*****Please review before I buy*****

[karma4jake]

Ok I'm working on a $1250 budget for a new gaming PC. I'm getting everything but xp from zipzoomfly since newegg charges shipping to TN. Let me know if you don't like one of my choices, if I'm missing something or know where I can get it substantially cheaper shipped. All prices except the case are shipped.

Antec Sonata Quiet Black case w/380w TruePower PS $89.99
eVGA 6800GT AGP $399.99
LiteOn 16x black DVD burner $71.25
Samsung black floppy $17.99
Seagate 160gb SATA 7200RPM w/native BS $109.99
Corsair DDR400 PC3200 CAS3.5 1GB valuRAM $145.00
AMD Athlon 64 3000+ winchester ASUS A8V Deluxe combo $279.99

ZipZoomFly.com Total $1114.20
Shipping for case $33.66
XP Pro upgrade SP2 shipped $84.99

Grand Total $1232.85


Also I'm assuming that XP upgrade can upgrade from a 98 disc because thats all I have handy.

 

[Lyfer]

Everything looks nice. BUT, if it WERE ME, I would wait for Nforce 4 boards to show up in bunches.

 

[DerwenArtos12]

Originally posted by: Lyfer
Everything looks nice. BUT, if it WERE ME, I would wait for Nforce 4 boards to show up in bunches.

Well, I have to artially agree and artially disagree. The NF4 kicks @$$ but there are going to be some realy really nice NF3s out there too. DFI has plans on future s939 on both platforms, one for agp and one for pci-e.

 

[karma4jake]

Ohh btw I will NOT be OC'ing much at all if any so are there any more advantage to the NFORCE boards besides the fact that they have better OC'ing. Also I like ASUS boards a lot so it would take a lot of work to convince me to get another brand like MSI, also I hate Epox from a previously bad experience.

 

[DerwenArtos12]

Originally posted by: karma4jake
Ohh btw I will NOT be OC'ing much at all if any so are there any more advantage to the NFORCE boards besides the fact that they have better OC'ing. Also I like ASUS boards a lot so it would take a lot of work to convince me to get another brand like MSI, also I hate Epox from a previously bad experience.

you don't need to worry about me trying to get you to buy an MSI, I have a strong distaste for them from previous experience. Epox is not that bad, though if you have had a bad experience then don't get another. There is really nothing wrong with Asus they just aren't the best performance IMHO. I like to tell people that I can brag about how good DFI have been to me but, you will never know till you try. One of my favorite things about DFi is tehre customer service. Travis is here, tehre is a DFI-Street forum hosted by DFi to answer questions, and the tech support you email is just over in CA and they are really nice guys and gals.

IMHO there are advantages to NF boards over Via other than the overclocking. NF boards have always had better stock speed performance, tweakability and stability. Now they have cornered the overclocking and enthusiast markets because of the available options on the boards. Onboard any drive raid, great audio(for onboard) and even SATA-2 and PCI-E support with the NF4.

 

[flamingspinach]

I think this is becoming one of my catchphrases: "nForce 0wnz all. ". You like Asus? Me too. Get their K8N-E Deluxe motherboard. nForce3 Ultra 250Gb + Asus = awesome.

-fs

 

[karma4jake]

Anybody have any other concerns with anything but the m/b.

 

[Regs]

Maybe spend 50-60 more for the 3200 winchester bundle like I did?

You are also hovering around the danger zone with the PSU. You could likely run your system stable, but 400+ quality watts is more in the comfort zone.

 

[Ike0069]

Originally posted by: karma4jake
Anybody have any other concerns with anything but the m/b.

Yea. Is that RAM really 3.5 CAS? If so, get something else. I know Corsair makes a value memory with 2.5 CAS (I'm guessing that's what you meant).
And just to be picky, why would you pay that much for a floppy? You can get them for <$10.

 

[karma4jake]

Sorry the Memory is CAS 2.5

 

[karma4jake]

little morning bump

 

[ts3433]

Performance at stock speeds doesn't differ a lot between boards or chipsets with A64s (different chipsets would tweak the memory controller a bit to try and get better performance, but that's on the CPU with the A64), and the A8V is a fine motherboard, so go ahead and get that.

Everything looks great.

 

[sigpop]

i'd dbl check the xp upgrade path. fuzzy memory, but my neighbor wanted to update his operating system and he bought the xp upgrade disk instead of full install. i think he had win 98 and it wouldnt upgrade. i had to install a temp version of win2k to get the xp upgrade to work.

shipping for that case seems double what newegg charges (usually 12-15 bucks). i didnt comp price tho. i just hate when a company tries to make their margin on shipping.

 

[karma4jake]

Well Newegg charges $100 for the case plus $16 shipping plus I have to pay $10 tax so $126 total

Zipzoomfly is only $90 plus the $30 shipping so total of $120