Budget Athlon 64 system

[anthony88guy]

For my birthday I want to build an A64 system. An upgrade from a Duran 750mhz, and a Xp1400+. My budget is under $1000US, preferably $900.
My Wish List

I might get an SATA HDD, or just reformat the one I am using in one of my other computers (WD 80Gb 8mg Cache 7200rpm)

The case which isn?t as important as the hardware can be found Here

Any Suggestions, couple people said I should get the 3200+, is it really worth the extra $50?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

You could save some money going with an Antec Sonata case and its 380watt truepower PSU. (if it looks alright to you)

Going with a 6600gt instead of the x700 would be money better spent than the 3000 to 3200.

If you save money going with the sonata though, do both.

 

[anthony88guy]

Recommend any good 6600GT cards? It has to be in PCI-Express interface.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Leadtek, eVGA are good budget brands.

EDIT:
Chaintech should be fine too
eVGA

 

[anthony88guy]

What about all the other parts? I know the RAM is in question.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

I think the motherboard looks good.
Powersupply should be fine. You could get a Seasonic 430watt for the same price at eWiz.com. I have this one and it's a very nice one. Nothing wrong with the OCZ though.
A 3000+ or 3200+ winchester is a good option.
If you don't intend on getting 2 gigs of ram, you could save money by going with a 2x512 kit. You'll get the benefit of dual channel then.
I've used Logitech input devices for several years and have been happy with them. I've tended to use combo sets though. Do you have a mouse you're keeping already?
I have the NEC burner and have burned about 60DVDs with it with no problems. Out of 90-ish CDs, I've gotten 2 with errors, but I'm thinking that's partly my crappy media's fault.

 

[anthony88guy]

I was thinking about using my old mouse, still very good Logitech one. I was thinking about 2gigs of RAM, but I really don?t think I need it. Still I have 4 ram slots, I should be able to get 4 X 512mb sticks if I needed the extra ram? Not much room for upgrade though.

 

[Jon855]

You might would want to check out this forum link Gaming Desktop For Sale and I'm reckoning that you could get it for 1000 or par. I hope I've helped ya. Good luck hunting, and if you want to build your own then I think you should back off on the RAM and go with a decent CPU, such as 3000. Change the case, I think you would be better off with maybe a Sonta or something else. Powersupply, IMO get Antec 480w. I've nothing else, but I would say that you could get x800 or even 6800GT and still remain under 1000.

Happy hunting.

 

[hugekebab]

well to hbe honest by the time yuo need more than 2 gigs of ram (assuming you arnet photoshop vieo editing maniac or something) there will be much much more powerful rigs youll need to consider upgrading too. 2 gig isa good amount for me because i game on bfvietnam mods, and those modded maps hit the pagefile even with a gig of ram installed in my system

 

[anthony88guy]

Well, Yes I do a fair bit of photoshop, l like to play games...I think am going to go with 1gig RAM, maybe the 3200+, look at the 6800GT or the x800, possible change case. I really like the OCZ PWS; it has some great reviews and its modular, great apprearance too.

EDIT: When I am looking for a SATA HDD, what should I look for the SATA II or SATA 150 or they both the same?

 

[hugekebab]

sata is all the same. if ya can go for a raptor 10k, either that or get two quiet sata 7200rpms oin raid 0 (helps for photoshop)

as regards the ram, ive reasd benchmarks and it really aint worth going for the expensive low latency stuff, if youre not overclocking just go for branded budget ram, eg crucial or corsair value, that way you can have more ram which for you i would say is more important.

 

[anthony88guy]

ok, what do you think of this revise?

http://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/Wis...D=1464571&WishListTitle=Althon+64+3000

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Lookin pretty good.

I've read lots on good stuff on Seagates for the HDD. I have 6 WDs in my system right now, but if I was getting a new system I think I'd go with seagate with their 5 year warranty and quieter operation.

 

[EndGame]

May want to consider switching XP Home W/SP2 to XP Pro W/SP2........reason being, from what I understand from reading MS's site, you will be able to upgrade to XP64 bit simply by swapping your key and downloading (or paying shipping and getting the upgrade disk) whereas XP Home will for whatever reason not be upgradable for free.......Now it's been a few weeks since i last checked the info but unless htey've changed something I haven't heard of, that alone may be a reason to go with XP pro instead........Just thought I'd throw that tid bit in......

 

[superkdogg]

The dual channel thing is not required, but would be a better way. Even if you go 2x512 right now and want to upgrade later you'd still have 2 open slots and 1 GB modules could likely be cheaper. The Corsair isn't bad for the price, either-that's what I have (except for the 256MB versions) and mine does 230 with relaxed timings or 2-3-2-8 with 1T @ 200. I might try to go with a little higher video card. Reason being that today's top end is tomorrow's middle-low and we're approaching another tomorrow. Guessing by how badly the X's and the 6800's killed their predecessors, the gfx boys are really stepping up their games and you don't want to end up with a card that is 6 months old and performs @ 40-50% of what the new top end is like anybody who bought a 5900Ultra in 2004 did.

 

[SomeDude22]

Cheap Good PCI-E Mobo

1 gig of ram

6600 GT

AMD64 3000+

this hard drive

 

[andy nowotny]

not bad building, but suggest 6600gt

 

[anthony88guy]

I think i am going to stick with the eVGA 6600gt, Looking at some charts on Tom Hardware and it kicks ass. Nice HDD link up there although its not SATA and im not positive about getting a HDD, maybe just reformat the one I am using now. I checked out the MS website didn?t find anything about the 64bit version being free, although I really don?t know where to look, and didn't spend a lot of time looking. Do you suggest getting Corsair or Crucial RAM over the Patriot with those timings?

 

[SomeDude22]

Originally posted by: anthony88guy
I think i am going to stick with the eVGA 6600gt, Looking at some charts on Tom Hardware and it kicks ass. Nice HDD link up there although its not SATA and im not positive about getting a HDD, maybe just reformat the one I am using now. I checked out the MS website didn?t find anything about the 64bit version being free, although I really don?t know where to look, and didn't spend a lot of time looking. Do you suggest getting Corsair or Crucial RAM over the Patriot with those timings?

the only real diffrence between SATA and PATA is that SATA uses smaller cables

and this corsair ram is good and has 2.5 latency

and the 64bit windows was on a trial period im not sure now because the official version is about to come out

 

[509th]

From what I've heard too, if you have a legit licsense for Win Xp PRO you can swap it for a licsense and copy or download of Win XP PRO 64bit.

 

[Ahill]

I just built this system for my brother inlaw for $914. Most from ZZF and case from chief value

AMD 64 3200+ (retail)
2x512 gb corsair value ram
Gigabyte turbo series 6600 GT
Antec Sonata Case w/ 380 w true power
Lite on dvd /cd-rw combo drive
Sony Floppy
80 GB WD sata drive w/ 8 mb cache
Windows XP home edition
CHaintech VNF4 Ultra ( I love this board)
Thermaltake 20 to 24 pin adaptor( not required but makes me feel better )

I fired up EQ2 on it and it runs great. Hope this helps.

 

[6shiw1]

Can someone tell me what the difference is between the chaintech vnf4 and the vnf4 ultra? I can't find one on Newegg's site. Also does anyone know what the voltage limits are on those boards? I have UTT memory chips and I NEED 3.3volts.

 

[anthony88guy]

http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=0-N82E16813152049
That?s the Ultra

Thermaltake 20 to 24 pin adaptor (not required but makes me feel better)

What are the advantages/disadvantages with the adaptor? And should I use one?

I put all the parts in a newegg wish list so they are all together and easier to see, but i will be buying from the vendor that I get the best price from. And ZZF has some great prices along with free 2nd day.

 

[Gadzookie]

Antec Solution Series Black ATX Mid Tower Case "SLK3000-B" 45.00
ENERMAX Noisetaker Series 420W Power Supply ATX12V Ver2.01 76.00

AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Socket 939 Processor 268.00
CHAINTECH NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra Chipset Motherboard 95.00
Corsair Value Select 184 Pin 512MBx2 DDR PC-3200 Memory 86.67
Western Digital 80GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive 56.00
NEC 1.44MB Black Internal Floppy Drive 8.00
NEC 16X Black Double Layer DVD±RW Drive 51.99
ATI Radeon X800 XL Video Card 299.00

Total 985.66

 

[SomeDude22]

Originally posted by: anthony88guy
http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=0-N82E16813152049
That?s the Ultra

Thermaltake 20 to 24 pin adaptor (not required but makes me feel better)

What are the advantages/disadvantages with the adaptor? And should I use one?

I put all the parts in a newegg wish list so they are all together and easier to see, but i will be buying from the vendor that I get the best price from. And ZZF has some great prices along with free 2nd day.

The extra four pins are in the new ATX 2.01 Spec that is required for pci-express video cards
so if your running a 6600GT you will need the extra four pins