Decision on building a new computer *Help*

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dpoverlord

2[H]4U
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Nov 18, 2004
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So it has been 2 years since my computer fried, and I was left with 1. No computer, 2. A 22" iiyama monitor, 3. A Lian Li Pc-70 modded case, 4. 2 160 GB IDE HD's, 5. Nice kb and mouse.
It has come to that point where I am still in college and have been using my room mates laptop( dell 8200) and got addicted to wow where I realized I should probably look at getting a computer since I will be going to business school in 1 1/2 yrs, and in the summer I will not have his laptop anymore... (oh yeah better FPS would be a pluse)
I am distraught on 2 ends, Should I build now or wait till later? Because currently I was thinking an AMD 3800 or 3500 but my budget is around the 1 1/2 k mark which is pushing it. I was thinking should I wait till the summer b.c. prices will probably be lower( price reductions :-/) prices will go down b.c. of back to school sales, unless of course they wont be because no newer hardware is coming out. WHat do you think is the viability of building this computer now or later...

Info:
I plan on building the computer myself. I have built all of my computers my case is a Lian Li PC70 custom mod all fans are temp controlled.
http://www.rit.edu/~jnm6650/DaRig/lrg_1274.jpg
http://www.rit.edu/~jnm6650/DaRig/lrg_1277.jpg
My main concern is saving money since I know I was thinking of an SLI mobo for future upgrading purposes, and I was looking for best compatability. I am starting to think that I will def. have 2 gigs of ram. I want the best performance and the best compatability. Price is my main concern though.

I will also be going AMD unless intel can convince me otherwise. Will be a 3200-3800 not a 4000 due to I can't justify the 200-300$ difference between the 2 Still not sure on Cpus G-Cards, or other choices. Hope this extra info helps THX!

My future is in your hands. I am eagerly awaiting all of you hardware GURUS responses.
Ciau!
Jonathan
 
Now is a great time to build. Pretty much all parts have gotten their prices lowered, and are below MRSP most of the time. If you are building a WoW box though, make sure you get 2GB of RAM.
 
do you believe I will save anything if I wait till the summer? I was just thinking if there is a new Graphics card coming out well then it makes sense.
 
use a cheapy one till summer...and run ur games at their lowest...then get the best of the new ones itll be worth the w8
 
Mayhs said:
use a cheapy one till summer...and run ur games at their lowest...then get the best of the new ones itll be worth the w8
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Don't do that..."filler" systems are just a waste of money...if you're going to spend money, then spend it all at once. If you keep what money you have now, AND save the money you would spend on a filler system, then you'll have more money for your "final" system.

There's a bunch of new technology coming out this year..don't know if it will be by the end of the summer though. Venice cores were released today, soo..should be a couple more months till new technology is released...I think..
 
He does not need to be on the cutting edge of performance to run World of Warcraft, for chrissakes. Go with these parts for the best bang for your buck, performance and expandability:

- Chaintech VNF4/Ultra Motherboard - ~$90
- Athlon 64 3200+ Processor on Socket 939 - $180
- 2 512 MB DDR400/PC3200 Corsair Value Select RAM sticks - ~$100
- GeForce 6600GT PCI-Express Video Card - ~$175
- Antec True430 or Enermax Noisetaker 420 Power Supply - ~$75
( DO NOT USE SOME JUNKY ONE THAT CAME WITH YOUR CASE !! You risk the safety of your hardware! )

May as well grab a good DVD burner as well, they are very cheap now. An NEC 3250A will be fast, stable, quiet and a mere $50.

This will total up to about $670, well below your budget of $1000-$1500. 2 GB of RAM is totally unnecessary, and if you do have the desire to upgrade to a Dual-Core Athlon 64 later this year when they come out, you can just take out your CPU, sell it on eBay for $100 or so, and put that toward the new CPU. That's all you need-- it should just drop into your existing motherboard with only a BIOS flash, nothing new required. :)
 
Amazing responses guys! I really appreciate it. I will make a few more things clear though.. Edited the main post . I plan on building the computer myself.
 
If you want SLI, go with the DFI nF4 Ultra-D SLI and an eVGA 6800GT. The DFI is a great choice and a fantastic overclocker if you're into that.. and the second 6800GT (must be identical!) you add later will work a LOT better than doubling up on 6600GT's. You're not going to have much benefit at all from SLI in WoW, do you intend to run other games too?
 
How do ati's run in wow? Anyway, the 2gb of ram is an interesing idea, since it's an mmo. Not sure if it'd be worth it atm.
 
Andrew_Carr said:
How do ati's run in wow? Anyway, the 2gb of ram is an interesing idea, since it's an mmo. Not sure if it'd be worth it atm.
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It wouldn't be worth it. ATi cards are fine for WoW, it's not THAT demanding a game, but the thing is-- ATi cards can not run in SLI. ATi seems to be planning their own SLI implementation but I'm quite sure it will not work with nVidia's SLI chipset (call it a hunch :D) as they have their own "Xpress chipset" but no SLI chipset announced yet...

As for all the fans in your case, A64s don't run that hot, you can probably run them all at 5v .;)
 
Epicenter said:
If you want SLI, go with the DFI nF4 Ultra-D SLI and an eVGA 6800GT. The DFI is a great choice and a fantastic overclocker if you're into that.. and the second 6800GT (must be identical!) you add later will work a LOT better than doubling up on 6600GT's. You're not going to have much benefit at all from SLI in WoW, do you intend to run other games too?
Click to expand...

My upgrade path is going to be minimal. I used to love overclocking but I wont have the time to do any of that. I was thinking that if I got an SLI combo, I could just come back in a year or 2 and put in another and be fine. Thus saving more money.

Epicenter said:
It wouldn't be worth it. ATi cards are fine for WoW, it's not THAT demanding a game, but the thing is-- ATi cards can not run in SLI. ATi seems to be planning their own SLI implementation but I'm quite sure it will not work with nVidia's SLI chipset (call it a hunch ) as they have their own "Xpress chipset" but no SLI chipset announced yet...
As for all the fans in your case, A64s don't run that hot, you can probably run them all at 5v
Click to expand...

Yaw, that ase does have a lot of fans. I ran a server a few years back b4 it fried. It was my server and my computer, it had a dual Mp setup back int he day. My power supply was a 450 Watt power supply. Unfortunately I dont even know if it still works. The fans are all find now. All the fans are individually temp controlled to go on if the temps fall to a certain level in key areas. Hmmm.... I am still not sure about buying now or later though. I know the Venice Cpus are coming out this month. That would mean prices would really go down or so one would assume. They have been going don 6% every month.
SLi implementation wise, I want to play the New Doom3 and Half life 2 but my roomies lap top is so old it wont even play WoW above 25 FPS so I havent tried. I really want to get something that will work for the next couple years and wont up grade it and my idea of the SLI was hmm not as fast lets get another 6800. But a lot of people have told me that I most likely would not see as much of a benefit. With that being said maybe an ATI is better than a 6800? I LOVE THE RESPONSES Keep it coming!
 
You need to tell us what you're going to be using you're computer for. If you're into gaming then you want a decently good video card. Heres the minimum of what I recommend to you.

AMD64 Venice 3000 - $150
DFI ULTRA-D - $150
Corsair Value Select 1gig - $90
ATI X800XL - $300
OCZ PowerSream520 - $150
Audigy 2 ZS - $90

If you're into gaming then you may want to wait till the new vid cards come out sometime around June-August.
 
Venice 3000+ and 3200+'s should be out a day or two, if they aren't yet. They aren't startlingly faster and will be replacing Winchesters at the same price point; so they won't knock down prices across the board. There's no real point in waiting on another CPU, now.

SLI's performance is great in well supported games, e.g. a proper 50% gain adding a 2nd 6800GT in Doom 3 or Half-Life, or Far Cry usuaully. But, if you aren't going to be running very high end FPS'es, and just lower-end MMORPGs and Strategy games and such, one 6600GT or ATi X800XL (about 30% faster, $100 more) will work fantastically. Hell, these cards run modern games on their highest settings perfectly right now, so they will certainly sustain casual gaming for 2 years.
 
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