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Rate this sub-$1000 rig! (updated)

N

nbarb99

Senior member
Building a rig for a friend. Budget is $1000; all the peripherals (including monitor) already exist. The rig will be used for moderate gaming and productivity apps.

** Update: Thanks for the suggestions; I've changed to a PCI Express setup and 6600GT. How's she lookin' now? 🙂

FOXCONN NF4UK8AA-8EKRS (Socket 939) Motherboard $114.00
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ (Winchester, 2.0GHz, Retail) $191.00
Seagate 160GB 7200RPM With NCQ (SATA) $110.89
2x512MB Corsair Value Select (DDR, PC-3200) $119.00
Locally-purchased Case (saving on shipping) $45.00
Fortron 350W ATX12V PSU $45.00
MSI nVIDIA GeForce 6600GT (128MB, PCI Express) $187.00
NEC ND-3520A w/ Software (Silver) $61.99
Windows XP Pro (Academic, Upgrade) $83.95
Total $957.83

Thanks for looking 🙂
 
as far as the memory goes:
- one is OEM the other is RETAIL... its just a packaging difference AFAIK ..they will both run in dual channel

- as far as the pricing of both cards, one is 'BUILT BT ATI' and the other is 'built by SAPPHIRE' (which happens to by ATIs main partner for gfx cards) i would just go with the sapphire...

one thing to consider maybe would be goin with the x700 insrtead of 9800 pro... im not sure how they stack up but the x700 is cheaper and has gdd3 memory... but is only 128 bit vs 256...
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-102-443&depa=1

anyway yeah youre fine with your pics! 🙂
 
oh and as far as the PSU is concerned, i wouldnt worry because ANTEC makes awesome ones and 430 should be ok... although if you could upgrade it to 500W at a small cost that could be worthwhile! 🙂

oh and i dont know jack about nvidia cards cause i love ATI. 🙂
 
Originally posted by: franguinho
oh and i dont know jack about nvidia cards cause i love ATI. 🙂
Click to expand...
Same here 😀

The X700 Pro card looks nice - it's PCI Express, but I should be able to find a comparable PCI-E replacement for the Chaintech board that I have in the rig now. Plus, that makes it more future-proof.

I'm going to see if I can find any benchmarks that compare the 9800 Pro and the X700 Pro - I'm not sure if the 128- vs. 256-bit channel difference will amount to much.

Thanks for the clarifications :thumbup;
 
Looking at some of the benchmarks, the 6600GT does seem to trump the 9800 Pro at the $200 price point. 😛 Maybe the ATI fanboy in me will have to relent for this build...
 
I would probably go with this board for a little more. ali isnt exactly known for being a top notch chipset maker and chaintech is one of my least favorite board manufactuers. The chaintech thing is just my preferance (well and my experience of building more systems then I care to remember.) but I do think it would be money well spent to go to an nforce3 platform.

If it was my system I would jump one step higher and go to nforce4 ultra...I know its suppose to be a semi cheap syste, but one of the best places you can put money is in a decent mobo.

Just my 2cents!

 
That motherboard is questionable because you have NCQ SATA drives without knowing if the chipset supports it. So downgrade the HDD to the non-NCQ version which is about $5 less. Other than that, your rig is tight to go.
 
IMO, go with a motherboard that has a NF4 chipset and go with a current generation video card, either a 6600GT or X700. In the next few months, ATI and Nvidia will be "paper" launching the next generation of cards, making that 9800 Pro 2 generations old.
 
Originally posted by: MrControversial
I'm going to "paper" buy the new graphics cards as soon as they "paper" launch.
Click to expand...


True, good point. I still maintain that he should go with a current gen. card.
 
I recently went through the same process, but I recycled my old hard drives and bought a new keyboard. Kept the old monitor at time of build.

Spent $850, shipped on...

DFI nF4 Ultra-D
eVGA 6600GT
Athlon 64 3000+, 939
Buffalo B-Line 512 x2
Antec "Sonata" w/380w True-Power PSU
NEC 3520A

This was three weeks ago. I know the prices on the main board have dropped, not sure about the 6600GT. Definitely get a 6600GT over a 9800 though.
 
If its me I go witht he gigabyte and a 6600gt. I recommend the evga that newegg has for a decent card at a decent price. I think both of thse upgrades would be money well spent. Thr 6600gt will out perform the 9800pro but not by much. You will move to a pcix board though which gives you room to move to a much better card in the future. Plus the nforce4 boards are IMHO the best amd boards you can buy.

Someone stated that the 6200 would out perform the 9800 pro. Please show me some numbers on that because I simply dont see it as possible. Just my 2 cents again 🙂
 
Bump - only thing I'm slightly concerned about is the 350W power supply. 350W would be considered low for this type of setup, but Fortron is a top-quality brand and I've read of people putting even more hardware on a 350W PSU.

That, and the fact that I'm using a 20-pin PSU on a 24-pin motherboard... I *believe* this is OK - AFAIK there's an extra Molex connector on the board to make up for the extra power draw, and the 20-pin ATX connector will fit in a 24-pin ATX plug. Correct?
 
Looks real good as long as you don't plan to OC (at least not by very much).
If you do, then maybe a better MB and bigger PSU.
 
Originally posted by: Ike0069
Looks real good as long as you don't plan to OC (at least not by very much).
If you do, then maybe a better MB and bigger PSU.
Click to expand...

Nope, not planning on OC'ing - most likely will be keeping everything at stock speeds.
 
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