YACOMBS

[Mong0]

I am looking to build a new rig to replace my dinosaur of a machine(athlon 1.4). My budget is in the $2500 range, but if I do not use it all then bonus. I have no plans of overclocking. I game, will use the system as a PVR, and of course general computer use.

Case
COOLER MASTER Centurion 5

• I like cases that are simplistic and do not have a front door.

Mobo
ASUS A8R-MVP

• I will not be running crossfire nore will I be upgrading in the future to crossfire but I really like what this board has to offer, plus the price is right and I trust Asus boards.

CPU
AMD Opteron 170 Denmark 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Dual Core

• This is one place where I am not sure whether to go with the Opteron or the X2 3800+. Is there a real noticable difference between the two?

Video Card
ATI 100-435801 Radeon X1900XT

• Seems to be an wasy choice to me

TV Tuner
Hauppauge WinTV-PVR 500 MCE

• Dual input plus MCE compliant.

Power
ENERMAX Liberty ELT500AWT ATX12V 500W

• I like the idea of modular power supplies. I believe this should be enough for my machine but any comments would be appreciated.

Memory
OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400

• In going with the Opteron I decided to pick a level or two higher than value ram.

HDD
Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB X 2

• I probably will not run these in raid but believe I will need the space for the PVR.

Sound Card
Creative SOUND BLASTER X-Fi Platinum 7.1

• After reading up a lot of people have said there is a difference in sound quality from the Audigy 2 ZS and the X-Fi line. I also like the platinum for the I/O-Drive feature.

Monitor
ViewSonic G90FB Black 19" CRT

• My eyes are really bothered by LCD's.

OS
Windows XP MCE 2005

• For the intergreation of the PVR functions.

Misc
BYTECC BT-618 (42-In-1) 42-in-1 USB 2.0 Internal Card Reader/Writer

• Having a card reader will definitely come in handy.

So there it is. Any input or comments will be greatly appreciated.

 

[atybimf]

The only thing that I see that is debatable is the ASUS A8R-MVP (I'd prefer a DFI Lanparty Ultra-d for overclocking the Opty), but if you like it then that's good enough.

 

[stevty2889]

Everything looks great, but I too prefer the DFI lanparty for overclocking.

 

[t3h l337 n3wb]

Yeah, those parts are all fine, but I recommend that you overclock

 

[Bobthelost]

Very good build, but think about the hitachi 7k250s, they are faster than the WD drives by a tiny margin.

 

[Mong0]

Thanks for all the responses. Seeing as I do not plan on overclocking at all I am pretty comfortable with the Asus board.