NEW GAMING PC HELP

[Shizzle]

hey guys, as you can see im new to this forum, i was wondering if you could help me choose parts for my own PC max i want to spend is 2,400 AUD.

I am hopeing for a Good gaming AMD pc, that will not immediate upgrading in a few years, thought i want it to play BF2 easily

Any help would be greaty appreciated!


Cheers Grant

 

[Finns14]

Wow thats a pretty good budget you got there


I would say either the X2 4400 or an Opteron which seems like everyone is suggesting, as far as Vid card I would say get the new 7800GTX 512, for BF2 your gunna want alot of good ran so try either OCZ or Corsair 2X 1G

Case is your personal taste as for other parts I think the Benq is the best DVDR although many DVDR are of similar quality and price so just shop around at the time of purchase for ur best deal. As far as HDD its up to you I would say Segate or Western Digital 7200.9 (although I hear there is no real difference from .8) and then choose the size depending on your need but you said gaming so I would think no less than 120G


I dunno is there anything else I forgot?

 

[imported_rod]

CPU: X2 3800+
MoBo: ASUS A8N-SLI premium
VC: 7800GT
RAM: 2GB DDR400

HDD: 250GB HDD
OPT: Pioneer DVR-110

Case: ???
PSU: Antec TruePowerII 430W-550W

Do you need monitor/kb/mse?

RoD

 

[Some1ne]

Can you link to whichever site you wanted to use for purchasing the parts? I know that most of the places the people around here typically like to use don't ship to AUS, and the cost and availability of parts is a bit different over there and may affect recommendations.

 

[imported_rod]

For the best prices in Australia, use http://www.staticice.com.au

RoD

 

[Some1ne]

Okay, I picked an AU site that seemed to have decent prices (or a least, prices that aren't inflated relative to other AU retailers):

CPU: Opteron 165
Mainboard: MSI Neo4 Platinum
RAM: 2 GB OCZ
Video: Geforce 7800 GT
HDD: Seagate 250 GB SATA w/ NCQ
Optical: Pioneer 16x DVD Burner OEM
Case/PSU: Antec Sonata II w/ Included PSU

..that leaves about $250 for keyboard, mouse, and monitor if you need. If that's not enough, consider dropping to 1 GB of RAM instead of 2. If that's still not enough, drop the graphics to a 6800 NU or a 6600GT.

 

[Shizzle]

WOW Guys thats alot for your help

so is the new 7800GTX a 512mb card? How much?

Also I want AMD just if you forgot

im definatly going to get 2 gig ram thanks for that

AND yer a need screen, mouse, keyboard etc

and what should i used to share my internet connection? i have 1 computer in the study running off a cable modem, what/how do i get the internet shared between both computers?

btw 2,400 is the max if i can get cheaper thats good :

Cheers Grant

 

[ribbon13]

The AMD Opteron 165 is a very good choice.

Don't even consider the 512MB 7800GT until you know what kind of display you'll be using.

You share cable internet with a router. Get Linksys BEFSR41 to do that.

 

[Shizzle]

ok cool, i wont be getting the 512 card as it costs tooo much

 

[Some1ne]

so is the new 7800GTX a 512mb card? How much?

Yeah, it's a 512 MB card, not like there's any proven advantage to that much framebuffer yet though. Also, the price of the 256 MB 7800 GTX cards in AUS seems to be around $1,000...I really don't think it makes sense to blow about half your PC budget on the graphics card. The 7800 GT should be more than adequate.

and what should i used to share my internet connection?

If you get the MSI board I recommended, it has dual ethernet adapters, so you could connect one to your Internet connection and the other to your second PC, and configure Internet Connection Sharing (if under windows) or set it up to operate as a router (if not under windows, or if you just don't like windows ICS). Or you could buy a seperate router, which will probably be about $100 AUS.

 

[Shizzle]

ok heres a good question i really want to know.....is it worth going the 19inch over the 17 inch? at around $200 for 2 extra inches?

what do you guys have? do you like it?

any suggestion appreciated

 

[Some1ne]

I have a 17" CRT. It's perfectly fine for the things I use my PC for (gaming, software development, Internet, etc.). I also have it hooked up to my TV for watching downloaded movies and DVD's, and occasionally for NES/SNES emulation.

I don't know what difference a 19" would make, but I certainly wouldn't drop $200 (AUS or otherwise) on a 19" monitor when my 17" gets the job done just fine.

 

[Finns14]

What will you be using this computer for? If its for gaming or watching movies then yeah it makes a little different but if the comps just for doing other things such as internet and typing and the like, then no save your self the money and get a 17.


If you get it it will be a good portion of the money for your whole PC i would say see what the price looks like when it come out if not look to the GTX KO which is currently the best card and maybe with the price drop it will be more in your price range

 

[imported_rod]

Approx Australian Prices:

X2 3800+ - $500
MSI Neo4 Platinum - $200
7800GTX (MSI) - $650
7800GT (XpertVision) - $550
2GB Corsair Twinx - $400 (I couldn't find anywhere in Aus that stocks DDR400 OCZ ram, only DDR2 ram.)
250GB Seagate - $170
DVR-110 - $80

RoD

 

[Shizzle]

that looks good, is that a fast computer?


btw ill mainly be using internet and playing games with this computer

im going 17 inch now im just still confused on what graphics card!

 

[Shizzle]

ok guys this is what im hoping to get :

AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ (S939 Dual Core) $486.20

Seagate Barracuda 200Gb 7200 8Mb cache SATA Hard Disk $148.50
Pioneer DVR-110 DVD Re-Writer (16x/8x Dual Layer Black) $74.80
Kingmax DDR2 1Gb PC4200 (533MHz) Memory X2 $290.40
PHILIPS 17" 170S6FB Black LCD Mon $346.50
Thermaltake Soprano VB1400BWS Black Case (400W TT PSU) $165.00
1.44Mb Floppy Disk Drive $15.00
GIGABYTE NX78T256V-B GEF7800GT, 256MB, 256bit, PCIEx16, DDRIII, DSUB, TV-0, V-IN, 2DVI, TW $633.60
Microsoft Multimedia Keyboard (Black) $30.80
Microsoft Optical Mouse (Black) $22.00


Sub-Total: $2,212.80

whats motherboard should i use with that set-up and is there anything there that wont work or is there anything im missing?

cheers guys

 

[imported_rod]

Ummm. That RAM wont work! You must use DDR (not DDR2) RAM with Athlon64's. You can get 2x512MBB Corsair Twinx for ~$200, or 2x1GB for ~$400.

Were they all the cheapest prices you could find? You should be able to get an XpertVision 7800GT almost $100 cheaper than that.

Also, if you're going for gaming, you might want to consider a gaming mouse (logitech G5/G7), and possibly a 19" screen.

RoD

 

[Shizzle]

im not going 19 inch screen as the 17 i have atm is fine and 19inch is too expensive!

Xpertvision? is that a graphics card? whats wrong with the geoforce?



ok ive fixed it up hows this?

AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ (S939 Dual Core) $486.20
Asus A8N-E motherboard $161.70
Seagate Barracuda 200Gb 7200 8Mb cache SATA Hard Disk $148.50
Pioneer DVR-110 DVD Re-Writer (16x/8x Dual Layer Black) $74.80
Kingston 512Mb X2 PC3200 DDR Ram $165.00
PHILIPS 17" 170S6FB Black LCD Mon $346.50
Thermaltake Soprano VB1400BWS Black Case (400W TT PSU) $165.00
1.44Mb Floppy Disk Drive $15.00
GIGABYTE NX78T256V-B GEF7800GT, 256MB, 256bit, PCIEx16, DDRIII, DSUB, TV-0, V-IN, 2DVI, TW $633.60
Microsoft Multimedia Keyboard (Black) $30.80
Logitech MX518 Gaming Optical Mouse $68.20


Sub-Total: $2,295.30

and yes these are the cheapest i have found!

 

[INM8]

Xpertvision is just a brand...not a make of graphics card. Xpertvision sell 7800gt's just like gigabyte do, but since they dont bundle software, and make everything as fancy (eg.box) you can get them for quite a bit cheaper. Id take a look at what comes with the gigabyte card, and if you think you'll like the games it comes with, get it. If they look like their old, or just plain rubbish, go for the xpertvision and save your money for some proper games

 

[imported_rod]

INM8 said it all. The reason i recommended the Xpertvision card was because it's almost $100 cheaper.

That memory is 2x512MB sticks, right?

Do you use staticice? I linked to it in a previous post.

RoD

 

[Shizzle]

yes it is 2 sticks on 512mb! is that alright!

Kingston 512Mb PC3200 DDR Ram $165.00 (2 sticks)

btw could'nt find link!

 

[imported_rod]

www.staticice.com.au

 

[Shizzle]

ive seen that site before....ive got evything worked out atm......what i do need to ask is "do i need extra cooling?




So far this is what i ahve got! do i need extra cooling for it?

AMD Athlon 64 (939) X2 Dual Core 3800+
Asus A8N-SLI
1G Corsair DDR400
OR
1G (2x512M) Kingston Value DDR400
Thermaltake Suprano Black Case (400W TT PSU)
Seagate 8m SATA 200G Hard Disk
256MB Gigabyte 7800GT VIVO
17" Samsung 730BF
Pioneer 110 OEM Black D.L. 16x DVDRW
Black 1.44M Floppy Drive
Logitech keyboard + Optical Mouse
Logitech X530 5.1 Speakers
Windows XP Pro

 

[imported_rod]

Can you stretch to 2x 1GB. 2x1GB will run faster than 4x512MB. It's an extra $200, but IMHO it's worth it.

Also, is that the basic A8N-SLI. How much extra would the premium cost?



How many case fans does that case have? A couple of 120mm should be fine.

You will only need extra CPU cooling if you are overclocking. I've heard that some of the X2's are coming with heatpipe coolers in the retail box. That's pretty sweet. ((Maybe something Intel should be thing about with it's prescHOTts.))

RoD

 

[Shizzle]

Ah k thats help full what does the Premium Mb have on it thats different to the SLI?



btw i have updated it this is the pricing!

AMD Athlon 64 (939) X2 Dual Core 3800+ -$486
Asus A8N-SLI Premium -$239

1G Corsair DDR400 -$163
1G Corsair DDR400 -$163

Thermaltake Suprano Black Case (400W TT PSU) -$135
Seagate 8m SATA 200G Hard Disk -$143
256MB Gigabyte 7800GT VIVO -$565
17" Samsung 730BF -$420
Pioneer 110 OEM Black D.L. 16x DVDRW -$72
Black 1.44M Floppy Drive -$15
Logitech keyboard + Optical Mouse -$40
Logitech X530 5.1 Speakers -$99
Windows XP Pro -$199





BTW should i get parts cheap off ebay? NEW?