UPDATE: Saved me $250!! $1500 budget: can you make my rig cheaper or better?

[jinduy]

i've spent MANY hours doing research and things seem to be coming near the end. now i need you guys to help me again!

CONFIRMED MODIFICATIONS TO MY SETUP IN BOLD
Original Price of initial system setup: $1552
Monarchitems total= $678
AMD Athlon 64 3000+ 512K 90nm (939)
Seagate (ST380817AS) Barracuda 80GB 7200RPM 8MB Cache SATA
zalman heatsink 7000b alcu
MSI K8N NEO4 Platinum
1 GB (2 pcs 512) DDR (400) PC-3200 Corsair (VS1GBKIT400)
ATI (Connect3D) Radeon X800 XL

---------------------------------------------
seasonic 400w psu: $83
antec slk300b tower: $45
audigy 2 value: $50
dell 1905: $340 shipped+tax (no dpa)
nec 3520a burner: $55
---------------------------------------------
= ~$1251
some of the numbres include shipping and tax and some are rounded...


anything worth changing to cut costs or save money? please criticize, this is a huge buy for me.

UPDATES:
So far here's potential swaps to make my system cheaper:
x800xl card definitely
sonata case with the 380w truepower psu, it's quiet supposedly and will save me about $60
might dump the sound card and pull out my old sb live 5.1 one
kingmax ram for cheaper

 

[ts3433]

Cut the RAM down to Kingmax (good stuff) value RAM which is something like $70 AR at Newegg. If you're going to spend $100 or more on RAM there's some G.skill 2-3-3-6 that is quite good for the mere $115 you lay down for it, and also some TwinMos that sometimes has some really good chips. (Granted, you don't need high-end memory to OC an A64, but it's a killer deal.)

You can save a tad by going with the ATI X800XL for arond $300 (check CompUSA). It'll give you nearly the same performance. If you're into softmodding and can find an X800 Pro VIVO cheap enough, consider that too (softmod to X800XT).

You may also want to consider the DFI NF4U board.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Are you overclocking this bad boy?

Personally I'd skip the raptor and spend more on the cpu.
You can also save some money by switching to a X800XL instead of the 6800gt and get almost the same performance.

I've read the stock cooler on the A64 chips are quite nice already... maybe get the retail and get the 3 year warranty on the CPU vs 30 days?

 

[meltdown75]

the only thing i don't like is the Raptor. you can get some hot deals on, for example a 200gb HD, Western Digital 7200rpm. other than that looks ok.

 

[dds14u]

Originally posted by: meltdown75
the only thing i don't like is the Raptor. you can get some hot deals on, for example a 200gb HD, Western Digital 7200rpm. other than that looks ok.

 

[jinduy]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
Are you overclocking this bad boy?

Personally I'd skip the raptor and spend more on the cpu.
You can also save some money by switching to a X800XL instead of the 6800gt and get almost the same performance.

I've read the stock cooler on the A64 chips are quite nice already... maybe get the retail and get the 3 year warranty on the CPU vs 30 days?

is the retail hsf quiet as a zalman?

 

[jinduy]

Originally posted by: meltdown75
the only thing i don't like is the Raptor. you can get some hot deals on, for example a 200gb HD, Western Digital 7200rpm. other than that looks ok.

hmm ok i'll take ur suggestion into consideratin and hunt for a deal right now. yeah it's hard to justify 74gig for $180

 

[sniperruff]

the PSU is too expensive.

 

[meltdown75]

Originally posted by: jinduy

Originally posted by: meltdown75
the only thing i don't like is the Raptor. you can get some hot deals on, for example a 200gb HD, Western Digital 7200rpm. other than that looks ok.

hmm ok i'll take ur suggestion into consideratin and hunt for a deal right now. yeah it's hard to justify 74gig for $180

the performance of the good old WDs is pretty fast, and the size : price ratio is very attractive for gamers. You can probably find one with a 3 year warranty as well.

 

[jinduy]

Originally posted by: sniperruff
the PSU is too expensive.

i want quietness and reliability tho

 

[meltdown75]

Originally posted by: sniperruff
the PSU is too expensive.

actually that is pretty expensive now that I look at it. if you're going to drop $100, it better be for a PC Power & Cooling PSU or another top 5 reputable mfgr. Seasonic may be good but I've never heard of 'em.

 

[wisdomtooth]

If you want quiet, you can't beat a Seasonic.

Stick with the Seasonic-- Your ears will thank you. It's worth the few extra bucks.

And yes, the Zalman 7000 is quieter than the stock HSF.

How do I know? I build HTPCs and already made all those mistakes (noisy PSUs and HSFs)... So you won't have to.

 

[sniperruff]

Originally posted by: jinduy

Originally posted by: sniperruff
the PSU is too expensive.

i want quietness and reliability tho

just get an enermax or something.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: sniperruff
the PSU is too expensive.

I think if he's looking for silence I don't think it's a bad idea. The 380watt Seasonic would be enough too.

He could go with a sonata thought for example. It will still be very quiet, the case will be nicer than the antec he has linked, and the new version on the 380watt truepower in the sonata case that will handle everything nicely.

 

[jinduy]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Originally posted by: sniperruff
the PSU is too expensive.

I think if he's looking for silence I don't think it's a bad idea. The 380watt Seasonic would be enough too.

He could go with a sonata thought for example. It will still be very quiet, the case will be nicer than the antec he has linked, and the new version on the 380watt truepower in the sonata case that will handle everything nicely.

i will look into that.

btw the x800xl seems to be a MUCH better buy. from other posts i was skimping, people made it seem like the 6800gt was heads above the x800xl, but they are mighty comparable...

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: jinduy

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Originally posted by: sniperruff
the PSU is too expensive.

I think if he's looking for silence I don't think it's a bad idea. The 380watt Seasonic would be enough too.

He could go with a sonata thought for example. It will still be very quiet, the case will be nicer than the antec he has linked, and the new version on the 380watt truepower in the sonata case that will handle everything nicely.

i will look into that.

btw the x800xl seems to be a MUCH better buy. from other posts i was skimping, people made it seem like the 6800gt was heads above the x800xl, but they are mighty comparable...

I was under the impression that the X800XL wasn't so hot for a while too. I looked back recently and don't know what I was thinking earlier recommending 6800gt's to people after the X800XLs were available at reasonable prices.

 

[jinduy]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Originally posted by: jinduy

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Originally posted by: sniperruff
the PSU is too expensive.

I think if he's looking for silence I don't think it's a bad idea. The 380watt Seasonic would be enough too.

He could go with a sonata thought for example. It will still be very quiet, the case will be nicer than the antec he has linked, and the new version on the 380watt truepower in the sonata case that will handle everything nicely.

i will look into that.

btw the x800xl seems to be a MUCH better buy. from other posts i was skimping, people made it seem like the 6800gt was heads above the x800xl, but they are mighty comparable...

I was under the impression that the X800XL wasn't so hot for a while too. I looked back recently and don't know what I was thinking earlier recommending 6800gt's to people after the X800XLs were available at reasonable prices.

hehe

 

[jinduy]

Originally posted by: jinduy

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Originally posted by: sniperruff
the PSU is too expensive.

I think if he's looking for silence I don't think it's a bad idea. The 380watt Seasonic would be enough too.

He could go with a sonata thought for example. It will still be very quiet, the case will be nicer than the antec he has linked, and the new version on the 380watt truepower in the sonata case that will handle everything nicely.

i will look into that.

btw the x800xl seems to be a MUCH better buy. from other posts i was skimping, people made it seem like the 6800gt was heads above the x800xl, but they are mighty comparable...

the sonata with the psu runs for like $90 right now. is the case better than the slk300b? wish there were a fry's deal.

 

[ciborium]

I just built a new system last week, though I saved my monitor from my old pc (as well as kb/mouse). Here's what I did--this may help or not:

Antec Sonata case (w/ 380w Truepower): $100 (have seen it for $89 shipped since)
80gb WD SATA $59
Soltek KSL-K890Pro-939 (VIA K8T890): $122.
-- I got this b/c I wanted a reliable mobo that was fast at stock speeds. I also liked the fact that the northbridge had passive cooling, b/c I was trying to build a quiet system. I lose out on a hardware firewall (but I have one on my router) and SATAII/NCQ support, but as you'll see if you look around the benefits aren't great.
Corsair 1gb value ram: $100 when I got it
ATI retail x800xl: $282 shipped. Go to ATI.com, use IE (Firefox doesn't work), enter promo code 1010 for a 10 percent discount.
Zalman 7000B-AlCu: $37 w/o the LED. It comes with thermal paste by the way so unless arctic silver is awesome you could save $6 there.
3200+ cpu: $180 -- I wanted the 10x multiplier
Onboard sound: $0 -- but you may want the Audigy.
Same burner as you, and a DVD-ROM player also for $26 (Samsung).
Sony floppy: $8 (so cheap and the one time you need it you'll be glad you have it)

Anyway. Nothing too new but at least you have something for comparison.

 

[gobucks]

1) I'd replace the raptor with a Diamondmax 10 drive - the 250GB 16MB buffer version is only like $150. It's fast like a raptor but way bigger.
2) X800XL is a better deal than the 6800GT at the moment - try CompUSA, they have them for under $300.
3) for $90, vantec has a nice 520W 24-pin PSU.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: jinduy

Originally posted by: jinduy

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Originally posted by: sniperruff
the PSU is too expensive.

I think if he's looking for silence I don't think it's a bad idea. The 380watt Seasonic would be enough too.

He could go with a sonata thought for example. It will still be very quiet, the case will be nicer than the antec he has linked, and the new version on the 380watt truepower in the sonata case that will handle everything nicely.

i will look into that.

btw the x800xl seems to be a MUCH better buy. from other posts i was skimping, people made it seem like the 6800gt was heads above the x800xl, but they are mighty comparable...

the sonata with the psu runs for like $90 right now. is the case better than the slk300b? wish there were a fry's deal.

I think the cases are comparable. I like the hard drive mounting better on the Sonata.

You lose a couple drive bays with the Sonata, but it's a smaller case overall. I like the clean look of the Sonata better, but that's obviously personal .

I think the Sonata is a great deal because you're getting a very nice powersupply with it. It's kind of like getting a ~$70 shipped case and a ~$70 shipped powersupply for under $100 shipped.

 

[ribbon13]

Don't fudge... get Seasonic. This one would fits your needs as well
X800 XL
Get the DFI Ultra-D. $20 more well spent.
For god sakes its Arctic. And its a waste of money. I only buy it when I'm building multiple machines.
$110 G.skill 2x1512 Cas2 ddr400

 

[Cook1]

Sent you a PM

 

[Ike0069]

I recommend the Sonata. I really like the case and the PSU is solid.
As for the stock HSF (which I use), the only fan noise I hear from my case is the extra TT 120 mm fan I bought.
And stick with the MSI MB. The DFI board seems to have way to may issues.

If you plan to OC, you might want to get teh 3200+ just to get the 10X multiplier. Just a thought.

As for getting Kingmax RAM, I personally would not buy it unless I knew for a fact that it worked in whatever MB I was buying. Some MB's can be very picky about which brands of RAM they like. Corsair is always a good choice.

 

[lobadobadingdong]

I have to agree with the sonata, and saving the $60, you'll notice maybe 1-2db noise difference.