Would you buy this system?

[Mulpacha]

Hey all, I'm putting togeather this new gaming rig to satisfy my gameing addiction (and need to use money)

Case: Antec Performance One P180 -Link-

Power Supply: Antec Phantom 500 PEC -Link-

Mainboard: MSI K8N Diamond Plus -Link-

Processor: Athlon 64 X2 4800+ (Box)

RAM: Thinking about going OCZ Platinum Series, but don't know if i should take the Enhanced Bandwidth or Enhanced Latency - In fact I don't know much about highend memory, so could really use some pointers here.

GFX: Sapphire RADEON X1900 XTX -Link-

HDD1: WD Raptor WD1500ADFD (150GB)

HDD2: Maxtor MaXLine Pro 500 (500GB) -Link- (really like the 1.000.000 MTTF)


I would really like some constructive feedback on this build. And espically some pointers on good high performance RAM.
Or maybe I forgot something and some of the parts dont fit togeather, what do I know
Thanks

 

[pclstyle]

monarch has 2gb ocz plat EB pc-4000 for 160 AR. 3-3-2-8.... can't really beat that for price/perf

 

[Lasthitlarry]

Too expensive = too much invested before Conroe comes out, is my only qualm.

If you have to go with a raptor get a cheaper 250GB Hard Drive, it's a better deal in terms of GB/$, and I would go with a 3800 X2 or an Opteron, you can overclock the rest.
I would also go with a cheaper power supply and motherboard, there's no reason for Antec and no reason for 500W unless you are overclocking.

I don't really like that case, but that's just personal taste.

 

[Geomagick]

There is nothing wrong with that specification, however a couple of points.

If you want a very quiet system and I guess you do given the choice of power supply you might want to consider an aftermarket Heatsink for the CPU.

If you plan on overclocking then I would go with a lower clocked Opteron dual core rather than the 4800+.
As you are going for an ATI card then you might want to get a motherboard with an ATI chipset, this will allow you to go crossfire later if you want.

 

[imported_rod]

Opterons aren't very good value anymore, since AMD upped the price of opterons and lowered the price of X2's. But the X2 4800+ is very expensive - especially considering that the X2 4400+ performs just as well in most circuimstances.

Also, a raptor is bad value for money. But if you want a raptor, then get a 300-320GB HDD. 300/320GB HDDs are the best value for money at the moment.

RoD

 

[LOUISSSSS]

for your system' i'd go with an asus a8r32-mvp to better suit your x1900xtx and has great oC (AT review) i also wouldn't get an antec psu, check out my signature or enermax psus. maxtor hdd's have been giving many people problems around here, look into seagate or WD.
as for ram it all depends on if you're OCing, if not then get the OCZ platinum ddr400. if yes then get something with more bandwidth

 

[Gagan]

Originally posted by: LOUISSSSS
for your system' i'd go with an asus a8r32-mvp to better suit your x1900xtx and has great oC (AT review) i also wouldn't get an antec psu, check out my signature or enermax psus. maxtor hdd's have been giving many people problems around here, look into seagate or WD.
as for ram it all depends on if you're OCing, if not then get the OCZ platinum ddr400. if yes then get something with more bandwidth

You could take his advice, or you could get the A8N-SLI32 motherboard as it has better single card performance than the A8r32, also has longevity. The fact is even though you have a Radeon planned, in single slot performance it is faster than that of an a8r32. Also, overclockability goes to the A8N32-SLI as well. If youcheck reviews you will see that there is a consistent A8n32> A8r32, Crossfire is simply not mature enough yet. About your PSU, I have an ANTEC PHANTOM 500, runs great it just can't run 2 7800 512 GTX's in SLi. If you would like tobuy it off me I can send it to ya to check out. It's a strong PSU I just don't suggest it for DUAL card solutions.

Much love.

 

[hugekebab]

although the phantom have had problems, i cant see there being any cooling issues with the p180 as the psu will be held in a wind tunnel.


personally i think its irrelevent: wait for conroe, wait for conroe, wait for conroe or youll be biting yurself after.

 

[imported_rod]

Memory: The extra bandwidth is only used if you overclock. If you won't OC, then just get lower-latency ram.

Also, antec make great PSUs. Not the cheapest, but the quality is great, and even the normal ones will be quiet compared to the rest of your system.

And if you're getting an ATI card, a crossfire board will perform slightly better than an nVidia board, and enable you to use crossfire in the future.

RoD

 

[LOUISSSSS]

why would u even consider an a8n32 for an ATI card. the 2nd x16 slot will be useless (which is what you're basically paying for). basically... get the best mb out there for your high end system, a8n32-sli if you're getting a 7900gt(x), get an a8r32-mvp deluxe if you're gunna get an x1900xt(x). just google or search "antec problem(s)" and compare that to what u find when u search "enermax problems" or "FSP problems" i'll let you the research

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: rod
Opterons aren't very good value anymore, since AMD upped the price of opterons and lowered the price of X2's. But the X2 4800+ is very expensive - especially considering that the X2 4400+ performs just as well in most circuimstances.

Also, a raptor is bad value for money. But if you want a raptor, then get a 300-320GB HDD. 300/320GB HDDs are the best value for money at the moment.

RoD

I dunno, I just got my dual-core Opteron 165 for $280 shipped...I wouldn't say that's too bad of a value

 

[Mulpacha]

@pclstyle Thx for the tip about the RAM, but I'm planning to buy all the components in Denmark, as I live there But as noone is saying different I take it that I can't go much wrong with OCZ platinium.

@Lasthitlarry and the others who told me to wait for Conroe: Thanks alot! I had no ideer such a chip was on its way from Intel, just read the article here on anand and it sounds amazing! Just gonna have to see if I can wait till Q3 :-/
Man... I have been a AMD fan for quite some time now... maybe Conroe will change that, we'll see

@George Powell - "you might want to consider an aftermarket Heatsink for the CPU."
- Yes, I have thought about that, but I have not had much luck so far. Could you or anyone else recommend one?

But about the raptors, I dont understand why you all have so much against them, isn't the HDD one of the major things slowing highend systems? And as you can see, i dont buy the raptor to get good price/GB, I would buy it to eliminate bottleneck's in WinXP Boot and game loading. Besides I would buy a 500gb for mass storage. Or am I completely wrong?

Thx LOUISSSSS for your pointer on the PSU, I'll definately look into the Enermax and FSP PSUs.

And a final question, an Opteron 165 instead of a X2 4800+ would just about cut processor expences in half (which would be VERY nice) but can an OC'ed Opteron 165 really compete with X2 4800+ ?

Again, thx for all your helpfull reply's (and excuse my bad english spelling, I'm from Denmark)

 

[alimoalem]

don't worry about the spelling man, you're doing good

an overclocked opteron will perform equally to a similarly clocked 4800x2 (e.g. 2.4GHz opty 165 = 2.4GHz 4800x2). you can overclock a 3800x2 to 2.4, too.

raptors are nice but not generally worth it, especially if everything you have isn't already top of the line. you could take it over to the conroe system but i think you should first buy your mass storage drive and see how that fares for you. don't get the 500gb drive though; get a 250gb or 320gb western digital se16 drive and once you fill it up, buy a second one. it's cheaper that way

 

[LOUISSSSS]

if u Do decide to add a raptor to your system, you WILL be paying a lot more than a regular hard drive but u do notice speeds in load times. so its up to you if u have the cash to spend