Rate my build

[Phos187]

Monarch Computers Combo

Asus A8N SLI Premium - 179.99
Athlon 64 4000+ Revision E San Diego 439.00
shin-Etsu G675 Thermal Grease $14.00
Thermaltake A1770 Amd Opteron/64 Heatsink -w- Fan 22.00
Free Half Life 2 Bronze and Farcry DVD
Total $654.99

New Egg

OCZ Performance 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Kit System Memory 215.15

BFG Tech BFGR78256GTXOC Geforce 7800GTX 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail 619.00

COOLER MASTER TAC-T01-EK Black All Aluminum Alloy ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 144.50

Antec NeoPower ATX 480W Power Supply - 110.00

Maxtor DiamondMax 10 6B250S0 250GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM 126.00

Pioneer Black IDE DVD Burner Model DVR-109 BK - OEM 47.99

CREATIVE Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS 70SB035000000 8 (7.1) Channels PCI Interface Sound Card - Retail 93.00


Total 1355.64


Grand Total 2010.63

This will be hooked up to a Dell 2005FPW. Will have to check if I'll have any issues removing Windows XP Pro from my existing computer and installing onto this one, other wise an additional 140'ish.

I won't be looking to overclock at all, so if any cost savings can be made (IE cheaper motherboard) I'd appreciate any suggestions.

 

[Topweasel]

T7k250

250 GB hard drive fastest non-raptor out there. I would think about this instead of the MaxLine. Its also one of the only SATA II drives out their (which doesn't make it the fastest, just to make sure you son't think i am implying that)

I would also look at Either the Antec P160 or P180 as cases. The P160 is an all aluminum design with some nice sound and cooling features. The P180 is almost silent but is built on a steel chasis (less flexing do to vibrations) but has a Aluminum/Plastic/Aluminum sandwich siding that acts as a noise deadener, and has some of the best cooling designs i have ever seen.

 

[kleinwl]

Phos187,

The monarch combo is a good price for an SLI board and that CPU. If you were willing to OC I would highly recommend that you down grade to a 3200+, which would save you a significant amount of money. Additionally, I personally feel that SLI is overrated and as the 7800 shows, the next gen cards easily outperform previous generations even when SLIed. However, it's your money.

Given those points... I think that you have a nice list and a nice computer.
The only issue that you will have swapping over XP will be re-registering it. Which will mean calling MS and telling them that you have swapped it over, since we you registered it the first time it told MS what motherboard/CPU you were using.

 

[Phos187]

Originally posted by: kleinwl
Phos187,

The monarch combo is a good price for an SLI board and that CPU. If you were willing to OC I would highly recommend that you down grade to a 3200+, which would save you a significant amount of money. Additionally, I personally feel that SLI is overrated and as the 7800 shows, the next gen cards easily outperform previous generations even when SLIed. However, it's your money.

Given those points... I think that you have a nice list and a nice computer.
The only issue that you will have swapping over XP will be re-registering it. Which will mean calling MS and telling them that you have swapped it over, since we you registered it the first time it told MS what motherboard/CPU you were using.

Only reason I went SLI was to future proof the box, figuired in 2 years I can drop another 7800GTX in there (although i didn't think to check if that was even possible). I really am not too crazy about overclocking, I'm just the type that would rather have a stable machine that can be used as a hand me down for my parents or a friend when it's usefullness has faded for me. I don't like reducing the life of the hardware with overlcocking, although I may look into my options just to compare. Thanks

 

[kleinwl]

IMO overclocking does not reduce the life of the computer. The average CPU will live for over 10 years (proof of which, I still have an old 286 that I run occasionally). Even if overclocking reducing the life by 50% (which depending on the level of overclock/cpu temps is debatable) that still leaves more than 5 years of effective life.... more than than even the IRS uses for asset depreation.

In any case, you can use various tweakers that will only OC your machine when CPU usage is above a certain point (say 70%), so that it will be running cool and quiet while you are surfing the web or reading emails.

But, like I said, it's your money... and I think you got some good equipment.

 

[Phos187]

I'm not planning on ordering until Thursday or Friday so I have some time to think about it... but I may just go ahead and give the 3200 a try per your recommendation.

I guess one thing I'm curious about is, I currently have a xp 2400 in my desktop and a P4 3.2ghz prescott in my laptop (it's an inspiron 9100, performs great with a mobility 9800).
Any thoughts on how much a 64 3200 stock would out perform the P4 and the 2400 (I know the 2400 will be whooped in peformance).

Also if I go the overclocking route would you suggest any changes to the motherboard and memory I have selected? I understand the DFI lanparty is a good board for overclocking.

Thanks for all the info so far Kleinwl.

 

[BOLt]

IMO, go with the lower CPU as someone else said. I like the 3000+ because it's so damn cheap, but the 3200+ is said to be the best bang for the buck right now.

Good choice in graphics card. You might consider going to Dell for that because I just saw it yesterday (after a coupon discount from Techbargains) at $498.

Good choice in HD.

If you go with a lower CPU, get a DFI LANParty (either Ultra-D if you don't want to ever go SLI, or one of the SLI variants, but picking from one of those is another battle in and of itself).

Go for 1GB dual-channel OCZ Platinum Revision 2 from Newegg for like $165 if you plan to OC, and only if you really multitask a lot or use other RAM-intensive applications should you get 2GB.

Get a dual-fan PSU if you use AMD per their recommendation, which means something like the Enermax or Antec or another reputable brand PSU will do (I highly suggest Antec's SmartPower 2.0 series).

The NEC ND-3540A optical drive is comparable to the Pioneer except cheaper. Check out the newest review from Anandtech that deals with burners for more information on the best buy there.

The sound card needs speakers to go with it. Klipsch or Logitech are good choices. Get the OEM version of the sound card and download the drivers via the Creative Labs website to save yourself some money. Frankly, you'll have to go there anyway to download the latest drivers that aren't on the CD, and besides, there is an automated driver download feature on their site that makes it a breeze.

Case is part looks and part function. Lian-Li is a good choice for high-end. For around $150, you can pick up the Antec P180, which from what I heard is a solid, solid case. Can also try the lighter P160 or if you LAN or are really concerned about weight/noise, check out the Super LANBoy.

I can't comment on the heatsink because I'm not too familiar with it. I think they offer a Swiftech heatsink too. I like Swiftech.

All opinions above. Pick and choose what's valid for you.

Good luck!

 

[kleinwl]

DFI is the best overclocking board... but it is also requires the most experience (ie. has a multitude of options). Another good board is the EPOX 9NPA+, which has a little less headroom... but is also a little less complex.

If you do go the OC route, I highly recommend the XP-90 with an 90mm panflow. This is a large aftermarket heat sink... but one of the best performing, which makes overclocking easier (for every degree of temperature your cpu goes up, the MHz that it is stable at goes down.

CPU comparision

Using tom's CPU guide the 3200 should be aprox 10% faster than the P4 3.2 in farcry.

I'm not going to recommend ram, because people have not shown that the brand of ram makes more than a 3-5% difference (as long as it's name brand). I would just check out the website of the motherboard manufacturer and find out which brands they have tested and get one of those (Geil/OCZ/etc). Then just use a mem divider to overclock your cpu as much as you want. You can always fool around with timing later (assuming that you make sure that the memory is set to 1T).

Not, I disagree with Bolt about the 2GB. BF2 certainly uses 2GB, and it makes sense that newer games will too, so just go ahead a get a match pair of 2x1GB.

 

[Some1ne]

I agree with a lot of what has already bee said...

1. If you were willing to overclock, you could save quite a bit of money (without sacrificing much, if any, performance) going with a 3200+ or even a 3000+ and overclocking it like crazy. This really shouldn't hurt the lifespan of the system in any appreciable way...by the time the CPU dies it will be long past time to upgrade to a new one (and probably a whole new mainboard and everything else...except HDD's, those things have long lifespans).

2. SLI is a waste in my opinion. You can save a bit on the mainboard cost and get the exact same features (except SLI of course) if you buy the non-SLI variant of the board. It is almost completely improbable that in two years the performance of two 7800 GTX cards will in any way be comparable to whatever the current generation of graphics tech is at that time (not to mention that fact that if a new software standard is introduced that requires specialized hardware in order to be used, like DirectX 9 did, you could be seriously shooting yourself in the foot if you lock yourself into the SLI upgrade path).

3. Personally I'm a big fan of the HSF unit that ships in the retail box with Athlon 64 chips. Put some Arctic Silver on it and it will overclock nearly as well (if not equally as well) as a third-party solution, and you get to save the money from not having to buy a separate HSF. I use the Arctic Silver/stock HSF combo, and my 1.8 GHz Winchester 3000+ runs at 2,464 MHz just fine.

...other than that it looks like a very nice system.

 

[Phos187]

That's actually why I wanted 2GB, for Battlefield 2.

I'm going to give the 3200 a shot. I'll leave it at default to start and when I run into performance issues (if any) I'll give the overclocking a try.

Now I just have to find some quality 1GB sticks to match up that overclock good.

Thanks guys.