Building new rig....

[DaWurm]

Well, kinda new to these boards and you guys have been helpful so far so I figured I'd run this by you first to see what you think.

Putting together a new system consisting of the following:

1.)ANTEC Performance Plus Case with 430W Power Supply, Model "PLUS1080AMG" -RETAIL
[http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProduc...factory=BROWSE

2.)AMD Athlon 64 3000+, 512KB L2 Cache 64-bit Processor - Retail

3.)MSI "K8T NEO-FSR" K8T800 Chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket 754 CPU -RETAIL
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProduc...factory=BROWSE

4.)Corsair Value Select 184 Pin 512MB DDR PC-3200 - OEM
*What does "value select" mean?? Is it a lower grade module?? Is OEM okay?
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProduc...factory=BROWSE

5.)MSI ATI RX9800PRO Video Card, 128MB DDR, 256-bit, DVI/S-Video, 8X AGP, Model "RX9800PRO-TD128" -RETAIL
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProduc...127-127&depa=0

or

5.)SAPPHIRE ATI RADEON 9800PRO Video Card, 128MB DDR, 256-bit, DVI/TV-Out, 8X AGP -RETAIL
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProduc...factory=BROWSE

** I've read good things about both boards but can't really decide. Also I notice they have OEM/BULK versions... are these the same boards without the retail packaging and games or is there a difference in board quality??

*** Also, heard that these cards can run hot... should I pick up a VGA cooler as well?? Like this:

6.)AeroCool Video Magic Series fanless VGA card cooler, Model "VM-101" -RETAIL
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProduc...factory=BROWSE


What do you guys think?? The total of these parts places me in the price range I want to be in. Just wondering if anyone has any suggestions... maybe something they would do different and why??

[John Prophet]

Quote:

Is OEM okay?

as far as I know OEM basically means "without fancy box or manuals"

it also may mean it has a different warranty.....on cpu's usually "retail" or "retail box"means it comes with the heatsink/fan in a factory sealed package and a 3 yr warranty...whereas "oem" is without heatsink/fan and coems with whatever warranty the seller puts on it. (usually 30-90 days)

not sure on ram what oem means as far as warranty goes

[HeadBand]

jp is correct also on ram i don't think newegg even sells retail there is no difference and both have a lifetime warranty ok well mabey retail has installation isntructions or something

for the video card i would go with the msi one because the bundleing is better and people say its an underclocked 9800XT

[maxiderm]

i think there is a lifetime warrenty on RAM even if its OEM. pretty nice setup dude. you wont need a good vga cooler (especailly not that one) unless you do some serious OCing. i would go with the Sapphire card because it comes clocked higher (not much but hey, its still higher). not sure how much you can OC them both thats what i would like to find out. once you know that then that should be the basis of your decision. besides that, everything looks fine. i guess you already have a hard drive and other drives already.

[haxxorpoop]

I'd also like to know what "value select" means...

Since both of those cards are about par, I' going to say the Sapphire card becuase it sounds cooler then MSI :P

[DaWurm]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HeadBand

....for the video card i would go with the msi one because the bundleing is better and people say its an underclocked 9800XT

This is interesting... has anyone else heard this?? If this was the case I would want to OC it right? I don't have any experience in overclocking so that's something I would have to look into more.

As far as the other components, I do have drives, soundcard, etc...

[The Real Bingo]

I have some "Value Select" RAM. Two stcks of 512Mb, to be exact. Works fine for me, but I don't think the timings like being tweaked. If you're not planning to overclock the RAM, it will be fine.

[nwo75200]

Personally I would take the MSI.

The cards do run hot but looks like MSI card has A LOT better cooling that the other one...

Don't tell me you were actually planning to get that FANLESS cooler!?

[nwo75200]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaWurm

This is interesting... has anyone else heard this?? If this was the case I would want to OC it right? I don't have any experience in overclocking so that's something I would have to look into more.

As far as the other components, I do have drives, soundcard, etc...

Yes, I also heard that its an underlocked XT core Since that is the case, you would definitely want to overclock Overclocking the video cards is extremely easy

[The Real Bingo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nwo75200

Overclocking the video cards is extremely easy

Yeah, until you go too far and cause artifacts, or fry your card...