[BenB864]

Which one would be the better buy, the OEM or the Retail?

Thanks for the ATI overclocking program, ill be fiddling around with that eventually, is overclocking difficult for a first timer?

I was also looking into getting the AMD Athlon 3700+ San Diego, would that be a smart idea, i didnt see it as one of the processors compatable with the MSI board on their website, it might just not be listed, do you think its compatable?

I cant wait to get going with this...

Thanks for all your help

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Yeah should be compatible thats a good cpu as well so i would definately fo for one of those. Overclocking the gfx card is really easy for noobs. The cpu is harder more factors to think about in that one. I just finished a liitle bit of hl2 use, type the command net_graph 1 into console to see your fps, playing the coastal road bit so thats the most fps crushing section. Highest i was getting at 70 but for moving fighting 40-50 and 35 being the lowest i hit in the crane with the guys shooting at me although it was just the odd flash 35 was jumping between 35 and 45 at that bit and driving next to the water in the buggy. the rest was anywhere from 45 to 70 no water your talking 50 - 70 fps average. at max so not bad on the hl2 front.

[warriorscot]

Yeah should be compatible thats a good cpu as well so i would definately fo for one of those. Overclocking the gfx card is really easy for noobs. The cpu is harder more factors to think about in that one. I just finished a liitle bit of hl2 use, type the command net_graph 1 into console to see your fps, playing the coastal road bit so thats the most fps crushing section. Highest i was getting at 70 but for moving fighting 40-50 and 35 being the lowest i hit in the crane with the guys shooting at me although it was just the odd flash 35 was jumping between 35 and 45 at that bit and driving next to the water in the buggy. the rest was anywhere from 45 to 70 no water your talking 50 - 70 fps average. at max so not bad on the hl2 front.

[BenB864]

Yea i figured why not spend a little extra for the San Diego if its better, its worth it to me. Thanks for the info on how to find FPS ill check that out tomorrow as im about to go out. Other than that on the Graphics Card which way is better, OEM or Retail? I cant seem to think of anymore questions ill be starting to buy stuff as soon as possible, thanks for all the help

[warriorscot]

Retail, you get all the drivers and manuals and with the cpu you get the hsf. OEM is just the part in the box for drives you are fine but dont get cpu, ram or gfx oem.

[BenB864]

Ok so as a final check this is what I intend on buying.....and I believe everything is compatable, if it is not please let me know

Case : Antec Super LanBoy

Mobo : MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813130484

Vid Card : ATI 100-435513 Radeon X800XL 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814102543

PSU : Thermaltake Silent Purepower W0014RU ATX 480W Power Supply 100 - 240V - Retail

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817153007

CPU : AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego 1GHz FSB 1MB L2 Cache Socket 939 Processor - Retail

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819103539

RAM : CORSAIR XMS 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Kit System Memory - Retail

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820145450

HDD, Monitor, Keyboard, Mouse - I have

All for just under a grand without shipping, Is there anything else i need to buy??


Ben

[OneCool]

I would choose different ram and video card myself.


but it all should work fine ...goodluck and post back when its setup

[BenB864]

what ram would you recommend

[BenB864]

I have actually been reading around and am seeing that games like BF2 when on high use more than a GB of ram so i was thinking of going with 2GB....is OCZ know for its reliability and quality....I was thinking of these

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820227210

[OneCool]

nice!!

[warriorscot]

Yeah thats good stuff. Overclocks very well as too.

[BenB864]

Ok final thing, the Video Card I want to go ATi, i think... and as warriorscot talked about the X850Pro i checked it out. They are the same price as the ATi X800XL so is it really that much better, it has less pipelines, 12 in the Pro and 16 in the XL but I read the clockspeed more than makes up for it. What do you guys think X800XL or X850Pro and if Pro, which company, POWERCOLOR, Sapphire, or ASUS

Ben

[KGH]

The Tt PSU you have selected only puts out 18A on the 12v rail, which is a little low for your system.

The Tagan 480W has dual 12v rails, and is considered to be one of the best PSU's in its price range (it is a little more than your Tt, but it will be worth it).

[BenB864]

Thanks for noticing that, will 480W be enough then, or do you think something more powerful would be better

[KGH]

Total wattage is only one relevant factor. Most important for current systems are the 12V and 5V rails.

The Tagan has 2 x 12V Rails putting out 20A each. This can be changed to operate as one single 12V rail putting out 36A I think.

That will be plenty.

As for the video card, Sapphire make very good cards, though I think they are a little more expensive than most. Either the X850 or the X800XL will be great. I'd probably go for more pipes because the core and memory clocks can usually be overclocked so the clock speed advantage with the X850 might be insignificant.

[warriorscot]

The x850 is uver fast in the core and you might be able to unlock the extra pipelines giving it the full 16, its up to you the x850 i think would be faster since it has the x850 uber core. And with the pipes unlocked if you can and i slight overclock you have a cheap x850xtpe and if you leave it unoced its still a really good card.