computer build - suggestions?

Weasel

Weasel

NAXJA Forum User
NAXJA Member
Location
Billings MT/Rapid City SD
pieced this system together at about the end of the summer and finally have the funds to start buying. With the rate components get updated I'd like some feedback. I'm going to be using this for everything, games, CAD, Photoshop, whatever. Budget is around 1-1200 for everything. I like my systems to last, example the last computer was bought in 99, 800mhz AMD with 512MB of ram and it's still decent but showing it's age for games.

Motherboard:
Asus M2n-E
or
MSI K9N Platinum

Asus has the rep but I have had a few buddies have probkems with DOA boards. MSI has a warrenty for DOA boards and some have a 3 year warrenty, also heard good feedback with these.

CPU:
AMD 64x2 4200 or 3800?

I like AMD's stuff, I guess now Intel has the better chips but the AMD stuff isn't a slouch either. And they go back and forth so as long as I can upgrade, I figure either would work? Or is there something better I should look at.

Ram:
2GB minimum. DDR2 5400?

Video Card:
PNY 7600GT 256MB
or
XFX 7600GT 256MB

I'm partial to Nvidia's stuff. But cards change so fast I have a hard time keeping up. Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter is the main game I'm interested in.

I'm still up in the air about how big of a power supply and brand, case, hard drives, soundcard, cd/dvd drives, ect.

Ibuypower has some decent kits on their site, sorta looking at the Night Gamer FX.
 
OK... Obvious question first:

What's your budget on this, and what're you building it for?
 
Weasel said:
pieced this system together at about the end of the summer and finally have the funds to start buying. With the rate components get updated I'd like some feedback. I'm going to be using this for everything, games, CAD, Photoshop, whatever. Budget is around 1-1200 for everything. I like my systems to last, example the last computer was bought in 99, 800mhz AMD with 512MB of ram and it's still decent but showing it's age for games.

Motherboard:
Asus M2n-E
or
MSI K9N Platinum

Asus has the rep but I have had a few buddies have probkems with DOA boards. MSI has a warrenty for DOA boards and some have a 3 year warrenty, also heard good feedback with these.

CPU:
AMD 64x2 4200 or 3800?

I like AMD's stuff, I guess now Intel has the better chips but the AMD stuff isn't a slouch either. And they go back and forth so as long as I can upgrade, I figure either would work? Or is there something better I should look at.

Ram:
2GB minimum. DDR2 5400?

Video Card:
PNY 7600GT 256MB
or
XFX 7600GT 256MB

I'm partial to Nvidia's stuff. But cards change so fast I have a hard time keeping up. Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter is the main game I'm interested in.

I'm still up in the air about how big of a power supply and brand, case, hard drives, soundcard, cd/dvd drives, ect.

Ibuypower has some decent kits on their site, sorta looking at the Night Gamer FX.
Click to expand...

Asus M2n SLI $149 but has a combo price at newegg till 31jan with an athlon 64-fx 62 for combo price of $589.
Add 2 1gig sticks of Corasir XM2 for $344
Powersupply hmmm, exotic View Pic Athenatech XF Xtreme Force PS-09WXF ATX12V / EPS12V 900W Power Supply
or practical I'd give this one a look, you really want modular support.
CORSAIR CMPSU-520HX ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 520W Power Supply, don't even bother looking at a good PS for under $100. I generally spend $150 for my custom systems along with a switching type 500-800va APC UPS.
Might also want to consider a tuner card, Happauge150 less than $100 w/remote, get the NON-mce version, you want the tuner software that does not come with the MCE version [Media Center Edition] Unless you are going vista home, the problem with media center is that programs you record end up with a microsoft wrapper around them which prevents editing and cutting commercials with out using a program like video redo to remove the wrapper but then again it also marks commercials so you dont have to search for them.
Video cards are an afterthought to me, I don't like them if they have fans but then I'm not big on games and all my home systems run 24/7. I use mobil-1 to lube the fans on the GF7800's that I have in two machines about every 6 months when they start 'surging'...or don't spin backup after a powerdown.
As for DVD burners, I'd get two, I prefer Pioneer, they seem to last the longest, the $30 from any brand is not exaclty quality, I'd stay away from SOny they seem to die quick deaths, I"ve gone thru probably 40+ of them in the last 2 years on customers systems which bites because I gave a 3 year warranty, now excluding optical drives after a year.
 
Re: 7800 murders 7600

Thanks guys. Budget is listed above about 1-1200 bucks. And holy crap RAM is $$$, what happened to the cheap stuff. I'm not really interested in the TV tuner part of the cards so going to skip that stuff. Although the Nvida cards come with the tuners. PCI-E or AGP doesn't matter to me, I thought PCI-E was the new hot ticket but might just stick with AGP.

I'm running Pioneer drives right now and it works fine. Never thought of lubing the fans, I'll have to remember that. I havn't found a case I really like but for some reason I'm liking the [FONT=arial,sans-serif][SIZE=-1]XCLIO A380 case. Maybe it's justt the huge fan, but it's got lots of room.
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do yourself a favor and really investigate the core 2 duos.
Right now they're the best CPU out. We just put together a machine in that price range with a core 2 duo 6300, built specifically to play GTR-2.
It pulled 100 fps easily with a 7800, and 2 gigs of ram.
I second the Asus DOA problem, if it's not DOA it will run forever.
MSI is a decent board, but it's 3 year warranty only if you get it from an MSI reseller, and the third year has a labor charge, turnaround for MSI warranty work is a month.
 
from the tests I looked at they stated FPS have a point of dimishing return, anything over 60 FPS you wouldn't be able to tell the difference. In which case both the AMD and Intel easily ran over the 60 FPS but the Intel did run high then the AMD numbers wise. I guess my thinking is that with chips one company is always going to have a better chip till the next version is released. I like AMD, so I was going to stick with them and when they release their next superchip I could upgrade if I wanted.

The DOA worries me and is probably my greatest concern with motherboards simply because it seems like it is a PIA to get it replaced. I thought Asus were great boards until my buddies died on him and I'm sort of hesitant of them now. His lasted about 2 months with regular use (he's not into computers) and I've had to oem compaq boards last 7 and 6 years.
 
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