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#1
CDReckless

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Hi guys,

I hope that this is the correct forum to post this under. But I see other posts that are similar here, so I'm guessing that it is.
But it's the same ol' question that I've seen on different posts. However, this is for my own rig and I need so help from people that actually know what they are talking about. My friends are more likely to say "Hey, I like green" as they are to recommend RAM.

And I apologize for it being so long, but I wanted to give you as much info as I thought that you'd need in order for you to give your advice.

To give you an idea of where I'm coming from: I'm using an old AMD 1.8G with an ATI 5600 and K8N board. So, I'll be jumping up a lot.

Anyway, I'm trying to shoot for something around the $1500US range. I do not plan on doing any overclocking initially. Mainly b/c I'm not comfortable enough with my knowledge base. I have enough to be dangerous to myself and others and I'd probably blow up my rig. However, I want to make sure that I have all the proper hardware so that when I do want to overclock, I have the right stuff and I'm not saying to msyelf "Shoot, I'd wish that I bought this rather than that."

Anway, I'm looking at this right now.

CPU: AMD AM2 4600+
Motherboard: Asus M2n32-SLI Deluxe nForce 590 chip
Video Card: 7900GTX 512mb (not dual, not SLI yet)
Memory: Corsair XMS2 2G (2x1G) DDR2800 PC6400 4-4-4-12
Power Supply: FSP Group FX600-LGN ATX 12V
HD: Seagate 160G 7200 (not Raid yet)
Case: Undecided


To give an explanation on this so that you won't waste your time on something that I already thought of.

I chose the AM2 4600 as I knew that I would probably want to upgrade that in a year or more. The price on the 5000+ (or the next big thing) will probably be down as the time goes on (especially with the Conroe coming out today, the 24th). I went with the AM2 as that is the way of the future it seems. I don't want to go Conroe as I know that I won't be able to afford that (it'll push my just a little too far in money). So, I'm hoping that this will keep me warm.

Asus M2n32-SLI Deluxe nForce 590 chip: well, it's ASUS, it's AM2 and the new 590 chipset. I did ALOT of research on this one and this is actually one of the best out there. Eventhough it's first gen, they built the thing right (go figure).

I went with the 7900GTX as the 7950GTX just came out and I don't need that much power (yet). Plus, I can SLI the 7900GTX in a year or so and get pretty good timings off of that. Oh yeah, the 7900GT is only $60 less, and at this price of the rig, what's $60 more??

The memory is, well, the best. But is 2G worth it at this point? Plus, the mobo is really picking on the memory. I just don't know if 2G is overkill at this point. I'm only using the rig for gaming primarily.

I"m a little leary on the PS. I haven't gotten a FSP before, but it got good reviews on Newegg.. Anybody recommed a good PS that is around 600w (I'll take anything over 550w)?

The case is still up in the air. I want to get something with a side panel and at least the 120mm fans (no watercooling, mama didn't make that brave of a boy). I'm still doing research on all of the kinds that I can get. Plus, I don't know if I want to splurge and get stell over aluminum. Still gotta decide that.

The rest of the parts I'm just taking from my old system (Optical, monitor, etc.)

Any thoughts on this are greatly appreciated!!!
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#2
warriorscot

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X2s are pretty cheap and they are a pretty good buy, intel has a performance edge but it aint huge and the way AMD is talking we might get a surprise and see K8L a little early, and again cheap prices, it all looks good but i wouldnt buy to expensive a gfx card as they technology is about to make a fundamental change with the switch to a newer version of Direct X which will make the cards designed for it 6 to 8 times more powerful just because they use this new Direct X. Unfortunately it isnt compatible with DX9 cards that are out now so they will be obsolete fast. So a GT or even a 7600 would make better sense then upgrade at the end of the year with the money you save now.

I wouldnt go FSP i dont think they are that bad but the name rings alarms bells in my head cant remember why, i think they made the iffy sparkle PSUs. Antec or Enermax maybe ultra would be a better bet.

I would up the HDD to 200-250Gb as they are better value in that range up to baout 320Gb they get cheaper per Gb up to that point then they go up again as drives get hideously large.

Im still of Asus at least for AMD, there 939 boards got great reviews and were priced well which made alot of people buy them but they had ALOT of problems and some people need to RMA boards more than once and then some only got them to work after alot of work, they are still in my bad books i would go for a board by someone with a better track record like MSI, or ABIT, personally i prefer MSI boards for a few reasons a big one is build quality they rarely go wrong.
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#3
CDReckless

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Thanks for the info.

Question on the new cards. From what I read on the DX10 vs DX9, old cards will still work. Meaning that if a game was written using DX10 and you have a DX9 card, it will play. Just in DX9. Isn't that correct? Or did I get bad info? On a side note, the reason that I'm going 'heavy' rig on this is that I won't be able to afford any upgrades until over 18 months from now. I'm buying a house and trying to get this done under the radar before the wife sees how much it is. :blink:

I thought that I read a lot about the ASUS boards being iffy for the 939. I just couldn't find a decent AM2 board with Gigabyte or Abit. I mean, I could, don't get me wrong. I just found more bad reviews of their AM2 boards vs the ASUS board. Maybe it has something to do with the 939 vs. AM2. I wish I had the URL's to give you (just for your info), but I don't have it with me on this system. I guess it all comes down to a crap shoot. You could ALWAYS get something bad. Let's hope that whatever I decide on won't be one of the 'bad' ones. :whistling:

Thanks for the info on the PS. I know next to nothing on these things and I'm absorbing all that I can.
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#4
warriorscot

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The new games will work but they wont look as good or perform as well, personally i would stash the cash saved and sneak it later but if you have to get something again dont go to expensive because its just a waste get the GT and overclock it if you have to cutting edge is rarely worth the extra cash and usually the only difference is clock speeds and you can change those yourself.

The Fatality looks a good board from abit(they always are) but it looks a bit bare on the AM2 looks wise weird as Fatalities usually have all fancy fans and lights and crap like that, I would look at the MSI diamond board it looks pretty good i do have a lean towards MSI because their boards have never let me down and i see hardly anyone with them having problems on here, but Asus i saw alot of in its whole 939 range which makes me wary of any other range at least until i see actual results(apparently they also were bad in the past with socket A which again shows a bad trend) but it might be a great board and they fixed all the problems. Looking at the MSI it also uses a Creative integrated sound blaster which is unusual but pretty good as its better than the standard AC97 of most boards.


As long as its Antec, Enermax or Ultra your safe on the PSU front there are a few other brands worth mentioning like Tagan, Seasonic and OCZ but they might not be as abundant.

Case wise look around as long as its got 2 120mm fans you are fine, also steal cases are often cheaper than Aluminium, Aluminium is the better material its lighter, stronger and has better cooling properties so alot of high end cases are aluminium.
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#5
CDReckless

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Awesome info. Thanks very much for this. It helps a great deal to talk to someone that knows what they are actually talking about. :whistling:
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