Looking to buy a POWERFUL system

R

robman_rob

Limp Gawd
Joined
Mar 7, 2006
Messages
273
What I want it to do:
1. Play the latest games.
2. Be highly stable.
3. Able to heavily multi-task.
4. Run exponential time algorithms for problem solving (work related).
5. Basically a do it all machine.

Problem:
I want to build it myself. But I have never buit a computer before. So I came here to ask for help and advice.

Price range:
Around 1750 US, 2000 Canadian, without tax.

Stuff I want:
1. dual core AMD processor
2. BFG nVidia 7800 GT 256mb video card
3. 2 gb ram
4. fast hard drive
5. Nice monitor 19 inch +

Some questions to get the discussion started:

CPU:
1. AMD Athlon X2 or Opteron X2, which one is better suited for my needs.
2. What is the difference between them.
Video card:
Basically I am going to get a BFG nVidia 7800 GT 256mb video card unless someone convinces me otherwise.
Hard Drive:
What is faster, SATA-150 10k RPM Hard drives or Sata2-300 7200 RPM hard drives?
Sound card:
Is onboard sound good enough? If I get onboard sound, can I still upgrade to a real sound card later?
Case:
How do you pick a good case?

Here is some components I have looked up. Feel free to critize my choices, but if you do please offer explainations and other possible choices to replace it. Keep in mind what I am looking for in this system given my constraints.

COMPONENTS:
The following items will have this format:
Item
Cost (all prices in canadian dollars)
Place that sells it. (guessimation means I haven't found specifics yet and roughly estimated the cost of that component)
Comments if any.

Case
$150
guesstimation

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ 2.2GHz Dual Core Socket 939 1MB L2 Cache
$534.99
pccanada

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ 2.2GHz Dual Core Socket 939 512K L2 Cache
$425
canada computers
-I haven't decided which one yet, how does cache size affect CPU performance?

160GB Western Digital® Cavier™ SE SATAII-300 7200RPM 8Mb OEM
$94.99
pccanada

Corsair™ 2Gb XMS3200 TwinX Matched Pair Series (TWINX2048-3200)
$259.99
pc canada

Asus® A8N-SLi Deluxe, Socket 939, NVIDIA nForce®4 SLi™ Chipset w/ PCI Express x16 (ATX)
$189.99
pccanada

Asus A8N-SLI Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI w/ Dual-Ch DDR400, Gb LAN, SATA 3Gb/s, NV RAID, AI 8-Ch Audio, Dual PCI-E x16
$141.99
canada computers
-There are two motherboards because I haven't decided which one yet

Dual Layer DVD±R/RW Drive
$50
guesstimation

OCZ PowerStream SLI 520W ATX 12V Power Supply
$148
canada computers

SoundBlaster® Audigy™ 4 SE
$54.99
pc canada
-do I really need this?

BFG GeForce 7800 GT OC 256MB GDDR3 Dual DVI-I, HDTV,VIVO SLI Ready PCI-Express x16 Graphics Card
$399
canada computers

monitor 19 inch
$400
guesstimation

keyboard + mouse
$50
guesstimation

operating system?

So to sum up, will this system be stable and compatible, able to play the latest games, and heavily multi-task?

If you know of better components for around the same price, please explain why that piece is better replace and show it to me!! Also for the pieces without speific components you can suggest one.

In addition, I can go a little over budget (like 200 or so) but only if it is a MUST.

THANKS !
 
If anyone knows of new technologies that would be released within the next few months, please tell me as well since that would affect my buying decisions.
 
am2, new amd platform...
7900 series
intel new platform
directx 10 cards
 
Do you know when the new amd platform will come out?

also does anyone know when the new windows will come out? I heard it supports dual core systems better.
 
In my opinion the onboard sound on the higher end asus boards is solid. I mean, unless you do some serious sound editing / recording work, I think anything more than the onboard is unnecessary for gaming / winamp. Like I mean the onboard already has the power to put out 8.1 ;), and I’m pretty sure that the bottle neck in sound quality you will find is from your mp3’s compression, and not the onboard card anyway.

gl with your new system!
 
2jl17 said:
In my opinion the onboard sound on the higher end asus boards is solid. I mean, unless you do some serious sound editing / recording work, I think anything more than the onboard is unnecessary for gaming / winamp. Like I mean the onboard already has the power to put out 8.1 ;), and I’m pretty sure that the bottle neck in sound quality you will find is from your mp3’s compression, and not the onboard card anyway.

gl with your new system!
Click to expand...

QFT. Actually, I do some high-end sound recording / editing and I haven't noticed any difference between onboard Asus sound and an Audigy. Get rid of the sound card. You COULD always get another sound card later, but you won't want to.

A higher CPU cache does effect game performance (a little), but not nearly enough to warrant $130 extra, in my opinion.
 
go with the AthlonX2 4200 - like the previous poster said, its not work $100+ for a bit of extra cache.

get some VALUE series memory as i dont think you will be overclocking and u can save some money there.

ditch the sound card, OB sound is fine. try stepping up to the GTX instead of the GT on the 7800 using th emoney you save on ram, and cpu.

look through brand names like Antec, Silverstone, Coolermaster, Lian Li, etc for a case
 
Jay1227
I will not be overclocking myself so you recommended getting value memory. Is that a good idea? I am not sure. Do you mean like Corsair Value? or Kingston Value?
 
robman_rob said:
Video card: Basically I am going to get a BFG nVidia 7800 GT 256mb video card unless someone convinces me otherwise.
Click to expand...
I felt the same way about the 7800GT. That was the only rock-solid choice I had in my future system setup... until I saw this [H]ardOCP review.

The review didn't include the 7800GT, but it did use a 512MB 7800 GTX and a 256MB 7800 GT OC, and compares those cards to the ATI X1900XT & X1900XTX.

That review changed my mind... and I redid my system around an X1900XT.

If you're not going SLI and if you want to play your games at higher resolutions, you might want to consider one of the ATI cards.

Good luck!
 
Davermonk said:
I felt the same way about the 7800GT. That was the only rock-solid choice I had in my future system setup... until I saw this [H]ardOCP review.

The review didn't include the 7800GT, but it did use a 512MB 7800 GTX and a 256MB 7800 GT OC, and compares those cards to the ATI X1900XT & X1900XTX.

That review changed my mind... and I redid my system around an X1900XT.

If you're not going SLI and if you want to play your games at higher resolutions, you might want to consider one of the ATI cards.

Good luck!
Click to expand...

He's going to be gaming on a 19" LCD, which usually is a maximum resolution of 1280x1024. The 7800GT should be able to handle any game for the next year at that resolution.
 
Bona Fide said:
He's going to be gaming on a 19" LCD, which usually is a maximum resolution of 1280x1024. The 7800GT should be able to handle any game for the next year at that resolution.
Click to expand...

Ahh, sorry... I didn't notice that. Great point, and it'll save around $150. :)
 
I have never heard of these ATI cards, I was just under the impression that 7800 was the fastest available at the moment... I dont have time right now to read up on it, thanks though for suggesting it!
 
robman_rob said:
I have never heard of these ATI cards, I was just under the impression that 7800 was the fastest available at the moment... I dont have time right now to read up on it, thanks though for suggesting it!
Click to expand...

If you have the money, the X1900XT or X1900XTX would be a good choice. Or, if you're willing to wait a few days, nVidia will be launching its 7900 series later this week.
 
Oh I will be getting this in 4-6 weeks. So I can wait. I am just researching information now and get to know the components more and understand how to build a system in general.
 
If I were you, Id get a 20" Dell Widescreen Moniter. Much nicer than a 19".

As for the computer hardware, Id get something like this:
Case: Cheap Lian Li with 2 x 120mm fans, or a Cooler Master Stacker
Power Supply: Enermax Liberty 400Watt
Motherboard: Nforce 4 939 Board, DFI or Asus.
Memory: 2 GIG
Video Card: X1900XT, very nice card, almost as good as sli'd 7800GTs, but Id wait to see what the 7900's series has to offer.
Hard Drive: Western Digital Sata 2 16MB cache. Any size you want.
Sound Card: Use onboard, if you dont like it, upgrade to a better sound card.
OS: Id run Windows x64 if all your stuff has drivers for it. There is a trial. XP Home or Pro would work to.
Optical Drive: DVD Burner.....

Unsure what all that is in canada money....

There is MANY guides on how to build a computer, just googe it. Its really easy, cept for a few things.
 
L1ght said:
If I were you, Id get a 20" Dell Widescreen Moniter. Much nicer than a 19".

As for the computer hardware, Id get something like this:
Case: Cheap Lian Li with 2 x 120mm fans, or a Cooler Master Stacker
Power Supply: Enermax Liberty 400Watt
Motherboard: Nforce 4 939 Board, DFI or Asus.
Memory: 2 GIG
Video Card: X1900XT, very nice card, almost as good as sli'd 7800GTs, but Id wait to see what the 7900's series has to offer.
Hard Drive: Western Digital Sata 2 16MB cache. Any size you want.
Sound Card: Use onboard, if you dont like it, upgrade to a better sound card.
OS: Id run Windows x64 if all your stuff has drivers for it. There is a trial. XP Home or Pro would work to.
Optical Drive: DVD Burner.....

Unsure what all that is in canada money....

There is MANY guides on how to build a computer, just googe it. Its really easy, cept for a few things.
Click to expand...

That's gonna run over $1800 USD, so it'll definitely be over his limit.
 
L1ght

Listed in RAM you just said 2gb, doesn't matter what brand?

Trying to finish an assignment due tomorrow so I can't search up the prices on all those items right now but it might fix my budget...

Thanks for the suggestions!

ps. any thoughts on CPU? what I got is good enough?
 
robman_rob said:
L1ght

Listed in RAM you just said 2gb, doesn't matter what brand?

Trying to finish an assignment due tomorrow so I can't search up the prices on all those items right now but it might fix my budget...

Thanks for the suggestions!

ps. any thoughts on CPU? what I got is good enough?
Click to expand...
Id get corsiar or G.skill ram, doesnt matter to much, just make sure to get DDR400.

Cpu is fine. Even a 3800+ X2 should be good. You should also look into the Operton 165 dual core processor, crazy overclocker, but it sounds like you wont be doing much of that.
 
opteron= aimed towards servers, usually better memory controller, always 2x1mb cache
 
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