New Computer Build

[Danenania]

I'm building a new computer (for the first time) to be used primarily for video games and multitabling poker. A friend of mine who's a computer science major helped me pick out the parts and will help me build it. I'll be purchasing 2 accompanying Dell 2001FP's for monitors. The max I'm willing to spend before monitors is 2k. Like the picks? Any suggestions?

MOBO
$105.00
GIGABYTE "GA-K8NS Ultra-939" NVIDIA nForce3 ULTRA Chipset Motherboard For AMD Socket 939 CPU -RETAIL
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?DEPA=0&description=13-128-263&ATT=Motherboards+AMD&CMP=OTC-d3alt1me

CPU
$267.00
AMD Athlon 64 3500+, 512K, L2 Cache, Socket 939 Windows Compatible 64-bit Processor - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-103-463&depa=0

RAM
$540.27
CORSAIR XMS Extreme Memory Speed Series, (Twin Pack) 184 Pin 2GB(1GBx2) DDR PC-3200 - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-145-503&depa=1

GRAPHICS
$450.50
XFX nVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT Video Card, and Doom 3 Bundle 256MB GDDR3, 256-Bit, TV-Out/Dual DVI, 8X AGP, Model "PVT40AUD + Doom3" -RETAIL
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-150-074&depa=1

HD
$190
2 x Western Digital 160GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive, Model WD1600JD, OEM Drive Only*
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=22-144-152&depa=1
*Connected by raid array

DVD BURNER
$65.50
NEC 16X Double Layer DVD±RW Drive, Black, Model ND-3500A BK W/SW, OEM with software
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=27-152-029&depa=1

DVD ROM
$27.50
SONY 16X BLACK DVD DRIVE #DDU1613
http://www.mwave.com/mwave/skusearch.hmx?SCriteria=AA25370

CASE
$100.50
CoolerMaster Cavalier 3 Black/Blue ATX Mid Case With side window, Model "CAV-T03-WK" -RETAIL
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=11-119-062&depa=1

POWER SUPPLY
$41.50
COOLMAX 400W CX-400B, BLACK, Taurus CX Series Silent Power Supply; 1 x 120mm fan, 3 Speed Fan Control Switch ( Auto, Low, Medium).
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=17-159-023&depa=1

FLOPPY DRIVE
$7.00
NEC 1.44MB Black Internal Floppy Drive, OEM
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=21-152-005&depa=0

SOUND CARD
$47.99
Turtle Beach 6-Channel PCI Sound Card, Model "Santa Cruz" -RETAIL
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=29-118-102&depa=0

FAN
$41.49
ZALMAN Aluminum + Copper CPU Cooler for Socket 775/478/754/939/940, Model "CNPS7700-ALCU" -RETAIL
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=35-118-114&DEPA=1

TOTAL
$1883

[itsmarty]

A Tom's Hardware article from last week, worth reading before buying an NVidia card and flat screen monitor:

http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20041129/index.html

Makes no difference for poker, but could be something to consider for gaming.

Martin

[SomethingClever]

Looks good, but....

[ QUOTE ]
FLOPPY DRIVE
$7.00
NEC 1.44MB Black Internal Floppy Drive, OEM
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=21-152-005&depa=0


[/ QUOTE ]

That's like putting one of those tree air-fresheners in a Ferrari.

[realwtf]

Maybe a 480 watt power supply upgrade.

[BusterStacks]

well, it's surely a huge waste of money, but it will be top of the line at least until 2005.

[Danenania]

Yeah I was sort of wondering about the power supply. My friend says 400 is plenty but I'll probably jack it up to 500 just to be safe.

[Danenania]

Got nothing better to spend it on. And that's what UPGRADES were invented for!

[Jay36489]

I gotta say 2Gb of RAM is uneccesary. You dont even need 2GB for half life 2 or DOOM 3. And why are you buying a sound card when the nforce 3 has good onboard sound? I believe the onbaord sound is better then that turtle beach card you're getting.

[Danenania]

I'm thinking 2 gigs will just help to make everything FLY which is what I'm going for. And I didn't know that the vid card had sound onboard. Thanks for pointing that out.

[Jay36489]

Yeah, Nforce 3 sound is quite good, use that. I think it will fly with 1GB. 2GB will only give you a little lower load times in HL2 and D3, and its not worth the money, but I guess its all about what the money is worth to you. If you 8 table 30/60 get 3GB /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[Sandstone]

2 gigs of RAM is not needed. You won't see any noticable performance gain between 1 and 2 gig unless you're using your computer for something like professional DV film editing.

[wonderwes]

2 gigs of ram? 6800 nvidia card? Uh, hell yes that thing will haul. With a system as crazy as that make sure you play halflife 2 on it.

I will make my suggestion for the case.
Antec Case (http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=15138)

I own one. It has a large power supply, lots of room, and the thing is quite quiet. Its a great feeling to get expensive new pc parts and build them together.

[Sandstone]

[ QUOTE ]
2 gigs of ram? 6800 nvidia card? Uh, hell yes that thing will haul. With a system as crazy as that make sure you play halflife 2 on it.

I will make my suggestion for the case.
Antec Case (http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=15138)

I own one. It has a large power supply, lots of room, and the thing is quite quiet. Its a great feeling to get expensive new pc parts and build them together.

[/ QUOTE ]
I'll second the Sonata case. That thing is Black Jesus.

[Danenania]

Hmm, only thing I don't like about the case is 380w seems low for a power supply. The video card recommends 350w as a minimum so I think I'm actually going to bump it up into the 500w range.

You guys are starting to convince me that I really don't need the 2 Gigs of RAM even though superficially it sounds good. Any ideas on a sick 1 Gig setup?

[Blarg]

I'm assumimg your mobo has 4 memory slots right? If not, you should get one that does.

That being the case, there's no reason to buy your memory in a a 2 x 1 gig configuration. You pay a stiff price premium to do that. Just get 4 x 512, and you'll still get 2 gigs. Don't worry about using up all your slots and having no room to expand memory, because it'll be rare enough that you even use the 2 gigs of memory you're talking about getting. You'll never need extra RAM slots to upgrade to, say, 3 gigs of RAM, so...just fill up the slots and save a couple hundred bucks. There is plenty of adequate to high quality memory you can get 2 gigs of without spending over $500 on. Doing it the way you have it is just wasting money.

[Danenania]

Thanks for the suggestions. The Mobo does have 4 slots. I've just changed my mind now and decided based on the posts that 1 Gig will be enough... I can always upgrade later if I need to. But since I'm only doing 1 Gig I'm trying to find the very best memory.

This is the best I've stumbled across so far: http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-227-009&depa=1

Any thoughts?

[Vern]

Are you going to be overclocking the MB so that you need that memory speed. Otherwise, you will have great memory working at the slow stock speed of your main board.

If you are going to be overclocking, check out Overclockers.com (http://www.overclockers.com/) to get part recommendations.

Vern

[mosuavea]

To do a little more research hit up Anandtech (http://www.anandtech.com) loads of information and make sure to check out the forums, specificaly the General Hardware section. Tons of good resources.

[Terry]

Very nice.

FWIT: I like my CoolerMaster. The GeForce 6800 runs my Samsung LCD monitors just fine, although I do not play FPS games. Corsair RAM, yep yep, but don’t buy faster than you need unless you intend to overclock.

Count me in on using the onboard nVidia sound. I pulled my SoundBlaster out. You can always add an audio card later if you’re not happy with it.

Oh, and unless your friend has added up all the current draws and determined that the power supply is adequate, I’d like to see just a bit more cushion there.

[jmark]

Definitely go with the Sonata case and 1GB. That extreme memory you have is a little on the expensive side, but that's alright.

The Sonata case has a 380W PS which should be fine, Antec power supplies are higher quality than most others -- that 380W should do you good.

The Retail CPUs come with a Heatsink and Fan (at least they used to), so you don't need that Zalman.

I would move up to the MSI Neo Platinum 2 motherboard for $138.50, just because I have an MSI and it works well, I don't have any personal experience with Gigabyte.

When are the AMD PCI-express motherboards going to come out?

[PITTM]

get a bfg 6800 gt instead of an xfx, xfx sucks. i have a bfg 6800 in my computer right now and it absolutely blazes through anything. I have almost the same parts in my cart at newegg because im thinking about doing the same thing, the only turnoff is processor price and ram price. I would probably go with a more trusty mobo brand (asus is my favorite), and probably get a more powerful power supply, especially since you are gonna be running the most power intensive video card, 2 hard drives, an optical drive, a floppy drive and other case fans, i would say go with a 450 or even a 500 watt psu. other than that i am jealous, good work.

rj

[PITTM]

i hadnt noticed youre from the same town as me, what up?

rj