Building new system from scratch -- Advice needed!

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bnason

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Jan 26, 2004
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Hi All!

I'm getting back into PC gaming again after suffering through a year of only having a laptop. I've never built my own comp. or done any overclocking, but would like to build my own and possibly oc' just for the knowledge/experience of having done so.

Anyway... initially, back in Dec., I was going to go with an AMD 2500 XP+ chip system. Now, I was thinking of going 64-bit AMD as prices have dropped. But, I'm not really sure now... 1) I haven't really considered Intel yet, and 2) read the below about investing into Socket 754 AMD technology.

ANYWAY -- my last thread on this got hijacked into an AMD/Intel war. Which was cool, but I'm really just looking for some good advice:

1) I want a good, fast gaming PC that I can build without screwing up;
2) I want a good $$ investment (ie., I don't want to throw cash into dead tech like, possibly socket 754 tech now)
3) I want to spend $1600 or less.

If you think it's best to wait until March for Socket 939 chips, let me know! If you think it's best to buy a P4 now, let me know, along with some good mobos/memory/case ideas. If you think I should go for a Socket 754 64-bit chip, great! Or, just stick with the 2500+ XP AMD chip and save some cash, then upgrade next Fall/Winter. Basically... I need some thoughts on how best to maximize my PC purchase.

Thanks in advance, and please don't flame me or anyone else! :)
 
Here are some ideas, and strictly IMO stuff.
If I had money to blow, I'd hit the egg and look at the following

Asus P4P800-Dlx
Intel P4 3GHz
Zalman 7000 cu HSF
Corsair PC3700 or PC4000
WesternDigital Raptor 74GB drive (OS)
WesternDigital 200GB SATA drive (Storage)
LiteOn 52x CD-RW
LiteOn 8x DVD-+RW
Asus 9800XT
Antec True430 PSU
Lian-Li PC-60 USB B case
Creative Labs Audigy 2
Klipsch Promedia 5.1 speakers
Your choice of display, I like ViewSonic
 
Well $1600 can get you a pretty decent machine nowadays.

If you are in some desperate need in getting a new PC I would go AMD for price

AMD Barton XP 2500+ (locked FSB OC'ing only, mostly all are locked)
Abit NF7-S v2.0
1GB (2x512MB) Mushkin Level 2 PC3500/DDR433 RAM
Thermalright SP-97 w/ Tornado (if sound doesn't matter these suckers are LOUD)
HD's if you want fast load time then get Raptor's
Storage: you got a lot to store? get some 250's WD or Maxtor
ATi 9800 Pro
Lite On 52x CD-RW
Lite On 16x DVD-ROM or DVD-Rw +/- if you plan on burning DVD's
Antec True480
Any kind of Lian-Li case is worth it
Audigy 2
Logitech z680's if you can find them
Samsung display (my preferred choice)
 
For motherboard I would go with a asus k8v deluxe k8v
CPU- a64 The athlon 64 3000,

and then what asianguy80 said:
1GB (2x512MB) Mushkin Level 2 PC3500/DDR433 RAM
Thermalright SP-97 w/ Tornado (if sound doesn't matter these suckers are LOUD)
HD's if you want fast load time then get Raptor's
Storage: you got a lot to store? get some 250's WD or Maxtor
ATi 9800 Pro
Lite On 52x CD-RW
Lite On 16x DVD-ROM or DVD-Rw +/- if you plan on burning DVD's
Antec True480
Any kind of Lian-Li case is worth it
Audigy 2
Logitech z680's if you can find them
Click to expand...
 
Originally posted by TekieB
For motherboard I would go with a asus k8v deluxe k8v
CPU- a64 The athlon 64 3000,
Click to expand...


If you're gonna go A64 then get the SLK-948U not the SP-97. 97's are only for Athlon XP's, T-Bred's and such. Fan, if you want good cooling is the Vantec Tornado. I personally use a 92mm Panaflo (H1A) High series and it's rather quiet for me. I don't know how hot the A64's get but I would assume that coupled with the 948 it would work fine for stock.
 
Bah, go AMD64 BUT use the Alpha heatsink that newegg has for $33.99 (opteron and amd64 use). I'm using it on a 3000+ and I get 32C at full load with a low db Panaflo (40cfm, 32db).

I've built 3 or 4 AMD 64 and/or FX51 systems in the last 2 weeks.
Here is what I built my wife:

AMD64 3000+
Alpha cooler (i forget the model #)
Panaflo low db 80mm fan
Antec Sonata Case (yes, the true 380w Antec powers it fine)
Asus K8V Deluxe
1gb Corsair XMS512 3200 c2 v1.2 (2 sticks of 512mb)
Hercules Radeon 9800xt
Ricoh 4x DVD+RW (black)
Sony 16x DVD-ROM (black)
Alps floppy (black)
Hercules Fortissimo III 7.1 soundcard
80gb Seagate SATA 7200rpm
120gb WD ATA133 7200rpm 8mb cache (storage)
Logitech MX500
Fatpad
Antec 104key (black)
Netgear Wireless USB adapter 802.11g
21" Samsung 1100DF

Total cost including 2day Fedex service: $1800

Obviously, you can cut out the 21" monitor (which was $450 of it..from newegg). You can drop the storage and SATA drive and get a larger SATA drive. You could also save $100 or so and get one stick of 512mb instead of 2. You can dump out the Ricoh DVD+RW and that saves $100.
 
Would anyone recommend holding off until March / April to make a purchase, in order to get a Socket 939 chip instead of the current 754s?
 
Thought socket 939 was summer 04? Even then, the new 939 processors won't be any cheaper. You should do what I do....upgrade now and in 3-4 months sell your computer to someone for close to what the new parts will cost. I've done this for 2 years and have upgraded every quarter for about $100-$200 each time (usually the cost of new ram is what I foot myself). Cheers.
 
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