New Comp Build

B

Bokster

n00b
Joined
Feb 10, 2006
Messages
1
Check out my new build. I'm going to overclock to 2.4 ghz for starters, then work on 2.5 ghz later on. The rig is mostly for gaming, but also quite a fair amount of video/audio encoding, and I do heavy multitasking as well, hence the X2.


Budget: $2000 CAD


Processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ (max planned OC: 2.5 ghz)

Thermal Compound: Arctic Silver 5

Motherboard: DFI Lanparty NF4 UT-Ultra-D

Memory: Mushkin XP4000 Black Series 2GB Dual Channel

Video Card: eVGA GeForce 7800gt CO

Case: Antec P180

Power Supply: Enermax 535W FMA ATX 12V v2.0

Hard Drive: Seagate 300GB Barracuda 7200.9 SATA II w/ NCQ, 16MB Cache

Optical Drive: LG Super Multi 16x16 DVD +/-RW Dual-Layer

Monitor: Samsung Syncmaster 997MB 19in Flat-CRT

Speakers: Altec Lansing VS3121 2.1 Speaker Set

Extra:
About $200 dollars for keyboard/mouse and OS


I have a few questions regarding the build:

1) With the money left, I can't decide whether to go for the Thermalright
XP-90 or XP-120? Opinions? Would an ArcticCooling Freezer 64 Pro work just as good? It costs $40 CAD compared to $40 (xp-90) + $15 (Fan).

2) What do you guys think of the performance of the rig to the amount of money spent? Am I spending too much? Too little? $2000 CAD approx. $1750 USD

3) Lastly, should I go for pc3200 memory? It's much cheaper and I heard it could run at pc4000 speeds, especially brands like OCZ or Mushkin. So are pc4000's really worth the extra $40?


Thanks guys!
 
Since you are overclocking I would consider getting an Opteron 165 or something. They should overclock better then the X2's and it has twice the amount of cache.
 
Unless I misunderstand your mobo choice. Get the version DFI LANParty NF4 SLI-DR. It has more of what you need.
I don't think you're spending to much, just do better research for bang for your buck! Prices have droped since 1/20/06 on everything.
Most reveiws on your cpu suggest that's a minimum for the card you chose. Suggest the X2 4400+, but for $163 more get X2 4800+.
(my build is simmilar to yours) but I want it to last for 5 years this time,2 kids in private school & college... The Opteron's are more for processing and less for gaming. Hence no 3D now! Yes go 3200 ddr. Yes go lower cas with tighter timings. Games prefer that.OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel is very good but, G.SKILL Extreme Series 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Kit System Memory is cheaper.
I like your video card choice. I'm torn on that. I don't want to wait 6mths to see what the industry does with the new 7800's... I'm leaning to 2 evga 6800GS's.
Most people aren't going for 2G's on memory. But the review's I read showed some improvement for gaming and if heavy processing (digital editing...) then more will do a better job. But not more than 2 G's...
 
I'm not really a huge fan of CRTs anymore. Sure they are great for gaming and all but they are just way too big and heavy now.

Use some of your extra money and get a good lcd. Viewsonic and Samsung make great ones at 19"
 
Really hard to recommend the 19" CRT.

I'm so sick of hauling around all 3 of my 19" CRTs.

I'd look into a LCD
 
memoryexpress. never heard of those guys...

you should consider look at the price on NCIX.com or DANGEO.com,

and for the PSU: quote from dfi-street

Enermax 535W (New) FMA 535W (nVidia SLI Certified)
Only the current model has the 8-pin (+12V) EPS connector REQUIRED for the df4 sli Expert!

It should be good.
 
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