[jowens36]

Hello,


I am going to build my first PC! I have always purchased Dell computers but have decided to try building a PC as I hear that I can save considerable $ and end up with a better system.

I will use the system 65% for high end gaming, 25% for microsoft office, 15% for digital video editing and photos (I burn DVDs of family trips etc using Pinnacle Movie Studio).

Here is the system I am considering:

SONY Black IDE Combo Drive Model CRX320EE/B2S - OEM - $31

SONY Black IDE DVD Burner Model DWQ28A - OEM - $41.99

Lian Li PC-60BPlus Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail - $129

1-Western Digital Raptor WD740GD 74GB 10,000 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM - $183

2-Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 ST3250823AS 250GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM - $234

DFI LANPARTY nF4 SLI-DR Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard - $198

1-Leadtek WinFast PX7800GTX Geforce 7800GTX 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - $499

OCZ ModStream OCZ52012U ATX 520W Power Supply - Retail - $129

2-G.SKILL 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Kit System Memory - Retail - $294.02

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ Toledo 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Dual Core Processor Model ADA4800CDBOX - Retail - $885.09

TOTAL - $2,624.10

I am not sure if everything is compatible/optimal. Please comment - escpically power supply and memory.

I am looking to build a system that will give me a good 4 years and that has upgrade potential. I want to be able to run the newest games at maximum settings and I like the SLI configuration because I can always add a second video card when the price comes down. I am also thinking of adding the Creative X-Fi sound card when it is released next month.

What Operating System will I need to run. I currently use XP but have read a few threads saying that XP is not good for dual core processors. Is this true?

Any thoughts or comments are welcome regarding the setup!

Thanks!

Edited by jowens36, 24 August 2005 - 08:20 PM.

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Hi there

If money is no object to you whatsoever, then cool. Personally however, I would go for the Athlon 64x2 3800+ which is $500 less than the 4800+ or even the athlon 64 3000+ ($149). When the price drops right down on the 64x2 4800+ which it will fairly soon, then upgrade to that one & sell the old one. I would use the same tactic for the video card as well.

Also, $300 for 1GB of ram?? Crucial sell matched pairs (2 x 512GB) of DDR which is guaranteed compatible with that motherboard for under $100. Better still, you could buy corsair ram for $125 in matched pairs.

As far as the OS is concerned, you will want to use an OS that supports 64bit processing, such as windows XP x64.

[Samm]

Hi there

If money is no object to you whatsoever, then cool. Personally however, I would go for the Athlon 64x2 3800+ which is $500 less than the 4800+ or even the athlon 64 3000+ ($149). When the price drops right down on the 64x2 4800+ which it will fairly soon, then upgrade to that one & sell the old one. I would use the same tactic for the video card as well.

Also, $300 for 1GB of ram?? Crucial sell matched pairs (2 x 512GB) of DDR which is guaranteed compatible with that motherboard for under $100. Better still, you could buy corsair ram for $125 in matched pairs.

As far as the OS is concerned, you will want to use an OS that supports 64bit processing, such as windows XP x64.

[warriorscot]

The x64 OS isnt really advisable as it is very buggy and performance gain is minimal in 64 bit apps and 32 bit apps can actually decease performance, also drivers have to be created especially for x64 not all manfacutrers have these so any pci cards might not work on the system. I would go with XP pro or get home or MCE and bide your time until the release of vista. For gaming the XP pro is best at the moment only one game makes use of the x64 os and features and that is the far cry 64 bit upgrade.

[Samm]

Warriorscot is right about x64, it is as buggy as [bleep]. However, if you don't use a 64bit OS, its fairly pointless having the Athlon 64x2 cpu.

Like I said before, maybe start off with the much cheaper athlon 64 - no point spending loads on latest 64x2 if windows doesn't support it. You can upgrade the cpu when XP x64 finally stabilises & more hardware supports, by then it will be a lot cheaper anyway.

[warriorscot]

Vista is coming out next year i would wait and get it, the x64 OS was a test bed for the microsoft 64 bit OS features and they have been put into vista.