Virgin build, please check my list:

[Oblivious]

I'd appreciate it if I could get some feedback & opinions on the components of my build. Keep in mind this is my first time building, so enlighten me on any little details I may overlook!
Just double check me for compatibility, quality parts and any possible changes I might want to make. If anything seems overpriced and there's a better alternative, by all means, bring it! If it all looks like it should work, lemme know that too!

I've been researching and looking at all this stuff for the past 6 weeks, and I think I've finally zeroed in on what I want. I've found that there is no end to the tweaking of a build list, and I keep spending just a little more for this, a little more for that! (no more upgrades! well... maybe... LOL)

And it's probably important to mention that this rig is mainly intended for gaming (obviously), but will be used for video encoding, and other mundane tasks. I don't have an actual budget, but I'm way over my intended $1800 already!

btw - I'm in the US, and all this stuff is from NewEgg.com, each with url links: (I included the UK equivalent prices for clarity)

$334 / £192 CPU:
AMD Athlon 64 4000+ San Diego 1GHz FSB 1MB L2 Cache Socket 939 Processor

$167 / £96 Motherboard:
ASUS A8N-SLI Premium Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD

$224 / £129 RAM:
OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Platinum (2-3-2-5 timing)

$314 / £180 Videocard:
eVGA 256-P2-N517-AX Geforce 7800GT 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 VIVO PCI Express x16
(considered the GTX, but the relatively small performance increase doesn't seem to justify the cost increase)

$68 / £39 Soundcard:
Creative Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS SB0350 7.1 Channels 24-bit 192KHz PCI

$268 / £154 Hard Drive:
Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD 150GB 10,000 RPM 16MB Cache Serial ATA150

$86 / £49 Speakers:
Creative Inspire P7800 90 Watts 7.1 Surround Speakers

$139 / £80 PSU:
OCZ PowerStream 520W
(still wondering if I should get more power...)

$109 / £63 Case:
Thermaltake Tsunami VA3000BWA Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower

(Total price of parts still up for consideration = $1709 / £981)

A few items I've already purchased (so I can't make changes):
-Windows XP Pro ($100/£57)
-Mouse/Keyboard = Logitech LX700 wireless desktop ($100/£57)
-Monitor = Samsung 930BF 4ms 19" LCD ($379/£218)
-DVD Burners:Sony DRU 710 dvdrw & HP 640 LiteScribe dvdrw ($180/£103)
-Floppy drive = (who knows/cares, but I got one LOL)

I also intend to get a 200-300gb storage drive (eventually), thermal paste, new cpu fan and a new or additional gpu fan.

Total of pc components = $2468 / £1417
Budget I was aiming for initially = $1800 / £1033

And thanks again for checkin' it and any help you can give! I'm about ready to buy it all, and I just want to get it right!

One question I have though, if I end up going SLI with two 7800GT's, how much power would that require? I can't imagine it doubles the necessary 450w minimum, but how much more would it need?

Case looks like this, btw: (approve?)

 

[juststarting123]

that builds awesome, but i think you should get a 6600GT or a 6800GS and wait until the G71 comes out.

AND, if your in britian, it will cost more because of shipping and i don't think newegg ships there. AND tax

 

[zerodayATK]

hmm.... i think sli needs like 650 but im not sure .. thats a gustimate ... wait till an sli guy comes over i guess you plan on ocing wiht that memory .... oo and the one game that really takes advantage of 2 gigs is BF2 for every thing elses there 1 gig

 

[Oblivious]

that builds awesome, but i think you should get a 6600GT or a 6800GS and wait until the G71 comes out.

AND, if your in britian, it will cost more because of shipping and i don't think newegg ships there. AND tax

Yeah, I forgot to add the $100 or so for shipping. And I've used them before, and there's no tax thru NewEgg (I guess it's included in price). And I am in US, so newegg is a go. I just added the UK £ prices for any Brits who might post here.

As for the vidcard, my current pc already has a 6600gt (agp), so a 7800gt should be a pretty big improvement.

Originally posted by Theyoyokid303 oo and the one game that really takes advantage of 2 gigs is BF2 for every thing elses there 1 gig

I have BF2, and would love to play it with higher settings. I'm also anxiously anticipating Oblivion (the Elder Scrolls IV) which comes out in about 6 weeks. Not to mention, I'd like to future proof my rig for at least a couple of years.

My old rig can play BF2 on mid-low settings w/ no aa/af
It's a modified Dell Dimension 4550 w/ original (junk) motherboard
Pentium-IV Northwood 2.53 ghz
1gb (2 x 512mb) Kingston pc2700 ram
evga 6600gt 128mb AGP
soundblaster Live!
win XP Pro

I'm hoping for a major increase in performance!

 

[zerodayATK]

ok ...... if not ocing go with valueseclet ... o o and if you see your old pc i want first dibs on GFx card ...... lol

 

[juststarting123]

sry, heheheh but, with all the money, save up and wait for the G71 in march, worth the wait

 

[Oblivious]

ok ...... if not ocing go with valueseclet ... o o and if you see your old pc i want first dibs on GFx card ...... lol

Yeah, I intend to OC this rig down the road. As for the old rig, my 7 yr old daughter has dibs!

sry, heheheh but, with all the money, save up and wait for the G71 in march, worth the wait

That's the 7900gtx, right?

LOL While it may seem like I have alot of $$ for this, I don't think I'll be able to afford to get that. I'm already way past what I really wanted to spend. But we'll see. If it comes out and it's $500 or less, I may consider it. But it will need to be a significantly better performing card than the 7800gt for me to do it. That's why I didn't want to spend another $100 for the 7800gtx, I didn't think it was that much better.

Besides, my wife is already going to kill me when she realizes how much more I'm spending than what I told her this would cost!

And I forgot to mention that I will be buying in 4-6 weeks, so I may hold out for the G71 to come out anyways just so the prices of the rest of the lineup will drop.

 

[Oblivious]

I do have a quick question, I was considering getting a dual core AMD, but I don't think I'd see a gaming performance increase with it (unless I buy one of the uber expensive ones). I'm assuming for gaming I'd be better off with a fast single core rather than a slower dual core. The only current benefit I see with the dual cores would be multitasking, correct?

I do hear that some games coming out (like Oblivion) will make use of dual cores, but I think I can wait a couple of years until the price goes down.

That is, unless I can be convinced otherwise.

(btw - I presume the build list is OK then?)

 

[Jam3s-Zer0]

"Corrected by GHOST"
Gamers DO use dual cores as do multi-taskers.

games that were scripted PROIR to the technology of X2's only use one core yes ! however X2's and other dual cores will soon become the future of games as different cores can be given to perform different tasks, i have a X2 3800 and i absolutly love it, would never go back to a single core CPU, i also believe games are already being written to incorporate both cores eg: FEAR and i believe the new unreal engine will too along with the script for PhysX cards.

As you are spending so much i presume that this rig will last you a while? Maybes get a dual core as a future investment...it cant hurt, can it?

 

[Oblivious]

Many changes - Is everything quality?

OK, I've continued tweaking my list. Most of it has changed, and it's even more expen$ive, but what the he||, why not...

Since I'm pretty much going all out, is there anything I'm going too cheap on that I should upgrade further? Reasonable upgrades, that is. For instance, I can't justify the price of an FX processor.

$458 CPU:
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ Toledo Socket 939 Dual Core (1GHz HT/2 x 1MB L2 Cache)

$225 Motherboard:
ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe 939 nForce4 SLI

$200 RAM:
OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Platinum kit (2-3-2-5 timing)

$469 Videocard:
SAPPHIRE Radeon X1900XT 512MB (Core=625MHz/Memory=1450MHz)

$122 Soundcard:
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme

$281 Hard Drive:
Western Digital Raptor 150GB 10,000 RPM 16MB Cache Serial ATA150

$96 Hard Drive #2 (storage drive):
Western Digital Caviar 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s

$210 PSU:
OCZ PowerStream 600w

$109 Case:
Thermaltake Tsunami VA3000BWA Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower