Getting ready to order new PC.

[Stone]

Aaaargh, this is driving me crazy.

I have surfed 24/7 for a week, trying to figure out what to buy lol

At the moment it looks like this.
1 - BOX   Antec P 180
2 - PSU   Antec Neo HE 550 - 550W ATX v2.2 or some other Antec 550w
3 - MOBO   MSI S939 NF4 SLI X16 2*GLAN FW HEATPIPE
4 - CPU   AMD Opteron 165
6 - RAM   2 GB  but not sure what memory yet. Value, Kingston maybe....
7 - VGA   ASUS Extreme EN7900GTX/2DHT or some other 7900GTX
8 - HDD   Western Digital Caviar SE 250GB SATA II 8.9ms 7200rpm / 16MB  
9 - DVD   LG GSA-H20LBB DVD+-RW Dual layer - LightScribe
A - KEYB   Logitech G15
B - MOUSE   Logitech G5 Laser Mouse

Problem is that I cant find all parts from one PC shop, so I would have to order from several different places, and I wory about DOA & waranty.

1 - Have not used Antec P 180 chasis but it sure looks great.
2 - PSU im not sure of, I hope its ok with the MOBO etc.
3 - Paasive cooled mobo with Creative sound on board !
4 - Dual core, just want it. This got beter L2 than AMDx2 3800+
5 - what hapend to five? Am I missing a part lol !
6 - now RAM is a big ? I want 2*1GB but what brand / model ....
7 - Dont know what to take. Any X1900XTX, 7900GTX or maybe GT...
8 - I forget Raid. Just go for one disk SataII with 16mb cache
9 - Any DVD-RW, Dont know if there is anything special here.
A - Logitech G15 gameing keyboard ? Sounds nice, never seen it tho
B - Laser, sounds cool also.

Will this work? Hope so.
Still have to figure out what memory to buy.

Parts here in finland is ~1800 euro.

If I let a PC shop install a similair system, and give it a 3 years waranty on the whole system, I have to pay 260€ more

Oh yeah and the Windows license. XP Home or maybe even MCE.

Any comments are welcome.

[schizer]

All of the components you have listed will make for a good overclocking computer  The Opteron 165 can get near FX speeds with good memory and a good heatsink.

#6 RAM OCZ Platinium memory, best bang for your buck.
#7 XFX Geforce GeForce 7900 GT EXTREME (520MHz) 256MB PV-T71G-UDE7 Video Card Best under $300 card out there

 Get this heatsink if you're gonna overclock

ZALMAN CNPS9500 LED 92mm 2 Ball Blue LED Light Cooling Fan with Heatsink - Retail

[humble]

XPMC has alot of process's. Is a great program if your going to use it but you can get sage TV or others as well. I'm still fighting some issues which may or may not be MC related....

[Stone]

Oh no, I can decide ! This package is too expencive lol .

- Do I realy need 2 GB RAM? (1GB VALUE RAM will save ~165€)
- Could I do with a SAPPHIRE X850 XT PCI-E 256MB. (save ~350€)
- Maybe 1 core is enough for now AMD64 3500+ (save ~150€)
- Maybe a "normal" mobo also ASUS A8N5X (save ~120€)
- Now the PC should work with a 350W PSU ? (save ~100€)
(NEXUS BREEZE CASE 350W SILENT )

That would be ove 800€ saved

But will I be able to play games ...

And will I get good FPS in AH2 ?

This new PC is driving me mad lol.

Please give me input. Where should I save and where not ?

[eagl]

Go to http://www.hardocp.com and look at their consumer PC reviews.  They've reviewed a dozen or so computers, looking not so much at the hardware itself since they're all made with generic hardware, but at the companies behind the computers.  Since they expect any given collection of hardware to perform about the same, they've focused a lot of effort on build quality, support, included and installed software, etc.

They've made some really good finds and I think if you want to build a custom PC but still have some support, you'll definately benefit from looking at these reviews.  Don't pay too much attention to the exact hardware they review, because the parts are ALWAYS being update.  Instead, pay attention to their customer service, build quality, and value scores.

http://consumer.hardocp.com/reviews.html?cat=MjUsRGVza3RvcCBDb21wdXRlcnMsaGNvbnN1bWVyLCws

One or two of these companies are on my personal "go-to" list the next time my parents want to upgrade...

[shiningpathb4me]

using now - the graphics are awsome:

Asus A8N5X (Socket 939 Nforce4)
AMD Athlon64 3000+ 1.8Ghz
1 GB G.Skill DDR 400 2.5 ram w/ heat spreader
Powercolor X800GTO 256 DDR3 pci-E X 16
Seagate Barracuda 80gb 7200rpm SATA HD
CoolerMaster Centurion 5 case
CoolerMaster 430w Sata ready PS
NEC CD/DVD burner
3.5" Floppy
Windows XP Professional
17" Color CRT

Go to tomshardware.com and compare skt 939 amd ath64's. The 3000 doesnt lag behind the higher end models by much and it's only $110
The video was $139

I've played with the Hi-res texture pack, water animation, etc. I'm still deciding on which to use but frame rate hasnt been an issue!

Right now Im using 1280x1024 w/ 512k textures, preloading everything, and all my sliders are all the way to the left (max detail)
I'm still getting FR between 56-77. Its never fallen below 50.

I can look at the ground and see individual trees and bushes. I no longer see through hills and bushes. If I can see a vehicle, I can range it and kill it.

I have an issue w/ my X52 joystick that at the moment seems impossible to fix. Other than that I'm very happy with my system. With the money I saved I actually built 2 - one for my son also, and put in a wireless network.
We can now play together, and my brother uses the old PC, so 3 of us can play at same time.

[Stone]

"shiningpathb4me" no sound card ?

I will buy that mobo also, and wonder if I should save on the sound card.

These are the soundcards I can select as option in the PC package:
- "GAMESURROUND MUSE 5.1 DVD + HEADSET"  € 26,21
- "CREATIVE SOUND BLASTER AUDIGY SE"  € 35,88
- "HERCULES FORTISSIMO IV SOUND CARD" € 43,68
- "CREATIVE SOUND BLASTER AUDIGY 4 BULK"  € 49,16
- "CREATIVE SOUND BLASTER AUDIGY 4"  € 66,77

Compare price to the mobo "ASUS S939 NF4 8CH" € 69,96

New package price is almost halfed now.
Can anyone spot a potential problem ?

1 - BOX   NEXUS BREEZE CASE 350W SILENT
2 - PSU   *
3 - MOBO   ASUS S939 NF4 PCI-E 8CH GLAN SATA RAID
4 - CPU   AMD ATHLON 64 3000+ S939 1.8G BOX VENICE
6 - RAM   1GB Kingston KVR400X64C3AK2/1G
7 - VGA   SAPPHIRE X850 XT PCI-E 256MB VGA+DVI+TVO
8 - HDD   CAVIAR 250GB SATA3GB/S 7200RPM 16MB
9 - DVD   SAMSUNG DVD+-RW DL RAM LIGHTSCRIBE NERO
0 - Sound   none
C - OS   WIN XP HOME, SP2, UK, OEM (1)

[eagl]

Athlon 64 3000+ is low-end now.
Ati x850 is pretty old now.

[shiningpathb4me]

Well . . .Im not going to argue with you. I'm sitting on the system right now and can tell you the performance is very good. Well worth the $900 I spent.

[eagl]

My point is that the price diff between a 3000 and 3200 is not very big, and for a bit more you can get a 3700.  AMD doesn't sell anything slower than a 3000 right now.

Yea it's still pretty fast and is plenty for AH, but it's also at the bottom of the pile right now.

[Stone]

What abot the sound ? I think the A8N5X has ok enough sound.

AMD 3500+ is 150€ more, and 150€ more would give me a GF 7900 GT.

But that would be 300€ more, and the PC is now only ~800€ lol

I might need to buy that 500w PSU

And must think about the 2*512MB vs 2*1GB memory also....

[humble]

My understanding is that AH is CPU and memory intensive....so if your bumping into your "salary cap" then I'd error on the side of CPU/Mem vs VC. As for sound, the NV based boards have excellent onboard sound and no seperate soundcard is needed (IMO).

PS....12V rail is more important then total "power" also efficiency...most folks have alot of overkill on "watts" and not enough usable power....Vx@=W so you can have a dual rail (12v) 430W PS with more usable power then a 500 or even 550W PS....also efficiency ...a PS with 80%+ eff is going to generate alot more power and alot less heat then one at 70%...if you use 400W total in a top end sytem your looking at 35W+ difference basically in heat in your system...most computers actually use less than 250 Watts total power....the big problem with "overcooking" your PS is that it has a minimum pass thru voltage....basically it'll push that power regardless...so you'll see your power running 5.3 3.6 12.3 etc...

Now the highend VC's do change the power curve...but I put a 7900GT in a box with a 300W PS (actually suprisingly efficent PS) and was worried...a couple of my nieghbors are high end intel techies and brought out the diagnostics and said PS is "more than ample"....for what in box....since it will push 216W of 12V power....

Not that I recommend a 300 or even 400 W PS....but PS is the biggest fallacy in building a box right now....what you need is what you need....anything more is like putting premium gas in a moter designed for 87 octane....you get nothing out of it.

[shiningpathb4me]

Best video card for under $200.  Many posts there about the 7600 GT and a few for 6800GS. I looked at comparisons and it seems that 7600 GT was the best for around $180 (US). (Read the thread I might be getting my models mixed up here)

I went w/ X800GTO because A. Its higher performance than other X800's (actually higher than a 6800 GS I think) and B. it was $139 . I saved another $40 right there. If you look around for a few days you might be able to find a 7600 GT for around $150-$175 on sale. (I found one the day after I ordered my X800GTO for about $160) Thats only a $20 difference and I would have spent that to get a little better card.  

On the CPU decision, Go to tomshardware.com and compare the CPU's on every single test. Ask yourself if the performance advantage is worth what you will have to pay. (That is how I picked a 3000+)

I was really interested in how the Ath64 compared to the fastest Intels, and the 3000 is as fast as most or faster.

Please remember that before I built these computers I was playing successfully on a 1ghz Celeron (socket 370) w/ 256mb ram, a 20gb HD, and an nvidia mx4000 graphics card.  I took a giant leap forward in performance.  If you already have something close to a 3000 w/ 1gb, then you wont be as impressed as I was

[Stone]

Yes, I agree on the CPU.

I can not understand how a 1,8GHz AMD64 3000+ can be so much slower than a 2,2GHz AMD 3500+.
I mean, comon, its the same core and only difference is 400MHz.

I save that money and take the 2GB memory option in stead.

I forget the sound card, and use the internal sound.

I would had wanted AMDx2 CPU, but the price is x2 also, so I save the money there also.

I take the 500W model. Beter safe than sorry.

Only thing I cant decide is video.
I think the 7600GT could be a good choice.
And even as the price difference is huge to 7900GT and 7900GTX, it seems that those cards also deliver for the $ difference ?

Found this thread on tomshardware.
http://forumz.tomshardware.com/Short-List-GAMING-VIDEO-MONEY-ftopict169937.html

It is a good read.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

I'd choose something else than MSI for the mobo. Have had a couple and didn't like them. I prefer to use Asus.