New Build Driving Me Crazy

A

AthenaX

n00b
Joined
Sep 2, 2005
Messages
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I have'nt built since socket A.. so reading reviews for A64 platform is a never ending task. I have made some decisions never the less.. advice one way or the other would help me decide.. theres a $2000.00-2100.00 limit.. heres the parts list
Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe or Premium??
AMD64 3700 SanDiego
XFX 7800GT
Thermalright XP-90c
Panaflo 92mm
Hyundai L90D+
Thermaltake Tsunami mid twr case
2 seagate barracuda 160gig sata drives
PSU ???????????? 500w or more? OCZ or Antec
2x1gig sticks mem?? OCZ?? Crucial value?? Corsair xms???

There will be some overclocking to see what that 3700 can do.. and future upgrade to another vid card for SLI.. Thats the problem i'm having choosing a PSU and MEM. Whats enough power for SLI and what 2x1gig sticks will be up for 240-250mhz? Do i want a PSU with 1 12v rail at 33a or dual 12v rails?? Any suggestions greatly appreciated.. I guess i'm looking for reassurance on this build from the Hardware Gawds.
 
2000 to 2100 should buy you top of the line all around. Look at my sig, you should be able to get all that stuff at around 1600+ and then you can splurge on a nice monitor. 3700+ San Diago is awesome. Thermaltake XP-90c is awesome. Go with the premium on the motherboard since the premium has the heatpipe on the chipset instead of the fan that has been known to have problems. If you are spending that much money, you should get the 7800GTX. Two 160Gb hard drives will be more than enough, only thing i would think about is just getting one big drive. I have the Corsair XMS and I am having problems hitting that kid of FSB. Im not a great overclocker tho. So maybe someone else can tell you if that memory is good for those speeds, but i would say go with better memory if that is your goal. I have an enermax 535W PSU with two 12v rails, i dont know if it is better but i cant imagine it is worse.I would say if SLI is something you are aiming at get atleast a 500W PSU. Sorry for just shooting ideas out at you here. Hope it helps.
 
get a Maxtor DiamondMax 16mb (7200rpm) cache drive. It'll be faster than those 160gb seagates. On Zipzoomfly.com you should be able to get a 250gb one for $114 or so.

Don't get a San Diego, the extra cache doesn't give you much of a gain at all. I'd get a 3000+ Venice (E6 revision, model number ends in BW) for $120 at ewiz.com. It will overclock like crazy and it's cheap as hell.

Get a normal XP-90 over the XP-90c. The c is more expensive AND much heavier while only giving a slight decrease in temps (which you really don't have to worry about in a Venice system). Good fan choice.

Get a 7800GTX. On Zipzoomfly.com you can get one for like $470 (MSI). I recommend the XFX one for $480 though b/c it comes with this cool usb game controller AND a lifetime warranty. I got that one personally.

Get 2x1GB of Crucial Value ram. It will overclock like crazy. Should do about 250mhz @ 3-3-3 timings w/ only like 2.8v.

Go to case-mod.com for PSU (That's what I did). Get a Seasonic S12. They are quiet, efficient, very tolerant on the rails, and at a good price point on case-mod. The S12-500 is $105 and the S12-600 is $125 or so. If they are much more expensive than that now (That's what they were when I bought my system a little while ago), look at ewiz.com for a cheap S12-600 (at about the same price I think, like $130). If you are EVER planning to go SLI, get the 600. If not, the 500 will be fine.

And you should probably get a DFI for mobo. ASUS isn't the best at OCing. I'd go with a DFI. People say the bios is confusing, but I'd never OCed before this DFI and it wasn't very confusing at all. Get the (DFI) LanParty SLI-DR at newegg.com for about $160-170.

Be sure to put as much money as you can into the monitor! A Dell 2005 FPW (20.1" widescreen, real nice native resolution) is like $400-500. Dell 2405 FPW (24" widescreen!!! 1900x1200 native res) is like $750-900, depending on your coupon. The 2405 will show off your GTX VERY well. O yea, the 2005 doesnt have the BEST black levels b/c of the contrast ratio, so if you are sensitive to those things you might not want to get it.
 
I agree with everyone that you should bump the HD size up to a 320Gb drive.
Go with the A7V PREMIUM M/B .. less problems.

Stay with the 7800GT card, it's a good bang for the buck.
(And you may be able to unlock it later to GTX speeds)
 
Get the Premium, I have owned both and the ASUS Premium it is a little more refined.

I recomend a PC Power and Cooling Turbo cool 510 SLI for your power supply. I will never run any other supply other than a PCP and C again
 
I certainly appreciate all suggestions.. Have it narrowed down to PSU from seasonic S12-600w.. rob442 suggestion on drive i like.. going single 300 from maxtor.. OCZ ram.. changed my mind on Overclocking.. Would like more stable.. so 2x1gig sticks from them should work.. Asus premium is the board.. XFX 7800GT vid.. 3700 sandiego..unless someone can explain why 1mb of L2 cache is unnecessary at the moment..
 
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