New Budget Build

[meefle]

My cousin wants to build a comp so i picked out some parts for him just wanted to get some opinions. $800 budget. He has a DVD burner, Mouse, keyboard, moniter.

Parts we're lookin at:
X2 3800+ AM2
G.Skill DDR2 800 1GB
ESC Radeon Xpress 3200 mobo
X1900XT
Seagate 80GB SATA II
Antec Truepower 550W

Links:
CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103735
Mobo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813135024
RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231088
Graphics: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102025
HD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822148107
PSU:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103931

Reason's for wut u guys might think is madness. First off RAM, he will be gettin another 1GB later, its just not in the budget and he wants a dual-core w/ a powerful graphics card. No case yet, he will just use his desk for now till he can save money for a case. Conroe is not in the budget, mobos are too expensive and lowest cpu so far is $180 if that. Also, do not flame on ATI for their drivers, i have a X1900XT and i have no problems wut so ever. The X1900s have just decreased in price due to the upcomin X1950XTX. Suggestions would be nice.

 

[aliasaid]

looks like a great build.


the RAM i'm assuming he's gonna upgrade within a month or 2, right? if its longer than that, i recommend doing something differently...

 

[aspire]

You sure you want to go the am2 route?

there isnt a notable difference in performance, and both mobo's and ram are cheaper for 939.

I would go more along this route
HDD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822152020
RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820220079
MOBO:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813188003
PSU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817151024
CPU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103562
GFX:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130033

Totals around 900 with 2gigs ram
Or you can go with 1 gig for about 800
And at 800 you can throw in a case.
As your total is around 850


Feel free to flame me in any manner you choose.

But hey, I use the mobo there and its great, you cant go wrong with x2, and from what ive experienced with my 7800gt its a great perfromer. I also have the psu and i gotta say, its an excellent and super stable little bugger.

 

[aliasaid]

Feel free to flame me in any manner you choose.

**** ****** ***s **** ******s m******** *****ed







.. but serously, if price is close, stick with socket am2, as aspire said, performance is very close, but so is price.. and there is chance of upgradeability in the future... AM3 sockets might be compatible with AM2...

 

[meefle]

to aliasaid, he'll probably upgrade the RAM 2-3 months after he builds his system. AM3 CPUs are backward combatable with sAM2 but AM2 CPUs are not combatable with sAM3, last i heard

to aspire.comptech, i'm not really the flamin type in less ppl flame on ATI when they've never expeirenced them. i will give s939 a look, since he is my cousin, and i have an extra stick of this laying around: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231046 he could buy that and i could set him up with mine till he can afford another stick. I will look at a different mobo for s939 though, probalby DFI if i can fit it in the budget. And Nvidia gfx cards are out of the question, sry. s939 and AM2 are roughly the same price when it comes to mobos and RAM. The DDR RAM i have in the link above, i bought it for $85 on newegg around last christmas.

 

[aspire]

Hmmm, interesting, i see your an AMD (ati) fanboy and im a nvidia fanboy

ANyways, im hapy with the performance i get and im sure your cousin will enjoy his computer no matte rhow you decide to go.

The only bif i have with AMD (ATi) is the excessive amount of noise theyre coolers make.

Aside from that i fully support them. They are canadian too which helps with the whole acceptance thing

Anyways, i keep reffering to them as AMD seeing as there is extensive talk about AMD completely dropping the ATi name and making everything AMD which would be cool I guess...

 

[meefle]

AMD droppin the ATI name ****in p1sses me off. Although i like AMD more than intel, them droppin the ATI name is just stupid. I think they'll loose alot of support.

About hte coolers, thats y i got a VF900 . Cant hear it and its on 100% all the time. ATI has a new design for their X1950XTX which is suppose to be quieter and they also announced they will have another design for R600.

I think i'm just goin to stick with AM2, my cousin doesnt kno too much about comps, and hes one of those ppl who think "higher = better" which i had to help him with for timings (CAS 4 beats CAS 5, etc.) and the whole Pentium(NOT CONROE) Vs. Althon thing.

 

[aspire]

Scratch that, seems it was just a rumor

AMD will not be dropping the ATi or Radeon brand names

 

[meefle]

where'd u hear that from? I heard from XS which had an article from Xbit-labs or something like that.

 

[aspire]

Interesting... Im finding comflicting information here

http://www.amdzone.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=6107

i caqnt find my previous source but it also quoted an amd official and said they were going to keep both the ati and product names.

At this point, who knows...