Building New Computer Opinion on Specs.

covana · June 13th, 2004, 04:04 AM

Title says it all. Here is the specs for my new system. I would like you to make any suggests on anything I should change or something I forgot. Thanks!

NMotherboard
CHAINTECH "VNF3-250" nForce3 250 for AMD Socket 754 CPU –RETAIL
$92

Processor
AMD Athlon 64 3000+, 512KB L2 Cache 64-bit Processor – Retail
$223

Memory
Corsair Value Select 184 Pin 512MB DDR PC-3200 – OEM
$85 *2 =$170

Soundcard
Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS GAMER Model "SB0350" –RETAIL
$110

Video Card
Sapphire 9800 pro
Already have.

Hard Drive
Hitachi 120GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive, Model HDS722512VLSA80
$101

DVD Burner
NEC 8X Black DVD+RW/-RW Drive, Model ND-2500A, OEM Bulk
$72.99

Heatsink
Thermaltake Venus 12 CPU Cooler For AMD Opteron and Athlon 64 "A1744"
$28.99

Case Fans
Stock from case for now.

VGA Cooler
ZALMAN Heatpipe VGA Cooler, Model "ZM80C-HP" –RETAIL
$29.99

Bizkitkid2001 · June 13th, 2004, 04:17 AM

Get a gig of ram

Ditch the audigy2, the noforce onboard sound is just as good

And also get a Raptor drive just for installing windows and games, and use the 120gb for file storage, etc...

I would get a sony DVD burner as its suppose to be the best/fastest one on the market right now

DO you really need a heatpipe for your video card? THe stock cooling for the 9800pro is good enough to get some good OCing.

**Whir** · June 13th, 2004, 04:53 AM

All of what he said, except don't get a 120GB at all, get two 36.7GB Raptors and RAID them. The difference will be night and day (or so I hear). Pick up a storage drive later. And you'll break even by dropping the Flatuaudigy, more or less.

Biz, that IS a gig of RAM, silly.

covana · June 13th, 2004, 12:59 PM

Why would I use onboard sound for a gaming machine? That is a big no no. Also I heard that RAIDing won't help performance for a gameing rig.
If I did RAID would I have 36.7 gigs or 73.4gigs?

njolakoski · June 13th, 2004, 01:15 PM

I'd also drop the Audigy, and use the onboard sound like everyone else is saying, and id get raptors hard drives like whir said because that 10,000 RPM , can really help.

Bizkitkid2001 · June 13th, 2004, 04:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by covana

Why would I use onboard sound for a gaming machine?

Because Nvidia Soundstorm is just as good as an audigy2. Soundstorm doesn't use any CPU cycles as it is pretty much a seperate soundcard, just slapped onto the mobo. Its much different than any other onboard sound. Its the only onboard sound that doesn't suck.

Bizkitkid2001 · June 13th, 2004, 04:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Whir

All of what he said, except don't get a 120GB at all, get two 36.7GB Raptors and RAID them. The difference will be night and day (or so I hear). Pick up a storage drive later. And you'll break even by dropping the Flatuaudigy, more or less.

Biz, that IS a gig of RAM, silly.

Why raid them? I would get the 36.7gb raptor and install windows and all the games on it, and then use the 120gb drive for storage. That will save teh guy some money, he will get just as good of performance with games, and plus he won't lose about 80 gigs of space.

And i didn't see that he had *2 next to the memory stick size

I just noticed the brand of ram. I would get Giel or OCZ as they provide better quality and performance(tighter latency)

willaby · June 13th, 2004, 04:37 PM

If I were you, I'd be wary of Chaintech products, because when I built my computer, I got a chaintech 7njs mobo and a chaintech video card. As far as stability goes, it truly is a good brand, but I had the following problems:

*The fan on the video card crapped out and started making a very annoying whine after about six months, I had to replace it.

*Since the mobo was chaintech also, I anticipated the northbridge fan doing the same thing (although it hadn't yet) and I replaced it with a fanless heatsink. When I removed the old hsf unit from the motherboard, I discovered that there was no thermal paste/tape between the hs and the chip, just metal-on-chip. The thing was probably cooking under there...so I'm glad I decided to do that.

Watch for those things if you decide to get chaintech products.

byunews · June 13th, 2004, 04:50 PM

Does the Nforce card support 5.1 sound? Do you use 5.1 sound? That would be my only reservation in scrapping the Audigy.

Bizkitkid2001 · June 13th, 2004, 04:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by byunews

Does the Nforce card support 5.1 sound? Do you use 5.1 sound? That would be my only reservation in scrapping the Audigy.

Yes the Nforce SOundstorm supports both Anolog 5.1 surround sound, and Fiber Optic(Better than AUdigy2) 5.1 Surround sound. Both analog and Fiber Optic are Dolby Digital, or DOlby Digital can be disabled if you have a hardware decoder, or speakers with a hardware decoder built in(Logitech Z680s)