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Rate my new AMD build!!

I

imported_Scavenger

Member
I'll be using this PC for design work primarily(photoshop, flash, videoeditting) but I'm also outfitting it for gaming and future upgrades. It's a pretty expensive build but I'm hoping it will last me 3-4 years. Please rate the build and feel free to comment on parts or suggest others.

Case: Antec P180
CPU: AMD 64 X2 4400+
MoBo: Asus A8N SLI Premium
GPU: eVGA GeForce 7800 GTX
PSU: Antec Truepower 2.0 550W
RAM: OCZ EL PC3200 2GB 2X1GB DDR400 (I've seen a few people recommend this ram, how good is it actually?)

HDD: considering 250GB Maxtor Diamond Max10 or 74GB Western Digital Raptor (but I've heard new Raptors are do out in nov(is this true or just rumors?), so I might stick with my old 40GB WD for now).

Everything look compatible?

 
Nice and expensive, if I were you, I would try to shave off some $$ here and there (cheaper case, ram, low impact stuff), but that's just me.

You don't need SLI unless you're planning to go SLI.

And get a Seasonic PSU instead if you like a quiet system (and more reliability)
 
Get TrueControl 2.0 550W. It's the same as TruePower except you can control the voltage. And it's $10 extra but it's worth it.
 
Everything looks good. I have many of the same parts, and absolutely love them. The parts I don't have:

- A8N-SLI Premium
- eVGA 7800GTX (I have the 7800GT by eVGA)

The TPII-550 is an excellent PSU. I have it and no complaints yet. 24-hour stress test and the voltage fluctuated about 2% total. The RAM is good as well, but 2GB is never good for overclocking. I have mine on a 5/6 divider at 195MHz (DDR395) and it runs at 2-3-2-5 1T.

For the hard drive, look into a Samsung or Seagate SATA-2 drive. I have the Samsung Spinpoint 250GB and it is a beauty. Raptors are only good if you like noisy, small hard drives.
 
Really nice. However, consider this: Many people have easily been able to over-clock X2 3800's to at/near 4400 speeds, and for $200 less. That's an easy way to shave a good bit off your total price!

Other than that,it looks pretty good. I'd save the money and get a 3800, then use the savings towards a better hard drive; if you throw in your old 40 in there it's gonna hurt. Raptors are nice, but are expensive.
 
Originally posted by: Bona Fide
Everything looks good. I have many of the same parts, and absolutely love them. The parts I don't have:

- A8N-SLI Premium
- eVGA 7800GTX (I have the 7800GT by eVGA)

The TPII-550 is an excellent PSU. I have it and no complaints yet. 24-hour stress test and the voltage fluctuated about 2% total. The RAM is good as well, but 2GB is never good for overclocking. I have mine on a 5/6 divider at 195MHz (DDR395) and it runs at 2-3-2-5 1T.

For the hard drive, look into a Samsung or Seagate SATA-2 drive. I have the Samsung Spinpoint 250GB and it is a beauty. Raptors are only good if you like noisy, small hard drives.
Click to expand...


either of the HD's he mentioned are better choices than the raptor, a lot quieter with more capacity and generally you can only tell the performance difference in benchmarks
 
Originally posted by: Skyhanger
Nice and expensive, if I were you, I would try to shave off some $$ here and there (cheaper case, ram, low impact stuff), but that's just me.

You don't need SLI unless you're planning to go SLI.

And get a Seasonic PSU instead if you like a quiet system (and more reliability)
Click to expand...

The price on the P180 is fine, I really like the case and its highly rated. As for the ram what replacement would you recommend? I've had trouble picking out any heh.

I'm keeping the SLI option open for the future, I've read comments about how its cheaper and better to sell your old card and upgrade later on. But I've never sold my old computers or parts since I find a use for them (family comps). Plus the Asus board is rated high in reliability and offers many feature to cover me for the next few years, aswell as a fanless chipset.

Originally posted by: enzoslashslash
Buy BF2 🙂
Click to expand...

That will come bundled with 7800 GTX 🙂
 
Originally posted by: TankGuys
Really nice. However, consider this: Many people have easily been able to over-clock X2 3800's to at/near 4400 speeds, and for $200 less. That's an easy way to shave a good bit off your total price!

Other than that,it looks pretty good. I'd save the money and get a 3800, then use the savings towards a better hard drive; if you throw in your old 40 in there it's gonna hurt. Raptors are nice, but are expensive.
Click to expand...

Problem is I've never overclocked before, and although I'm sure I could read up about it and pick it up quick, I'm just not too enthusiastic about poking around such an expensive machine. Although if in the future I need the extra performance I might look into it. Thats half the reason for the 3800, the over half is that wouldnt the 4400 overclock even further?
 
Originally posted by: Scavenger
Problem is I've never overclocked before, and although I'm sure I could read up about it and pick it up quick, I'm just not too enthusiastic about poking around such an expensive machine. Although if in the future I need the extra performance I might look into it. Thats half the reason for the 3800, the over half is that wouldnt the 4400 overclock even further?
Click to expand...

Yea, I don't blame you for beeing a bit wary about trying. There are certainly guides, but if you don't want to risk it, no shame in that!

The 4400's do overclock a bit better I beleive, but, not significantly so, and certainly not 80-90% better (i.e. not on par with the price premium). All things being equal, if you don't OC, the 4400 is certainly going to be faster, but the performance increase for the price is questionable. If you DO OC, then the performance/price increase question becomes even more muddy.

Even if you don't OC, I personally (for what that's worth) think that if you spend the difference on a faster/bigger hard drive, you'll be better off than going with the 4400. Then again, the 4400 does have double the cache... so it's certainly a tough call!
 
Originally posted by: Scavenger
I'll be using this PC for design work primarily(photoshop, flash, videoeditting) but I'm also outfitting it for gaming and future upgrades. It's a pretty expensive build but I'm hoping it will last me 3-4 years. Please rate the build and feel free to comment on parts or suggest others.

Case: Antec P180
CPU: AMD 64 X2 4400+
MoBo: Asus A8N SLI Premium
Need SLI?
GPU: eVGA GeForce 7800 GTX
PSU: Antec Truepower 2.0 550W
Go for a Seasonic S12 600W if you want a quieter psu
RAM: OCZ EL PC3200 2GB 2X1GB DDR400 (I've seen a few people recommend this ram, how good is it actually?)
It doesn't oc well, but it is good ram at stock speeds.

HDD: considering 250GB Maxtor Diamond Max10 or 74GB Western Digital Raptor (but I've heard new Raptors are do out in nov(is this true or just rumors?), so I might stick with my old 40GB WD for now).
Don't go for a Maxtor. If you want a fast drive, try a Hitachi 7K(x). If you want reliability and low noise get a Seagate 7200.8. If you want something even quieter than a Seagate, get an Samsung Spinpoint.
Everything look compatible?
Click to expand...

 
Originally posted by: Bona Fide
Everything looks good. I have many of the same parts, and absolutely love them. The parts I don't have:

- A8N-SLI Premium
- eVGA 7800GTX (I have the 7800GT by eVGA)

The TPII-550 is an excellent PSU. I have it and no complaints yet. 24-hour stress test and the voltage fluctuated about 2% total. The RAM is good as well, but 2GB is never good for overclocking. I have mine on a 5/6 divider at 195MHz (DDR395) and it runs at 2-3-2-5 1T.

For the hard drive, look into a Samsung or Seagate SATA-2 drive. I have the Samsung Spinpoint 250GB and it is a beauty. Raptors are only good if you like noisy, small hard drives.
Click to expand...

Hows the noise on the TPII-550 in the P180? and cable lenght is perfect for the case from what I read, yes?
 
Originally posted by: DavidoFoo
Don't go for a Maxtor. If you want a fast drive, try a Hitachi 7K(x). If you want reliability and low noise get a Seagate 7200.8. If you want something even quieter than a Seagate, get an Samsung Spinpoint.
Click to expand...
Reason I am considering the Maxtor is that it seems to outperform the Seagate in bench marks (especially with NCQ on), plus it offers a 16mb cache.

Is the Seagate 7200.8 performance and reliability comparable to the Samsung (or is any one better?) I know the Seagate offers 5 year warrently which is always good. But on the other hand Samsung is quieter and is SATA2.

 
Originally posted by: Scavenger
Originally posted by: DavidoFoo
Don't go for a Maxtor. If you want a fast drive, try a Hitachi 7K(x). If you want reliability and low noise get a Seagate 7200.8. If you want something even quieter than a Seagate, get an Samsung Spinpoint.
Click to expand...
Reason I am considering the Maxtor is that it seems to outperform the Seagate in bench marks (especially with NCQ on), plus it offers a 16mb cache.

Is the Seagate 7200.8 performance and reliability comparable to the Samsung (or is any one better?) I know the Seagate offers 5 year warrently which is always good. But on the other hand Samsung is quieter and is SATA2.
Click to expand...

Seagates are usually quieter, cooler, and more efficient. And faster seek times are always a plus. 🙂
 
You'll get more mileage by purchasing good components now and update every 2 years. Buying top-of-the-line stuffs and update every 4 years is ALWAYS a losing proposition because of new technologies.
 
get the

Epox 9npa+ ultra sli
or
dfi lanparty sli-dr
or
msi k8n neo4 sli

are you overclocking? get a thermalright xp90.
 
Originally posted by: Scavenger
I'll be using this PC for design work primarily(photoshop, flash, videoeditting) but I'm also outfitting it for gaming and future upgrades. It's a pretty expensive build but I'm hoping it will last me 3-4 years. Please rate the build and feel free to comment on parts or suggest others.

Case: Antec P180
CPU: AMD 64 X2 4400+
MoBo: Asus A8N SLI Premium
GPU: eVGA GeForce 7800 GTX
PSU: Antec Truepower 2.0 550W
RAM: OCZ EL PC3200 2GB 2X1GB DDR400 (I've seen a few people recommend this ram, how good is it actually?)

HDD: considering 250GB Maxtor Diamond Max10 or 74GB Western Digital Raptor (but I've heard new Raptors are do out in nov(is this true or just rumors?), so I might stick with my old 40GB WD for now).

Everything look compatible?
Click to expand...

Almost same as mine except mobo, I use a evga free mobo
 
Originally posted by: vxmqzz
Originally posted by: Scavenger
I'll be using this PC for design work primarily(photoshop, flash, videoeditting) but I'm also outfitting it for gaming and future upgrades. It's a pretty expensive build but I'm hoping it will last me 3-4 years. Please rate the build and feel free to comment on parts or suggest others.

Case: Antec P180
CPU: AMD 64 X2 4400+
MoBo: Asus A8N SLI Premium
GPU: eVGA GeForce 7800 GTX
PSU: Antec Truepower 2.0 550W
RAM: OCZ EL PC3200 2GB 2X1GB DDR400 (I've seen a few people recommend this ram, how good is it actually?)

HDD: considering 250GB Maxtor Diamond Max10 or 74GB Western Digital Raptor (but I've heard new Raptors are do out in nov(is this true or just rumors?), so I might stick with my old 40GB WD for now).

Everything look compatible?

:thumbsup:
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
I recommend overclocking. It's really easy, and you can save a lot of money. SLI is REALLY useless. Consider this: 1 7800GTX can outperform 2 6800 Ultras in SLI. 1 7800GTX ~= $550. 2 6800 Ultras ~= $1000. You do the math 😉
 
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