Building My PC - CPU?

[Almuric]

So for those of you who've been lucky enough to buy newer CPUs, what's the best bang for the buck? I'm gonna buy AMD but I dont know which one. 3800+? 4200+? 4800+? I want my new rig to cost about $1000 total. Yes, that's even with the video card. Thoughts anyone?

[Darakian]

the dual core 3800+ rocks and if your going for a 1k system its really the only dual core option. They overclock well if your into that as well :)
Also good luck ont getting a 1k system with that MSI board you posted about (assuming your going for that) and a good video card :P

[Almuric]

Actually I dont plan on going with dual video cards on this system at any point in time so that motherboard is out. I only need a single PCI-Express slot.

Over at cyberpowerinc.com I keep building systems. The last one I made was:


CASE : HOT NEW! X-Discovery Mid-Tower Case 420W W/ WINDOW & LCD Temperature Display (Black Color)
CPU : (939-pin) AMD ATHLON64 X2 3800 CPU w/ HyperTransport Technology
MOTHERBOARD : (Sckt939)MSI K8N NEO4-F nForce4 Chipset SATA Raid PCI-E w/GbLAN,USB2.0,&7.1Audio
MEMORY : 1024 MB (512MBx2) PC3200 400MHz Dual Channel DDR MEMORY (Corsair Value Select)
VIDEO CARD : NVIDIA Geforce 6800 XT 256MB 16X PCI EXPRESS VIDEO CARD
VIDEO CARD 2 : NONE
MONITOR & LCD : NONE
HARD DRIVE : 120GB Hard Drive (Western Digital 120GB 7200RPM Ultra ATA 100 8MB Special Editon)
Hard Drive 2 : 120GB Hard Drive (Western Digital 120GB 7200RPM Ultra ATA 100 8MB Special Editon)
Optical Drive : PIONEER DVR-110 DUAL FORMAT 16X DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW DRIVE DUAL LAYER (BLACK COLOR)
Optical Drive 2 : NONE
SOUND : HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO

The price: $1025

Near my goal, and of course I'm about 6 months out from my PC buy so things are gonna get cheaper.

[Darakian]

I would stay away from that 6800xt as it is simply a 6800 (regular) minus 4 fragment pipelines, 2 vertex pipelines, and 4 texture units. Basically a 6600gt out classes it

6800xt and 6800 info:
http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=182&card2=359

6600gt and 6800:
http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=187&card2=182

*note on the 6600gt vs 6800
-->The 6600gt out preformes the 6800 at low res, the extra pipelines help the 6800 to win in high res, the 6800 xt lacks those extra pipes and will be out done at both high and low res.

Edit:
6 months from now we will have new generation video cards well in cycle (x1900 and 7900). Planning so soon?

[Bushwacker]

If your 6 months out I wouldnt even be thinking about building at this point. Besides you might have or want to spend more money by then and or as you know whats hot now will be cheaper by then because of the newer tech stuff comming out.

[Almuric]

Well I know for a fact it will be $1000...that's what I spend every time I buy a new PC and I'm not gonna go over it. And yes, I plan on getting a 7800 when I buy.....hopefully prices will agree with me. That was just me playing with the site looking to see where I am when I get ready to buy.

[Bushwacker]

$1000 bucks hugh...humm Bush is curious to see what Trog puts together. Should be able to do pretty well. Good luck finding a 512MB Vid card from nVidia if thats what your going for.;)

[Bushwacker]

This is going to be my next MOBO Asus A8N32-SLI Motherboard
http://usa.asus.com/products4.aspx?l1=3&l2=15&l3=0&model=744&modelmenu=1

Moohaha 8)

[Almuric]

512 no...I'm planning on 256MB. I think it'll be good enough for the game I'll be playing.

[Almuric]

OK..getting closer to my PC purchase time. I'm thinking about buying next month..and oddly for me...I'm thinking about building. What you think about the Asus A8N-E motherboard? It's got PCI-E and SATA-II which is what I'm looking for.

[Bushwacker]

Good dual channel board. Should be able to pick one up for under a hundred bucks to. I would like to see you get the 4800 cpu also, only the price is still going to be a bit high in another month thogh.

[Darakian]

Everything these days has PCI-E, SATA-II, and Dual Channel ram.

As for the board, if you are going PCI-E (you should btw) get 2 16x slots. There is no reason not to!
If you want to stay asus I would say get the A8N-SLI or if you have the cash the A8N32-SLI Deluxe

My $.02

[Almuric]

There is no way I'm going to put dual video cards in my rig so I'm not gonna spend the extra $$ for an SLI board. And actually, you'd be surprised that you need to really look at specs to make sure a board is SATA-II. Alot of them arent.

Bush - 4800 is just too darn expensive man! I'm thinking about maybe a 4200 but minimum will be a 3800 dual core.

[Darakian]

Thing is most enthusiest boards (better quality) if not all are SLI. Your call but I think an SLI board would be good to have so that three years down the line one could buy a cheaper compainion to your card for nice little boost in power.

[Almuric]

Nah, 3 years from now I'll buy a whole new computer.

[Darakian]

Your money ;)

[Bushwacker]

So bro what have you come up with so far? Have you bought any parts yet?:jump:

[Almuric]

No, but I've started my list:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811144170
http://www.buyxg.com/store/item.asp?id=1720&catid=113
Already own a Plextor PX-716 DVD Burner - will take it from my current box
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131530

ok, so I need an affordable 450+ watt power supply. What do you think of this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817148027
or maybe this one?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817153007

[Bushwacker]

Case looks decent enough and offers some extra functionality to it. :tup: ahem alot of lights there though :erm:

I'm not going to coment on the video card. :censor:

Like the MOBO good choice there bro. :tup:

I like the PSU...did you check out Enermax http://www.mwave.com/mwave/skusearch.hmx?SCriteria=BA22026&CartID=done&nextloc= I like the modular design alot to.

Looks like your on your way bud.

[Almuric]

That Enermax is only 400W. I've got a 450W requirement on the new video card.

[Darakian]

That watt requirement is bogus just fyi. Still if you want the power with the modularity for the cheap (cheaper than enermax anyway)
500w Antec
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103937

Aspire, thermal take and many MANY others make crap PSUs. The 450w PSU requirement for the video card is targeting crappy PSUs that can't run near their "max" (advertised power) essentially when they heat up the power efficiency plummits. It doesnt help that they skimp on cooling in them either >_>

[Almuric]

69 is a little price, but I'll probably pick that one up *adds to new PC purchase list*

Now I need to go research RAM. There are soooooo many choices for PC3200 that it's confusing.

[Bushwacker]

That watt requirement is bogus just fyi. Still if you want the power with the modularity for the cheap (cheaper than enermax anyway)
500w Antec
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103937

Aspire, thermal take and many MANY others make crap PSUs. The 450w PSU requirement for the video card is targeting crappy PSUs that can't run near their "max" (advertised power) essentially when they heat up the power efficiency plummits. It doesnt help that they skimp on cooling in them either >_>

Fine!!! than step up and get the real deal and get what I use...
Silverstone 600Watt Modular Power Supply http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=3585
You will be hard pressed to find a better one. :insta:
Oh and FYI :tongue:

[Bushwacker]

69 is a little price, but I'll probably pick that one up *adds to new PC purchase list*

Now I need to go research RAM. There are soooooo many choices for PC3200 that it's confusing.

And why does it have to be PC 3200? I really like Corsair myself. Never had a problem of any kind with it.

[Almuric]

Well, minimum 3200. I was looking at some Corsair, but even then there's gotta be 10 or more choices on the RAM from Corsair Value RAM to XMS, etc and different timings on each one.

[Darakian]

Fine!!! than step up and get the real deal and get what I use...
Silverstone 600Watt Modular Power Supply http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=3585
You will be hard pressed to find a better one. :insta:
Oh and FYI :tongue:

http://www.pcpowercooling.com/products/viewproduct.php?show=TC1KW
Best PSU on the market ;)

Worth the price? Probably not but I was'nt hard pressed to find it :lol:

[Almuric]

OK, so I'm looking at this RAM. Kind of expensive by the timings are really good:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145560

[Bushwacker]

http://www.pcpowercooling.com/products/viewproduct.php?show=TC1KW
Best PSU on the market ;)

Worth the price? Probably not but I was'nt hard pressed to find it :lol:

Geez bro...a freaking 1KW psu...a little much dontcha think.
Still, I do like it.:D but lets stay real here. Thats something you or I might get but not Trog hehe

[Almuric]

Hey! quit talking about power supplies and look at my RAM! :P

[Darakian]

Just had to one up ya ;)

@Trog
Ram seems ok but honestly this set will do you much better at a minor premium
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145579

Or if you still want low cas and don't mind a mail in rebate:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231032

Either way if you don't plan on upgrading your box for 3+ years I say get 2GB in 2 sticks (for dual channel)

Or if you wanna stay with corsair high end stuff
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145575
:P

[Almuric]

Hmmm...your last option looked good and only slightly slower then what i was gonna buy. BTW, I was planning on buying 2 sticks (2GB).

[Darakian]

thats the sort of info we could use before hand :P

Edit:
Found another set
http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=M&Product_Code=141631&AFFIL=hhd&NR=1

Also if your buying your video card off new egg you might want to consider ATi cards as they have a special promo going on where one buys an ATi card ($350 or more) and gets $50 off by entering the code "loveati" at checkout :)

$400 after mail in rebate & ati code
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102624

$500 after same stuff
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814195003

[Almuric]

Im not buying an ATI card nor am I buying a $350+ card. Looking at about 300 for a 7800GT from buyxg.com

[Darakian]

Why not ATi? They currently beat out nvidia in preformance and price
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102698

$289 and it will beat out the 7800gt in preformance (along with beating the 7800 gtx)

Benchmarks:
http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=326&card2=310
http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=ODc1LDEsLGhlbnRodXNpYXN0


Edit:
Or using that "loveati" code you could get the 512MB version for ~$10 more
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102629
:P

[Almuric]

Mainly because the game I'm wanting to play (Neverwinter Nights 2, coming out later this year) is being built with nVidia cards. So the best performance for that game will not be with ATI.

[Darakian]

Well back when UT2004 came out it was designed for nvidia cards. Go check a 9800 pro vs 5950 in UT2004 Benchmarks ;)

[Bushwacker]

Mainly because the game I'm wanting to play (Neverwinter Nights 2, coming out later this year) is being built with nVidia cards. So the best performance for that game will not be with ATI.
Are you serious? nVidia might get a few and I say a few fps more than ATI, but nVidia doesn’t have the visual quality ATI does. If all your worried about is bragging rights as far as fps goes, nVidia might be the way to go but if I was you I would take a closer look at ATI….ATI can and does beat nVidia in a lot of games especially in the higher resolutions with everything turned up to its max. Also, I might add, ATI visually looks better in game. nVidia doesn’t look as good and it doesn’t perform as good as ATI PERIOD. I can give you an example…You know I have two 6800 ultra’s running in one of my rig’s. Well the ATI X1900 XTX I’m running in this rig looks better in game all by itself than both those cards. To me that say’s a lot. Take it for what it’s worth and go ahead and get your nVidia….while your at it go ahead and get that Pentium chip to. When your all done, run a bench mark and we can compare.:jump:

[Almuric]

bah! I cant afford that Pentium chip! :P

[Bushwacker]

So does that mean you may be going with the AMD 3800 or 4000? The Prices have come down quite a bit.

[Almuric]

I was hoping for the 4200, depends on the price when I get ready to buy.

[Bushwacker]

So Trog its been a little while since your last report. How far are you on your parts list, what have you bought so far?

[Almuric]

well what happened was I took a new job and decided that since I'm selling my house and moving I better wait. :(

[Darakian]

pfffft you better make up for it by getting an AM2 system when that comes out ;)

[Almuric]

I was really looking forward to the new rig too. Depending on how long it takes to sell the house and how long it takes to build the new one, I'll probably be at least this fall before building that new rig now.

[Darakian]

Might all be for the better. Check this out
http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2006/04/17/amd_reverse_hyperthreading/
:D

[Almuric]

really cool stuff. not sure it'll be out by the time I get ready to build my PC, but interesting for the future.