Advice on these parts?

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mikeh80

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Jan 3, 2002
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I'm in serious need of a new system, but I'm having trouble deciding what to get.

This system is mostly for college work; programming, office apps., etc. I would like to play games (HL2/CS:Source/etc) and watch dvds on it as well. I may do some overclocking, but nothing much. I have a budget of $1700 for the computer and a new mouse.

The parts I picked out for either an AMD or Intel pc are below. Right now I'm leaning towards the intel box, but I'd like to know what you think before I buy.

Intel or AMD, bottlenecks, junk parts, any criticism appreciated!

Intel Box - (Wishlist link):
Motherboard - ASUS P5ND2-SLI Deluxe Nvidia nForce 4 SLI ATX
CPU - Pentium 4 640 Prescott
RAM - OCZ Gold Series 1GB (2 x 512MB) DDR2 667 (PC2 5400) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit

AMD Box - (Wishlist link):
Motherboard - ASUS A8N-SLI Premium Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX
CPU - Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego
RAM - CORSAIR XMS 1GB (2 x 512MB) DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit

Other parts:
Video card - eVGA Geforce 6800GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16
Hard drive - Maxtor DiamondMax 10 250GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM
DVD Burner - PLEXTOR IDE DVD Burner Model PX-716A/SW
PSU - PC Power & Cooling 510 SLI-PFC ATX12V 510W
Heatsink - THERMALRIGHT XP-120
Heatsink fan - VANTEC (Stealth) SF12025L 120mm
Case - Lian Li PC-60APlus

This is the pile that it's replacing:
- Athlon Thunderbird - 1.33 GHz - (Not overclocked, if I did the house would burn down.)
- Asus A7A266-E mobo
- Crucial 256MB DDR PC2100
- Voodoo 3 video card - (My Geforce2 pro died last week.)
- Diamond Max 80 hard drive
 
My sister wanted a new computer and didn't know a lot about companies and such, so she ended up buying a Pentium 4 3.2 ghz chip in a standard intel board. The machine has given me nothing but problems since the beginning. 3 different windows installations (IE on one, FireFox on 2) on 3 different hard drives, 2 different power supplies, and problems during every single one of them. At the moment (fresh install a week ago) it seems to be okay, but it will probably be hosed soon. She only uses it for E-mail and internet with the occasional play of the sims 2...

I've had the pleasure of building / running 3 AMD64 boxes and none of them have ever caused me a problem. It only took one (possibly faulty) piece of hardware to make me never have a pentium again.. so I recommend AMD by FAR, but that's more of a personal (f4nb0y) preference... :p ;)
 
I would go with the AMD system...more of a personal thing though.

I do have a few suggestions though...

Look into a 7800GTX over the 6800GT. I'm not sure if it will be in your budget, but it is the newest card and literally wipes the floor with the 6800GT.

Also, to free up some money in your budget you would be just as happy with an LG or NEC DVD burner. Plextor makes a good quality drive, but for half of the price you can get one just as good from another company. I have an LG and I am really impressed with it.

Just my $0.02.

Happy building! :D
 
Hmm... AMD and a 7800GTX, looks like I won't be getting much work done. :D

Here's the final parts list, I can't wait! (Grr gotta wait until payday)
Motherboard - ASUS A8N-SLI Premium Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX
CPU - Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego
RAM - CORSAIR XMS 1GB (2 x 512MB) DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit
Video card - eVGA Geforce 7800GTX 256MB PCI Express x16
Hard drive - Maxtor DiamondMax 10 250GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150
DVD Burner - LG IDE DVD Burner Model GSA-4163BI
PSU - PC Power & Cooling 510 SLI-PFC ATX12V 510W
Heatsink - THERMALRIGHT XP-120
Heatsink fan - VANTEC (Stealth) SF12025L 120mm
Case - Lian Li PC-60APlus
 
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