it helps with please tell me, because harddrives are one thing that I didn't research all that heavily when I set this up.
Click to expand...

If you're playing games, it's going to be much quicker loading levels/maps/etc if you have a faster hard disk. In Half-Life 2, for example, there are a bunch of long loading periods that seemed to take forever with my 7200 RPM Caviar disk. Having a fast drive, whether it's a Raptor or Cheetah or some SCSI drive, is going to cut back on those load times substantially.
Click to expand...

OK, so if that's the case, do I get a Raptor and load my OS and all my games onto that and just get a second drive if I plan on storing a lot of stuff? 74GB just doesn't seem like a lot of space to me, and I probably can't afford two Raptors...
 
Originally posted by: KoolDrew
Originally posted by: AiponGkooja
Originally posted by: Insomniak
Wasting money on SLI from the start. Get the board and a single 6800GT (faster than 6600GT SLI) and add a second 6800GT down the line if you need it.
Click to expand...

Yeah that was my original plan, and from what everyone is saying it seems like the vid cards WILL be back in stock sooner than mid-January? Trust me when I say I looked nearly EVERYWHERE for cards that were in stock, and I did all the auto-notify e-mail things that I can find. As long as I can order and obtain the card before the 12th or so it should be ok.
Click to expand...

newegg has them in stock...
Click to expand...

I just looked again and I must disagree. There are a couple 256mb 6800 pci-e cards and a handfull of 256mb 6800 gt AGP cards...but I need a 256mb 6800 gt pci-e card. Please show me if you found one though.
 
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