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New RIG, $2000 Budget, please help!

S

Stumben2

Member
OK guys I finally got the green light from the Wife, with $2000 to spend. Woohoo!

First off this Rig is Primarily for Gaming. I do NOT plan on going SLI.

Second I am going to order from Monarch the following was configured there. ( If you have input on ordering from them, my ears are open ). So if you can give me alternatives from their site, that would be helpful.

Third, this does not include Monitor or Speakers, but I have almost $200 free. So not sure if I should bump this configuration up or down and save me enough room to afford a new LCD 20'' Monitor or just wait until Summer...

Here we go.

Case: 100159 - NO PS - Antec Performance One P160 ATX Mi $101.99 $101.99
(I have read great things about this case, but let me know if I could save money here)

Power Supply: 100143 - PS 485W - Enermax Noisetaker EG495AX-VE S $85.62
(Going with the Enermax name, If I should go better let me know )

Case Fan: None

Motherboard: 110846 - Asus A8N5X nForce4 Audio/GB-LAN/USB/PCI-E $92.77
(Again, going with the name, its one of the cheaper Asus boards. Not sure if I should go more expensive)

Processor: 120209 - AMD Athlon 64 4000+ 1MB 90nm Rev. E San D $289.74
(Keep changing my mind on this one. The price jump to the fx-57 doesnt seem worth it, and going X2 seems iffy for strictly gaming for the price increase )

Thermal Grease: 800018 - Shin-Etsu G675 Thermal Grease (Cools CPU $14.99

Heat Sink Fan: 130099 - Zalman CNPS7000B-AlCu Silent CPU Cooling $46.74
(I chose this because its QUIET! or Supposed to be. They said doesnt work with Corsair PRO or Expert ram, so I hope the below Corsair is ok, but not sure )

Memory: 140210 - DDR (400) 3200 - 2 GB (2 pcs 1GB) Corsair $194.67 $194.67

Hard Drive: 150352 - SATA3G - Western Digital Caviar SE 160 GB $88.71 $88.71
(Never gone wrong with WD)

CD-ROM/DVD-ROM/CD-RW: 160324 - DVD-ROM - Sony DDU1615 16X DVD-ROM

Floppy Drive: None
More Storage: None
Sound Card: 180427 - Creative Labs X-Fi Platinum 7.1 24-Bit So $179.68

Video Card: 190290 - eVGA GeForce 7800 GT CO SE 256MB DDR3/PCI $300.69
( Tough decision , but SLI isnt worth it, and the jump to GTX doesnt seem worth it either. If anything I would upgrade to a ATI1900 but... I prefer Nvidia. )

Network Card: 280203 - D-Link DFE-530TX+ NIC 10/100 $14.99 $14.99
(Do motherboards these days come with built in NIC to connect to internet.. do I even need this? )

Operating System: 210112 - Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition w/SP2 $94.81

Warranty: 800012 - Standard Tech Support, 1 Year $59.00 $59.00

Subtotal $1,708.36 ( I left out some minor required crap here )

 
Going for the x2 strickly for gaming isn't iffy, if you plan on having this rig for a while you will be upset when games start being designed to utilize dual core processors. I would look in the direction of an Opteron 165 or an X@ 3800 or 4400.

If you plan on mostly gaming with this machine, I would step up to a 7800gtx or an ATI x1900.

You don't need that memory, stick with Corsair Value Select.

Go with an Epox 9npa+ Ultra board!!!! best board around for the price, that Asus board isn't nearly as nice!!!

You don't need the network card!!

hard drive looks good.

Overall I give the build a D+......I think you need to get a DVDRW for this also.
 
for your budget i'd advie
opteron 165 $320
DFI infinity nf4 ultra/sli ($25 diff.. and dfi is way better tha assus) $120
x1900 xt $500
value ram 2Gb $200

get a raptor for the hdd. prince depends on size
the opteron can be safetly OC'd to 2.15 GHz (i used nvidia's provided utlity and temps under load never went over 43 C.
dual core has many many benifits.

tha opteron stock heat sink is very very good. compting/besting with high quality third party heatsink so you don't need that.
http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=getarticle&articID=399
 
I got the Epox 9npa+ultra mobo about a year ago and it has worked very well!
If you watch the Hot Deals forum you could probably get some of the components cheaper. I would alos check the For Sale / For Trade forums, I have had several great experiences with getting quality products for less that retail.
 
Thanks for the feedback keep it coming! Some really smart people in here who know their stuff!

D- .... OUCH! Now i really feel like a newbie.

I was set on going with either Monarch or http://www.cyberpowersystem.com/ to get a pre-built machine, but right here you guys list parts that I do not see. cyberpower has the "value select" Ram, Monarch doesnt have it or just doesnt list it as "value select".

What specifically would you say is better about that epox board, or is there a better Asus board from Monarch I should go with?

Or............

Maybe I should finally consider just building my own. I am admitingly intimidated to do so, afraid im going to screw something up.

As far as the X2 I hear what your saying but not sure I trust just how well future games are going to take advantage of it. Doesnt mean I wont go X2, believe me I have gone back and forth many times.

 
System Summary
CASE : ATX MEDIUM TOWER CASE 350 WATT (BLACK COLOR)
CPU : (939-pin) AMD Athlon?64 X2 3800+ Dual-Core CPU w/ HyperTransport Technology
MOTHERBOARD : (Sckt939)EVGA nForce4 SLI Chipset SATA RAID Dual PCI-E Mainboard w/GbLAN, USB2.0, &7.1Audio
MEMORY : 2048 MB (1GBx2) PC3200 400MHz Dual Channel DDR MEMORY (Corsair Value Select)
VIDEO CARD : NEW!!! ATI Radeon X1900XT PCI-E x16 512MB VIDEO CARD
VIDEO CARD 2 : NONE
MONITOR & LCD : NONE
HARD DRIVE : 200GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 8M Cache 7200RPM Hard Drive -- Recommended
Hard Drive 2 : 200GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 8M Cache 7200RPM Hard Drive -- Recommended
Optical Drive : (Special Price) LG GWA-4161 16X DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW DRIVE DUAL LAYER (BLACK COLOR)
Optical Drive 2 : NONE
SOUND : Creative Labs SB AUDIGY 2 VALUE 7.1
Price: $1719.00

CASE : CoolerMaster Praetorian 730 RC-730 Aluminum Tower 420W Case (Black Color)
CPU : (939-pin) AMD Athlon?64 X2 3800+ Dual-Core CPU w/ HyperTransport Technology
MOTHERBOARD : (Sckt939)EVGA nForce4 SLI Chipset SATA RAID Dual PCI-E Mainboard w/GbLAN, USB2.0, &7.1Audio
MEMORY : 2048 MB (1GBx2) PC3200 400MHz Dual Channel DDR MEMORY (Corsair Value Select)
VIDEO CARD : NEW!!! ATI Radeon X1900XT PCI-E x16 512MB VIDEO CARD
VIDEO CARD 2 : NONE
MONITOR & LCD : NONE
HARD DRIVE : 200GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 8M Cache 7200RPM Hard Drive -- Recommended
Hard Drive 2 : 200GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 8M Cache 7200RPM Hard Drive -- Recommended
Optical Drive : (Special Price) LG GWA-4161 16X DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW DRIVE DUAL LAYER (BLACK COLOR)
Optical Drive 2 : NONE
SOUND : HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO
Price: $1744.00

remove sound card if you want....it i had 2gs thats wut i would
 
your better off with a opteron 165 (since its only about $ 20 my comp. and you can OC it to 2.4 easy on the stock heat sink. i advise again to get a raptor. (it makes a lot of difference).

ps. look in my sig for my comp i built 1 week ago. thats my recommendation except i could not afford a more expensive gpu and more ram
 
x1900xt beats 2 7800gts, and the difference will only improve with newer shader heavy games. Dual core is also the way to go, for the future, and just to reduce the headaches of multitasking.
 
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