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Decisions...

V

vineswingman

Weaksauce
Joined
Dec 10, 2003
Messages
70
I'm going to build a system around a shuttle SN85G4 system, (nforce 3, supports athlon 64)

Configuration 1:

$299 - SN85G4
$404 - Athlon 64 3400+
$385 - ATI Radeon 9800 XT
$506 - 2x Raptor 74GB HDs
$294 - 1gb DDR533 geil
$108 - Lite-on 4x DVD+/-R
$56 - Zalman 5.1 Headphones
$89 - Audigy 2 ZS


$2141


Configuration 2:

$299 - SN85G4
$270 - Athlon 64 3200+
$224 - ATI Radeon 9800 Pro
$506 - 2x Raptor 74GB HDs
$294 - 1gb DDR533 geil
$108 - Lite-on 4x DVD+/-R
$56 - Zalman 5.1 Headphones


$1757


difference = $384



85% of my computer use is web-browsing/graphics (photoshop type styff)/movies/mp3s etc. obviously, i dont need a smoking system for this stuff, but I do like things to be fast (hence the 2 raptors in raid 0) and do a LOT of multitasking (often I have 7-10 programs open at the same time)

my current system is a p4 2.8@3.2ghz and 9800pro, 2 120gb HDs in raid-0, 1gb of ram, I am upgrading becuase I really dig those small systems, and could make good use of the portability.

I game in high resolution (1280x1024+) and can't stand not using max AF. AA is nice to have too, but I can live without it. My 9800 pro is fine for most games on my current setup, however I still often see sub-60fps framerates on a lot of games. I dont know if paying $200 for an extra 5-10 FPS in most games is worth it, although I wonder if the 128MB of ram will pay off in the future. thoughts?

Also, I cant imagine a huge difference between the 3200+ a64 and 3400+ (after reading benchmarks) Im sure I can o/c the 3200+ to 3400+ speeds no problem (but could get even more out of a 3400+)

I hear the nforce 3 onboard sound is awesome, I currently use an audigy and it sounds *good* on my klipsch speakers. I wonder how the nforce 3 audio compares to the audiguy and the audigy 2 ZS. I mostly concerned with MUSIC audio, but I'm picking up a pair of 5.1 headphones for gaming and obviously want something that'll pump that out well. thoughts?

Should I just pay the extra $300-$400 and go top of the line? Will it pay off in the future, not to mention giving me supreme bragging rights? Or should I save a few bucks and cut back on things I might not even notice?

I CAN afford it either way.
 
erm, why are you getting DDR533 with an Athlon 64? What you'll want is some DDR400 (or possibly 433) Mushkin Level 2 Sticks. Athlon64 is all about low latency, which DDR533 is entirely not. And i'll assure you, you're not gonna push that FSB to even close to 533MHz speeds.

next. get the 3200+. 3400+ isn't worth the extra $, put the extra 200 bucks into - your girlfriend? car? towards a new lcd?

again. i hold the same opinion on the 9800s. Get the Pro and overclock it a bit. When the next revision comes out, then you go ahead and sell your Pro and pick up a brand new card.

sound card? i'm all for the Audigy. but yeah, that's biased - they have arguably the best linux drivers (probably irrelevant to you).

EDIT: if you're in the mood to spend money, get a 3ware hardware RAID controller. the raptors deserve it.
 
erm, why are you getting DDR533 with an Athlon 64? What you'll want is some DDR400 (or possibly 433) Mushkin Level 2 Sticks.
Click to expand...

I dont plan on running it at ddr533 speeds, but I assumed that I could run it at DDR 400-450 speeds at a low latency. Would it be better to look for low-latency DDR 433? I assumed that if the memory stick could run at ddr 533 at higher latencies, it would have no problems running at ddr 433 at lowwer ones, plus I wouldn't be limited by my ram when overclocking.

EDIT: if you're in the mood to spend money, get a 3ware hardware RAID controller. the raptors deserve it.
Click to expand...

I only have one PCI expansion slot.. I'm already torn between the audigy 2 and a wireless card.. Is there something wrong with the nforce3 sata raid?
 
"Although we are able to run it well beyond 280MHz at CAS 3, 8-4-4, we are unable to even POST at CAS 2, 5-2-2 (6-2-2) above 200MHz FSB at all. In fact, we also tested CAS 2.5, 6-3-3, it POSTED at 200MHz FSB but anything above it, it wouldn't even POST at all."

http://www.ocworkbench.com/2003/geil/pc4200/pc4200-1.htm
This is generally typical of rated for high speeds RAM. Just a thought you might wanna be aware of. And imo by the time you ditch the shuttle mini, you'll be needing some DDR-2. At slower timings, the Mushkin L2s will still go pretty darned fast.

nothing at all wrong with the onboard RAID, just that the hardware RAID would give you great results under about 2% CPU utilization. I'd go for audigy then - you can always get quality USB wireless cards.
 
updated:

Mushkin 184 Pin 1GB(512MBx2) DDR PC-3500 Level II Dual Pack - Retail $328


I think i'll go with the 3400+ and audigy ZS but skip the XT and get the 9800 pro.


$2013 = total
 
i think i'd go with the 3200+, get the audigy, 1x 74GB raptor or 2x 32GB raptors in raid, a 120GB HD (no specific one), and the 9800 pro
 
lukeh: only slots for 2 HDs, and a 74GB Raptor is even faster than the 36.7s in raid-0. two 74gb raptors in raid scream.. eventually i'll add an external drive for file backup.
 
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