Recommendations?

P

pillowsandpillow

Guest
AMD Athlon 64 3400+ retail $219

Asus A8V Deluxe VIA k8t800 refurbished $74

ATI RADEON X800 PRO Video Card, 256MB GDDR3, 256-bit, DVI/TV-Out, 8X AGP -RETAIL $400

Corsair TWINX1024-3200C2 1GB DDR400 XMS3200 Dual-Channel
Memory w/Heat Spreader Retail $194

BenQ 16x, Dual Layer DVD+/-RW Drive with Software, Black Model DW1620 PRO, OEM $52

Windows XP Home Edition w/SP2 - w/MS Plus! Digital Media Edition - OEM $112

total 1052

Any recomendations on a case and power supply?
Is this a good system? Will this allow me to play that new level Valve is making?

Does anyone know what I would need to use a Mac monitor on a PC?
 
I would seriously suggest going with a socket 939 processor. Socket 939 is for the future and will be able to upgrade later on EASIER. Also, I would suggest going with PCI-Express. PCI-Express is the latest technology for videocards. the X800's and the 6800's are the last to be made for AGP. You will benefit in the long run if you were to go with an X800 PRO PCI-Express and a PCI-Express capable motherboard. Let me be the first to say...

There is no future with AGP.
 
From what I understand, Shamrock is right.

I personally like Antec cases and power supplies. I've had the SX1040BII for about three years now and I haven't had any problems with it. It's kinda heavy for LAN parties though.

I also heard somewhere that Socket 754 processors do not support Dual Channel RAM.

What is your maximum price range?
 
If you don't plan on unlocking the pipes on the x800 pro it'd be better to get an x800 XL :)
 
What is this "unlocking pipes" thing I keep hearing about, and can I do it to my 6800?
 
how about this?

Thanks for the suggestions. How about this?
It's a little more expensive than I would like? Any suggestions on bringing it down? Will a 430 watt power supply be enough?

AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Processor Socket 939 & Asus A8V-Deluxe Via K8T800Pro Athlon 64(FX) Skt939 Motherbaord Retail Bundle 400

MSI nVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT Video Card, 256MB GDDR3, 256-Bit, Dual DVI/VIVO, PCI-Express, Model "NX6800GT-VT2D256E" -RETAIL $450


Corsair TWINX1024-3200C2 1GB DDR400 XMS3200 Dual-Channel
Memory w/Heat Spreader Retail $194

BenQ 16x, Dual Layer DVD+/-RW Drive with Software, Black Model DW1620 PRO, OEM $52

Windows XP Home Edition w/SP2 - w/MS Plus! Digital Media Edition - OEM $112

ANTEC Performance Plus Case with 430W Power Supply, Model "PLUS1080AMG" - Retail $116

total 1324
 
If you can afford it, get some fast ram (pc4000 or above) - I have the same cpu (939 3500+) and with decent memory you can make it fly \o/

DFI make a great 939 PCI-E motherboard, and i'd get a x800xl over a 6800gt.
 
I found one very good combo on tigerdirect.com. The product number was as follows: CX-5959. Made by Soyo, came with the case(specifically made for LAN gaming) along with Keyboard, Non-optical mouse, & speakers for $49.99 USD if I'm correct. Try looking it up, looked like a pretty good deal.

As for your power supply, anything that is 350 & up, you'll be fine with.

And overall your system will handle Source engine games fine. However, I think that if you want to save some money, I'd go with a 6600GT instead of a 6800GT. It's $200 USD cheaper & delivers almost the same quality w\ a 10 fps difference, so you're not benefiting too much from getting the 6800GT over the 6600GT or even the X800 Pro.
 
Anyone know what effect latency has on RAM? I hear that it's the lower the better. I'm asking because it seems that pc 4000+ RAM has higher latencies than PC 3200 RAM. PC 4000+ seems to be as expensive as the best PC 3200 RAM so maybe they cancle each other out?

I'm getting the Gigabyte motherboard that Shamrock recommended, but it's still being shipped. I can just say that it appears to do well in reviews and that's why I chose it.

That case and power supply should do well. It looks just like the case that I have, so it probably comes with the same fans that mine did. That is the only thing I didn't like about my case. The stock Antec fans, while they are enough, don't pull much air through the machine. I couldn't tell which way they blew by feeling the air; I had to look to see which side of the fan accumulated more dust because you can't even feel the air going through. I never had any overheating problems, but fans by Thermaltake are much stronger by comparison.

I'm pretty much building the same system as you and no one has told me that my 380W power supply would'nt be enough, so yours should be much more than capable.

I also chose the X800 XL over the XT. The XL also seems to do better in bench marks against the 6800gt. In some games the GT does better (Doom 3) while in others the XL is better (HL 2).
 
Shamrock said:
I would seriously suggest going with a socket 939 processor. Socket 939 is for the future and will be able to upgrade later on EASIER. Also, I would suggest going with PCI-Express. PCI-Express is the latest technology for videocards. the X800's and the 6800's are the last to be made for AGP. You will benefit in the long run if you were to go with an X800 PRO PCI-Express and a PCI-Express capable motherboard. Let me be the first to say...

There is no future with AGP.
Click to expand...

i wouldnt neccesarily say that its a dead technology, because that whole x16 bandwidth isnt doing so much of an impact atm...i heard that theyll still be making agp cards for a bit...so you can go agp now but your next upgrade could be pci-e....thats if you dont want to go pic-e now which would be more future proof
 
You can get pc4000 with pretty decent timings (cas 2.5 is fine). Coupled with an A64 it will completely blow pc3200 out of the water. These chips overclock so well - it's nice to have memory that can keep up.
 
bryanf445 said:
i wouldnt neccesarily say that its a dead technology, because that whole x16 bandwidth isnt doing so much of an impact atm...i heard that theyll still be making agp cards for a bit...so you can go agp now but your next upgrade could be pci-e....thats if you dont want to go pic-e now which would be more future proof
Click to expand...

Could you please tell me the AGP cards that will be made in the upcoming months?

It will be a dead technology of course by next year, but I do not think he wants to buy almost a whole new system next year with a new video card to fit his PCI-E mobo. It is best to go with PCI-E as stated multiple times.

Although, like bryanf445 said, the X16 bandwidth on the PCI-E cards are not being utilized to the full potential at the moment, but as soon as companies start focusing more on PCI-E than AGP, which is pretty much what they are doing now, that is when you will see PCI-E cards come out on the market and own every previous card before it. :E
 
What would be the longevity of the 6600gt as opposed to the 6800 and the 6800gt? The price is so tempting...
 
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