Rate the rig I plan 2 build, now revised.

[kmmatney]

Could do better in the bang-for-buck department. Did I hear right that you not overclocking? The whole system is way overkill for that, especially all the fans. This power supply would be more sensible:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817194003

or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103464

 

[Howard]

Jeez, you could at least name the parts in your post so we don't have to open up every link.

EDIT:

1) PSU is overkill
2) Nice case, but you could save some money and get the SLK3000B which is almost the same
3) Compared to contemporary HDs, the 7200.7 is pretty slow. It's quiet, though.
4) You need 2 120mm fans, 1 92mm fan, and 1 80mm fan? I can understand putting the 2 120mm fans in the front and back... however, the Sonata II and SLK3000B come with the 120mm Tri-Cool fan in the rear which is a good fan. What would you do with the 92mm fans and the 80mm fan? IIRC, the CPU duct doesn't lower temps very much and is definitely inconvenient.
5) You can save on the CPU if you get an X2 3800+ and overclock it. Sorry if you mentioned that you don't want to - I didn't read anything of the sort.
6) Where's the RAM?

 

[Howard]

Originally posted by: fx
Lian-Li 7B Plus II Case
Asus A8R-MVP Motherboard
AMD Athlon X2 4400+
Enermax Liberty 500w PSU
Sapphire Radeon X1900XTX 512mb-$579
Seagate Barracuda 7800.9 160GB
NEC ND-3550A DVD Burner

Total- $1,456+shipping/tax

Yes, that OCZ ram will work on Asus motherboards.

The XTX is definitely not worth the added cost over an XT.

 

[l Xes l]

is that sata or pata drive?

 

[LW07]

PATA drive

 

[LW07]

BTW, what ATI card manufacturer offers the best warranty and tech support? I would prefer that they have a place in the United States where they send dead cards to to replace them just in case I have troubles with my soon-to-be 1900XT. I'm keeping my 7800GT in storage as a spare should I have to take this course of action.

 

[Cinna696]

people have trusted 1500$ parts to far cheaper psu's, the range of 80-100$ will get you more than you need. That silverstone psu still costs way to much at 150$. Get a good PSU in the 75-100$ range,

Why are you using a pata drive? You should go with one of the new Seagate 7200.9 drives, they come in 120gb and are only 3$ more. or if you intended on 240gigs total just get a larger drive. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822148106

Its not going to come DOA, stop waisting money cause its all you seem interested in doing.
Upgrading to a x1900xt fom a 7800gt makes absolutly no sense. I know the card is better but if you already have the 7800gt the return on investment in buying a x1900xt is far negative especially since you just want to put it in storage incase something goes wrong.

 

[LW07]

How many more years at 1024*768 resolution at high settings with 8xAF will the X1900XT buy me? And will DX10 games be like today where you can just put them at DX9 or DX8 if you don't have the hardware for DX10?

 

[LW07]

Originally posted by: Howard
Jeez, you could at least name the parts in your post so we don't have to open up every link.

EDIT:
2) Nice case, but you could save some money and get the SLK3000B which is almost the same

Someone in an earlier post said that the SLK3000B was a POS.

Besides, my mobo is Nforce 4 and people say that Nforce 4 and SATA have incompatibility problems.

 

[Howard]

Originally posted by: LW07

Originally posted by: Howard
Jeez, you could at least name the parts in your post so we don't have to open up every link.

EDIT:
2) Nice case, but you could save some money and get the SLK3000B which is almost the same

Someone in an earlier post said that the SLK3000B was a POS.

Besides, my mobo is Nforce 4 and people say that Nforce 4 and SATA have incompatibility problems.

Nobody said the SLK3000B was a POS.

Nforce 4 and SATA have incompatibility problems? That's news to me.

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2358&p=16

Don't see anythign mentioned there...

EDIT: If you're really so worried why don't you just get a Dell?

 

[LW07]

Because I want to custom build mine. Because Dell doesn't offer a X1900XT. Because Only good rig they and other brands have are $2000 and up and the only good dell is the Quad SLI 7800GT and I say that with a grain of salt and there's no way I'm paying $10000 on a PC.

 

[Cinna696]

Originally posted by: bamacre

Originally posted by: LW07
I got a monitor that can do 1600*1200. The Antec Solution SLK3000B makes for good airflow and has exellent reviews and people like them.

You could say the same for the Antec P180. If I were building a system with a $1500 budget, I would certainly be able to fit a P180 in there.

Where do you get this crappy information, because that forum needs to be nuked. and if its your friends they need to be shot.

There is no problem with Nforce4 and SATA.

Thats the only post relating to the case and its not negative, it simple questions your justification for the case. In my opinion the slk3000b is a good low cost case.

If your going to go for a custom build, you may as well make it look as though its not generic from outward appearence, hence the recomendation for the P180, however you still have the issue of the overpriced PSU.

What cpu are you upgrading from btw?

 

[LW07]

I'm upgrading from an Athlon 64 3500+ not Overclocked. I get the problem of Nforce 4 and SATA from newegg reviews. SLK3000B is so that I can lower the case cost so that I can put that money towards hardware.

 

[Cinna696]

I've seen it posted atleast three times, stop reading the reviews on newegg. You can not trust them.

Why are you upgrading at all? A A64 3500, 7800gt (1gb 2x512mb of ram?) is a good system. You aren't going to see leaps and bounds in performance by upgrading now. Its not like your using an Athlon XP.

 

[LW07]

I got a 2gb system. Also, why do you think that an upgrade from a 3500 to a X2 4400+ isn't worth it? Will my single core 3500+ be able to fire up multithreaded games when they start hitting shelves? and will DX10 games be able to be set in DX 9 or DX 8 mode like todays DX9 games can be set in DX8 or 7? Are the reviews on pricegrabber any more trustworthy? Would it be better to scrap the 4400+ and keep my 3500?

 

[Howard]

Originally posted by: LW07
I got a 2gb system. Also, why do you think that an upgrade from a 3500 to a X2 4400+ isn't worth it? Will my single core 3500+ be able to fire up multithreaded games when they start hitting shelves? and will DX10 games be able to be set in DX 9 or DX 8 mode like todays DX9 games can be set in DX8 or 7? Is the reviews on pricegrabber any more trustworthy?

Yes, there are games that support multi-threading and your single core 3500+ can handle them just fine, especially if you overclock it.

I'm not sure about DX10 games but there's no way in hell your 7800GT won't be able to play them.

 

[Cinna696]

Your hardware is going to be limited by 2008 ,even the stuff you plan on upgrading to will. why not upgrade then when it counts. Very few programs take advantage of dual cores atm, its coming but its not there yet.

Why not wait till 2007/8 when your upgrade will actually count and solve all the worries you are having now about the future?

The reviews on any site that sells products are not trustworthy

 

[LW07]

I want to know if DX 10 games will be able to be set to DX 9 like todays games can be set to DX 8 or 7 like half life 2 and fear can. Also, Pricegrabber themselves do not sell products.

 

[LW07]

My Re-Revised Rig:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16811129152
SLK 3000B

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16822148106
2 of these, will use my maxtor as a slave and as the one to hold my OS and keep 1 in storage as back up.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814121554
X1900XT

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16829102188
X-FI Extreme music to replace soundblaster Live

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16811999344
2 of these silverstone fans

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16817194003
Enermax Liberty 500w

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827135061
Asus DVD-Rom 5x DVD-RAM

Keeping AMD 3500+ and my 2 gigs of ram.

Total: $1150 after Fedex 1st day shipping.

Recommend improvements. Will the 500W in that enermax be enough or should I jump 2 the 620w model?

Or should I drop the DVD drive?

 

[Cinna696]

i think you can get a nec 16x drive for 38 or 40$ and they are among the best.

much better choice in psu, it will be enough.

 

[LW07]

Could I drop the Soundcard and DVD drive?

 

[LW07]

I guess it was the X-FI that I read that had Nforce 4 instability Problems instead of SATA.

 

[Howard]

Originally posted by: LW07
My Re-Revised Rig:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16811129152
SLK 3000B

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16822148106
2 of these, will use my maxtor as a slave and as the one to hold my OS and keep 1 in storage as back up.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814121554
X1900XT

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16829102188
X-FI Extreme music to replace soundblaster Live

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16811999344
2 of these silverstone fans

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16817194003
Enermax Liberty 500w

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827135061
Asus DVD-Rom 5x DVD-RAM

Keeping AMD 3500+ and my 2 gigs of ram.

Total: $1150 after Fedex 1st day shipping.

Recommend improvements. Will the 500W in that enermax be enough or should I jump 2 the 620w model?

Or should I drop the DVD drive?

Now we're getting somewhere.

What advantages of the X-Fi over the Live that you have now will you take advantage of? Most people just use the analog-out for their speakers, which your Live card does perfectly fine.

As I said earlier, the SLK3000B comes with a Tri-Cool fan which is an excellent fan in its own right. You only need one 120mm fan for the front.

Get an NEC ND-3550 instead of the Asus DVD-RAM drive.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827152058

The 500W Liberty can definitely supply enough power for the system.

If you're so insistent on getting an X1900XT, go ahead, but IMO you're crazy to spend $500 on something that doesn't offer a ridiculous advantage over your 7800GT. Furthermore, the X1900XT will be outdated in a year or two anyway - just wait until some games come out that tax your 7800GT heavily enough so that the framerates at the resolution and settings you like are too low. You can spend the $500 that you would have spent on the X1900XT on a new monitor... Wait a second. You're using even a 7800GT on an old 17" CRT monitor?

Seriously, get a new monitor. It will be a significantly better investment than a new video card. I would wait until the next Dell hot deal and grab a [relatively] cheap 2005FPW or something - a while back they were available for $334 before tax and shipping.

My recommendations:

Keep CPU, video card, RAM, sound card
SLK3000B - $49
(2) 7200.9 HDs - $166
(1) 120mm fan - $16 (pretty pricy for a fan)
Enermax Liberty 500W - $110
NEC ND-3550A - $39.75

$380.75 before shipping. Now look at all that money you have to upgrade your monitor and speakers, stuff that'll last you for several CPU/video card cycles at least!

Note: the PSU wattage calculator here:

http://www.extreme.outervision.com/index.jsp

says that your new system will use about 280W at full utilization. Now, assuming that 80% of the power comes from the 12V rails (not an unreasonable assumption - tested by SPCR), you need about 19 amps on the 12V rails. Let's have a margin of safety of 30% - that brings it up to about 24 amps. That's less than what the Liberty 500W can supply (about 30A according to SPCR).

P.S. Be careful that you plug the right cables into the plugs on the Liberty. There are some plugs that fit that shouldn't, and you might end up frying something.

 

[OSX]

Originally posted by: Bobthelost

Originally posted by: LW07
some people on newegg reviews say that their PC Power and Coolings lasted them 10 years and are still going strong. When this can no longer run games, I'll build a new one from scratch and regulate this 1 to basic stuff.

New egg reviews are worth nothing. Not worth the bandwidth they are printed on.

Though they do make me laugh. I've got an entire folder of screenies, I look at them whenever I feel the human race is getting smarter. And then they have the gall to rate themselves as tech experts.

 

[LW07]

How much of a difference would an Athlon FX 57 make over a 3500+? BTW, have you ever seen a X1900XT in action? I mean personally, not in benchmarks. The X1900XT gets High Quality AF and alot of other image quality inhancements and will last longer than a 7800GT. Performance Wise, I mean. Of course, I have been thinking about keeping the 7800GT, seeing as it plays fear at 1600*1200 with 2xaa and 8xaf with max settings minus soft shadows and plays it at 4xaa and 8xaf with all shadows off and plays COD2 at 1600*1200 with 2xaa and 8xaf in DX9 mode.