New system (should i got AM2?)

[Legacyc]

ASUS A8N-E Socket
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131530
$93
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AMD Athlon 64 3700+
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103622
$240
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G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231047
$150
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144701
$93
____________________________________________________________________________________________
SAPPHIRE Radeon X1800XT 512 mb 100134L Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102697
$300
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Antec Solution SLK3000-B Black Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811129152
$50
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FSP Group (Fortron Source) AX450-PN, 12cm FAN,PCI Express, 450W Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817104954
$50
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NEC Black 16X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827152058
$37


Is this a good build?

should I go AM2? why/why not?

Thank you

 

[stevty2889]

Parts all look good, but hard to give much advice withough knowing what you are using the system for.

 

[Legacyc]

sorry about that... I will be using it for gamming mainly. Im looking forward to HL2 ep. 1 and any future games that catch my eye.

 

[Crescent13]

looks pretty good! I would go with am2 personally, but that is a good build. I'm looking for something comparable with AM2 right now.

 

[Bateluer]

I went with AM2 for the upgrade path

 

[w00t]

personally I am not going AM2 waiting for S939 to get cheap and maybe ram go lower it'll probably end up going up

 

[evilsaint]

Originally posted by: stevty2889
Parts all look good, but hard to give much advice withough knowing what you are using the system for.

QFT. Gaming, HTPC (Home Theater), Video-editing, virtual Pong? It'll take you a long way to figure out just what you want to with your rig.

I definitely can attest to the staying power of both the HD and RAM that you picked. I have both, and each was worth every damn penny. The RAM runs at PC-2700 or 3200 speed at 2.5-3-2-5, and hasn't even so much as gotten warm, and the HD is lightning quick, for big transfers and tiny stuff alike.

 

[Crescent13]

MSI K9N Platinum $114.99

AMD Athlon 64 3800+ Dual-Core Socket AM2 $297.00

OCZ Gold 2GB DDR2-800 RAM $177.99

Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB Hard Drive $79.99

EVGA GeForce 7900GT + Zalman VF-900Cu + Voltmod $320.98

Antec Solution SLK3000-B
$49.00

Fortron Source 450W PSU $51.50

NEC ND-3550A $35.99

 

[Howard]

Time to rehash my default config suggestion. I would suggest the following ONLY if you are going to buy the system immediately, and gaming will be the primary use.

AMD Athlon 64 3200+ - $135, free shipping (overclock this to 2.4GHz)
ASUS A8N5X - $80, free shipping
Corsair XMS 2x1GB DDR400 - $179, $15 instant savings, free shipping
MSI X1800XL 512MB - $220, free shipping
NEC ND-3550A - $41, free shipping
Samsung Spinpoint SP2504C 250GB SATA - $80, free shipping
Fortron FSP400-60GLN - $45 + ~$10 shipping
Antec SLK3000B - $29 + ~$20 shipping

Total - $824 before tax if applicable

Optional:

Scythe Mine - $39 + ~$7 shipping, is compatible with AM2 and LGA775
Arctic Cooling Accelero X2 - $26 + ~7 shipping
If bought together, the combined shipping should be ~$8-9.


The X1800XL can possibly be overclocked to X1800XT speeds or higher. If it can, you just saved $80 on an X1800XT; if not, you get almost the same performance for $80 less. Win-win, IMO. If your budget allows an X1900XT, you can go for that instead.

I'm not too sure how long the $15 instant savings on the memory will last. I probably would go with something else if there wasn't the savings.

 

[jaythespacehound]

I like your build, I would consider the DFI LanParty UT NF4 Ultra-D motherboard, and maybe look at the x1900xt (about another $80 if I recall) or the 7900GT
The 3700+ is a very nice pcu, I would not go with the x2 3800+ dual core, as for gaming, it is roughly equivalent to a 3000+
Good luck!
Jay

 

[Ranulf]

A 3800X2 is roughly equivalent to a 3000+ in gaming!?

 

[jaythespacehound]

For non dual core optimised games yes... see here:
Tom's CPU charts

Or if you don't trust Tom's:
FEAR benchmark taken from Firingsquad
min max fps (yes I know fear is fairly gpu bound)
Athlon 64 3000+ 35 155
Athlon 64 X2 3800+ 35 157

There are some games outnow, and coming out this year/next year which are going to take more advantage of dual core's but at the moment....

Jay

 

[pkme2]

I would wait to see the effect that AM2 has on the X2 prices and mobos. In a couple weeks, everything should be clearer and that's when it would be adviseable to buy.

 

[Henny]

Why buy old dead end technology. (ex: DDR memory)

I'd either build AM2 or Conroe. At least you might be able to get some of the H/W to span a couple CPU's. (MB, DDR2)

 

[EffeX]

Because am2 offers 1% more performance and you get some new motherboard that crashes every 5 minutes then you have to wait for some gay company like asus to come out with a bios update whie your brand new computer is unusable.

 

[Ranulf]

Originally posted by: jaythespacehound
For non dual core optimised games yes... see here:
Tom's CPU charts

Or if you don't trust Tom's:
FEAR benchmark taken from Firingsquad
min max fps (yes I know fear is fairly gpu bound)
Athlon 64 3000+ 35 155
Athlon 64 X2 3800+ 35 157

There are some games outnow, and coming out this year/next year which are going to take more advantage of dual core's but at the moment....

Jay

Eh, using your link its 1fps faster in Doom3 than a 3000 and on par with a 3200. Its also only a mere 4fps slower than a fx-57.

 

[jaythespacehound]

So is almost everything in current games...