New PC for $1000

[Dergrin]

Hey everyone. I am about to build a complete new computer to tear through the new games coming out like Half Life 2 and Doom 3, and I was wanting suggestions on what route I should go.

-My budget for this new PC is around $1000-1200 trying to keep it closer to $1000 though.
-I will be purchasing this PC around the first to mid June might wait to end of June depending on what the market is doing.
-The computer will be used in my dorm room for gaming and listening to music.

Wants:
-Fast and quiet
-Good sound for music
-Good graphics for games
-Able to overclock (I have never overclocked before so won't do too much)

Things I want in the system unless someone has a strong suggestion against:
-Logitech Z-5300 speakers ($140)
-X-Blade case ($110)

Other components I want:
-Processor
-Motherboard
-Memory
-Video card
-Sound card (was leaning toward Audigy ZS 7.1)
-Cooling
-DVD RW/CD RW
-SATA hard drive

I didn't know which route to go wheter AMD 64, AMD XP, or Intel and was hoping for some suggestions, as well as suggestions on the other hardware. Thanks

 

[GeneralGrievous]

Processor: http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-103-400&depa=0 $77
Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-127-166&depa=0 $86
Memory: http://www.shop.kingston.com/0504kvr/default.asp?bannersource=anandhot $138
Sound card: onboard $0
Video Card: hold out until all nextgen cards are released, then get something for $350-400
Including what you have that takes us to $901. Giving a rather generous $100 for cooling and optical drives, that puts you at $1000 before hard disks, and around $1150 after.

 

[Soulkeeper]

you could build a nice setup like this:

2400+ mobile barton
nf7-s v2.0 abit board
2x 256mb pc3200+ or better with good timings
1x 36gb raptor
and the best vid card and sound card you can fit in the budget fx xxxx or radeon xxxx take yur pick

 

[Peter D]

Antec Sonata w/ Antec 380W
DFI Infinity
2600+ Mobile
Zalman CNPS7000A-AlCu
2x512MB Mushkin Level 1 PC3500
HIS Radeon 9800 Pro (/w Arctic Cooling VGA Silencer for quiet )
Seagate SATA 120GB
NEC 8X DVD+RW/-RW
Logitech Z-5300

Total - $1,153.98

You might be able to cut some corners by getting a 2500+ Mobile and some cheaper RAM, but that's what I'd personally get if I were buying

Hope that helps

Welcome to AnandTech, BTW

 

[Illissius]

Here's an Athlon 64 config:

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-K8NS Pro $129
This is the one of the only nForce3 250 boards currently available, and it doesn't look half bad. The Chaintech just drop-in replaces the nForce3 150 with the 250, and thus doesn't utilize near the full potential of the latter, which is why I I chose this by default.

CPU: Athlon 64 2800+ OEM $173

CPU Cooling: Zalman CNPS7000A-Cu $41
If you're really, really scared shitless of the weight breaking your motherboard or any of that other FUD people like to spread, get the AlCu version and save $5. I haven't ever heard of it happening. The Cu cools 1-3C better, and looks cooler . (And $5 really isn't very much.)

Memory: A-DATA DDR PC-4000 512MB $106
Might as well make use of the nForce3 250's overclocking potential . This was the cheapest high speed RAM I could find (a good $50-$100 cheaper than that others), and A-DATA isn't a bad brand. I'm skimping here slightly and only getting 512MB (as another 512MB would go over even the higher limit of $1200), but it should be plenty enough for now, and you can always buy more later if you ever need it. (Unlike, say, CPU or GPU power, which has to be replaced outright, and which I'm choosing to spend the money on instead.)

Graphics: Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB Bulk $209
Best higher end price-performance ratio, period. An argument could be made for the 5900XT at ~$170, but I'd say $40 is well worth it for the better overall performance, and especially the much better DX9 performance.

Graphics Cooling: Zalman ZM80C-HP $30 + ZM-OP1 $10
Cools much better than the stock, and is silent.

Sound: M-Audio Revolution 7.1 $99
It's either this or the Audigy 2 ZS you mentioned. This sounds better for music (and is pretty much the best consumer level card you can get), while the Audigy is better for games (though neither is bad at the other), and has lower CPU utilization. It also has horrible, horrible drivers, and is around $10 cheaper. I'd prefer the Revolution, but it's up to you.

HDD: Seagate Barracuda 120GB 7200RPM 8MB Cache SATA $100
120GB should be plenty, and if you ever need more, just get another and put them in RAID 0 .

Optical: NEC 8x DVD+-RW Black $81

Case: Antec Sonata with 380W PSU $99
This case was designed for quiet. Dunno about the X-Blade thing you mentioned, newegg search didn't find anything with the name.

Speakers: Logitech Z-5300 5.1 $139

-------------------------------------

Total: $1216

That's a bit over your max, but otherwise it's pretty much perfect - the only thing I would add given more money to work with would be another 512MB of RAM, but you can easily upgrade that later as I mentioned.

EDIT - Just noticed you are buying this mid to end of June. Only real significant change is you'll probably want a different nForce3 250 board (Abit, or perhaps Asus), as they damn well better be out by then. If there's any price drops, just save the money (or spend it on the RAM). I rather highly doubt the next gen $200 cards would be out by then, but that's another option if they are.

EDIT again - Here's an article comparing the performance of a 2500+ mobile overclocked to 2.4Ghz with a large number of other stuff. Of note, even fully overclocked it loses by a significant margin to the Athlon 64 3000+ at stock.

And here's an article on how next gen video cards scale with processor performance.

 

[Falloutboy]

**edit**
also if the xblade is the small matx case I'm thinking of avoid it its much to small of a case to be both quiet and have hind end components inside of it.

my recomendation is to go with:

AMD XP Mobile 2600 - $100

NF7-S - $85

2x512mb PC3200 $180

9800pro $200 (although should be droping in price soon)

sound (intergrated works great and sounds great) FREE

WD 200gb SATA $140
or if you don't need alot of storage and want a faster drive
WD Raptor 36gb $112

DVD burner 8x $90

Antec Sonata case w/ 380watt PSU $99

which brings you to right around 900

another alternative is to grab a X80pro for about 350 once they become more available to get you some more speed for games.

 

[4x4expy]

Originally posted by: Vegetto
Antec Sonata w/ Antec 380W
DFI Infinity
2600+ Mobile
Zalman CNPS7000A-AlCu
2x512MB Mushkin Level 1 PC3500
HIS Radeon 9800 Pro (/w Arctic Cooling VGA Silencer for quiet )
Seagate SATA 120GB
NEC 8X DVD+RW/-RW
Logitech Z-5300

Total - $1,153.98

You might be able to cut some corners by getting a 2500+ Mobile and some cheaper RAM, but that's what I'd personally get if I were buying

Hope that helps

Welcome to AnandTech, BTW

I was gonna list a setup for this price range but it was gonna look just about like this. The Sonata case has a True380s PSU in it and runs less than $100+s/h... I would definitely take a close look at the DFI mb, and the Mobile XP's. With memory prices continuing to rise, you could save over $100 by going with 2x256 PC3200 with little if any performance hit in gaming. The 9800pro is now probably the best bang for the buck vid card these days, sometimes selling for less than $200 at newegg.

Good luck.

 

[Dergrin]

Ok so far this is what I have gotten from suggestions:

Antec Sonata w/ Antec 380W $100
Zalman CNPS7000A-AlCu or just Cu $45
2x256MB prolly some OCZ PC3200 $120
Radeon 9800 Pro Seagate SATA 120GB $200
NEC 8X DVD+RW/-RW $80
Logitech Z-5300 $140
Seagate 120gb SATA $100

Total ~$800

This leaves me with $200-$400 for:
-Processor
-Motherboard
-Sound Card

Questions:
Go with a AMD XP 2600 mobile and supporting mobo or go with a AMD 64 2800 and supporting mobo?
Is the performance gained from the AMD 64 over the XP worth the money?
What advantages would be gained from a Audigy 2 ZS over onboard sound?


Thanks for your help everyone.

 

[Dergrin]

Right now for the processor and motherboard I am leaning toward getting

AMD XP 2600 mobile
ABIT NF7-S

The question about the sound still applies.
How much difference could one tell between the onboard sound and the Audigy 2 ZS?

Also I don't know much about overclocking so I would need guides on overclocking the processor, FSB and memory. How much risk is there in overclocking all these?

Another possibility is I might just get the AMD XP 3000.
If I did that, how much room is there to safely overclock?

I am learning, and sorry for all the questions, but thanks for all the help.

 

[Dman877]

IMO, for any comp "to tear through the new games coming out like Half Life 2 and Doom 3" it will have to include at least an X800Pro...

 

[4x4expy]

Originally posted by: Dergrin
Right now for the processor and motherboard I am leaning toward getting

AMD XP 2600 mobile
ABIT NF7-S

The question about the sound still applies.
How much difference could one tell between the onboard sound and the Audigy 2 ZS?

Also I don't know much about overclocking so I would need guides on overclocking the processor, FSB and memory. How much risk is there in overclocking all these?

Another possibility is I might just get the AMD XP 3000.
If I did that, how much room is there to safely overclock?

I am learning, and sorry for all the questions, but thanks for all the help.

Those are excellent choices on cpu and mb to go with your above package, and you would be right at $1000.

Risk of overclocking... Not much at all if you don't use high voltages, which there is little need to with the mobile XP's unless your shooting for 2.7ghz or more. Most are able to hit 2.4ghz, on 1.6-1.7v. My TbredB (1700+) has been running at 200x12 for a year now without complaining. If you stay around 200fsb, then you are not really even overclocking the mb and PC3200, since they are made for this speed anyway. Buying the xp 3000 is a viable option since prices are down some, but the XP m 2600 overclocked to 2.4 ghz is xp3400-3500+ speed at a lower price.

And on the sound issue. The Audigy 2 zs is a 24bit 7.1 card, far superior to onboard sound. The NF7-s is no slouch, it has the soundstorm audio which is very good 16bit 5.1,(not to mention free with the purchase of the mb)

 

[Dergrin]

Where are some good sites I could read up on overclocking the AMD 2600 mobile? I don't know the first thing about overclocking.

Oh. Almost forgot. I know there are many 9800pros out there and I was wondering which is the best one for around $200?

 

[faye]

wow

all AMD fans.

however, i like INTEL...

Pentium 3.2C
Asus P4P800E-Deluxe.
Geil Ultra Platinum PC4000 2x512mb
ATi Radeon 9800pro or NV40/R420
Coolermaster CM stacker...
Antec 450W
1xHitachi 80G SATA

 

[Illissius]

Athlon XP 2600+ Mobile $100
Abit NF7-S $80-90

The NF7-S has SoundStorm which is by far the onboard sound you can get (I've heard it compares to an Audigy 1, but otherwise I have no experience with either), so you'll probably be fine getting just those two and saving some money. You can also get an Audigy 2 ZS or M-Audio Revolution afterwards if you want more (dunno how much of an audiophile you are). You can probably get the processor to 2.4-2.5GHz (or higher if you're lucky, but don't count on it), which is plenty enough for now - but check out that article I linked on how performance scales with various processors. Basically, the A64 destroys the XP, and it may be wise to get one if you want to upgrade to a faster video card later on without having to get a new mobo and proc to go with it. In that case,

Athlon 64 2800+ $173 or 3000+ $211
Gigabyte K8NS Pro $129

The Athlon 64 2800+ at stock speeds is probably around equal to an XP Mobile overclocked to 2.4-2.5GHz at gaming. From there you can likely overclock the 2800+ to around 2.2GHz, and the 3000+ to 2.3-2.5GHz depending on your luck. (Again, see the article I linked to see how these would likely perform - they pretty much demolish XPs at gaming.) The onboard sound here is worse than on the NF7-S, so you may want the audigy or m-audio instead, but again you should probably see how you like the onboard first.

Other stuff:

- You should get the A-DATA PC4000 memory whichever one you go with (single stick of 512MB for the A64, and two 256MB sticks for the XP). It's barely more expensive than generic PC3200 ($10-15), and actually /cheaper/ than the "value" RAM from Corsair, Kingston, etc. (it's $5 more in the case of OCZ PC3200). You can reach much higher FSBs this way, which can reap dividends for performance. And you don't lose anything (compared to getting PC3200) even if you don't make full use of its potential.

- The Zalman ZM80C-HP + OP1 cooling for the video card is also well worth it. It's pretty much silent, and cools much better than the stock cooling (especially the miserable little fan on the 9800 Pro), doing good things for overclocking in the process.

- I realize I'm not making it easier for you to decide, but that's because neither is really better than the other. Here's a question: if you go with the XP Mobile, what would you spend the money you saved on? Then perhaps I can decide whether it's worth spending it on the A64 instead .

 

[Dergrin]

Well how long will it be befor the socket 939 will be on the market?

I might go with the Athlon 64 now. It is hard to decide. What I would do with the extra money is just keep it. I prolly wouldnt spend it.

 

[Soulkeeper]

thought it was supposed to be out next month or something...

but anyways i would lose this case from your config:
Antec Sonata w/ Antec 380W $100

that isn't a bad deal, but i've seen the antec true power 430's in nice towers for less than 100 before
just look around, but i recommend getting a quality brand psu over 400+ watt (like antec) just for the sake of futureproofness as you upgrade and add stuff to yur pc over the next year or two. The antec truecontrol ones are the best antec psu's out right now imo as they allow you to not only adjust the psu fan, but also all three main voltage rails within like +/- 5 or 10% of their default values or something (won't let me take 3.33 and 5.0 too high tho with all my power drawl lately but it keeps my 3.33 and 5.0 stable right on the mark and my 12 is plenty strong enough)

yeah i suggest either waiting for socket 939 and saving your money till the 939 motherboards start hitting shelves in droves. By that time video cards should be a noticeable amount cheaper and you'll also have the option of pci express if things go well
also I recommend atleast 512mb of memory but 1GB is the new bar for this year's extreme gamers lately it seems
one thing you can count on besides your memory decreasing in value over time is the memory being more and more filled as programs/games/apps of all kinds grow in size and number. Memory footprints, proprietary database files for certain programs, larger amounts of data/information to work with, and increased demand for "eye candy" and more features, etc. will all see to 1GB becoming a minimum or atleast "recommended requirement" for many things over the next 6 to 24 months that maybe 256mb or 512mb are the min and recommended amounts now.


yeah i wouldn't rush myself into upgrading too soon if I was you
just take yur time and wait for new products and price drops through the summer
or if you absolutely must upgrade now then the abit nf7-s and a mobile barton with 512mb or 1gb of mem and a 9800pro should be pretty nice (even with another vid card or something else added/changed it is still good).
the HT capable P4's are also nice if you know you are running something that might like HT capability or you just can't pass on the enticement of the P4's love for encoding/decoding/media/etc. and it's affect on things you like to run and/or know it works well with yur application needs. Although the P4 route might cost an extra 150 bucks or more. Most good P4 setups these days will overclock to incredible speeds that socketA can't seem to compete with anymore.
but the mobile barton wins my price/performance thumbs up for an overclocker that gets results and don't look back

good luck, and remember 2k is plenty so don't pay too much because of purchase timing or because something costs too much cause it is too new.
a month could save you a few hundred bucks in price drops assuming some of your main parts like vid cards, cpu's, etc you are looking at happen to all go down a bit because of a new product/products releases and/or an announced price cut or two.


good luck,
props to the fellow computer builder !!!

 

[Illissius]

Socket 939 is coming in June if they don't delay it again, and I don't exactly trust them not to (they've done nothing but, so far). I don't think it's worth waiting for it, except /possibly/ if it pushes prices down on socket 754. There will likely be a premium on the processor (it /does/ have +100 on the rating...) and/or the motherboard, and the performance won't be much better, if at all. It's pretty much dual channel and 512K cache vs. single channel and 1MB, which should be roughly equal, perhaps slightly in the favor of 939, or alternately dual channel and 512K vs. single channel 512K and +200MHz, in which case 754 wins. (Of course, surprises can happen, but I'm fairly certain this'll be the case.)
The only reason to wait for socket 939 is if you want to drop-in upgrade to a better processor later on, as IIRC 3700+ will be the fastest they ever release for 754. In that case I'd wait a bit more for PCI Express as well, and then you're talking about possibly months (and even more if you also want 90nm, which won't be far off by then), so I'd just get the 754 now, if I were you.

 

[Dergrin]

So what would be a good case to go with antec true power 430?

I also don't think I am going to wait for socket 939 to come out. I plan on getting the parts the beginning of June.

Thanks for all your input.

 

[RadioHead84]

what is 90nm?

 

[SickBeast]

For $1000 I would want a computer with an X800PRO in it. I would get the Mobile AMD XP setup that others have mentionned, but I would cut corners in other areas so I could have the X800.

 

[RadioHead84]

so you want to have the video card amount to almost half the price of the entire PC. An awesome video card that isnt balanced with the rest of the computer isnt going to use its full potential anyway.

 

[SickBeast]

Originally posted by: RadioHead84
so you want to have the video card amount to almost half the price of the entire PC. An awesome video card that isnt balanced with the rest of the computer isnt going to use its full potential anyway.

I'm pretty sure a Mobile Athlon XP at 2500mhz could push an X800PRO to its full potential actually. At that speed it can tangle with an Athlon FX-53.

 

[Dergrin]

I am new when it comes to overclocking but if I get the mobile 2600+ how do I monitor the cpu temp? Is it built in to the motherboard?

Also. If I didnt get the Antec Sonata and got the Antec True Power 430, what would be a good case to go along with it that would amount to around the same price as the Sonata.

 

[Soulkeeper]

Originally posted by: Dergrin
I am new when it comes to overclocking but if I get the mobile 2600+ how do I monitor the cpu temp? Is it built in to the motherboard?

Also. If I didnt get the Antec Sonata and got the Antec True Power 430, what would be a good case to go along with it that would amount to around the same price as the Sonata.

usually your motherboard will come with a cd or have for download on their webpage a program that will monitor your temperatures (cpu, chipset/system, psu)
if not you can download a program called motherboard monitor or MBM for short

also as far as cases are concerned it all comes down to personal preference, you could pick up a cheap case for like 20 bucks if you don't wanna spend much. Also you have to think if you want a full/mid-sized tower or just a smaller standard-sized case
newegg has a good selection to look through
i personally own an antec black full sized soho case with air filter on the front but they are sometimes hard to find without a psu or not as good of a "deal", needless to say there are definately more than a few people with an extra psu or two laying around after updating cases

also i saw a case with a see through side panel that looked pretty slick for under 30 bucks the other week at newegg

 

[Soulkeeper]

This case is a killer deal
it has the see through panel, it's blue and has all the little plugin things for usb/sound/etc that cases have been having, it also has the ability to put 4 fans in the front from what i can see (which is something i havn't seen on a case lately/at all)
25 bucks is a good deal but i havn't used that case or any of there products so i dunno anything more about it (and it looks like you would need to buy atleast two fans for a few bucks if you bought it, or move the extra ones from the side)

good luck