[llmobll]

well i wasn't going to post, cause there are so many threads like this but...



1. If you are deciding on ditching the duron, just get an old school Athlon XP i HIGHLY recommend the 1700+(if you can find them). I would just get the model that is cheapest if you aren't going to overclock. I will outperform your duron and its the same price on pricewatch.com $44


2. The wattage of a PSU is MOSTLY dependant on two things. (1) CPU/Brand (2) HOw much load you are going to put on it. From your specs you're going to be using a less power hungry CPU, with very little load.(ie. you're not running 3 HD's and a powerful vid. card, with 20 fans) I would shoot for 300watts of a quality brand. In reality you could get away with 250 even 200 if its a good supply. I tend to stay with the name brands, antec and the like, but a decent unit will run about $65 or higher.

Last thing i want to mention is, many people argue system instability can be attributed to a bad quality PSU. I've been throwing these boxes(comps.) together for about 8 yrs. and I've had ONE incident where a PSU was the cause of bad system performance. It turned out to be a bad PSU.

The way you diagnose a bad PSU is run Monitoring software, Motherboard Monitor is good, and simply look at your Power rails, are they normal? Do they change with more load? The biggest contributor to bad system performance is a bad motherboard(ECS) design and poor configuration of the operating system.

good luck

 

[uzziah]

i know i am doing my very best to make people crazy, but i think i'll make this a gaming computer as well. here are my thoughts:

amd athlon 64 3000
samsung 160gb hd (do i need SATA?)
ram (do i need 1gb, or is 512mb enough? i'd like to play all the new games such as half life 2 etc., will i experience a lot of slowdown with 512mb?)
nvidia 6600gt based vid card
will try to find a cheaper case ($15 shipping is a lot) nearby
considering arctic cooling cpu heatsink/fan. thoughts? i'd like to avoid the $$$ of the Zalman, but i wan't it to be quiet
maybe an abit mobo

that's the general thought. could use all the info you got. my budget is quite limited, so if you know any way i can save $$, let me know.

thanks everyone

 

[uzziah]

also, is there a significant differeence between amd 64 2800 and 3000, that i should get the 3000?

what kind, and how many case fans do i need? enermax?

considering evga 6600gt agp 8x vid card

 

[uzziah]

what about thermaltake silent power 420w psu? good reviews and good price

 

[gordolindsay]

Hi, I have the Athlon64 2800 and a ATI 9800 Pro for when I game (very rarely) but when I do it is usually doom 3, far cry, and painkiller. Painkiller runs flawlessly on pretty much the highest settings. Doom 3 and Far Cry on the other hand are very demanding. If you are going to be gaming and can't decide on athlon64 2800 and athlon64 3000, go with the 3000. When I'm mutitasking I usually am wishing I had a little more oomph.

Rest of my sys in case you were wondering:

Athlon64 2800
Geil 512 MB Ram
Chaintech Mobo w/nforce 3 chipset
350w Antec PSU inside an Antec case (antecs cases are great...sturdy, quiet,etc)
ATI 9800 Pro
Lite-on CD-RW
Sony Floppy
WD 80G SATA Hard Drive
Audigy 2 ZS
(Total cost= ~$800 all from newegg.com

And that's it...I think.

Hope that helps you out a little

 

[Helter Skelter]

Go for a gig of RAM. 2 sticks of 512mb. I don't care how much or how little you game, you WILL see a significant benefit. Corsair and Kingston's Value series are both quite good and inexpensive. Don't go with a cheap no-name brand.

For video card, a 9800Pro or 6600GT will do very well for not a lot of money.

MAKE SURE you get an nForce3 or nForce4 motherboard (go with socket 939 in either case). VIA just does not compare for features and stability. If you go with nForce4, you'll need a PCI Express video card instead of AGP. Get a PCI-E version of the 6600GT in that case.

A 2800+ will probably serve you just fine. If not, you can always overclock it.

Get an Antec case. They're wonderfuly easy to work with, quiet, and ususally come with very nice power supplies. I recommend the SLK3700BQE or the Sonata, both are relatively inexpensive and come with excellent power supplies. DO NOT EVER SKIMP ON THE CASE OR THE POWER SUPPLY. These are two of the most important and yet constantly overlooked portions of your system.

Don't bother with a floppy drive. They're just not needed anymore.

You don't need to go SATA, and the installation of Windows will be easier if you just stick with IDE, so don't worry about it.

If you get a retail processor, it will come with a heatsink and fan already. This fan may not be the absolute quietest thing around, but it's far from the loudest. You'll probably be perfectly happy with it at the very least until you can save up for a Zalman.

And last but not least, order from Newegg and/or ZipZoomFly. You'll save yourself a lot in time and shipping costs that way. Not to mention they both have great customer service in the event that something gets screwed up.

 

[maarek99]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Helter Skelter Go for a gig of RAM. 2 sticks of 512mb. I don't care how much or how little you game, you WILL see a significant benefit.

If you don't do any gaming I really think you should just buy one 512 meg stick and upgrade if you see the need.

Quote:

For video card, a 9800Pro or 6600GT will do very well for not a lot of money.

9800 pro is not nearly as good as a 6600 gt. But if you don't play games, you don't need either.

Quote:

If you get a retail processor, it will come with a heatsink and fan already. This fan may not be the absolute quietest thing around, but it's far from the loudest. You'll probably be perfectly happy with it at the very least until you can save up for a Zalman.

Use AMD Cool'n Quiet mode too cool down your cpu and speedfan to lower your boxed cooler. Works very well here, 34 celsius idle and 55 when doing processor intensive stuff. Zalman is way too overhyped. Atleast don't get a full copper one, they weigh a ton and the difference between aluminum/copper is like 1 degree.

 

[Helter Skelter]

Quote:

Originally Posted by maarek99 If you don't do any gaming I really think you should just buy one 512 meg stick and upgrade if you see the need.

He mentioned later on that he wanted to have it be a gaming box as well. Regardless, a gig is a good investment.

Quote:

9800 pro is not nearly as good as a 6600 gt. But if you don't play games, you don't need either.

They're closer than you might think, but yes, the 6600GT is the superior card. I also MUCH prefer nVidia's drivers. Problem is that it can be difficult to find an AGP version of the 6600GT right now. If he decides not to play any games after all, then he should just grab a cheap FX5200 or something and call it good.

Quote:

Use AMD Cool'n Quiet mode too cool down your cpu and speedfan to lower your boxed cooler. Works very well here, 34 celsius idle and 55 when doing processor intensive stuff. Zalman is way too overhyped. Atleast don't get a full copper one, they weigh a ton and the difference between aluminum/copper is like 1 degree.

Which is why I recommended sticking with the retail HSF, at least at first.

Also, speedfan isn't realy needed, but it probably offers more control over it than what the motherboard does automatically.

 

[uzziah]

great advice. yes, i'll be ordering from newegg

i'll look into antec cases and psu's

i'll plan on 1 gig of ram

as far as socket 939, the cpu and mobo would be much more $$$. i don't think it's worth it for me, even though 754 is being phased out

more agp 6600gt cards are coming out, at a little over $200. there's an evga one i've got my eye on.

 

[uzziah]

humm, there are a couple socket 939 boards with pci-express. they are significantly more $$ though. however, 6600gt cards with pci-express are a bit cheaper. still would cost more. worth it?

 

[uzziah]

how big psu do you think i need?

 

[uzziah]

350w psu (antec) enough power?

 

[uzziah]

i'm going away for the weekend. when i come back, i hope to place my order. my last questions are:

1. how much psu wattage do i need? 350w antec ok?
2. how many case fans do i need?
3. is pci-express and socket 939 worth the extra $$$?

 

[IstariAsuka]

Quote:

Originally Posted by uzziah i'm going away for the weekend. when i come back, i hope to place my order. my last questions are: 1. how much psu wattage do i need? 350w antec ok? 2. how many case fans do i need? 3. is pci-express and socket 939 worth the extra $$$?

1. 350w Antec is more than enough.
2. The case should come with sufficient case fans, it shouldn't be a problem at all. If they turn out o be too noisy replace them, fans are pretty cheap.
3. Unless you plan on upgrading the system at some point, instead of just getting a whole new computer in a few years, then no.

 

[individual6891]

Quote:

humm, there are a couple socket 939 boards with pci-express. they are significantly more $$ though. however, 6600gt cards with pci-express are a bit cheaper. still would cost more. worth it?

PCI-X is not worth it in the system he is trying to make. It'll cost more and he's only using as a gaming rig as a side on - If he'd want a mega horsepower gaming rig, he'd have to spend a lot more and yes, PCI-X would be on that list.

If he just wants the music/documents/Surfing/Gateway? box then his original spec would be ok, but there's no point "trying" to turn it into a gaming rig.

I would recommend his original spec, but with a sempron - though that spec he listed originally is very budget indeed.

Increasing his budget a tad...
A 160GB HDD is not that much more expensive than an 80GB - and will allow for more expansion options in the future [best bet is to have 2 partitions, one for system and one for your documents so you won't lose it on a reformat - even better is 2 drives!]... you won't need SATA unless you're talking about the horsepower rig as mentioned above - though if you motherboard has SATA interfaces, then SATA drives aren't that much more than IDE drives. If you want a decent drive, try and find one with at least 8mb cache (WD specials, Maxtor Dmax10s etc).

Why a sempron? You could get a barton 2500XP, and with the right knowledge run it at 3200 without no problems if you're lucky (my 2 bartons have hit 2.2ghz no probs, and one's in a minature shuttle case with poor cooling!).

If you're really gaming on a budget, the best card out for it is ATI 9800pro - dirt cheap(er) and was the best card only a year ago.

Here's my recommended spec for you gaming on a budget types:
XP2500@XP3200 (1.8ghz -> 2.2ghz)
Asus A7N8X deluxe
2x512 Geil PC3200 value ram - 2x256 is still fine though for gaming, 1024mb is only needed for games which you won't have the ability to run on your budget
9800pro
There's your base, now build around it - the other options aren't hard.

My current specced Music/Internet/Work PC:
2500XP@3200XP
in a Shuttle SN45G (nForce2)
2x256MB Geil PC3200 ram
Nvidia FX5200 (dont need to game on this rig so whats wrong with a $30 grx card?)
160GB WD 8mb 7200rpm cavier (system partition, files partition)
LiteOn CDRW/DVD Combo [space saver!]
EMU0404 undergoing mods

Now an example of a current top of the line gaming rig:
Athlon64 3800 (939) - oc options
Asus A8V-E Deluxe (v2)
Corsair 2x512mb XMS4000XL Platinum TwinX matched
Sapphire x800XT (256MB) PCI-X
2x74GB WD Raptors in Raid0
in a Silverstone SST-TJ03
...why no soundcard? Onboard sound for gaming is sufficient (Why the hell would you want to listen to audiophile stuff in game?!?!)
Didn't bother typing the other stuff to go around it (dvd drives etc)

Regarding PSU..

It's probably better to have dedicated setups for different functions.. My gaming rig is more unstable with all the stuff thats being installed and uninstalled and settings tweaked and everything. My MP3 box i've had untouched for about a year, current uptime is 2weeks doing various number crunching stuff, on the other hand my gaming rig was reformated twice last year. General systems used for everything (the PCs they sell at Dell or ComputerWorld) are usually plagued with unstability [though mainly due to being multi user family PCS! - I guess if you knew how to look after it correctly it could last a while].

It's kind of difficult to judge what system you want/need without an exact budget or whether you want a dedicated sound box or gaming box?

Hope this helps