Building a system around a vid card...

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zjmike

Weaksauce
Joined
Dec 22, 2004
Messages
95
Well, I've stumbled into some money over the holidays and have decided to really give my pc a second life. It's a 2.5 yo P4 2.2 system. Anyways I'm going to be getting a 9800pro or 6600gt, but I've decided to go AMD64 since the prices have dropped so much and I need USB2 ports anyways. So I've decided on a AMD 2800+ (only 130 at new egg), I need a new mobo and chipset (i'm thinking nForce3), but I already have a nice sound card. BTW, I have 2x512 PC2700 Kingston I bought right before the holidays for 100 each with a 38 mail in rebate, I'm thinking about returning these. What would be a good mobo and ram match for this system? I'm not really interested in OCing at the moment, but may consider it later.

The idea behind this is that I'm not going to really have a tight bottleneck anywhere, that everything will be fairly even for most gaming.

Thanks,
Mike

Edit: I plan on not upgrading anything after this until I start over from scratch.
 
just get some nice matched DDR400 chips from a good branded manufacturer like Corsair, Kingston, etc.. And if after you have bought all that stuff and have a little cash left I would get a 6800nu. If you cant though the 6600gt is a good choice over the 9800pro. But the 6800nu is about 100 bux more than the 6600gt. And another suggestion would be to get the A64 3000+ 939 90nm chip instead. They are better than the 2800+ and about 20 bux more, just a suggestion though.
 
A64 3000+ 939pin cpu = $152
MSI KT8 NEO2-F mobo = $98
XFX 6800nu ========= $270 (I bought PNY 6800's for $199 & $229 on sale at various times)

Newegg prices.

I'd upgrade ram if possible, but not absolutely necessary.
 
I'm going to be returning the RAM since I can still get $200 for it and it's only 333mhz. I was going to stay AGP, what advantage is there to going 939 and PCIexpress?

Mike
 
zjmike said:
I'm going to be returning the RAM since I can still get $200 for it and it's only 333mhz. I was going to stay AGP, what advantage is there to going 939 and PCIexpress?

Mike
Click to expand...

Simplest/Most used Answer: "Future Proof"

Don't think about PCI-E for right now. Waste of money IMO. 8X is doing me just fine.
Also, it might be helpful if you tell us, how MUCH money you "stumbled" upon too, so we can pick out good stuff in your price range! :p
 
Mobo - MSI NEO2 Plat - Great board at a great price

CPU - Might as well spend the extra $16 and go with a 3000+

Vid - 6600gt is nice, but why not spend a little more for the 6800nu?

By the way, anyone been to their microcenter lately? I just got back from there tonight and reserved an EVGA 6800NU for $239, anyone else see that?
 
Damn, I wish we had a microcenter around here. I'm not sure on the money exactly, I don't want this to snowball. I'm planning on keeping my HDDs, soundcard, and case. I probably want to stay around $600 for power, mobo, chipset, processor, memory, and vidcard.

I manage a lot of MP3s, play games, and a little multimedia stuff. This box will most likely never be upgraded again.
 
My order... AMD64 2800+
Chaintech VNF3-250 with nForce3
Allied 400W ps
XFX 6600gt AGP8x
2x512 ddr Rosewill PC3200

I think this will create a nice balanced system that still powers through games. I spent just under $615 after shipping. Plus I should be able to get a little money out of my P42.2 400mhz fsb, 2x256 ddr pc2100, mobo and chipset.

I can't wait for my system's second life.
Mike
 
Just speaking from experience, do not bother with that PSU, go with a brand you can trust (it just may save you your mobo along with other components lives in the end). I would suggest looking at Antec's "true" series and Neo Power, OCZ, Thermaltake, Enermax. Also that memory is a crock, if you are looking for some cheap but great memory look at the mushkin 2x512 they have running, I think it is $130 or so, great memory for the price.
 
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