Hi all!

I'm looking to build a new machine, my last one having been stolen in a burglary... while I think I can probably put together the mantraps to keep this one safe without any help ;-) some advice on the computer itself would be much appreciated. I'll be using it for a mixture of programming, general surfing/word-processing/etc, and an increasing amount of gaming.

For the programming, most of the stuff I write runs on web servers rather than on the machine in front of me, so the only thing that really matters is that it has the ability to drive two screens using DVI; two screens because I want to see the program's code and its output at the same time, and DVI because (to me, at least) it makes the text much much easier to read than analog VGA...

For the gaming - I play World of Warcraft a fair bit, but my current PC gives an atrocious framerate, and I'm sure it would be hopeless with anything more demanding. I'd like to get WoW up to a decent speed, and have a bit of futureproofing for when I inevitably get bored and find something else to get hooked on.

It would also be nice if the system was reasonably quiet, so that I can leave it on all night in the room next to the bedroom without my girlfriend strangling me.

I already have monitors, keyboard, mouse etc. (the burglars couldn't be bothered with them) and I keep most of the data on a separate file server (which they thankfully also missed) so there's no real need for lots of disk space.

My budget is about £1,000. For US readers, in dollar terms that is - allowing for the combination of exchange rates and overpriced British hardware suppliers - about $1,000. $1,200 if I shop around.

Now, at work I've recently been using an AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ box with 2Gb RAM, and I've been very impressed with the speed - and the consensus on these forumz seems to be that AMD is better than Intel for gaming - so am I right in thinking that this is the way to go? And, for the rest:

* Which motherboard?
* Graphics cards. This is the big one, I have no idea what to do here... AGP? or do I spend the extra on PCIe? Is SLI a waste of money for my (pretty low-end) needs?
* Cases - Coolermaster look like they have some pretty cool-looking boxes, are they any good or are they just pretty?
* PSU - 500W or more?

Thanks very much for any help!


Giles

Sorry to hear someone swiped your system. For this one install it into a special case that causes high volt electrical shock for touching it.

Anyway-
1) Asus A8N-E for your motherboard of DFI Lanparty Ultra D if you want to overclock a bit ($89 USD/$122 USD). If you want to overclock spend $27 USD more and pick up the Opteron 165 instead. You lose 200MHz (easy to gain back with overclocking) but gain twice the L2 cache. Even if you dont overclock the Opteron will run cooler and the fan quieter than an X2.

2) AGP is a dead technology- PCI-E for sure. 7600GT ($200 USD) or 7900GT ($350 USD) if you can afford it. Both will run WoW perfectly- 7900 will last you longer. Unless you can afford 2 7900GTs in the next 90 days or so, SLI is a complete waste.

3) I like the Antec P180 ($124USD) Coolermaster has some good cases though. Or consider the Sontra II ($100 USD) which comes with a 450W PSU (fine for your use). If you get Antec P180 or a case sans PSU:

4) Antec Smartpower II 500 ($65 USD)

Hey shadowduck, thanks for the advice! I was thinking of some kind of setup with a GPS card, a relay, and a connection from the PSU input to the case as an anti-theft device...

A couple of follow-up questions -

1. What kind of memory should I be looking at? I'm thinking of getting this: Crucial 2x1GB 184Pin DIMM PC3200 Non-ECC Unbuffered - but I'm probably missing something important :?

2. Is it worth spending the extra to get this 512Mb GFX card rather than, say, this 256Mb one?


All the best,

Giles

Im not sure if im violating some forum rules by posting this, or if you will be interested in the slightest being an amd fan, but . . .

im been building computers for a while, (slot 1, 370, 478) and thought about assembling some 775s for sale, ill probably list the first one on ebay friday
its $1100 us
intel 930
raidmax scorpio 868 120mm, front, 2x 80mm
1gb corsair value pc4200
7900gt
abit ni8-sli
bundled 420 watt generic with case
200gb 7200.9 seagate
networking
xp home legal
should be an even 1k with no os

if this isnt allowed, just tell me and ill delete it
if you see a problem with my plan (ie hardware incompatability), please tell me so i can avoid a serious eh, situation

500r420 - are you worried about violating forum rules because your post might be construed as commercial, or because you recommend Intel? ;-)

I'm not a confirmed AMD fan, and if Intel is the better option for price-performance then I'd be quite happy to go with it. Unfortunately as I'm UK-based, I won't be able to go for your machine (and I'm kind of looking forward to doing the build myself) - but thanks for the part list, anyway; I've a horrible feeling I would have forgotten to get an HDD if you'd not mentioned it...

1. Get this memory here: Corsair 2GB TWINX2048-3200C2PT

2. Unless its a GTX no, the 256MB 7900GT is fine.
A true GTX: Gainward GeForce 7900GTX 512

And by the way, that system is not worth $1000 USD that guy offered, not even close. Good for you building your own.

Thanks again, shadowduck!

I figure I'd better get one good build under my belt before moving on to overclocking, so I'm going for:

* CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ S939 512KB
* Memory: Corsair Memory TWINX2048 - 3200C2PT XMS3200 2x1GB 2x184DIMM CAS2
* Motherboard: Asustek A8N-E S939 nForce4 Ultra ATX
* HDD: Western Digital Raptor 74GB S150
* Graphics: Asustek GeForce 7900GT 256MB DDR3 PCIE Dual DVI
* Case: Antec P180 EU PC Case Performance One Series
* PSU: Antec SP-500PGB
* Disks: Mitsumi 7 in 1 Media Drive Internal BLACK, NEC DVD+-RW/RAM 16x IDE Silver LabelFlash Dual Layer

Am I missing anything obvious?

All the best,

Giles

passive cool for the hd?
if you go with intel, the 930 @ $210 is a fine deal
and you can go ddr2 as well
not sure the difference that makes

Thanks for the heads-up on the disk cooling, 500r420 - as far as I can tell from the HDD forum I should be OK with the case I'm going for, so long as I make sure there's good airflow - but I'll keep an eye out.

I'll stick with AMD, let's see how it goes.


Cheers,

Giles

Whoah, glad I kept reading the HDD forum. As far as I can tell from this thread, I was wrong: Raptors do need active cooling. That's probably overkill for me at the moment, so I'll just get a Western Digital Caviar 250GB S300 16mb 7200rpm.

500r420, thank you for saving me time and money :-)


Giles

Is 74GB of space enough for all your data? Hard drives fill up quickly now, and the Raptor is really not that huge of an advantage. I would trade it in for a 250-300GB SATA II drive with 16MB cache.

i never use up more than 20, as i keep very occasionally used media (ie video) on dvds
other than that, its just the docs im working on, music etc and one game at a time

and the wd740 acces is 8.8ms average which is nuts
its also like mid 60s read transfer

the 1500 is mid 70s i believe
if my main comp wasnt a laptop, id be all over that

"She's fast enough for you old man" - Harrison Ford

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/Prod [...] ode=370811

74Gb probably would have been enough; I have all of my data on a NSLU2/Lacie USB disk combo, so the machine's own disk would only have needed to hold the OS and applications... however, now that I've decided against the Raptor (because it sounded like cooling might get complicated), I'm getting a 250Gb SATA 2 drive anyway - so I guess I'm futureproofed against any 100Gb applications that come down the line :-)

If you havent already purchased anything, want to buy my system? Must Sell, it is close to what you are looking for I think.

For Sale
Duel Opteron System
2 single core 248 Opterons
Copper heat sinks
Asus K8N-DL board
2 GB DDR 400 duel channel ram
LightScribe 16x DVD Burner
2 120 GB hard drives raid 0 for 240 GB
6800oc graphics card
108g D-link extreme Wireless card
And Floppy in a mid tower case
$1700
If you are interested PM me, feel free to post your questions. I can take PayPal (I don’t have a business account, so you will have to have an account) Check, money order, cashiers check or cash at your own risk. If you have any questions feel free to ask, once again I must sell, $1700 and all accept the HDs are less than 6 months old.

Shopping Cart (Prices in British Pounds) REFERENCE DESCRIPTION QUANTITY PRICE COST REMOVE
MB-131-AS Asus A8R32-MVP Deluxe Crossfire (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-131-AS)
£109.95
MY-094-CS Corsair 2GB DDR XMS4000PT TwinX (2x1GB) CAS3 (MY-094-CS)
£134.95
*2 HD-091-MD Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 10 NCQ 160GB 6V160E0 SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-091-MD) RAID-0
£79.90
CA-016-TT Thermaltake VB1000SNS Soprano SuperMidi Tower - Silver (CA-016-TT)
£39.95
CA-045-AN Antec NeoHE 500W Modular ATX2.0 PSU (CA-045-AN)
£59.95
CD-019-AS Asus DRW-1608P3S 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Beige) - Retail (CD-019-AS)
£23.95
CP-126-AM AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4200+ (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA4200BVBOX) (CP-126-AM)
£204.95
GX-047-CO Connect3D ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (3056) (GX-047-CO)
£239.95
Subtotal £893.55
VAT £156.38
Total £1,049.93

How about this about £1000 and a very good machine in my opinion
This would satisfy your gaming needs for you price its from www.overclockers.co.uk