Building a computer.

By Orien
in Hardware Hangout

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Orien

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Posted (edited)

Hah, finally building my first computer for under $2000. I will not be using SLI or overclocking and I'm planning to upgrade the CPU to an AMD dual-core later on. How are these specs?

CPU - AMD Athlon 64 3500+ ClawHammer/Hammer 1GHz FSB Socket 939

Motherboard - ASUS A8V-E Deluxe Socket 939 VIA K8T890

RAM - CORSAIR XMS 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200)

Timings - 2-3-3-6

Video Card - ATI Radeon X800XL 256MB GDDR3 PCI-Express x16

Hard Drive - Eh, still deciding. Is it fine to buy OEM hard drives?

Power Supply - Antec NeoPower ATX 480W Power Supply

Monitor - ViewSonic VP201B Black 20.1" 16ms LCD Monitor

Case - Lian Li PC-65B Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Anything wrong with this configuration or am I forgetting anything?

Thanks.

Edited by xlegacyx
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lostspyder

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Posted

Why dont you get sata drives while your buying new ones? Enjoy a little extra speed and easier cable managment. Also your gonna wanna replace that NB fan, its a lous POS, the one on my a8n is going after like 4 months.

get the neopower :p the dude above uses an ati 9000pro he doesnt know what hes talking about :p

Grand Master

DigitalN.

Posted
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  lostspyder said:
Why dont you get sata drives while your buying new ones? Enjoy a little extra speed and easier cable managment. Also your gonna wanna replace that NB fan, its a lous POS, the one on my a8n is going after like 4 months.

get the neopower :p the dude above uses an ati 9000pro he doesnt know what hes talking about :p

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umm, the 550 is a great idea.

  AMDPOX said:
good setup...make sure to try unlocking the pipes on the 6800 ;)

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I will not be using SLI or overclocking

Grand Master

SojIrOu

Posted
Posted

hmm looks good. 2 things you might want to consider.

1) why don't you get sata hdd instead. the transfer rate is better, the cable won't break apart like IDE and you can setup a RAID too.

2) isn't clawhammer the socket 754 version? you should get the venice or winchester version of the 3500+

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NextGen_Gamer

Posted
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I would change to this:

1) Antec NeoPower 480-Watt Power Supply Unit ($110)

2) DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 Ultra-D Motherboard ($135)

3) AMD Athlon 64 3500+ "Venice" Processor ($275)

4) 2 x 512MB PC-3200 DDR-SDRAM Crucail Ballistix Memory ($95 For Each)

5) ATI Radeon X800 XL Video Card ($300)

6) 250GB Maxtor DiamondMax 10 SATA Hard Disk Drive ($160)

Total: $1,170 Plus Your Case and Monitor

If you end up with extra money, then I would upgrade to a BFG NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra OC video card for $550 at ZipZoomFly.com (but not the 6800 GT, since that would perform too close to the Radeon X800 XL to justify spending $420).

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NextGen_Gamer

Posted
Posted
  notuptome2004 said:
keep everything you siad you was  getting it is all good  the  BFG 6800 GT 256meg isa great card the  ATI card wont do ya any good since  it is slower then the  Gt 6800 and  also since technolagy wize  it lacks. now it is a great system go for it  oh and  BFG lifetime  warrenty

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He wasn't getting a GeForce 6800 GT, just a regular 6800. The Radeon X800 XL kicks the 6800NU's a**. Futhermore, the Radeon X800 XL runs neck'n'neck with the 6800 GT, except in DOOM 3 (where ATI gets its a** kicked) and Half-Life 2 (where NVIDIA gets its a** kicked).

Grand Master

Pox

Posted
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  Quote
He wasn't getting a GeForce 6800 GT, just a regular 6800. The Radeon X800 XL kicks the 6800NU's a**. Futhermore, the Radeon X800 XL runs neck'n'neck with the 6800 GT, except in DOOM 3 (where ATI gets its a** kicked) and Half-Life 2 (where NVIDIA gets its a** kicked).

:yes:

thats right, Nvidia went with id and Ati went with Valve. doom3 is designed for nvidia.

Grand Master

notuptome2004

Posted
Posted

i have friends with nvidias 6800Gt and they run Halife 2 fine no issues they acully get better quality then you must think that ay dont get on nvidia . Ok and i guess Ubisoft favors Nvidia then as well since with the new Splinter cell they didnt add Ps2.0 support, anyways the 6800 isa good chocie if ya want the best possable visual quality settings in newer games and todays. just go with Nvidia betetr drivers better quality. one of my friends witht he 6800Gt gets well over 80FPs in HL2 at 1600x1200 with 8xfsaa 16xaf and the image quality is better then ATI also to Note: HDR is comming HL2s way witch is reportedly gonna be OpenEXR HDR 64bit alpha blending and filtering now they will have porlly 2 versions ATIs shotty version HDR method and OpenEXR ILM method witch seems to be betetr look at facry with HDR on

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NextGen_Gamer

Posted
Posted
  notuptome2004 said:
i have friends with nvidias  6800Gt and  they run Halife 2  fine  no issues  they acully get better  quality  then you must think  that ay dont get  on nvidia . Ok and  i guess  Ubisoft favors  Nvidia then  as well  since with the new Splinter cell they  didnt add Ps2.0 support, anyways  the 6800 isa good chocie if ya want the best possable  visual quality settings  in newer games and todays. just go with  Nvidia betetr drivers  better quality.  one of my friends witht he 6800Gt gets well over  80FPs  in HL2  at 1600x1200 with 8xfsaa 16xaf  and the image quality  is  better  then ATI also to Note:  HDR is comming HL2s way witch  is reportedly  gonna be  OpenEXR HDR 64bit alpha blending and filtering  now they will have porlly 2 versions ATIs shotty version HDR method and OpenEXR  ILM method  witch seems to be betetr look at  facry with HDR on

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I didn't say NVIDIA can't run Half-Life well, just not as good as ATI. I can run it at 1600x1200 with 6xAA/16xAF at well over 100 fps. And for the record, ATI is well ahead of NVIDIA in the driver department: ATI releases twelve stable WHQL-certified drivers a year, while NVIDIA releases maybe two. And although HDR lighting looks amazing on Far Cry, it runs like complete crap (even with a GeForce 6800 GT, because I have seen it), and I highly doubt that Valve is going the OpenEXR route with Half-Life 2, since Half-Life 2 is part of ATI's "Get In The Game" promotional program. If anything, HDR in Half-Life 2 will be exclusive to the Radeon X800 series and up.

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NextGen_Gamer

Posted
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  DannyGlass said:
DFI are the best overclocking motherboards out at the moment but they are probably just a bit above your budget.

-DannyGlass

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DFI's nForce4 Ultra-bsed motherboard is only $135, the same as any other nForce4 Ultra motherboard. The SLI ones cost $185 and $210 (with the UV sleeving and FrontX box). Honestly, I see no reason whatsoever to get anything other than DFI right now. And don't get the A8N-E, A8N-SLI, or A8V-E from ASUS; all use that crappy ASUS chipset that is not only horrendiously noisy, but fails after about two months.

Grand Master

stncttr908 Veteran

Posted
  • Veteran
Posted
  AminoSC said:
I've never used an nforce based chipset motherboard....Is it true that the Nforce 4 chipsets will detect your memory and cpu and set up the perfect settings for your particular hardware?

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This is something that practically any board can do through your system BIOS. It's nothing exclusive to the NVIDIA nForce 4 chipset.

Proficient

AminoSC

Posted
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  stncttr908 said:
This is something that practically any board can do through your system BIOS.? It's nothing exclusive to the NVIDIA nForce 4 chipset.

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Really? Wow! I'm behind the times! I was running an old Athlon 1800+ and my MSI KT3 Ultra (MS-6380E) would not do this.

My new MSI Nforce 4 939 board comes in monday. I already recived my 3500 Venice core via UPS. I'm so stoked. Will I be shocked with the difference between this new chip and my old Athlon 1800+?:))

Veteran

NextGen_Gamer

Posted
Posted
  xlegacyx said:
Thanks for all the fast replies! So basically I should downgrade the graphics card to a X800 XL or a Geforce 6600 GT? And the power supply should be a Antec NeoPower 480W?

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I don't think I can say this enough: the Radeon X800 XL is a MAJOR UPGRADE. Think of it as a $500 card that you can buy for $300. Like I said before, it is completely even with the NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT. And definitely get the NeoPower, as it is ATX12V 2.0 compliant, along with having the 24-pin motherboard connector and 6-pin PCI-E graphics card power connector.

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