My Rig In Progress

[Gustav]

Hey, this is my first post and also my first solo built rig.

This is what i've got so far

Motherboard: ASUS A8N32-SLi (when it comes out)
CPU: Athlon 64 X2 4400+
Graphic Card: ASUS GeForce 7800GTX 256mb
HDD: Not sure
RAM: 2x Corsair XMS 1GB PC3200 400MHz
PSU: Seasonic S12 500W
DVD-Burner: Nec ND-3550
Case: Antec P180

In-Detail
Motherboard: I wavered between waiting for this and getting the ASUS A8N-SLi Premium but decided to go with this for the ability to run SLI in 16x.

CPU: At first i was thinking a A64 4000+ San Diego but changed my mind in favour of the X2 due to future games having multi-thread support. I might go with the X2 3800+ yet, but i like the extended cache and the extra 200MHz. I will probably OC this later on.

Graphic Card: Not much to say, the GPU im going with. Reason for choosing ASUS is the limited selection here in Sweden. Other options include the XFX, MSI, Gainward & AOpen. Im planning on buying another one (for SLI) when the price is right.

HDD: My idea here is to buy a 7200rpm drive at first, either a Samsung P120 250GB, a WD Caviar 300GB or a WD Caviar SATA II 250GB, to have the OS, programs and all my media on and at the start my games too, and then later on buy a WD Raptor 74GB as a dedicated game drive.

RAM: It's either this or Corsair Value ram. Im not really sure wich one to get, any feedback would be great. The price differance at the place im buying my comp is 60$. Im going with 2x 1gb sticks becasue i'll probably upgrade down the road.

PSU: This PSU seems to come recommended and doesnt kick the ****** out of my wallet either. My only concern is if i should get this or the S12 600W, just wondering if this will be enough to power SLI later on.

DVD-Burner: Not much to say, seems to get decent results, doesnt cost that much. If someone knows a better one or equally good for less money im all ears.

Case: Im very interested in this case, getting the SPCR version due to the colour, im just wondering if the PSU and motherboard will be compatible with this case? Just 'cause the PSU is placed on the bottom. Also am i going to need any additional cooling?

Any feedback would be great.
thanks.

 

[rapidisimo]

I think it's like HD's... they can't really use the full bandwidth provided by the SATA...
This looks like the same scenario, yeah more bandwidth but do the video cards really need that ammount as of now?

The mobo cost like $250 at Monarch... A bit too much for me.

 

[Gustav]

im not sure if the 7800gtx need all that bandwidth, i thought i might check out some reviews when they come and see if there's any difference.
yeah i know, its kind of pricy but i havent bought a hardware upgrade in a little over 2 years now.

thanks for the input.

 

[rs1089]

The seasonic power supplies are known for their relatively short cables. Im not sure if the cables will be long enough to reach the motherboard's atx connector in the p180. U could use extensions, but that might cause problems in the long run, but then again there are many people who have used extensions wiht no problems. And as for the a8n32 sli deluxe, i read a review somewhere that said that running sli at 32x really didnt improve anything much. in some cases it did slightly worse than the a8n sli premium. As for the ram, if u want good overclocking 2 x 1gb modules, then look for OCZ EB Platinum Edition 2 x 1gb kits. They are very competitive against corsair's newest low latency 2 x 1gb modules and won anandtech's gold award in a comparison including the two. This ram overclocked to 550ddr at cas 3 but can be overclocked at 533ddr at cas 2.5 at 2.7v. It is also cheaper than the corsair xms 2 x 1gb kit. Everything else seems to be good. Just check reviews and comparisons of ur choices, particularly the mobo and power supply (for cable length) I envy you...x2 4400....lol

 

[albumleaf]

consider getting a 7800gt and overclocking to gtx speeds... will save some money

 

[Gustav]

Originally posted by: rs1089
As for the ram, if u want good overclocking 2 x 1gb modules, then look for OCZ EB Platinum Edition 2 x 1gb kits. They are very competitive against corsair's newest low latency 2 x 1gb modules and won anandtech's gold award in a comparison including the two. This ram overclocked to 550ddr at cas 3 but can be overclocked at 533ddr at cas 2.5 at 2.7v. It is also cheaper than the corsair xms 2 x 1gb kit.l

Yeah i tried to find this RAM but with no luck here in Sweden .
Anyone have any experience with Corsair Value RAM?

Hearing that the powercable might be to short is bad news indeed.
Anyone know any other good PSUs that could fit my rig?
Or if anyone have any experience with a S12 in a P180?

@ Albumleaf, yeah i considered that briefly but since i've never overclocked anything before i thought that a 7800GT maybe wasn't the best to start at.

Thanks for the help everyone.

 

[t3h l337 n3wb]

Overclocked RAM isn't going ot provide much of a performance difference. Neither will lower latencies. Just get 2x1GB of OCZ/Corsair/Crucial value RAM. You can always buy a 24-pin power extension cable for like $5. Don't get a dual 16x SLI motherboard. It's a waste of money. Video cards now don't even come close to saturating the AGP 8x bus. Also, SLI is a waste of money. Either buy both cards now to get top-of-the-line performance, or just go single card. By the time the 7800GTX comes down in price, it'll be like SLI'ing 2 6600GT's, which gets beat by like a single 6800GT. Everything else looks pretty good.

 

[Gustav]

Ok, so what im hearing is that i should go with a single 16x mobo, i.e the ASUS A8N SLI Premium.
And as you say, im leaning towards the value ram as it will save me 60$.
Now about the SLI. You might be right but since im just going to buy one card atleast for now and buying an nForce 4-Ultra board isnt much cheaper then a SLI i might aswell go for that and then when the 7800GTX drops in price see what performance gain i would get vs. buying a whole new card.

Hearing from someone who have had any experience with P180s and PSUs would really help me out though.
Thanks.

 

[thegimp03]

That's a good psu, but running a 4400+ and dual 7800gtxs later might be too much for it. I'd futureproof and get the 600W to be safe. No exp. with p180s. Nice build.

 

[t3h l337 n3wb]

Trust me, by the time you get SLI'd 7800GTX's, they'll be too oudated to play newer games. SLI is not an upgrade path. It's a technology for super rich people that want the absolute best performance possible in the present.

 

[Gustav]

******. The black P180 seems to be out of stock in all of Sweden.
Anyone know any other good cases?
Or should i just wait a month for it to become available again?

 

[xanis]

Hmm...other good cases? Try something from Lian-Li, they're very functional, easy to work with and cool. However, if the P180 is really what you want, then you might as well wait and get the exact system that you really want, and don't settle for less, especially if you're paying that much money.

 

[Gustav]

Yeah i was thinking that but im reading a review of the Lian-Li PC-60Plus wich is quite intruiging.
Anyone have any experience with it?

Thanks.

 

[Gustav]

Ok, so this is what i've got so far:

Mobo: ASUS A8N-SLI Premium
CPU: AMD Athlon64 X2 3800+
Graphic Card: ASUS GeForce 7800GTX 256MB
HDD: Western Digital Caviar 300GB (8mb Cache)
RAM: 2x Corsair Value RAM 1GB
PSU: Seasonic S12 600W
DVD-Burner: Nec ND-3550
Case: Lian-Li PC-60 Plus, Black

 

[KoolDrew]

Just forget about going with SLI as it is a total waste of money. Go with a much cheaper non-SLI motherboard. I would suggest something like the Epox 9NPA+Ultra. It is a great board for the price and is a good overclocker. By the tim comes where you will add another 7800GTX you would be much better off just selling it and buying a new next-gen card. Overall it will be cheaper and give you better performance.

I personally would just go with an X2 3800+ and overclock it. I doubt the extra cache will help much, if at all, in what you do.

With such good deals on the 7800GT I don't think the 7800GTx offers a significant enough performance advantage to justify the added cost.

For the HDD, I wouldn't even bother with the Raptor. It does not offer much performance benefits over curent 7200 RPM drives, but costs a lot. Getting two drives is not a bad idea though. I personally like to have an 80GB for OS, Applications, and games and a very large drive for storage.

For the RAM I would just get some Value stuff. Corsair Value Select would be perfect.

The PSU is a great choice. The only thing I would check is that the cables are long enough for the Antec P180. If the price difference is small between the 500w and 600w I would just go with the 600w. Otherwise just stick with the 500w.

 

[Gustav]

I realize much can happen within 2-3 months on the hardware market, but i doubt performance gain vs. price will swing in favour of the next great card that comes along after a period that short.
But the future is always hard to predict and buying hardware is always a gamble. Im gonna put my money on the SLI board though, partly since the price difference isnt that much at the place im buying the stuff and partly because i like the heat-pipe on the Premium card.

I do agree with the X2 3800+ though. It seems relatively easy to get good OC results with it and the CPU isnt really the most important factor in most games.

Im also going with the 600W S12 since the difference in price was small.

Thanks for the feedback.

 

[Gustav]

Oh, and im also getting the Dell 2045FPW unless someone has something against that.

 

[KoolDrew]

Originally posted by: Gustav
Oh, and im also getting the Dell 2045FPW unless someone has something against that.

Link1
Link2
Link3

 

[Gustav]

Thanks for the links.
Already read several reviews though.

 

[KoolDrew]

A lot of people own the monitor on this forum and other forums and they all think highly of it. I will be getting one for myself too.

 

[Gustav]

Yeah that was the impression i got too. Im really excited about it
Ordered it yesterday.