Critique My Future Comp

Zig · January 2005

note: <span style='font-size:17pt;line-height:100%'><b>i'm <i>trying</i> to keep it around $1500.</span></b>

CASE:<a href='http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=11-156-148&catalog=23&manufactory=BROWSE' target='_blank'>RAIDMAX Black Aluminum Gaming Case with 420W Power Supply</a>
PSU: Case above with 420W PSU

MB:<a href='http://www.mwave.com/mwave/viewspec.hmx?scriteria=BA20582&Bag=yy' target='_blank'>SUS A8V DELUXE VIA K8T800 PRO CHIPSET SERIAL ATA150 ATX FORM FACTOR</a> <fixt?
CPU: MB above with AMD Athlon 64 3200+
cooling: MB above with Thermaltake Silent Tower fan
RAM: MB above with Crucial 1GB DDR400

HDD:<a href='http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=22-145-071&catalog=23&manufactory=BROWSE' target='_blank'>Hitachi 250GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive</a>

Video:<a href='http://www.gameve.com/gve/store/ProductDetails.aspx?sku=VC-SA-053' target='_blank'>SAPPHIRE RADEON X800 SE 256MB W/DVI TVO OEM</a>

Sound:<a href='http://www.mwave.com/mwave/viewspec.hmx?scriteria=3460072&Bag=yy' target='_blank'>TURTLE BEACH RIVIERA 5.1 CHANNEL SOUND CARD 24BIT W/DIGITAL OUT & MIDI/GAME PORT</a> <fixt?

CD/DVD: <a href='http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=27-182-031&catalog=23&manufactory=BROWSE' target='_blank'>Optorite 16X DVD+/-RW Dual Layer Drive with Beige and Black Bezels</a>

Keyboard:<a href='http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=23-155-003&catalog=23&manufactory=BROWSE' target='_blank'>Kensington 64365 SlimType Keyboard USB 104 keys</a>

Mouse:<a href='http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=26-153-103&catalog=23&manufactory=BROWSE' target='_blank'>Razer Salamander Red Diamondback Precision Gaming Mouse</a>

<s>Network Card:<a href='http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=33-124-107&catalog=23&manufactory=BROWSE' target='_blank'>LINKSYS EtherFast 10/100Mbps Ethernet Adapter Ver5.1</a></s> someone was perceptive enough to let me know that the MB i was going to get had gigabyte lan. <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' />

OS:<a href='http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=37-102-153&catalog=23&manufactory=BROWSE' target='_blank'>WinXP Pro</a>

1) thoughts?
2) am i missing anything necessary for a new computer?
3) if you think i can make a better choice with anything, please include a link

eediot · January 2005

1) it stinks and it has stupid hair
2) a laser death ray device
3) never start a post that doesn't specifically exclude me from participating

.. [P.S. I want your hdd]

BulletHead · January 2005

mine <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' />

Looks good, but how much? Also, see if that's DDR 1 or DDR 2 ram <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' />

Also, go for the Gigabyte K8 Triton nForce 3 MoBo instead. Far as I know it's a little bit better all around <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile-fix.gif' />

Zig · January 2005

oops. current price with minimal shipping is $1455.

i would assume DDR1? why?

Alcapwn · January 2005

Pretty good:

If you play Yuris revenge online dont get that network card.

MORE FANS!!!

BulletHead · January 2005

try to get DDR 2 ram, mucho better than standard DDR 1, also make sure it's low latency <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile-fix.gif' />

Zig · January 2005

how is it better? i hear latency doesn't match DDR1 yet :o

and waterboy, it has 6 80mm fans on top of the thermaltake D:

BulletHead · January 2005

6? Make sure they are QUIET

Also, the DDR 2 ram is to keep you up to par with things like HL2- yeah, DDR 1 will suffice, but feh, go with the best youc an afford <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' />

Swiftspear · January 2005

If you're going all out, go for a socket 939 AMD, you will knowtice a massive preformance boost, expecially for games like HL2 and DOOM3 (read games that do physics and good hit detection) and you will last in the next gen market a good year to year and a half longer.

Alcapwn · January 2005

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Zig @ Jan 30 2005, 01:16 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> and waterboy, it has 6 80mm fans on top of the thermaltake D:  </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> 
Thats gonna be one loud mutha...

Prepare for liftoff!

Talesin · January 2005

Looks decent, though you might want to make a few minor alterations.
<ul><li>Switch the mobo for one with a VIA K8T800 chipset. nForce still hasn't caught up with their performance. Unless you're going for a PCI-E rig, at which point (IIRC) you'll need an nForce4-based mobo anyway. Your motherboard is the most important part of your computer, power supply notwithstanding. Do you really want to put it at the mercy of nVidia?</li><li>PSU. Might want to look into a 500W, just to be safe.</li><li>Video card. Unless you have a specific budget, you might want to look at the X850 XTPE. Fastest card on the market... and on DX9 games, even beats out the nVidia SLI rigs by a slim margin. <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile-fix.gif' /></li></ul>

Zig · January 2005

i can dig the MB switch.. but how necessary is it to go from 420 to 500W?

Shoebox · January 2005

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (BulletHead @ Jan 30 2005, 01:08 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> mine <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' />

Looks good, but how much? Also, see if that's DDR 1 or DDR 2 ram <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' />

Also, go for the Gigabyte K8 Triton nForce 3 MoBo instead. Far as I know it's a little bit better all around <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile-fix.gif' />  </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> 
i would stick with Asus.
looks like a nice computer. your gonna need to get some fans though.

Zig · January 2005

ok no more fan sarcasm.. <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/sad-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad-fix.gif' />

Talesin · January 2005

It could work, it could bork. Personally, if I was buying the equipment, I'd go with enough oomph to give myself a safety margin... that margin, even if it is never used, will help assure that the power reaches your components cleanly, with no power drops that could lead to dropped bits on the RAM, or malfunction of the hard drive (I'm pretty sure the PSU is what killed my Maxtor 200GB 7200rpm disk).

Yes, ASUS is a wonderful mobo manufacturer (I only use them, in my own rigs). There should be an equivalent board with the VIA chipset; if nothing else, the one I'm using now.. the K8V Deluxe. The only problem is that you'll need to make certain of your socket sizes. And the 939 is a much better bet than the original. Better heat dissipation, less heat generated, and so on.. which translates into higher performance, with fewer thermal issues.

Oh, also. I just noticed that you plan to put in an Audigy. Those can and do occasionally cause problems with the Ath64 architecture, under WinXP. Microsoft blames Creative, Creative blames Microsoft... the long and short of it is that any sound card using the EMU10K1 chip (SBLive, Audigy, Audigy2... they're all the same damn card, relabelled, with slightly different connectors!) can cause system instability.
Blackscreen reboots when playing 3D games are the most common, but occasionally you'll run into the 'squeal of death'... where the sound card makes an irritating keening noise, and the system slowly locks up.

I'd recommend swapping that for a Turtle Beach sound card, or just using the onboard sound. Most ASUS mobos come with onboard anyway. <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile-fix.gif' />
And given that you only have two ears... do you really NEED thirty speakers? Fun fact: Creative Labs makes 10% of their profit margin on mainstream surround-sound sound cards. It makes 7% of the profit margin on high-end sound cards (which the audigy is most definitely NOT). And CL makes a whopping <b>82%</b> of their profit from surround-speaker sets.

Zig · January 2005

well mwave is friendly to noobs in that it packages compatible components with the MB. <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile-fix.gif' />

i suppose i could shell for a separate PSU. 500 ya say?

Talesin · January 2005

I'd recommend it. Fry's has a 500W with a good, strong 12V rail (important for HDDs and video cards) for about $40, with a clear window, UV reactive innards, dual fans (intake and output for the PSU), and a speed controller in case it's too noisy.

Zig · January 2005

someone else suggested a fan controller.. necessary?

kida · January 2005

wow that's an awesome setup. wish i had that much money right now.

it depends. sometimes a fan controller would be nice to have if you don't have an automatic controller to turn the fan on slower or faster when your system is busy or idle.

but if you want, it wouldn't do much harm to have one since the added feature would cost slightly more; but on the downside you lose the cpu temperature thermometer, which is also useless, because the general cpu temperature you get is actually quite correct.

it's up to you, i wouldn't mind manually lowering my cpu fan if i am not overclocking, and usually the automized part of your computer won't bring it up where it is set, just like the crossover frequency on your receiver won't be able to bypass the crossover frequency controller on your subwoofer, if it is turned on and at 50 hz

Necrotic · January 2005

I have Qfan control on my mobo and it does pretty much nothing to adjust fanspeed, what it does do (did) that I appreciated alot was shut my system down when anything started overheating (One of my hard drives used to overheat alot till I fitted a wee fan under it) instead of letting it burn out.

I'm not a huge fan of VIA chipsets (running an Nforce2 atm) but I can accept that they do outperform.

Cereal_KillR · January 2005

1. What is your current hard drive? I honestly don't see the need to pass to SATA. If you're just scrapping your old computer, then you can salvage its drives. Else, go ahead with SATA, the 5 buck difference doesn't matter <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' />

2. Your case is ugly (personal opinion of course) and I doubt the PSU on that thing is great.
A cheap and good PSU brand I can recommend is LC Power. I don't know if that's available overseas, but it was at around 40 Euros for 550W. Very stable, I'm pretty sure it has seperate rails (it says "true power output" I thought True Power was copyrighted but oh well) and most of all, it's twice cheaper than other brands such as Antec or Tagan. And it's also very silent.

3. Fan controllers are quite nice if you like silence. Though you don't want to finish burning a component in your PC. I'd think that Cn'Q coupled with a thermoregulated PSU should be enough to keep your PC in a silent state outside of gaming, but if you're a silence freak, go for a controller. You could also check if your motherboard is compatible with SpeedFan. It's a free program for Windows, that does fan monitoring from a software control.

4. Looking in the past, SE video cards usually were more crappy than the first one <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile-fix.gif' /> I'd also add that it looks quite noisy by looking at the cooling system. You'd better 'grab an Arctic Cooling to put on that thing.

Zig · January 2005

cereal: hm.... well the computer i'm running is 5 years old, HD is 20gb <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink-fix.gif' />

as for the vid, i want an x800 but i can't break like 150$ over for a top of the line card <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/sad-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad-fix.gif' /> (at least i think i can't) <b>which x800 would you suggest that was at or under $400?</b>

i didn't know about the compatibility issues D: i'll make that switch, talesin..

Faust · January 2005

Cool setup. I'm looking to build one a new one myself, but I wont be spending that much money.

Someone mentioned looking a not only of course a S939 mobo (and proc of course), but one with a current chipset. The nforce 4 motherboards look very appealing (its what i will be getting), the <a href='http://usa.asus.com/products/mb/socket939/a8nsli-d/overview.htm' target='_blank'>Asus</a> one is very appealing, and it gets great reviews. This chipset seems to support many new features on the market, including PCI-e support, and support for 3.0Gb/s SATA drives (which I haven't even <i>heard</i> of yet!)

The <a href='http://www.giga-byte.com/MotherBoard/Products/Products_GA-K8NXP-SLI.htm' target='_blank'>Gigabyte</a> nforce 4 board was neat as well, I did like how it suppported firewireB (800Mb/s xfer rates), whereas the asus board does not.

Of course, if you decide to invest into these new mobos, keep in mind that they <b>do not </b>support AGP, only PCIe. This is a good idea, since pretty much all mid-range and high-end GFX cards coming out now are going to be released in the newer, faster PCX format first. I also noticed that if you looked at a PCIe card and its twin AGP brother, the agp card would cost more money!

This would mean you would have to find a X800 card in a PCIX format, which shouldnt be hard at all. I know the high-end ATI cards right now give nvidia a run for there money, but consider if you go with a nforce4 board, if you got 2 nvidia 6600 GT's, 6800s, 6800 GT's, or 6800 ultras, you could run them in <b>SLI </b>mode. Nvidia boasts that this feature will give you double the performance (from what I read on reviews, the average is 150% performance increase, never 200%).
I'm not necassarily saying you would have to by 2 of the 6 series cards now. Many people will likely buy one, and wait 6 months or more to buy the second card, because of typical technology price deflation over time.

Certainly something to consider.

Make sure the hard drive you want is <i>native</i> SATA. many SATA drives out there are actually PATA drives with PCB bridge attached. A friend of mine from another forum gave me a list of native SATA drives (please add to, or correct me if I'm wrong):

-Seagate Baracuda ATA V series; 7200.7 series; and 7200.8 series drives

-Maxtor DiamondMax 10 drives; and MaxLineIII series drives

As well, find out if the PSU in that case you want is ATX 2.0 compliant (24-pin connector). The new mobos on the market support 24-pin PSUs natively. Yes, many of these boards <i>will</i> support the older 20-pin PSUs, but the new format gives you <b>2</b> 12V rails, and its supposed to be up to 30% more power efficient then the older PSU format. From what I have seen as well, many ATX 2.0 PSUs give you native PCIe power connector support as well.

I think thats the extent I can offer you now as far as suggestions for a new rig go.

I have noticed that many people keep mentioning to go with DDR2. I haven't looked at this format a lot, but I have heard the new format is quite pricey.
As well, best to my knowledge, the current AMD mobos our right now only support DDR1, not DDR2. If you want DDR2, I believe you would have to get a Intel-based mobo (please correct me if i'm wrong, i'm interested to definitively know myself).

I hope this info helps you on your buying decision Zig. Best of luck with your new PC purchase!

elitebear · January 2005

you should definitely settle for something better than an x800se. at least a 6800nu, 6600gt, x800pro, or the upcoming x800xl, which definitely is gonna rock (only $299 and it beats the x800pro and 6800gt). youre also gonna need something other than a generic power supply. i recommend a fortron 530w or an antec 430w. trust me, dont skimp on the power supply. its one of the most important parts of the system, but people still manage to neglect its importance and get some crap unstable generic psu.

edit: a good power supply isnt determined by how many watts it has. for example, an aspire 520w can get totally rocked by an antec 430w. this is because the voltages are much more steady. any 500w that only costs $50 or less is bound to be bull. avoid thermaltakes psus (including their 480w silent purepower) and spend at least $70 on a psu

Talesin · January 2005

Elitebear, the one I'm talking about is the Aspire ATX-AS500W 12V. It has a 34A max, 37A peak +12V rail. It managed to support a BFG 6800 Ultra OC for the weekend that I rented it, with no problems to the power-guzzling video card, and still supplied plenty of juice to the rest of the machine. (That vid card requires a 480W PSU)

Again, if I was building it for <i>my own, personal use</i>... I'd keep as far away from nVidia crap-on-a-PCB as I could.

The X800 (no mark) is coming out soon, and will outperform the X800 Pro for less cash. Also, if you want to spank the SLI rigs and laugh, you might still consider the X850 XTPE. A $700 card that beats out even the 6800 Ultra SLI, but only on DX9 games. Falls behind by about 15-20% on OGL games. That 150% performance is over their stock part.. not the competitor's card. <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile-fix.gif' />

Isamil · January 2005

I wouldn't recomend an SE video card, those always seem to suck.
The X800 XL is coming out soonish(if its not already out), and it looks awesome. Beats the 6800 GT for $100 less.

Spetsnaz · January 2005

well i know every one keeps going on about fans but WATERCOOLING!!

Look into it! trust but dont go for the coolmaster all in one aquagate which i have im not toooo pleased with the the setup of it and its realy realy overheating! <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/mad-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='mad-fix.gif' />

DOOManiac · January 2005

Get a 10,000RPM sata drive.

Mullet · January 2005

I was looking at the same case to buy not so long ago... <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin-fix.gif' /> I have the BFG 6800 GT (overclocked). I'd recommend this card to anyone just because it's lifetime warranty <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' />

Why spend 50 dollars on a mouse? (Just curious..)

Zel · January 2005

A8V and A8N are socket 939, its a better motherboard, but a socket 939 processor is gonna be 400$ or more.

K8V and K8N are the 754 versions you are probably looking at, due to those processor sbeing avail for only 130$-ish

definitely get a <a href='http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=65' target='_blank'>raptor</a> as your boot drive, it will speed up the system more than a second gig of ram would <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile-fix.gif' />

Faust · January 2005

Actually Zel, you can get a S939 AMD64 3200 for as little as $250 CAD.

Whatever mobo you go with zig, remember to check out the manufacturer's Qualified Vender List on memory, so you know which RAM to get for proper dual-channel support for your current/future RAM configurations.

If you want to spend a lot of dollars on a video card, for an ATI solution, the X800 XL seems like a good buy for the mid-$400 mark (CAD). I just read the review on Powercolor's <a href='http://firingsquad.com/hardware/powercolor_radeon_x800_xl/' target='_blank'>X800 XL</a> card, and I am impressed (Although I won't be spending that much money on GFX card for my future system). The Powercolor model even has VIVO! (If you desire such a feature, I myself would rather have not and save more money <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink-fix.gif' /> )

Critique My Future Comp

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