Last minute AMD advice

H

hijynx54

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jul 11, 2005
Messages
256
Well after a lot of reading and research about to purchase my rig and put it all together (got a friend to come over who knows what hes doing to help me since its my first time).



Here is what I got:



Lian Li PC-65B Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail 125.00 (might get 65B plus if I can find it)



Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 ST3300831AS-RK 300GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - Retail 170.00



ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail 166.00



Antec TruePower 2.0 TP2-550 EPS12V ATX12V 550W Power Supply - Retail 110.00



CORSAIR XMS 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model TWINX2048-3200PRO - Retail 255.00



BFG Tech BFGR78256GTXOC Geforce 7800GTX 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail 475.00 (plan on getting another once budget allows it)



AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Processor Model ADA3700BNBOX - Retail 313.00



And going to throw on:



THERMALRIGHT XP-90 Heatsink - Retail 36.99



And 4 panaflo 80mm fans for my case that cost like 30 bucks.



RPM 2450
Air Flow 32.1
Noise Level 28.0




Grand total: $1674.99



Anyways, anyone got any last minutes suggestions before I purchase this rig? Any feedback would be appreciated, thanks.
 
The Seagate (Great brand btw, its all I purchase since they went to a 5 year waranty) 250GB SATA is $115 from Monarch

Much better price per GB. Its OEM, but that means you just get the bare drive. You dont need the crap that comes with retail, your motherboard will include SATA data cables.
 
Ah did not know that, thought if you did not get retail you would be missing some stuff? Guess not.

And what about rest of rig?
 
Everything else looks good. Make sure you get a 92MM panaflo for the XP-90 (it doesnt include a fan).

I would also suggest looking at a X2 4200+ or 4400+, if you can stomach the price. Single app performance will the the same, or a bit less. Multitasking(i.e. Encoding a DVD while gaming) will be great.
 
Oh it does not? Will be sure to grab that 92mm then. Now can't stomach 700-1 grand heh. I already broke my barrier of 1500! :)

BTW When I put my first GTX in my board for first few months, and then want to put second one in do I need to change any settings or do I just unplug/plug and go?
 
Btw, if you want to overclock, go with the DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 SLI-DR. About the same price, but DFI is the overclocking king.

Upgrading from the 3700+ to the 4200+ adds $190. Worth it, IMO.

Buy the motherboard, ram, and CPU from monarch. They have a combo where you get:
Far Cry Promotion: 270332 - FREE Full DVD Version of Far Cry 64/32 -
Napster Promotion: 270136 - FREE Napster Music Download for 4 Months
Half Life 2 Promotion: 27F854 - FREE Half Life 2 Full Version Coupon



As for SLI, with the A8N you have to flip around that little card that looks like laptop memory. I'm not sure what the process is on the DFI, but it shouldnt be much more difficult.
 
am not overclocking :) So figured Asus would be a better bet. And I am getting my SD at a pretty good price so doubt ill go for a 4200. This rig has enough power to do everything I need 10x heh.

As for the switch on the Asus board, looking at a pic of it, where is it? And you just switch to one for SLI one for regular? and it marked?

http://images10.newegg.com/productimage/13-131-517-02.JPG

Is the pic.

Hate to ask =p but since I am a first time builder, mind MS painting an arrow for me? Yes I know I am a n00b blah blah blah :)
 
hijynx54 said:
Hate to ask =p but since I am a first time builder, mind MS painting an arrow for me? Yes I know I am a n00b blah blah blah :)
Click to expand...

Don't need to. You see above the northbridge fan, that ram looking thing below the two PCIe x1 slots, and between the two PCIe x16 slots? That's the "switch," you take it out, rotate it, reinsert it, bam, you're dunning dual x8 slots.
 
No optical drive? Soundcard? Speakers?

Also, I recommend an Athlon 64 X2 if it fits your budget, or try and stretch for one.

Nice thinking on the power supply. The extra power will come in handy later, should you add another 7800GTX in the future.
 
Since you were on a $1500 budget, I will NOT reccomend an X2. You also don't want to overclock, so DFI and a 3000+ or 3200+ are bad too. Good choice on the 3700+. Your friend seems to know what he's doing.

"Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 ST3300831AS-RK 300GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - Retail 170.00"

Get a Maxtor 300gb 7200 rpm 16 mb cache SATA drive. It will be better than the Seagate. That or a 250gb 7200.16 :D.

Good thinking with the XP-90, remember the 92mm Panaflo.

Here's a good optical drive:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827152047

Here's some good cheap speakers:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16836121118

If you need it, here's (IMHO) a REALLY good mouse:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16826104178
 
Russ said:
Get a Maxtor 300gb 7200 rpm 16 mb cache SATA drive. It will be better than the Seagate. That or a 250gb 7200.16
Click to expand...

This is where we disagree. Seagate is the only hard drive manufacturer I go with now. I'm ordering a pair of 250GB SATA Seagates tonight. Seagate actually backs their products with a 5 year warranty. That, to me, says quality.
 
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