Please rate this poor man's rig...

[svenge]

Putting together my first computer, just a simple rig for a non-overclocking light gamer: NewEgg Wish List

Since all the parts are from NewEgg, I thought it more efficient to just link the one wishlist. Here's the Cliff-Notes version of it for the link-averse:

Case: Cooler Master Centurion 5
PSU: Fortron 450w
Mobo: EPoX 9NPA+Ultra
CPU: Athlon64 3700+ San Diego (previous choice: Athlon64 3500+ Venice)
Video: eVGA 256MB 6800GS PCIe
RAM: Corsair Valueselect PC3200 1x1GB (will buy 2nd stick later)
HD: Samsung HD160JJ 160GB SATA-II (previous choice: Seagate 7200.9 160GB SATA-II)
DVD: NEC 16x DVD±RW DL
OTHER: Floppy drive w/ rounded cable, Logitech OEM keyboard & optical wheel mouse

What do you think?

 

[996GT2]

On the graphics card side, an X800GTO^2 is a very good choice, but since you're not OCing, you can get an X850XT for $199 right now on newegg, which IMO is a very good deal.

 

[svenge]

I think I'm gonna stick with the NVidia graphics for now, but thanks for the suggestion. Any other comments?

 

[TrevorRC]

The X850XT will blow the 6800GS out of the water. But that's your choice. Looks nice, other than that. Great, actually.

 

[imported_Nacelle]

I have the x850xt and I run battlefield 2 with all the settingings on high @ 1280x1024 smooth. I wouldn't dismiss it so quickly. There aren't any games that I have that don't play correctly with it.

 

[Bobthelost]

I'd think again about switching to the ATI card, but either way you'll end up with a damned good machine.

400W fortron will save $10 without losing you anything at all. Tbh you could use a 350W without any problems.

Good build.

 

[Tostada]

Looks like a really solid rig for cheap ... although everybody seems to have good coments ...

Do you actually have stuff on floppies? Unless you're booting from a RAID it's usually useless. That case looks pretty nice with no floppy.

EPoX makes good boards that are good for overclocking, but I don't know that they're anything special. If you really want to overclock as much as you can, I'd get a cheaper DFI board. Otherwise I'd get a cheaper Biostar board. And I guess you said you don't want to overclock... so...

Also, I notice you're getting 1x 1GB. At that point, maybe you should just save a little more money and go with a 754 system.

I guess what I'm saying is that you're not going all-out with this system, so you should give us some more info on exactly what it is you do with it. You said "non-overclocking light gamer" ... So what's most important to you? If you're only interested in light gaming, what exactly are your goals? What games do you play? What is the previous system that you're upgrading from? What monitor do you have?

All those parts are good ... just something about it doesn't seem optimal for an $800 system not including monitor.

 

[svenge]

The reason that I'm getting this Epox model is that it has a pretty good stability reputation on the forums and stability/reliability is my top priority. As for the 1x1GB, I'm probably going to put a 2nd GB in soon after, and I've heard that 4x512MB isn't the greatest thing for system performance. My goals for this system are that I want a jack-of-all-trades system that may not be the absolute best at anything, but can handle whatever I throw at it without too much trouble. The floppy disk is a just-in-case thing, for $10 the peace of mind is worth it for me and the looks aren't terribly damaged with the floppy according to the pictures I've seen of the Centurion 5 in use. The monitor is a 17" Dell CRT that I'm keeping from my previous system, a circa-1999 Dell P3-450. Yes, it's a 6yo system, and I'd like to think that this system could last a while, if not 6 years, as well. This is not going to be an electronic proxy for my manhood, just a practical computer.

 

[Zebo]

Look nice except Id change HDD to Samsung. Seagates sux as of late.- they perform a proceedure called "off line scan" when idle making intermintant noise best discribed as "buzzing" they also lost AAM silenceing technology due to a lawsuit filed by I forget whom but basically an injuction was issued for thier alleged theft of the technology w/o paying royalites.

 

[PingSpike]

Originally posted by: TrevorRC
The X850XT will blow the 6800GS out of the water. But that's your choice. Looks nice, other than that. Great, actually.

It will...but I can't find one for less then $200. You can get some good deals on GS these days for around $160. Is it $40 better? Although nvidia doesn't really have anything to compete at the $200 pricepoint. The GTO2 isn't so attractive anymore since you can buy a x850XT for a mere $10 more and probably overclock it to PE. No muss no fuss.

 

[PingSpike]

Originally posted by: Zebo
Look nice except Id change HDD to Samsung. Seagates sux as of late.- they perform a proceedure called "off line scan" when idle making intermintant noise best discribed as "buzzing" they also lost AAM silenceing technology due to a lawsuit filed by I forget whom but basically an injuction was issued for thier alleged theft of the technology w/o paying royalites.

Samsung seems to be a newer player...but I've been buying their drives at work and home lately because of the nice price and have been pretty impressed. I don't know about the longer term reliability yet...but frankly all manufactorers have made turd drives in the past so its like like there's a high bar for them to jump.

 

[potato28]

Originally posted by: Zebo
Look nice except Id change HDD to Samsung. Seagates sux as of late.- they perform a proceedure called "off line scan" when idle making intermintant noise best discribed as "buzzing" they also lost AAM silenceing technology due to a lawsuit filed by I forget whom but basically an injuction was issued for thier alleged theft of the technology w/o paying royalites.

Agreed. Other than that, great choices. Good luck on this build!

 

[svenge]

Point taken on the Samsung vs Seagate. Switched out the Seagate 7200.9 for the Samsung Spinpoint HD160JJ.

 

[leigh6]

OMG.

EVERY COMPONENT IS WHAT I WOULD RECOMMEND FOR A MID LEVEL BUILD.

BUT. I think you could do better on the keyboard and mouse. You are paying 2 shipping charges on them so the total is around $25.00. If you are willing to buy from another vendor Just Deals is a Logitech reseller. (Every Logitech item I have bought from them, even though it is listed as refurbished, has been new in a white box)

http://store.yahoo.com/justdeals/keyboards.html

Their price on the lx 700 is fantastic

 

[kyparrish]

Originally posted by: PingSpike

Originally posted by: TrevorRC
The X850XT will blow the 6800GS out of the water. But that's your choice. Looks nice, other than that. Great, actually.

It will...but I can't find one for less then $200. You can get some good deals on GS these days for around $160. Is it $40 better? Although nvidia doesn't really have anything to compete at the $200 pricepoint. The GTO2 isn't so attractive anymore since you can buy a x850XT for a mere $10 more and probably overclock it to PE. No muss no fuss.

I personally don't think that the x850xt is worth a $40 premium over the 6800GS. The 6800GS's OC nicely on pci-e, and they DO have sm 3.0 whether or not you think that's a big deal or not.

Mine plays nicely @ 510/1200 and can go a little higher

 

[svenge]

I think I'm going to stick with the 6800GS, just more familiar with NVIDIA hardware than ATI. Also, the price (currently $170 - $15MIR) is hard to beat, and eVGA's warranty is excellent.

 

[Googer]

1st time builder, will pull the trigger next week...

Because all newbs make mistakes, just be sure to aim for your temple...... it will hurt much less.

 

[sportzforlife3]

I have the same case...it's err...okay? It's cool, literally, but nothing great. Sleek tho!

Same mobo too.

I just finished building this weekend but still having some problems. Mobo is okay, but the only reason I don't like it it b/c i'm still having problems :/

good rig tho. I'm pritty sure you can get a better vid card for your money tho...

 

[RussianSensation]

I'd save $ on the case and/or downgrade the cpu to 3200+ and get EVGA 7800GT OC instead.

 

[Allio]

Originally posted by: RussianSensation
downgrade the cpu to 3200+ and get EVGA 7800GT OC instead.

Do this even if you have to drop a few more bucks. Overclocking a 3200+ on that board will take about fifteen seconds and is totally foolproof, and a 7800GT will take you a whole lot further with today's games than a 6800GS will.

 

[TriggerHappy101]

Originally posted by: svenge
I think I'm gonna stick with the NVidia graphics for now, but thanks for the suggestion. Any other comments?

Yeah. Nvida is better. Dont listen to him.

Nice rig. You can get eVGA 7800gt for 250 at newegg. Check it out.

 

[svenge]

I did check out the 7800; costs $95 more AR than the 6800 thus I'm not really interested in it. Right now, I'm just not into playing the types of games that require such muscle (FEAR, Battlefield, etc), and I most likely won't be in the short to medium-term future. If it ever gets to that, I'll upgrade then. I'm trying to hold a firm line near the $800 mark for this rig, and that means I can't have the latest/greatest or even the 2nd-best of any single component. This is more like a balancing test than a beauty contest to me.

 

[svenge]

Now that NewEgg's dropped the prices on 3700+ San Diego CPUs, changed over from a 3500+ Venice.

 

[Googer]

Originally posted by: svenge
Now that NewEgg's dropped the prices on 3700+ San Diego CPUs, changed over from a 3500+ Venice.

Zipzoomfly.com has the better deal, the same price as newegg.com but with free shipping.
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=80719-5