Advice on new system (apologies in advance)

Fobia

Sorry for posting another one of these, I've seen alot of them and I'm sure you're all tired of reading/replying to them but this is the new pc I'm building up from scratch and I'm just not sure on stuff

This is the setup I'm considering getting...

1. Processor: AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Venice 90nm (socket 939) - OEM.
2. Motherboard: Abit AV8 3rd Eye
3. Memory: Corsair 1GB DDR Value Select PC3200 CAS3.0
4. HDD: Maxtor Diamondmax 10 Plus 250GB IDE ata-133
5. Case: Antec P160
6. Heatsync: Thermalright XP-90C
7. Case Fan: Papst 4412FGL 120mm fan
8. Zalman 400w
9. Gfx card: ATI Radeon 9600 Atlantis AGP 8x (already bought)
10. Dvd-rw: LG DVD-RAM (already have)

This works out at £522 on overclockers.co.uk so allowing about £50 for postage we're talking £577 or €830 for the system, which is within my budget.

Basically, I'm asking is everything there ok? Anything you would change without going too high over budget (about €850)? I'd be mainly using it for gaming. The reason I'm getting a budget GFX card is because I want to wait till quake4 comes out and with it a new range of cards before I upgrade that.

Any advice at all is appreciated...

Thanks in advance

mp3guy

Can't see what PSU, but 400w would do fine. Also, you don't need a heat sink unless you're overclocking, the CPU comes with a stock HSF, with thermal pad already on it, it does the job fine, what its made for, otherwise its fine, you could go two 512mb sticks instead of one 1gb stick, to take advantage of dual channel.

Fobia

I editted the post to include the PSU, going for a 400w Zalman one...

I didn't realise the CPU came with a stock heatsync, so that's off the list

I wont be overclocking at all, do you think that fan is good enough (along with the one already installed)? Do I need more? Or maybe I don't need the extra one at all?

mp3guy

normally the case includes one, so an extra fan should be fine, and considerings its 120mm, and once again you're not overclocking, its fine.

Viper481

Good choice of CPU going with the 90nm chip is the way to go, I would get a better heatsink, You do not only get a good cooler if you are overclocking. Most of the high end coolers like mine the XP-120 cool the nearby components aswell. Man you made one hugh mistake buying that graphics card. You should have got at the very least a 9800 series. A 9800PRo 128 meg is better then the 9600xt 256 meg. As the 9600 is only a 128 bit card where the 9800 is a 256 bit card. No bottle necks!!!!

mp3guy

if the mobo has a fan and you've an exhaust fan theres no need for a different cooler, unless you want to squeeze an extra 6 months life out of the CPU, which won't be for a very long time. And the 9600 is alright, it can play halo, half life 2, but not at full AA and AF at 1600x1200 obviously, but still very playable.

Fobia

Well I'm only paying 60 for the 9600, so it should keep me going for a few months. Thanks for the replies - keep'em coming!

mp3guy

€60's alot for the card, a Geforce 3 Ti 500 is even better, and you could pick one of them up pretty cheap.

Fobia

Well as I say this one is only to keep me going until quake4 comes out, should be ok..

Ciaran500

That CPU doesn't come with a heatsink. You need one marked as retail (not OEM) for it to come with HS.

If you plan on gaming I would splash out on the graphics card a little more. A 9800Pro will play most current games at med/high detail.

EDIT: There also should be lots of cheap second hand 9800Pro around.

mp3guy

Also, you should check komplett, i find overclockers.co.uk are more expensive than komplett.ie

Sgtshaft

Nice rig, but I think your making a mistake by getting an agp mainboard you should stump up a few more quid for a pci express mainbord\graphics card you will regret sticking with old tech in a few months.

Fobia

Any advice on what change to make then? I thought AMD 939 boards were the best for future upgradability so should I stick with one of them? I've heard that you can make a much cheaper system using a different socket, and I'm not sure what kind of upgradability I need - I'm still quite happy with my intel p4 2.24Ghz from 2001

Basically the pc is for quake4 and for general stuff, I want to leave it on all the time so noise is an issue (I sleep beside my pc, and the current one is too noisy really), I've read Sionnach's guide but have ye any more advice taking into account ye know what I'm thinking of buying?

Thanks again, just don't want to go spending all my money on something that's not worth it

Sgtshaft

Fobia wrote:

Any advice on what change to make then? I thought AMD 939 boards were the best for future upgradability so should I stick with one of them? I've heard that you can make a much cheaper system using a different socket, and I'm not sure what kind of upgradability I need - I'm still quite happy with my intel p4 2.24Ghz from 2001

Basically the pc is for quake4 and for general stuff, I want to leave it on all the time so noise is an issue (I sleep beside my pc, and the current one is too noisy really), I've read Sionnach's guide but have ye any more advice taking into account ye know what I'm thinking of buying?

Thanks again, just don't want to go spending all my money on something that's not worth it

939 is the way to go, but get a board like the Abit AN8 Ultra that supports a PCI express graphic card, and go for a card like the 6600gt for around €200 or a x800xl around €300.