Help Choosing specs

ArphaRima

I currently have the following setup, and due to overheating and general outdatedness, I am upgrading. (Mostly because of BF2) The computer I have now is about to die I reckon. I mostly use it for gaming, but its fairly multi-purpose. I may also keep my old one alive as a Media PC or something. Essentials are gaming power, and not too loud - the current one is ridiculously loud.

3.0Ghz P4 pc800
Abit Ic7-Max3 motherboard AGP (I think this is whats dying)
1024 RAM DDR pc3200
WDC 160Gb HD SATA and Maxtor 80gb SATA (both 7200rpm)
Geforce FX 5800 128 ram AGP
Antec Lanboy case

The following is what I am thinking of, but I'm open to suggestions. I am flexible on price but it cant be ridiculous money.

AMD 64 x2 4800+
2048 RAM DDR2
GIGABYTE GA-K8NXP-SLI motherboard PCI-E
Western Digital Raptor 74GB SATA 8MB 10000RPM
Geforce 7800 GTX 256 ram PCI-E
Coolermaster Wavemaster case. (for noise reduction)

Im living in asia, so the parts cant be too exotic -its not a fancy part of asia. They seem to have a few makes like asus, abit, gigabyte and msi. After that I dont have a clue.

Alkers

I'd reccomend listening to that mobo 1st. From what I hear most of the Nforce4 mobo's are very loud. Was recently dissapointed by the noise of mine anyway.

HungryJoey

Hey there...

Well 1st of all you mention nothing too exotic ? you gotta' be kiddin, them spec's you mentioned are crazy... But, what we need to know is what will you be doing on the PC, And possibly 2Gb of RAM might be a little overkill, These day's 1Gb is plenty when needed and not all the time it is...


An X2 4800+ is VERY nice CPU, But still even that, you could be jsut throwing money away with it, VERY expensive..

One thing i really got to Advise with a PC of that power, A decent PSU, make sure you really do get a decent PSU with plenty of AMP's on the 12V rail to power that thing up.

If you are a hardcore gamer or a good game, the X2 is fine at playing that, But it will on utilitise one of the Core's on that CPU so your still not getting real advantage of that... If you really wanted a gaming rig you could go for a 4000+ instead ( Single Core ) and go for 1GB of DDR Top notch Ram and then Mabe go for another 7800GTX and then man you will be playing game's with some extremem FPS...

Get back and say what you think and we will continue.

Hj

Alkers

I'm 99% sure that you can't use DDR2 with those specs. More than likely the fastest you can go for is pc3200. I think this is the case with all socket 939 boards.

Col_Loki

I'm 99% sure that you can't use DDR2 with those specs. More than likely the fastest you can go for is pc3200. I think this is the case with all socket 939 boards.

Yea thats right, should be looking at DDR. You can use more than Pc3200, thats not a problem.

I take it your not going to be all that worried about noise since you have an IC7-Max3 and WD hard disk at the min, ie not looking for a silent system. The Raptor is a noisey hard drive but performance wise you cant beat it. Possibly look at the OCZ Power supply's (www.pcmu.co.uk), the Be-Quiet newer models (www.hitide.ie)..... quiet power supplys with alot of power/quality.

PS About the X2 4800+, unless your doing alot of multitasking you wont really take advantage of the chip. Ie if your playing a game and nothing else you will only be using one core while the other will be pretty much idleing.

HungryJoey

Ehh no, most 939 Boards will support the fastest DDR Ram out there and i wouldn't go with DDr2 , i just noticed that.. stick with DDR for the moment, best IMO... You should go for a Gb or 2 GB , what ever you prefer... Of soemthing along these line's : http://www.mushkin.com/doc/products/memory_detail.asp?ID=196

That stuff is insane... Will leave plenty of room for overclocking if you are intrested in Overclocking... Also if you want to OC in anyway get a DFI motherboard.

Hj

Alkers

"Memory

Type: Dual channel DDR400/ 333/ 266 -184pin
Max capacity: Up to 4GB by 4 DIMM slots "
From the manufacturer's website. Isn't DDR400 Pc3200? I have the same spec on my board - also socket 939 and I've yet to see one that takes faster.

HungryJoey

It takes faster dude, I Use to run Pc4000 ( DDr500 ) Geil Ultra platinum in my board... And my board is rated for Pc3200.

But when u put PC4000 in a Motherboard rated for 3200 the Pc4000 will downclock to 200Mhz Rather then its rated 250Mhz...

There's no reason why it wouldn't work, Trust me i have built plenty of machine's.


EDIT : you say 939Boards don't take Anything above PC3200 RAM ? What boards do ?

Ri_Nollaig

Simona1986 wrote:

Isn't DDR400 Pc3200? .

yeah it is

Jammer

PC4000 will clock back to PC3200, the advantage is PC4000 wont hold back your overclock because it will be running at speeds its rated for

Alkers

It will work but unless you're overclocking there isn't any point. As an example most of the new P4 boards will take pc4000+

Malafus

The Coolermaster Case will provide no (or very little) noise reduction, what you want is something like these or the Antec P180 at the end of this page.

I have the Arctic Cooling T1 myself, it's pretty quiet next to my other machine. And it stays quite cool as well.

No matter what case you end up buying, you might want to invest in a Zalman Northbridge Cooler - unless, of course, your mobo has no fan on its Northbridge.

HungryJoey

Simona1986 wrote:

It will work but unless you're overclocking there isn't any point. As an example most of the new P4 boards will take pc4000+

Well nearly every DDR Board will take it... Just its alot better for Future proof aswel.. Knowing that your ram can clock to 250Mhz with no problem, And you say there's no point... Bull****. Its top performance RAM that will give you insane Overclockable ability and even if not Overclocking, Its solid RAM. What's the point in buying a fast car if the speed limit is 120KM/h ??... Same comparison.

Anyway... Enough about RAM... Still havn't heard from the person who is buying the PC, Hello Anybody there ? :P


Hj

Alkers

Jaysus - I wasn't trying to start a bloody war. I only saw that the board officially supports pc3200 and thought I should tell the o.p. so he didn't spend money where I thought it didn't need to be. You ought to relax.

HungryJoey

Simona1986 wrote:

Jaysus - I wasn't trying to start a bloody war. I only saw that the board officially supports pc3200 and thought I should tell the o.p. so he didn't spend money where I thought it didn't need to be. You ought to relax.

Sorry if i came accross rude, Pardon my frnch also Didn't mean to have a go at you... But There's so much advantages of Using PC4000 RAM... Especially when you can afford it.

The timing's on that RAM are pretty sweet, 2-2-2-5 1T @ DDr500 which is impressive... But think about what i said, Why do people buy sport's car's when its illgal to drive above 120Mk/h ? Its all about the look's and the piece of mind knowing you car can perform Incredibly and at lower speed's it run's comforbaly.. Same comparison again,

Anyway, Yes i understand where you are coming from, Let's drop it here, dragged this on too much... :P


Hj

ArphaRima

Sorry lads for the late reply. Bloody work and the like.

I reckon the 4800+ is pricey, but at the same time will last that bit longer before needing another upgrade. Again its the reason for not buying an AMD FX-55/57. I reckon Dual core 64-bit is the way to go, even as an early adopter. Perhaps the 4400+ or 4600+ will do, but the 4400 is the minimum. I chose AMD because of the lower temperatures, and the 64-bit dual core architecture.

No way am I buying 2 7800 GTX's. Ill be perfectly happy with one, and when mine starts to get slow in a year or two Ill just buy whatever is good then. Each generation increases the speed by far more than having two graphics cards.

Memory; thanks for the tip. Ill buy DDR pc3200 2gb.
(my current memory is 2x TwinMOS PC3200 TwiSTER DDR 512MB CL2
Chip = WLCSP, (DDR-PC400MHz) will this do for the first gigabyte, and then One gigabyte chip on top of that? or do all memory modules have to be the same rating and/or inserted in pairs?) - Ill probably buy 2x1gb and then see if i can add my old 2x512 in the remaining sockets.

The coolermaster case is one of the few mainstream ones available in the country I am in, so Ill see if there are any more. I would have thought that the thick aluminium case would be good for noise, if a bit inconvenient in terms of design and component access. The Antec and Arctic cooler both seem great, but its really doubtful if they are available within a thousand miles of me.

As for the hard disk, the noise doesnt bother me too much, its the performance Im after there (if i can get it here).

PS I dont do overclocking. Id prefer to just buy a new pc. My last attempt ended up as just annoying with stability issues depending on which game etc..

Im especially interested in the RAM issue though so if there are any opinions on what I could try please dont hesitate. Im about to head out and see whats available in this city.Thanks lads.

HungryJoey

Ok so you don't seem to want to change the CPU or GFX card's... About RAM..

try some OCZ gold El 2-2-2-5 1T RAM, sell's for about 183 Euro on Shop4memory.com

I doubt you will find anything in the city worthwile.


Hj

ArphaRima

Going to singapore for a few days next week. Cue my shopping spree...

http://sg.hardwarezone.com/priceguide/download.php
I expect to buy all my gear in cybermind.
Sgd are worth about 1/2 a euro.

If the sb x-fi soundcard comes out by then I'll buy it too.