New System Build For Friend

[njc]

Prologue: the system is for a friend who wants to game, but not have too much money in graphics... he is a music lover, and likes the dmx 6fire breakout box i have on my machine, so hence the soundcard... wants it to last a long time without upgrades.

Haven't done anything with these components before (besides antec cases and corsair memory) Anything you see that should be changed, or is straight up wrong/incompatible? I could use some help to make sure i didn't botch this up...

Also, if i were to need to drop the price by 200 or so dollars, what would you cut? I'd say downgrade the processor/motherboard to a non 64-bit platform...

thanks for your help in advance... here are the specs

ANTEC Black Performance Series II Mini Tower Case with 350W Power Supply, Model "SX635BII" -RETAIL

Lite-On 52X32X52 Internal EIDE CD-RW Drive Black, Model SOHR-5238S Black, Retail

Lite-On Black 16X DVD-ROM, Model SOHD-167T, OEM

Samsung Black 1.44MB 3.5inch Floppy Disk Drive, Model SFD321B/LBL1, OEM Drive Only

Western Digital 200GB 7200RPM IDE Hard Drive, Model WD2000JB, OEM Drive Only

Logitech Elite Keyboard USB/ PS/2 104keys -RETAIL

Corsair Value Select (Dual Pack) 184 Pin 512MBx2 DDR PC-3200 - OEM

ASUS "A8V Deluxe" VIA K8T800 Pro Chipset Motherboard For AMD Socket 939 CPU -RETAIL

Microsoft Black IntelliMouse Optical Mouse -OEM

AMD Athlon 64 3400+, 1MB L2 Cache, 64-bit Processor - Retail

Microsoft Windows XP HOME Edition With Service Pack 2 -OEM

Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS Platinum PCI Sound Card, Model "SB0350" -RETAIL

PowerColor ATI RADEON X600 XT Video Card, 128MB DDR, 128-Bit, DVI/TV-Out, PCI Express, Model "R38A-TC3" -RETAIL

Total is 1256 before shipping...

thanks in advance guys

 

[inertiadriftsc]

does your motherboard support PCI express? thats my only question, because if it isnt then youll be up a creek without a pattle with that x600 card

 

[njc]

does your motherboard support PCI express? thats my only question, because if it isnt then youll be up a creek without a pattle with that x600 card

that's a good point... i changed the video card to one i thought was AGP...

what are options?

 

[Wixard]

If you need to drop cash, reduce the 200 gig drive to an 80gig with 8mb cache.

Although logitech makes good keyboards, something slightly better than generic works for most people.

The audigy is a good card, but again, droping it for a turtle beach, or simply using onboard would save even more. Of course if you do debate this, take into account the speakers.

The reason i mention this is because it would probably allow you to squeeze in a 6600gt agp card making it a better system overall.

you could bump down the processor a notch or two.

And make sure he saves some dough and gets a few games with it. No sense in blowing your wad on a nice machine only to realize you have nothing left to buy games with.

 

[GeForceX]

Loves music = no onboard!

-J.

 

[Wixard]

Woops, missed the part where you mentioned he reason for the sound card.

Don't forget good speakers then.

 

[Stellar]

My suggestions:

1. Use a better case, preferably not a mini tower. SLK1650b or 3700BQE for example.
2. Ditch the DVD-ROM and CD-RW for a single DVD-RW. Cost will be the same and you will have added functionality.
3. An nForce3-based motherboard will give you better performance. The MSI K8N Neo2 for example.
4. You need an AGP video card. PCI-Express is not yet supported on socket 939 motherboards. 9800 Pro or XFX 6600GT would be a good alternative.

 

[Bauman]

Surprised no one's mentioned this yet - what you have for CPU/Mobo is incompatible. The 64 3400 with 1MB L2 cache doesn't come in a socket 939, only the socket 754 (might be a 940 but I'm not sure)... either way - you're going to have figure that out.

Also, along with what other's have said - save money by using a smaller drive, and instead of 2 cd/dvd drives, just stick with 1 dvd-r/w drive - the NEC 3500A is a good choice for around $70 over at newegg.

You can save a little more money by only going with 512MB RAM instead of a whole gig - it sounds like there's no need for 1GB with what they plan on using it for... and you could always get another stick later on down the line if necessary (but probably won't be necessary).

Ditch the floppy - it's an added $25-30 once you add cabling. You can do without one these days, especially with cheap cds.

If you're still looking for an AGP video card, look into the 9800pro, or wait for the x600 agp to come out if that's what you want. They're bound to be around the same price range.

Hope this helps.

 

[Stellar]

Wow, you're right, I didn't notice that. You'll need a 3200+ or 3500+ Winchester for socket 939. You could actually save a bit of money and get equivalent performance by going with the Win. 3200+.

He mentioned it was going to be a gaming machine. If he plans on running Doom III, Half Life 2, or any equivalent games that will come out in the future, he will make good use of 1GB of RAM. Personally I make 512 my minimum for an Office system, 1GB my minimum for a gaming system. He should also take advantage of Dual Channel on the socket 939 board.

I would also not suggest ditching the floppy. Considering the drive is $7 and a floppy ribbon cable will be included with the motherboard, it is a cheap investment. Floppies are still usefull in many situations, particularly if he ever upgrades to RAID or a SATA hard drive, or doing BIOS updates for both the motherboard and the video card. You just never know when you are going to need one and they are too cheap to pass up.

 

[Bauman]

I would suggest, if you can find one, getting the 130nm core 3400+ socket 939. They're hard to find, but definitely worth it.

My previous post was just that all of the socket 939 chips are 512KB L2 cache unless you get the 4000 or into the FX line, which I really doubt this person will be doing.

 

[jarlaxlecq]

Its a little more then what your looking at but how bout this




COOLER MASTER Praetorian Black ALUMINUM MID-TOWER CASE, Model "PAC-T01-EK" -RETAIL
$99.00

NEC 16X Double Layer DVD±RW Drive, Black, Model ND-3500A BK, OEM
$68.99

Maxtor 200GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive, Model 6Y200M0, OEM Drive Only
$110.00

MSI "K8N Neo2 Platinum" NVIDIA nForce3 ULTRA Chipset Motherboard For AMD Socket 939 CPU -RETAIL
$136.00

Antec 480W Power Supply,Model "TRUE480" -RETAIL
$87.00

AMD Athlon 64 3200+, 512KB L2 Cache, Socket 939 64-bit Processor - Retail
Item# N82E16819103502
$203.00

Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS Platinum PCI Sound Card, Model "SB0350" -RETAIL
$165.99

Logitech Z-5500 5.1 Digital Speaker System w/Digital Hardware Decoder -RETAIL
$279.00


XFX nVIDIA GeForce 6800 Video Card, 128MB DDR, 256-Bit, TV-Out/Dual DVI, 8X AGP, Model"PVT40KND" -RETAIL
$257.00

Total (Before tax): $1,405.98

Its powerful, Plenty of space for music, it'll look as good as it runs and sound great.

 

[njc]

Its a little more then what your looking at but how bout this




COOLER MASTER Praetorian Black ALUMINUM MID-TOWER CASE, Model "PAC-T01-EK" -RETAIL
$99.00

NEC 16X Double Layer DVD±RW Drive, Black, Model ND-3500A BK, OEM
$68.99

Maxtor 200GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive, Model 6Y200M0, OEM Drive Only
$110.00

MSI "K8N Neo2 Platinum" NVIDIA nForce3 ULTRA Chipset Motherboard For AMD Socket 939 CPU -RETAIL
$136.00

Antec 480W Power Supply,Model "TRUE480" -RETAIL
$87.00

AMD Athlon 64 3200+, 512KB L2 Cache, Socket 939 64-bit Processor - Retail
Item# N82E16819103502
$203.00

Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS Platinum PCI Sound Card, Model "SB0350" -RETAIL
$165.99

Logitech Z-5500 5.1 Digital Speaker System w/Digital Hardware Decoder -RETAIL
$279.00


XFX nVIDIA GeForce 6800 Video Card, 128MB DDR, 256-Bit, TV-Out/Dual DVI, 8X AGP, Model"PVT40KND" -RETAIL
$257.00

Total (Before tax): $1,405.98

Its powerful, Plenty of space for music, it'll look as good as it runs and sound great.

You completely missed the point of the thread... im going to mark it up to the price, and if anything i need it cheaper than what i had listed above