How's this gaming rig?

[Ashenai]

So I'm putting together a new gaming box. After a lot of Googling and some excellent advice from this group (thank you!) I'm looking at the following:

ABIT KV8-MAX3
Athlon XP 3000 Barton
Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro 128
Samsung SATA 160 GB SP11614C 8 MB 7200 rpm
512 MB PC3200 400 Mhz TWINMOS

This puts me at $963 (probably cheaper than you could get it in the US, but I live in Hungary and I know a wholesale dealer guy). I have about $1200 to spend, but I haven't bought a cooling unit, a case, or a PSU yet.

I don't want to splash money around just 'cause I can, only if it's worth it. So here are my questions:

1) Is the mobo overkill? I've heard it said that I should never skimp on the motherboard, but I dunno.

2) I could go for a 3200 Barton for an extra $67, an Athlon64 3000 for an extra $79, or even an Athlon64 3200 for an extra $160. Are any of these worth the extra price?

3) The 9800XT is out of my range, but I could buy a 9800 Pro 128 ULTIMATE (whatever the hell that means) for an extra $58, or a 9800 Pro 256 for an extra $95. Are either of these worth the extra cash? I looked at some benchmarks, and couldn't see the 256 meg version being any better than the 128.

4) I was going to get a Seagate Barracuda HDD (same price), but there's only a 1-year warranty on that and a 3-year warranty on the Samsung. Is this the right decision?

5) A guy told me that you should buy RAM in "pairs", so 2x256 megs is better than 1x512. I think he's full of it, but maybe he's right? Also, should I maybe go for PC3700 RAM (466 Mhz, an extra $45), or PC4000 (500 Mhz, an extra $69)?

6) I need a case and a cooler, but I'm utterly lost. Why are some cases so expensive? I'm not interested in having the computer look good. Does it matter what sort of case I buy? As for the cooler: I'd like it to be as quiet as possible, and I'm willing to pay extra for that. What do you suggest?

7) What about a PSU? I'm thinking 400W, does that sound OK?

Thank you very much for your help

Laszlo

[EDIT]

Also, I'd like to emphasize that it's fairly important for me that this rig be QUIET. I have irritable roommates I'm willing to spend a bit of money on this. Any ideas? I'm no good with DIY.

 

[the_village_treky]

2.id stay with the 3000+
3. id go with venela 9800 pro
4. id go for the cuda, but thats just me
5. he is full of shit, enless your talking about dule channel, which does not work on athelon 64 systems(AND GET A GIG OF RAM!)
7. id go for an antec true 380 or 430

 

[Captain Rehab]

I would go with the a64 3200, it will outperform the xp3000 at games by a wide margin.

Go with 1 gig of ram if you can afford it, pc3200 is sufficient.

the extra RAM in the 9800 pro 256 is nice but not $98 nice. If you go with the gig of RAM it won't be an issue at all.

XP chips are hot and will require better cooling than a64 chips. In this situation, I wouldn't worry too much about the case as long as it has *some* cooling, stock HSF is fine. Do get a quality PSU. Quality is more important than the wattage rating. Read the forums for a while and you will see countless bad psu threads.

If you do get the XP and you want to OC then cooling becomes much more important.

Good luck!!

 

[BillLeeLee]

First off, your processor is not compatible with the motherboard. The KV8 Max-3 is an Athlon 64 motherboard, socket 754. You'll have to pick an Athlon 64 or switch the motherboard to an Athlon XP Socket A motherboard.

If you're going to be upgrading the video card often, I'd stick with regular 9800 Pro.

4.) I like Western Digital hard drives myself, and some of them come with 3 year warranties. Seagates are nice (I have one and a WD in my comp), but WDs have always been very good performers.

5.) For an Athlon 64 socket 754, you don't have to buy RAM in pairs. This is only to run in dual channel, but Athlon 64s right now don't use dual channel architecture anyways. One stick of 512 would be better, then you can slap a 2nd one in there later for a gig.

6.) Some cases are expensive because they're aluminum and well crafted, like Lian-Li and Cooler Master cases. If you want nice case with PSU, I'd say Antec SLK3700, or a Sonata. The Sonata comes with a True380, the SLK3700 a 350 watt PSU.

Also, a Zalman HSF might be good, but I'm not too familiar with Athlon 64 compatible coolers.

7.) 400 is more than enough, but get good stuff, like Antec Trues.

 

[Punkrulz]

Eh, there's been some quieting solutions such as the HSF you choose [usually a Zalmon, but my friend had a problem with that], and there was a review on TSS [Screen Savers if you didn't know] on how to successfully sound proof your computer... may want to research that.

What games are you going to be playing, because with an ATI Radeon 9800 Pro I've had horrible luck with Day of Defeat...

 

[specter554]

1) Choice of mobo depends on your goals for your pc (are you oc'ing? do you need firewire?) Abit KV8 is a fine choice if you dont want to OC that much.

2) For a gaming rig I would strongly recommend A64 3000, it is well worth the extra $.

3) 9800 Pro 128 if you need it right now. If you can wait 10 days ATI is releasing their next gen cards and prices should fall sometime around then.

4) Seagate Barracuda HDD

5) No. Are you going to OC? If not get 2x512 of PC3200.

6) Antec Sonata is a great deal because it comes with a TP380W psu. Best deal out there IMO

7) See above

 

[the_village_treky]

Originally posted by specter554
1) Choice of mobo depends on your goals for your pc (are you oc'ing? do you need firewire?) Abit K8V is a fine choice if you dont want to OC that much.

you meen asus right? enywhay, the a64'rs arnt good ocers, but the k8v is one of the best

 

[specter554]

Originally posted by the_village_treky
you meen asus right? enywhay, the a64'rs arnt good ocers, but the k8v is one of the best

No, abit kv8 max (accidently switched v and 8). Shuttle AN50R is a fine board for OCing. I have seen 3000 @ 2500 on it.