New gaming rig-advice?

[kcarlile]

I know you guys have seen this one before, but...

Thanks to a deal last week, I now have an AGP GeForce 6800 Ultra OC. I had been planning to build a PCIe rig, but ferget that! At this point, I'm not interested in overclocking, but I'd like to get the most power (and quality/reliability) I can for ~$15-1600.

Anyway, this is what I'm looking at.
1. Athlon 64 3200 or 3500 (Winchester) --I can't afford more, and is it really worth going to the 3500?
2. MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum
3. Antec NeoPower 480 --I really like the modular design, but I'm a little concerned about the power rating with the Ultra.
4. Corsair 3200XLPT 1 GB kit (2-2-2 PC3200) --This is where I'm really unsure. I'm having a hard time finding the OCZ Platinum R2 3200, and this seems to be a good price ($247 at zipzoomfly)
5. WD Raptor 74 GB --Is this worth the extra dough? All I'm planning on doing with this rig is gaming, plus a little web/email. Oh yeah, I really dislike the idea of RAID0.
6. NEC Dual layer blah blah blah
7. Zalman CNPS7000B-CU --cool+quiet is a good thing.
8. Silverstone Temjin 5 (SST-TJ05-ST) --I know this is really pricy, but it's a really nice case, and I should be able to hang onto it for quite some time. I can't bring myself to get the Lian-Li V1000, but maybe y'all can talk me into it.

I've already got the MX700 + 20" monitor, keyboard for this, so I think this covers it. What do you guys think?

Thanks!
Ken

 

[InorganicMatter]

If you have $1600 to spend on the box alone, you can get a KILLER machine, especially since you don't need the video card! I'll let the others talk you into the Lian-Li, as they have already sold me without me even seeing one in person.

PC Power and Cooling Turbo-Cool 510 Deluxe - $197

Lian-Li Silver ATX Mid Tower Case PC-V1000 - $185

AMD Athlon 64 3500+ OEM - $270

Thermalright XP-90 - $59

Corsair XMS 1GB(512MBx2) - $189

MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum - $143

WD Raptor 74GB - $154

Pioneer DVD+RW/-RW Drive DVR109 - $86

Arctic Cooling NV silencer 5 - $29

Arctic Silver 5 - $8

Total - $1320

 

[kcarlile]

Heh... I misspoke on the $1600. After buying the 6800 Ultra, it's down to around $1200.

On to the bits...

The PSU you mentioned sounds incredible. I just need to decide whether it's worth that extra $60 over the Antec. Hmm... $60 isn't all THAT much...

We'll see on the case.

Any particular reason on the Thermalright as opposed to the Zalman? I am somewhat interested in having a relatively quiet machine (I know, with a 6800 Ultra and a gaming machine, that's kind of silly) and I'm not sure what fan would be right with it for that purpose.

Same question with the NV Silencer.

Ken

 

[InorganicMatter]

The PSU you mentioned sounds incredible. I just need to decide whether it's worth that extra $60 over the Antec. Hmm... $60 isn't all THAT much...

Yes, it is. I have dealt with all kinds of PSU's including the PCP&C 510, and I can safely say that the 510 is incredible.

Any particular reason on the Thermalright as opposed to the Zalman? I am somewhat interested in having a relatively quiet machine (I know, with a 6800 Ultra and a gaming machine, that's kind of silly) and I'm not sure what fan would be right with it for that purpose.

I just threw those in because you said you weren't interested in overclocking at this time. If you don't plan to overclock period, or if you think you will have more money for the heatsinks when you do start to overclock, then by all means the Zalman and stock VGA cooling should be fine.

 

[Santasballz]

1. Athlon 64 3200 or 3500 (Winchester) --I can't afford more, and is it really worth going to the 3500?

5. WD Raptor 74 GB --Is this worth the extra dough? All I'm planning on doing with this rig is gaming, plus a little web/email. Oh yeah, I really dislike the idea of RAID0.
.

Ken

could someone answer those two question? i am interested to know myself...^^

 

[soundmax]

could someone answer those two question? i am interested to know myself...^^

3200+ can overclock almost same as much as 3500+, both will take you to about 2.5GHZ on air.

As for Raptor, im using one, and its seek times are better than lets say Seagate SATA 7200. Not by much tough. It all comes to 5%-10% speed increase vs 50%-100% size gain.

 

[kcarlile]

Most likely, it'll be awhile before I'm overclocking, and new heatsinks, etc. won't be out of the question then. Besides, my current machine is noisy as hell, and it's really annoying. I don't want a repeat of that experience.

I think I'll stick with the Silverstone case and spend the extra $ on the PSU. It also sounds like it makes sense to do the 3200+ (and that way I avoid any possible unpleasantness of NOT getting the Winchester core). I'm still debating on the Raptor, though. In terms of total system speed, 5-10% is a lot, but not in terms of a single component speed. Hmm....

 

[darktiger]

XP120 HS with a Panaflo M1A with a 7volt mod > Zalman 7000 (I have both I know)...

 

[kcarlile]

Better cooling, less noise? I like it.

I suppose I should know better than to do the Zalman thing again. I have one in my current rig (please don't laugh), and the Athlon 1400's still noisy and hot. OK. I'll look at the Thermalrights some more.

 

[gamekid]

xp-120 doesnt fit on the msi neo2 platinum

74 gb isn't that much memory.....u could get a 250gb or 300gb maxtor with 16mb that will be very good also. they are 7,200rpm drives but the 16mb's help the speed a lot

dont get the nv5...it will void ur warrenty

for that rig....the pcp&c seems to be a bit overkill.......an ocz powerstream 520 will do the job nicely too

get ram with 2-2-2-5 timings

if u shop around, you could get some of the things cheaper

thats all i got to say, good luck