Buy, or build?

[Keilaron]

So... I bought a pair of video cards (for an SLI set-up) and made what I figure is a fairly typical mistake - didn't check that my system would have what it takes. Specifically, my power supply isn't good enough. Of course, replacing that is fairly easy; However, I hit *another* snag trying to put it in - my northbridge's heat sink is in the way of the (fairly large) video card.
(The story of the northbridge cooler is a little silly; my motherboard is known for it's northbridge fan dying, sometimes even silently and suddenly, so I got a replacement even though (as I found out afterwards) the fan was still working perfectly; However, the new one is a tall, fanless heatsink, which is why it's in the way of the video card.)
Anyway, so I'm stuck with two things to do minimum: Replacing the PSU and one of swapping the cooler with the old one, getting an altogether different cooler (if there's any still available for it!), or not bothering with replacing the heatsink (PITA) and altogether getting a new motherboard. Thing is, the only thing I don't like about this mobo (other than the above) is that the onboard sound can't do 5.1 (either with my speaker set, or at all - I'm not sure if it's a glitch with the mobo itself).
...Of course, getting a new mobo probably means getting new RAM, and a new CPU, maybe even a new case. If that's the case, though, I almost might as well get myself at least a prebuilt barebones system.
I can't decide what I want to do though, and I've not been paying attention to what mobos and CPUs are good. So... I need advice on what I should get (Yes, feel free to suggest relevant hardware.). My system can't even begin to handle Overlord right now.
Also, a friend of mine believes that the video cards that I bought may even be overkill for what my CPU can handle. Your opinions?

Video cards in question: 2 x eVGA e-GeForce 8800 GTS 640 MB. Note that each card, from what I can tell, wants it's own 6-pin power cable (or 2 IDE power cables).

Current (relevant) hardware:

450W PSU, four 5¼ bays, two 3½ bays, four/five internal 3½ bays - not sure about the model/make nor those of the case.
Asus A8N-SLI
AMD Athlon 64 3000+ (1.81 Ghz?) (Yes, I'd prefer to stay with AMD.)
1.5 GB DDR RAM (mixed)
Seven drives, of which are 3 IDE HDs, 1 SATA HD, 1 SATA DVD+, 1 floppy (Yeah, if I get a new system, it's staying in this one :p), and 1 card reader. (That's 4 IDE power cables (or 3 + 2 SATA) and 1 floppy power cable, by the way.)
[URL="http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/speakers_audio/home_pc_speakers/devices/211&cl=my,en"]Logitech X-530 speakers[/URL] (Are these real 5.1-capable, or is it specific to the SB Live!, which I have?)

Edit: Oh, and I forgot to mention - I'm running WinXP (and XUbuntu sometimes, though I may grab a different distro).

 

[crhscoog]

why would you buy the old 8800gts?? didja get a good bargain??

i too think those video cards would be overkill for your system. amd is now only good for cheap budget builds while imo intel dominates everything else. if you dont mind not being able to oc and have to pay hundreds of extra dollars then buy prebuilt. if u have time then build.

 

[squares]

Build.

 

[Keilaron]

The 8800 GTS isn't that old, is it? Then again, maybe that just shows how out-of-the-loop I am Anyway, it was a pretty decent price, though I don't think I'd call it a bargain.

I guess I need to be a bit more specific: Either way, I'm not buying a full system; At most I'd be buying a barebones (i.e. case, mobo, CPU, I think they also include RAM) system and migrating the rest of the hardware to that system (which means it isn't exactly a prebuilt). I'm also wondering what mobos are good, as I've not been following that line of hardware at all (I have a tendency to build my system, upgrade maybe a piece or two, wait a few years, then get a new "system" and building that).
Or am I not making any sense at all?

 

[crhscoog]

whats your budget?

well the newer gts performs on par with the gtx. the gt is better than ur gts.

 

[tiraides]

You forgot to mention a vital piece of the puzzle: What monitor do you have?

Pricewise, a single 512MB 8800GT performs better than one of the 640MB 8800GTS cards you bought, and costs between $280-$330, while the new 512MB 8800GTS performs near the level of an 8800GTX and costs between $340-$400.

Now, if you really interested in pretty much a new build (since you mentioned possibly getting a new motherboard and processor), how much do you want to spend on the entire project?

 

[Keilaron]

I didn't think the monitor was all that important; I'm planning on upgrading it too, but not just yet. Or maybe I should, while I'm at it... ... >_>
Anyway, it's just a large CRT (20"?), the Dell D1626HT. I'm clinging a bit to it because I want to find a large decently-priced non-widescreen LCD. (And actually, now that my friend's pointed it out - another reason I'm holding off on getting an LCD is that they're technically fixed resolution screens, which would be a royal pain for playing games on.)

As for the GT, well, I'd expect a newer card to perform better than an older one, really. I still think I'll stick with this pair; The GT doesn't seem to be dramatically better than the GTS to be worth returning these and getting it instead (or perhaps one can point me to such a review).

Finally, my budget for this is pretty huge at the moment. I'm still trying to size this, figure out how much I want to spend on it, and how long I want this to last.

 

[crhscoog]

monitor is very important. mbs in video card affects quality detail in certain resolutions. at that resolution u dont need sli at all. on gt or new gts should do u fine for future. u need to narrow ur budget because fairly large could mean a lot of things. if it was me i would return those two and get a single gts since im assuming u spent over $400 for those two. and lets say u went with a single mobo, then i would recommend a q6600 go slacr. gigabyte p35, a 800mhz ram

 

[engiNURD]

You bought the wrong model GTS, IMO. You should have gotten the 512MB version, since its much newer and outperforms the older version. The 8800GT 512MB would serve you better than the old GTS 640MB.
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3140&p=7

This is the new version...
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3175&p=4

Yet, with a 20" CRT, theres no need for SLI. Just return one of your cards and be done with it. If you paid too much for those cards, return both and pickup the 8800GT 512MB for $245 at ncixus.com instead. Though, you'll need a CPU upgrade soon, since your setup is a bit old.

If you are building a new system, answer the following questions. If they've already been answered, just answer them again for completeness... its a copy and paste questionaire.

Please answer the following questions with as much detail/specifics as possible, as it will help us help you:

1) What's your budget and what is included in that budget (tax/shipping, keyboard, monitor, OS, etc; if you're not in the US, please specify country)?

2) What will you be doing with this system besides gaming (eg: video editing, photochopping, media ripping/encoding, watching hd videos, CAD, etc)?

3) If you are gaming, what games will you be playing and at what resolution/settings (eg: cs:s @ 1680x1050 w/ no AA/AF)?

4) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to get?

5) What old parts do you plan on re-using, if any?

6) What features do you need/want in a motherboard and briefly, why do you need/want them? (3 pci slots, raid, firewire, µATX, etc)

7) How long do you plan on keeping this system and/or how often do you upgrade?

8) Do you plan on OC'ing?

9) If you haven't already, please look through the other build lists in GenHard and come up with a rough draft list of parts that we can nitpick.

 

[Keilaron]

I was hoping to do dual-head eventually, but I guess I shouldn't get the hardware until I DO go ahead with that, eh?
Anyway, this monitor handles up to 1600x1200, which is a little bit of a strain on my eyes (so's the LCD on my laptop at that resolution, which is it's native resolution =/). I don't know what to think about that, really; It seems kind of odd in a way.

The amount I paid for these was 299 CAD ea., which seemed to be a fair price for

that card

. Looking again, however, the same store has the GT 512MB from the same manufacturer at only 10$ more (though out of stock across the country - for that store, which isn't awesome to begin with)... drat, I feel like a heel now for missing that last time I was looking. NCIX has a better price than all that for the 8800GT 512MB (255 CAD?!)... Awesome - thanks.

As for returning the cards I got, I think I'll do that, as I've only a day or two more to decide (!) and I could always get them again if I really want to do that.

1) What's your budget and what is included in that budget (tax/shipping, keyboard, monitor, OS, etc; if you're not in the US, please specify country)?

It seems that the old price gauge still applies (looking at flipflopsnowman's guide), so I think we can safely say that my original solid maximum of 5K CAD (~4986.72 USD according to xe.com) can buy what I need.
I'm in Canada, so we'll be dealing with CAnadian Dollars and this also means Newegg is not an option. I can give you plenty of links to some Canadian stores/outlets if you need any.

2) What will you be doing with this system besides gaming (eg: video editing, photochopping, media ripping/encoding, watching hd videos, CAD, etc)?

I'm not likely to do much intensive work other than gaming on this system; HD videos perhaps, but not often and I've not run into any yet.

3) If you are gaming, what games will you be playing and at what resolution/settings (eg: cs:s @ 1680x1050 w/ no AA/AF)?

I think the most demanding game I'm planning to play (at the moment, naturally) is Overlord, preferably at 1280x960 or 1600x1200 (or anything larger that's non-widescreen, assuming I can find an appropriate screen for it ...).

4) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to get?

This 20" CRT will stick around unless I can find a good 20" LCD that both my eyes and my system can handle, including the above (which isn't asking much these days, it seems).

5) What old parts do you plan on re-using, if any?

Hardware that will carry over from the previous build:
Monitor (maybe - more below), keyboard, mouse, speakers (iffy, but I'll deal with that later if it's an issue), all drives, and possibly the case.

6) What features do you need/want in a motherboard and briefly, why do you need/want them? (3 pci slots, raid, firewire, µATX, etc)

At least one PCI-E slot, at least 2 PCI slots (capture card, possibly sound card depending on the onboard), at least 4 ext USB 2 int USB, both IDE (both) and SATA (at least two), onboard gigabit network, and at least one PS/2 port.
... so not very much, really. I'm really feeling like I'm overlooking something now.

7) How long do you plan on keeping this system and/or how often do you upgrade?

I upgrade fairly rarely, so 3-5 years I'd say.

8) Do you plan on OC'ing?

Possibly... but probably not. Either this hardware can't handle it or I can't get it right. I always put off looking into this..

9) If you haven't already, please look through the other build lists in GenHard and come up with a rough draft list of parts that we can nitpick.

Hmm, no mention of watercooling yet.. but I don't think I'll get into that either, since I'd probably only need that if I were OCing... amirite? *ducks!*

Anyway, I'm considering these; List is subject to change, of course, and is nowhere near final, but if you want to help out with the selection I'm all ears (or is that all eyes?):
Cases (I'm looking for something either with front cooling, otherwise 5 large bays, black):
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2929618&CatId=1842
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2078839&CatId=1842
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2541413&CatId=1842
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1482411&CatId=1842
Motherboards (Good price, well rated, meets criteria above):
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2244194&CatId=2320
CPUs (I'd prefer to have a fan with it - less of a hassle):
AMD Athlon 64 X2 6400+ Black Edition - http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3509778
RAM (qual vs price):
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/searchtools/item-Details.asp?EdpNo=1071038&sku=ULT31690
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3089875&CatId=2264

 

[crashthenet44]

Am I missing something somewhere? Why would you choose that processor when for four dollars more you can have a Q6600. Especially since you plan on keeping this system for a while. Looks to me like you need to do some more homework.

 

[Keilaron]

Yeah, crhscoog keeps touting the Q6600 too... TBH I was expecting it was just another AMD-Intel debate, but looking at the benchmarks, I'm rather disappointed by AMD this time around. (Although one strange but amusing benchmark showed AMD CPUs performing three times better than Intel CPUs... ...in Excel .)
Like I said, it's a WIP. CPUs were the last to be looked at that night, and HF was unreachable for me for some reason, so I decided I'd continue later. I'll edit it sometime tomorrow, methinks, after browsing some more.

 

[Darth Bobo]

For cases have a look at the Antec 900 or Antec p182 (black)

 

[KidZer0]

I'm in the same situation. I work 40hrs a week plus college full time. Debating on getting a pre-built since I don't have the time to sit down and pick out the hardware then build it.