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New Computer Building Please Critique

Z

Zack Young

n00b
Joined
Nov 11, 2004
Messages
1
Heres my plans to build a computer. I'll be buying the first components soon. Tell me what you think. I'd like to have your input and suggestions/comments.

Case: Coolermaster Praetorian

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProdu...-035&depa=0

Also I am thinking about a silverstone case instead.

PSU: Antec NeoPower 480w

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProdu...-924&depa=0

CPU: AMD 64 Winchester 3000+ or 3200+ or 3500+ If I get the 3000+ I'm going to overclock it. I've never done that before so maybe some suggestions there.

Mobo: I'm waiting for the SLI 939 boards.

RAM: OCZ

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewprodu...TC-pr1c3grabb3r

or

Corsair

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProdu...-523&depa=0

GPU: I'm waiting till I find the motherboard I want to buy a PCI Express videocard, hopefully the 6800 series will have come down in price by then. Can someone suggest a particular model ?

HDD1: WD 74GB Raptor

HDD2: Seagate 200GB

DVDRW: NEC drive thats coming out soon. Forgot model. Succesor to 3500a.

Monitor: This NEC

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProdu...-091&depa=0

or this one

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProdu...-040&depa=0


As you can see speakers and a soundcard arent't in this system because I am limited to a $1500-$2000 budget. I wouldnt buy a soundcard anyways, not till the Audigy 4 comes out.

Which parts should I buy OEM ? Will there be a sort of warranty ? If I overclock, I'm guessing I'll need a heatsink and fan, can someone suggest a good combination that will fit on most motherboards ? I'm gonna get some Panaflo case fans.

So I would very much appreciate some comments and suggestions you have for improvement. Go ahead, critique away !

BTW The closer to $1500 I am the better, but it's looking very hard to make a quality gaming computer for that price.
 
You don't really need to go with the NeoPower, unless you want to be able to take away cords to make your case more tidy. But i would just go with a TruePower power supply instead of a NeoPower. Then you could afford to get a sound card or something.
Everything else looks awesome.

...Dan
 
I was just thinking the same thing about going with Antec True 480. And you might as well throw the budget away right now. I've tried the budget thing, and I've already stopped adding up the numbers because I know I won't like what I see. Maybe I will when the dust settles.
 
does no one remember the horrid trouble Kyle Bennet had with antec over a preproduction P4 and antec psu frying it and everything associated with it, antec wouldnt replace anything even the psu? I'll *NEVER* buy antec... I would check the PSU section to look for an alternate brand, but I personally would go for an enlight 350 watt or 420 watt, they are surprisingly good supplies and are VERY inexpensive.

it's also in my opinion a tad too early to adopt PCI-E, every few years if you want to keep up on tech you will have to recycle all your parts and purchase all new anyway so why bother getting that now? just gnab whats easily available now. especially if you are a gamer, check the vidcards that were available 2-3 years ago and see if you would be happy with what they have to offer today, same with the mobos and CPUs. if it were me I would just plan to get what you want now, and get what you want to last 3 years or so, not try to make it 'future proof'. just face it, computers are replaceable tech. Go with what works for you now.

Try checking out the Kingston hyperx low latency ram, its very good stuff. also if you want to save cash, I am going with some of that new PDP systems / patriot memory. its getting rave reviews and has awesome timings, and also has a lifetime warranty. I also heard it is made by kingston.

audigy 4? why? just gnab a cheap sound card now. an audigy 2 value or something, or even gnabbing a mobo with cheap onboard sound will do for now...you may be surprised at how well the sound output will be.

athlon 64... get a 939 board. go find a board with 'locked' pci/agp busses.

i've not done much research into a64 as I love socket A still, I just can't get enough of them. Call it an affinity for them I guess. All I know is that if you get the right parts you can squeeze some serious performance out of a high end socket A platform and you dont have to spend much cash... a la chaintech 7JNL6 and barton 2500+, with a good HSF and OC to 3200+ speeds and dual channel... think of it this way, the cash I dont spend now I can save toward getting an upgrade sooner when the 939 A64 parts come down in price.

check out a refurb (or new) sapphire 9800xt (or pro and bios flash it) 256MB or 128MB AGP...
 
well, i see u dont want to go the cheap route and no matter what people say dont get pushed around and settle for something less. the main things u are gonna have to pay a little extra for is the pci-e video card, sli motherboard, and the raptor(by a lot). if u can live with that, ur golden.

have a good idea on what sli board u want. if u want to build buy christmass, i think the asus, gigabyte, and msi board will be out and i herd that u should buy them right when they comeout because the price will raise later but i dont know. anandtech.com has a preview for the asus and gigabyte boards but i am not sure about the msi one.

as for the heatsink, get a xp120($60) if it fits on the board (i herd it fits on the asus) and if it doesnt fit u can get an xp90($45)

i hope this cleared up ur mind about sli boards a bit
 
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