Will this computer hold its own for awhile?

[wireeater]

Well, it's time to build a new computer. My system is over 2 years old now and I am ready for something new. With tax season coming up I was getting excited because I was going to build a new X2 system, but unfortunately I am not getting back as much as I thought. So now I am building around a 700$-$800 (shipping included) budget.

I just can't seem to work in the X2 3800+ and a good card, motherboard + ram without surpassing my limit. I have been doing not stop researching, reviewing products for days now trying to build a machine I know would satisfy me.

I am going to be building around my old system. I will be reusing the case/w PSU. It is an Antec SOHO server tower with a True 430w PSU (assuming it will be able to handle the new system).

I have 3 sticks of Corsair XMS extreme 256 PC3200 CL2. My plan was to buy 1 gig of some good ram, and possibly use 512 of my Corsair XMS until I can afford to buy another set of 1 gig.

For video cards I have a 9800pro AGP, which I do not want to keep. It handled games well when it first came out, but I am not pleased with it anymore. I don't want anything in my new system to bottleneck anything.

I don't want to reuse my HDD's because they suck. 2 20gig 5400rpm Maxtor drives.

I don't need a mouse, monitor, keyboard, optical drive.


All I need is a new motherboard, CPU, memory, video card and hard drive.

This is what I have picked so far, unless it can be toned down to drop a few bucks with out losing lots of performance. I am not a person who needs a bunch of features. My main thing is stability and the possibilities of over clocked mildly.



ASPIRE 20 pin to 24 pin ATX Power Supply Converter Model CVT2024 -$3.75

Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 SATA NCQ ST3120827AS 120GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150-$85.00

DFI nF4 Ultra-Infinity -$95.99

eVGA 256-P2-N391-AX Geforce 6800GS 256MB -$199.00

Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound -$5.99

G.SKILL 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 -$139.50

AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego -$233.00


Will this system please me for at least a year or two? Would this be able to handle most games out now without a problem? For the most part I would only be playing these games at 1024 resolution because that's all my LCD can handle.

I want to over clock a little just to play around, but I am not going to do anything extreme until I have money for better cooling.

If you can recommend anything that is just as good/or better than what I have listed for the same or a lower price, please do explain.

Thanks for the help,

Richie.


Current system.

AMD XP 2500+(unlocked)
NF7-S
SLK-948U/Vantec Tornado 92mm
3x256 Corsair XMS pc3200 CL2
ATI Radeon 9800pro
DVD RW
2x20GB Maxtor 5,400rpm HDD
ANTEC PLUS 1080AMG SOHO Tower Case w/ True 430w PSU
Windows XP home

Mild OC:2129 MHZ@10x213

 

[Malladine]

At 1024 that system should be ok for a while. Trying to guess beyond a year is unrealistic, though IMO you should be alright. Not at highest settings, but the 6800gs should carry you through.

If you have an extra $80 hanging around consider the 7800GT.

At $10-15 more you'd be looking at the X850XT. Faster than the 6800gs by quite a bit but older tech (ie lacking sm3.0). I don't know how big a deal that will be in the coming years...

 

[wireeater]

My main questions are I guess, is that processor good for gaming right now and how well does it OC?

Thanks

 

[Malladine]

I've heard for overclocking the 3200+ is a better buy. It can go well beyond the 3700+ 2.2ghz for $60 less, giving you more $ for a better vid card.

Not sure how well the retail amd hs/f cools an overclocked cpu though...

 

[Cooler]

get a low end opty dual core they are cheaper then the X2

 

[Bobthelost]

I'd save money on the CPU myself and put it towards a 7800GT. Most games are GPU limited rather than CPU, if you're overclocking you could think about the cheapest Opteron you can find...

 

[wireeater]

How big of a difference does the 512k vs 1mb cache make on the 3200/3700? I will be using this for other things like maybe a little video editing/rendering, and multi-tasking.

 

[ZOXXO]

Look into the 250GB drives. For probably less than $20.00 more or even for less, through a hot deal, you can more than double the capacity.