New rig for gaming.

[kajinofe]

Case – Lian Li Silver ATX Mid Tower Case, Model "PC-6077" - $125
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...112-043&depa=0

Mobo - MSI K8N Neo Platinum - $149
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/Produc...uctCode=241132

PSU – Antec 480W Power Supply with Blue LED Fan, Model "TRUE480BLUE" –RETAIL - $76
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...103-914&depa=0

CPU – AMD Mobile Athlon 64 3200+, 1MB L2 Cache, 64-bit Processor 62W – OEM - $284
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...103-445&depa=0

HS – Thermalright Copper Heatsink for both Intel and AMD, Model "SLK948U" –RETAIL - $39.99
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...109-114&depa=0

HSF – Panaflo 92mm High Output w/ RPM - $9.99
http://heatsinkfactory.com/cgi-bin/H...talogno=CF-036

RAM – OCZ Enhanced Bandwidth Series Platinum Edition 184-Pin 1GB(512MBx2) DDR PC-3500, Model OCZ4331024EBDCPE-K - Retail - $310
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...146-983&depa=0

HDD - Western Digital Special Edition 120GB 7200RPM IDE Hard Drive, Model WD1200JB (**bought a year and a half ago)

Sound – Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS PCI Sound Card, Model "SB0350" –RETAIL - $88
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...=BROWSE&depa=0

Speaker – Klipsch ProMedia ultra 5.1 Personal Audio System - $354
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...119-106&depa=0

Video – Radeon X800 XT Platinum Video Card, 8x AGP, 256MB 1.12GHz GDDR3 – $499.99
http://www.compusa.com/products/prod...ct_code=313032

Keyboard, mouse, monitor, DVD-ROM and OS are already bought/old components.
Waiting for Dual Layer DVD-RW

Total without tax, shipping: $1935.97

Could you guys please comment on my prospective rig setup? My current rig, which is a Dell 866 MHz back in 2000 is getting old so based on some research, I’ve come up with the setup above.

1. Are all parts compatible to each other?
2. Would I be able to overclock the CPU better if I had a greater rating of ram? (above pc 3500?)
3. If overclocked, how much MHz would the CPU go up to without adding more fans or going liquid cooling?
4. If you guys think some of the parts might need a change, please recommend.

99% usage for gaming.
I’ve been saving up for this new rig and still have around $500 if need be. I await your comments and suggestions. And please be gentle on a newbie here. Thanks.

PS: Besides the ram I have up there… Anyone have any opinion on the two Ram sticks below?
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...146-934&depa=0
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/Produc...tCode=80097-08

[njolakoski]

AMd 64's arent the best for overclocking so i have heard

[kajinofe]

I'm not into extreme/heavy overclock yet since this is my first time. I'm just trying it out. Who knows, maybe I won't even do it until a couple of years later. Just making sure I have the room for overclockability though. Thanks for the comment~

[gambler2611]

Whoa, thats a lot of money to be spending all at once on a computer. It will top of its class but then you'll get all these new technologies coming out (athlon 3700, 3800 etc) that will drive prices down blah blah blah.

1. Are all parts compatible to each other?
Yes
2. Would I be able to overclock the CPU better if I had a greater rating of ram? (above pc 3500?)
In theory, although stuff would overheat etc and you would need to up the voltage as well as have a solid ps, which should be at $78.
3. If overclocked, how much MHz would the CPU go up to without adding more fans or going liquid cooling?
I hear the athlon 3200+ is a sucky overclocker, whereas the 3400 can get up to 2.8ghz or more on STOCK COOLING so if you really have money to burn i suggest in spending a little extra $$$ and buying the athlon 3400+.
4. If you guys think some of the parts might need a change, please recommend.
3200+ for the 3400+
IMO you should change the 480W PS for a 550W Qutec or similar.
Thermalright copper fan for zalman CNPS700CU-i hear it takes temps down the same as water cooling.

Could also add a couple more of them high airflow fans if you want good circulation. You could also get a couple cable rounder offer thingys. These also increase ciculation.

You could also go crazy and buy a little 10gb drive for system. That way when you play games you're not bottlenecked by the one drive working its a$$ off trying to play the game and sustain the OS.

Hope this was helpful

Andy

[TheBlueFace]

you lucky bast...

[kajinofe]

Whoa, thats a lot of money to be spending all at once on a computer. It will top of its class but then you'll get all these new technologies coming out (athlon 3700, 3800 etc) that will drive prices down blah blah blah.

Yea, but I've been waiting for about a year now, and I don't upgrade parts too often, if not at all...

3. If overclocked, how much MHz would the CPU go up to without adding more fans or going liquid cooling?
I hear the athlon 3200+ is a sucky overclocker, whereas the 3400 can get up to 2.8ghz or more on STOCK COOLING so if you really have money to burn i suggest in spending a little extra $$$ and buying the athlon 3400+.

I think I read somewhere that the mobile 3200+ are the new CG stepping version with 1.4V, which should help overclock a little better than the regular 3200+, no?

4. If you guys think some of the parts might need a change, please recommend.
3200+ for the 3400+
IMO you should change the 480W PS for a 550W Qutec or similar.
Thermalright copper fan for zalman CNPS700CU-i hear it takes temps down the same as water cooling.

Is the zalman's THAT better than the SLK-948U? wow...

You could also go crazy and buy a little 10gb drive for system. That way when you play games you're not bottlenecked by the one drive working its a$$ off trying to play the game and sustain the OS.

Would partitioning that 120GB of hard drive to 10 GB(for OS) and 110 GB (for storage) do the same as getting another 10 GB of hard drive?

Hope this was helpful
Andy

Yes thanks a bunch.

[peterwilkes]

As for the PSU, you will need a powerful one especially for the gfx card. I would not buy a QTec PSU as I have heard horror stories of them failing and then taking out other components.

Go for a decent manufacturer like antec and you should not have any problems.

Note, QTec is different from Quiet Technologies (who make decent PSU's)

[washe]

he can buy a raptor HD to get some impressive load times....

[kajinofe]

So are you guys suggesting a PSU something like this?
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...103-910&depa=0

[someone16]

The Antec 430W is enough for the computer, no need for the 550 version.
Since you won't be doing much overclocking, you might want to look at ram with tight timings @ PC3200 like the Corsair XL you listed, even though a bit pricey.

Maybe 2 sticks of this? http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProduc...145-416&depa=0

128*2=256 dollars and the performance difference will be close to negligible from the other sticks you listed.

I would go down little bit on the processor from 3200+ to 3000+ and use the money on Raptor(s).

The rest of the parts looks good.

[Bizkitkid2001]

I am also going to push the raptor idea. Getting a raptor to load just games and the OS will be a lot faster with load times than the 7200rpm ide drive.

[uethello]

The Antec "True" series have consistently shown to be among the best, regardless of power. The 480w PSU will be enough, but I would get the 550w. In my opinion, it's more consistent with the "level" of your system and keeps you prepared for the future.

Would also go with the Raptor.

[kajinofe]

Yea, I might go with a raptor, but let me clear something out about it.
1. The raptor would speed up the load time which is not related to (or is it?) the FPS on many of the games (especially first shooters) right? or wrong?
2. Please recommend me a specific hard drive such as the raptor.

Thanks for all the help guys, I'm really coming down to some conclusions here... Hopefully

[washe]

The raptor will not improve your FPS.... but when you boot up to windows, load games..... will be bloody fast...

Todays HD = 7200 RPM.
Raptor HD = 10000 RPM.

Its like having a 6 cylinder cars vs a 8 cylinder car....

Downside the raptors expensive.... If you are going to storage a lot of data, you will need another hd.
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...144-200&depa=1
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...144-200&depa=1

BTW these ones are SATA

[kajinofe]

Todays HD = 7200 RPM.
Raptor HD = 10000 RPM.

Its like having a 6 cylinder cars vs a 8 cylinder car....

Downside the raptors expensive.... If you are going to storage a lot of data, you will need another hd.
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...144-200&depa=1
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...144-200&depa=1

BTW these ones are SATA

One question. Would it be possible to raid my current 120MB 7200RPM WD drive with the raptor that you have suggested? I doubt it but never hurts to ask

[washe]

well what I know the hd need to be at the same size to be able to do raid.... but I havent even tried raid arrays.... sorry!

[Zedicus]

u can raid any 2 drives but the array will only b double the size and performance of the SLOWEST fetures in a drive. ex. 1 raptor 36 gb 10000 rpm + 1 wd 120gb 7200 rpm will get a raid array = too 72gb size with the throughput of 2 7200 rpm drives. so yes its possible, no u should not do it.

[kajinofe]

ic... One more question though... In regards to getting 1 gig of ram, would it be better to get 1 stick of 1 gig or 2 sticks of 512 MB? Since my CPU will be a S754 based, which one is better? Overclocking wise or just general memory efficiency wise?

[Bizkitkid2001]

Get a gig of dual channel ram, it comes with two sticks of 512mb.

[The Real Bingo]

Thats cheaper too, but if you want more RAM in the future, getting a 1Gb stick would free up another slot for another stick of memory.