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Shiny new $200 leather chair for Xmas... still holding off on Athlon 64 :(

M

mcjimbo

Member
Hi all,

You may remember my various posts about buying a new xmas pressie pc. I'm a web developer by trade, and would use my pc for a bit of that, graphic design and games likes HL2. I pretty much had the specs finalised:

* CPU - AMD Socket 939 Athlon 64 3500+, 2.2 GHz, 512KB L2 Cache 64-bit Processor (90nm)- RETAIL
* MOBO - MSI "K8N Neo2 Platinum" NVIDIA nForce3 ULTRA Chipset Motherboard For AMD Socket 939 CPU -RETAIL
* RAM -Kingston ValueRAM Dual Channel Kit 184 Pin 1G(512MBx2) DDR PC-3200 - Retail x 2
* HD - Western Digital Raptor 74GB 10,000RPM SATA Hard Drive, Model WD740GD, OEM Drive Only x 2 (RAID O config)
* Video - Leadtek nVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT Video Card, 256MB GDDR3, 256-Bit, TV-Out/DVI, 8X AGP, Model "A400 GT TDH" -RETAIL
* Case - Aspire X-Dreamer II(Black) ATX Mid-Tower Case with 350W Power Supply, With Window, Model "ATXB4KLW-BK/350"
* Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS PCI Sound Card, Model "SB0350" OEM

I was also looking for a nice 19' TFT active monitor, but decided that I could wait for a little, same thing on the speaker front. Want a nice 7.1 setup.

However I bought the latest PC Gamer "The PC Building Bible" and it caused me to question the setup and whether I should wait until 1st quarter next year to buy a rig. Reasons being:

* New BTX case design to replace (ATX) apparently has much better ventilation
* Nforce4 chipset will be available
* PCI Express 6800GT or Perhaps X800 XL in PCI Express config vs AGP (better upgradability)
* Socket 939 Athlon 64 90nm processors should come down in price
* PC Gamer seem to recommend Pentium 4 config

Do you think these are valid reasons for holding off. I got a lovely $200 leather chair, nice pc desk and the money... i'm so ready to go, but for some reason I keep holding back thinking something much better is around the corner. I envisage using this PC for the next 2 years. I had an Athlon but sold it to a friend, so thats why im on my former MP3/File servers P3 733 at the mo.

Any advice, wisdom, recommendation, insults will be gladly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

James
 
no, buy that PC now, if oyu keep waiting for new technology, you will allways be waiting. just get a better powersupply, that generic 350 watter wont run that 6800GT.
 
Can you recommend a decent power supply that I should upgrade to? I don't want to go over the top, but I would like to overclock, and from what i've read a reliable power supply is the way to go. Also is the ram I chose best for O/C? I see a lot of people buy Mushkin now. I've always bought Kingston and had no problems. Can anyone recommend some good overclocking ram, without going silly?

Also one other thing, that is contratry to everything else i've read the PC Gamer Buyers Guide recommend the mid range rig was a AMD 64 3800+, high end system was Intel Pentium 4 w/HT - 3.6GHZ. They also discount that the AMD 64 being 64 bit add's any real advantage. Saying very little software currently supports it, and by the time it does the clockspeed will be out of date, or words to that effect. What do you guys think of that?
 
- Be aware that MSI Motherboards Blow up
- I would rather get more space than speed.
- The case sucks and the psu won't be enough for the 6800 GT.
- Go for the Antec Sonata/SLK3700

- BTX is retarded and Intel is only making it so their CPU chip doesn't burn out
- Nforce 4 is already available
- A 6800Gt is plenty. Why spend more money when in a year you will regret it?
- Screw Intel
- Onboard sound is good. You can save some money using it instead.

Ram = Corsair/Mushkin/Crucial
Case = Antec Sonata with Truepower 380W (will handle 6800GT ez)
Mobo = EPoX / Asus / Soltek (read Anand's reviews on 939 motherboards)
 
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