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SFF noob suggestions?

M

Mexicorn

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jul 11, 2002
Messages
285
Right now i've got an old 1.4ghz athlon along with a geforce 3 ti-500 running and I think I need an upgrade. Since i'm still in school and will probably be going to grad school, I want something that's easy to move around with me, so I figure SFF will be my best bet. I want something that can last me at least a good few years with only upgrades to video/ram and maybe CPU necessary.

I've been out of the computer market for quite a while though so i'm not quite sure what I want. So far things that I'm thinking will last me will be a 64-bit setup, probably PCI-E for newer generation videocards (the PCI-E cards are cheaper also, right?) and maybe a PCI soundcard if the onboard sound doesn't cut it. Overall I don't game too much, other than the occasional World of Warcraft, though it runs pretty choppy on my current machine so i'll definitely want a videocard that can keep up.

So far all i've found while browsing around that seems to fit my criteria is this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16856101470

(EDIT: this is still in planning stages...I may not get a system till the end of the summer or so, so I haven't looked around that much. Any suggestions on videocards/CPUs/RAM would also be helpful)

Though it seems a tad expensive for a barebones. That's not to say it's above my budget (I'd be willing to put in up to $1000-1500 for the whole system sans monitor/kb/mouse) but I also want to get a good value. Anyone got any tips?
 
You might want to wait till next year when AMD goes to DDR2. But if not, get that case with 2 1 gig patriot sticks and an amd 939 socket Venice core. If you have money to throw around get the San Diego core. Video card might want to wait till the end of summer when the new ATI chipset comes out. If u need now then maybe an X800XL or 6800GT
 
Dont wait for anything, its never worth it. No matter what you wait for, 4 months later something double its potnetial will be out. Work with what you have at the time of purchase.

If you wanna go AMD (64), look at these:
SN95G5
SN25P
ST20G5

INTEL (EM64T):
SB75G5V2
SB81P
SB95P

Those are all S939 or LGA775, which is the newest ones. The Ones that dont end in P can only take single slot video card, whereas the P series has room for two slot ones. All of the AMD's can take up the 2GB of ram, aswell as the intels. As far as cooling and power goes, the P series has a 350w PSU, as opposed to the 250w on the G series, and features BTX style cooling as opposed to the G series 'Ice' Cooler. The BTX style being the more efficient of the two.

Hope that helps.

PS- Theres also un-barebone style SFF systems where you can pick the mobo,case,psu,etc just like a normal computer. IE- the FNW Fragbox 2, Aspire QPACK, and Monarch Hornet. These will be a little bit bigger tho, but offer more expandability.
 
thanks for the replies guys. here's what i've got so far

http://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/WishList/WishShareShow.asp?ID=1517203&WishListTitle=SFF system
(lemme know if this doesn't work, so I can post individual links)


the videocard and ram are just placeholders for now, not quite sure if i'm keeping them. was thinking a single 1gb card would be good for future upgrades, but I know in reality I probably won't need more than 1gb (of course, I say this now...). Also the x800 looks nice, but i'm not sure if it's the best value for me at the moment. As said before, all I need is something that plays WOW nicely, and also HL2/Doom3 level of detali without much effort. Any other suggestions?
 
Mexicorn said:
thanks for the replies guys. here's what i've got so far

http://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/WishList/WishShareShow.asp?ID=1517203&WishListTitle=SFF system
(lemme know if this doesn't work, so I can post individual links)


the videocard and ram are just placeholders for now, not quite sure if i'm keeping them. was thinking a single 1gb card would be good for future upgrades, but I know in reality I probably won't need more than 1gb (of course, I say this now...). Also the x800 looks nice, but i'm not sure if it's the best value for me at the moment. As said before, all I need is something that plays WOW nicely, and also HL2/Doom3 level of detali without much effort. Any other suggestions?
Click to expand...


You won't do wrong with the SN25P. Read these reviews and setup picture links in my first post.

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=873940
 
Absolute nogo on the ram there buddy. You need PC3200, not PC2700, and you need two of them, whatever their size. If you search, you will find such ram- you can even find some that run nice 2-3-2-5 1t timings. And I would go for the 6800GT if you wish to afford one, Nvidia seems to run Source smoother than ATi (my X800Pro still chops), as well as being able to run Doom 3 engine games on a different echelon of performance.

A pair of these from PDP would work great, as would this kit from Corsair. I think the PDP can run tighter timings, but they cost about the same and I'd trust Corsair first (see sig).
 
thanks for the fix on the ram. the corsair bundle seems great! Also, the SN25P seems to be my main temptation right now except for one little thing: lack of a PCI port. I was hoping to be able to install a PCI sound card if I wasn't happy with the onboard, but it seems like if I go with this model i'd have to go external. Does anyone know first hand how the sound quality is? I have a pair of relatively decent old Klipsch promedia 2.1s, but have been torturing them on my old school SB Live value card from years past. Even with the crapiness that is the old SB Live! cards, I still find it a hundred times better than the AC'97 onboard sound on my KT133 mobo(the bass was almost non-existant through it....) So I guess I'm a little biased against onboard sound. Anyway, back to my question: does anyone know how good the onboard sound is for 2.1 music/gaming?


EDIT: also, forgive my ignorance, but can I have an IDE HD as well as an SATA hard drive running together? I've got a 120gb WD drive from my current rig that I would bring over for random music/video/misc storage, just wondering if it'll work with the SN25P

A for the video card, the 6800GT looks awesome, but at $350+ I think it's a little much for me. How much of a downgrade is the plain 6800 from the GT? Will it matter that much comparatively? I'm not obsessed over an extra frame or 2 per second..i've lived with 2fps ironforge visits so I think I cna deal hehe
 
I went from a 6800GT AGP to a PCI X850 XT with my new sn25p. IF can still lag at times but not nearly that bad, on either of the cards. Do not get a 6800 non ultra, the X800 XL ROCKS IT. In fact, the X800 XL beats the 6800 GT in many benchmarks. The one board sounds is pretty good except when group buffs are cast in WOW. (prayer of fort) It gets some funky wierd sound when those are cast. I downloaded the newest drivers (5-23-05 on shuttles website) so i will try those tonight when we go attack onyxia :)
 
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