NEWB, Building a 900 dollar or less system...LITTLE HELP?

[GbMaxSE]

Sup, Building a New Custom System with a friend, Mainly for School, Graphics use (photoshop and such) And GAMING
This is gonna be a christmas present and I can spend 1000 dollars on everything...Im looking to spend about 800-900 on the computer itself...I already have a KeyBoard Mouse Printer Speakers and the peripheral BS
So Here is waht I'm lookin at so far...I'm hoping to not have to upgrade for a WHILE, so let me know if I'm on the right track, especially video wise...


Western Digital 80 GB HDD-75.00
Lite On 52x32x52 Cdrw-38.00
Lite on 16X DVD-33.00
Amd Athlon Xp Barton 2500+-90.00
Ati Radeon 9800 Pro- 303.75
Asus Mobo A7N8X-X-82.00
Kingston Hyperx Ram 512mb x2-192.00
DreamerII Shadow Tracer case And 350 watt psu-67.00
TOTAL OF=880.00
So Basically The 2500+ with 1024mb hyperx ram an asus mobo and the 9800 pro 128mb
Should I save up a little money of my own And get the 256? I am in no mood to buy the xt...just too rich for my blood at this point, and the only game looking to REALLY use it at this point is Half Life 2...So, is the 9800 pro 128mb the best card for me?

 

[crapito]

good system overall, but i'd swap the 9800 Pro for a non-Pro, saving about $50, and get a better motherboard, like the Asus A7N8X-Deluxe.

 

[selfbuilt]

Originally posted by: crapito
good system overall, but i'd swap the 9800 Pro for a non-Pro, saving about $50, and get a better motherboard, like the Asus A7N8X-Deluxe.

My sentiments exactly.

 

[lordtyranus2]

What the first 2 said. Also, I'd get a larger HDD and higher wattage PSU.

 

[GbMaxSE]

As far as the psu goes, I plan to upgrade that asap, And as for the hdd, I doubt i will even come close to filling an 80...Why the Deluxe? Will I really need it that much more?
I have read also that The 9800 np Takes overclocking to get above 9700pro speeds, so if i were to do that why not just get the 9700 pro?

 

[Jeff7181]

You don't need a massive PSU... all you need is a quality one.
I have 2 hard drives (one being a Raptor), 2 optical drives, a USB media card reader, USB mouse, GeForceFX5900 overclocked, XP2500 overclocked, 1 GB of RAM (2 sticks), onboard sounds, onboard NIC, 4 80mm case fans, 80mm CPU fan... and it all works perfectly fine with a 350 watt Antec PSU.
The Deluxe motherboard has VERY good onboard sound... Audigy quality when you use the digital out with half the CPU usage. It also has SATA RAID if you ever get a Raptor.
The 9800 non-pro and 9700 Pro perform almost exactly the same. And the 9800 non-pro can be overclocked higher than the 9700 Pro. (this is what the general concensus here seems to be, although I've never owned either one)

*EDIT* Oh yeah, and stick with the 128... the 256 MB card doesn't provide any better performance yet, and the increase in cost is too much to justify "planning for the future" as games need more memory. By the time they need more, you'll probably want a new card anyway.

 

[lordtyranus2]

Will I really need it that much more?

The deluxe has much better onboard audio, 2 LAN ports, SATA, and other features.

Link
Link

Compare the 2 for yourself.

And as for the hdd, I doubt i will even come close to filling an 80

That's what you think now. It fills up faster than you can believe. The jump to 120 GB is only around $20 anyway.

The 9800 nonpro can be BIOS flashed into a 9800 Pro a good deal of the time. I don't know the exact success rate, but its quite high. That's why 9800 nonpros aren't being sold anymore in many retailers.

 

[lordtyranus2]

If you want to do RAID, you need to get 2 identical hard disks. Keep that in mind.

 

[GreatDaleness]

I always find it odd that people claim to power this amazing system with these tiny power supplies. I have an Antec 300W and nowhere near as much stuff as you, yet my voltages are all over and the air coming out of the PS is HOT! To me people who make those claims are like those who claim to get 300 FPS on Doom3 with a TNT2 Ultra.

 

[GbMaxSE]

im really thinkin bout getting a 9800 np and the deluxe mobo, but i dont think better sound and another lan port is that worth it to me
Would it have any affect on in game performance?
Also im iffy on whether or not i should get the Non pro, because the bios flashing may fail, and then im stuck with a non pro
THe deluxe is 40 bux more...125 bux and the 9800 non pro is like 250-260, im paying 308 shipped for the pro

 

[kylebisme]

Originally posted by: GreatDaleness
I always find it odd that people claim to power this amazing system with these tiny power supplies. I have an Antec 300W and nowhere near as much stuff as you, yet my voltages are all over and the air coming out of the PS is HOT! To me people who make those claims are like those who claim to get 300 FPS on Doom3 with a TNT2 Ultra.

i just put togther a scrap system with a 1900+ pally and a geforce 3 on a kt400 board, two hdds, two optical drives, a usb card and a live card and it is all running nice and stable in a gateway case with the stock 180w powersuply that came with a 700mhz p3 system. a bad powersuply can be trouble, but a lot of people put far too much emphasis on them.

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: GreatDaleness
I always find it odd that people claim to power this amazing system with these tiny power supplies. I have an Antec 300W and nowhere near as much stuff as you, yet my voltages are all over and the air coming out of the PS is HOT! To me people who make those claims are like those who claim to get 300 FPS on Doom3 with a TNT2 Ultra.

Would you like to come over and look at it? LOL! If it's hard for you to believe that I run all my stuff on a 350 watt PSU, maybe you don't know as much as you think you do?

 

[lordtyranus2]

im really thinkin bout getting a 9800 np and the deluxe mobo, but i dont think better sound and another lan port is that worth it to me

Better sound is better sound. That's up to you. Serial ATA is nice, but if you don't need this as well, don't get the deluxe.

9800 BIOS flashing works the vast majority of the time. The card was called back specifically because of this. Get one while you can.