System Build - Peer Review

[lt_wentoncha]

Hi all,

I'm planning on this "budget" SLI setup:

Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ 512K 90nm (939)
Enermax EG565P-FMA
2x XFX GeForce 6600 GT 128
Maxtor (6B200S0) DiamondMax Plus 10 200GB SATA 7200 RPM 16MB

I haven't picked RAM yet, I have a couple of PC2700 laying around, it's not the best but I'll leave that to a future upgrade. Am I missing anything? After days of research, I'm pretty happy about the processor, HDD, and the power supply, but the mobo and gfx cards have me up in arms. DFI and MSI are coming out with competitive mobos soon

TYIA for reading and posting.

 

[Dillusion]

Great setup, but ide recommend against using PC2700, it will bottleneck your overall system and provide crappy performance. Spend that cash on value PC3200 from corsair or mushkin, or sell the PC2700 to a friend or online, and get some nice 2x512MB dual channel ram like TCCD or ballistix.

 

[lt_wentoncha]

Great setup, but ide recommend against using PC2700, it will bottleneck your overall system and provide crappy performance. Spend that cash on value PC3200 from corsair or mushkin, or sell the PC2700 to a friend or online, and get some nice 2x512MB dual channel ram like TCCD or ballistix.

Thanks for replying. Any other recommendations?

 

[mulpsmebeauty]

There is no point in going SLI with 2x6600GT if you can afford both cards up front. If you have the cash for 2 6600GTs, get a single 6800GT instead, which will in many cases outperform two of the lower range cards. Plus, you don't have to worry about any SLI incompatibilities or lack of driver support for the games you're playing. You'll then be perfectly placed to buy another 6800GT in a few months when SLI has settled down and get a performance jump far beyond what you'd get starting out with 2x6600GT.

 

[Astral Abyss]

I'd second the PC3200 RAM purchase. You'll regret not buying some. I setup a 3200+ (939) temporarily with some PC2100 RAM (133MHz) and the performance was pretty bad. It was just a temp fix, but it was VERY noticably slower than PC3200. I realize 2700 won't be as much of a hit, but you'll probably still notice it.

It just seems pointless to go with an SLI setup and then shortchange yourself on the RAM. I'd rather buy one video card, really good RAM, and leave the 2nd video card for the future upgrade.

I have the 300GB version of that Maxtor. Nice drive. Very quiet motor. It does make a noticable clickity-clack noise when seeking though, and it's a strange noise too, which you may find annoying. I got used to it. You won't notice it if your system is noisy.

Make sure you get a good heatsink for your CPU, like the Zalman 7000 or Thermalright XP-90.

Looks good... just giving my opinion, which is what you asked for.

 

[lt_wentoncha]

There is no point in going SLI with 2x6600GT if you can afford both cards up front. If you have the cash for 2 6600GTs, get a single 6800GT instead, which will in many cases outperform two of the lower range cards. Plus, you don't have to worry about any SLI incompatibilities or lack of driver support for the games you're playing. You'll then be perfectly placed to buy another 6800GT in a few months when SLI has settled down and get a performance jump far beyond what you'd get starting out with 2x6600GT.

Chumbo is out of the BFG cards for 399, so the next best thing is a setup that is 450+ for those cards. I'm tempted by the dual 6600GTs, but how about the regular 6800?

Thanks.

 

[lt_wentoncha]

I'd second the PC3200 RAM purchase. You'll regret not buying some. I setup a 3200+ (939) temporarily with some PC2100 RAM (133MHz) and the performance was pretty bad. It was just a temp fix, but it was VERY noticably slower than PC3200. I realize 2700 won't be as much of a hit, but you'll probably still notice it.

It just seems pointless to go with an SLI setup and then shortchange yourself on the RAM. I'd rather buy one video card, really good RAM, and leave the 2nd video card for the future upgrade.

I have the 300GB version of that Maxtor. Nice drive. Very quiet motor. It does make a noticable clickity-clack noise when seeking though, and it's a strange noise too, which you may find annoying. I got used to it. You won't notice it if your system is noisy.

Make sure you get a good heatsink for your CPU, like the Zalman 7000 or Thermalright XP-90.

Looks good... just giving my opinion, which is what you asked for.

Many thanks for the input; peer review makes me comfortable about dropping a grand on a setup with technology I've never heard of before until a week ago.

Thanks again.