[Cloud Striffe]

Something amazing happened. I thought that my parents weren't goin to get me a graduation gift and then they say that they are going to give me 2500 to build a system. I am willing to add some of my money with it. So the total would come to around 3000. It can be a little more or less. I just want something that will last at least 4 or 5 years while still playin all the recent games. I am completely open to suggestions. Go crazy!!!

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maybe an amd athlon 64 x2

[ernieh]

maybe an amd athlon 64 x2

[warriorscot]

yeah an x2 and a 7800 and 2gigs of ocz. in a coolermaster stacker with water cooling.

[chopyaedoff]

case coolermaster stacker
psu tagan 480w
Amd FX57
ge force 7800gtx
asus a8n-sli deluxe
250gb hdd & 74gb raptor
dvd +/-rw
2gb cosair pc4400
asetek watercooling 3*120mm raditor cpu, gpu, nb ,sb ,hdd blocks

[Cloud Striffe]

I take it that the stacker is a good case? What would be the difference between the FX57 and the X2 from a gaming perspective? I know the X2 is dual core and is fairly fast and I could get probably the 4400+ but isn't the FX57 like $1000? Oh I am going to get the 7800 but i was wondering about going less on everything else and get 2. Should I do that?

[warriorscot]

Well a 7800 is actually CPU limited on almost everything you can play so you might not want to get a really cheap CPU. The X2s are good for games but can be beaten by some of the better fx series i would get an X2 though as it will be a bit more future proof. The stacker is nice im currently trying to work out if i want the stacker or the akasa eclipse. The stacker though is a money pit if you want to add more fans you have to buy new 3.5 inch drive bays and you really need to get the crossflow fan to get good air flow through it to begin with. And the obvious factor thats its friggin massive. The more i look at the cases the more i think ill get a cheaper one(centurion 530) and get a modular PSU from hiper.

[Cloud Striffe]

Yeah I agree that the case is huge I have an enclosure that I keep my case in and it just won't fit in it so I was think about a smaller case and I am going to need extra cooling because it is in that shelf thing. Yeah I have been looking at reviews and the dual core's do get beat but not by much and it is smart to think ahead so i'll probably go with the X2 4400+ cause there is a big leap after that in price. What motherboard and RAM do you suggest? So will everything run alright on the 7800, I am talking about like future games and stuff.

[Cloud Striffe]

Does anyone know the specs for:

Age of Empires 3
Elder Scrolls IV : Oblivion

[Cloud Striffe]

Specs: Budget is $3000(everything is from newegg.com)

Case
ASUS VENTO 3600
$139.00

Power Supply
OCZ PowerStream OCZ600ADJ ATX12V 600W Power Supply
$199.99

Cooling
Thermaltake BigWater CL-W0005 120mm Sleeve Liquid Cooling System
$162.99

Motherboard
ASUS A8N-SLI Premium Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard
$190.00

Video Card
eVGA 256-P2-N528-AX Geforce 7800GTX 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card
$599.00 (possibly x2 if I have the money)

RAM
OCZ Value Series 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 533 (PC2 4200)
$227.01

Hard Drives
Western Digital Raptor WD360GD 36.7GB 10,000 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive &
Western Digital Caviar SE WD2000JBRTL 200GB 7200 RPM IDE Ultra ATA100 Hard Drive
$226

Drives
SONY 16X Dual Layer DVD+/-RW
$108.99

Processor
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ Toledo 2000MHz FSB Socket 939 Dual Core Processor
$1,065.00 (Could go with the 4600 for $820 but looking for something that will last a long time)


Total
$2921 without shipping

This is what I am thinking of at the moment. I know that some people like and dislike this case but I like it. Anything else someone would add or subtract I am still open for suggestions.

[warriorscot]

I wouldnt spend all that money on the CPU you want it to last a long time but with the upcoming possible trend in coprocessors you dont need quite that power and you want something that it wont be to much of a struggle to replace in four or five years time or possibly less. The ASUS boards are really good but while they review well they have questionable reliabilty for AMD processors for some reason: at least thats the trend i have seen. You might check out the Fatality sli board or the MSI one which is really very good.
The Vento is huge as big as a stacker not as tall but its much wider. I think it is the ugliest case ive ever seen but some people like it. You know a cheaper case does just as well as long as it has a pair of 120mm fans that way if you muck up a mod on it it isnt so bad. I looked at the stacker but have decided on the Akasa eclipse its one of the best reviewed cases ive ever seen. Its either that or a cheap centurion 530.
Thats also alot of money to spend for a dvd burner they come alot cheaper and arent essential peices of kit unless you are a hardcore pirate you would be better with two slighty cheaper ones in my opinion.
Instead of a IDE hardrive get a samsung spinpoint sataII for about the same price a pair of them in raid 0 will give you very good performance as well as loads of space.
You cant get DDR2 ran for AMD your mobo supports only up to ddr400 get the ocz stuff with the magic voltage thing and you can clock it up and get killer timings as well it is incredibly expensive though but probably not much more than what you were going to buy.

The thermaltake big water isnt a very good water cooling kit i have a magazine sitting hear with a whole bunch of water cooler reviews: "At only £59.96 the Thermaltake bigwater is the cheapest water cooling kit on the test. Unfortunatley for Thermaltake you can tell." To sum it up it had kinky water tubes and was made out of realy cheap and easily broken plastic. They recomended the Asetek Water chill kits which are quite expensive but are easy to install and are reliable and efficient. If you dont want to spend that much money the cheapest one they sadi was good was the cool river deluxe which was the best cooler but it had northbridge gou and cpu waterblocks so while not the best was impressive for all three and for only 10 pounds more than the big water or the rubbish coolermaster kit.

Hope all that helps.

[chopyaedoff]

get 2gb cosairTwinx ddr pc4400
swiftech watercooling (cpu,vga,sb blocks)
dont get the x2 4800+ i will limit u in cpu limited games more than a fx 57
get the dfi mobo it has the best ocing fetures and is a lot cheaper
get the coolermaster stacker case
with those part you can overclock your rig to 3GHZ+

EDIT: if your doing gaming dont even consider a x2
x2's are only useful if your doing multitheaded tasks like video encoding
x2 4800+ runs 400mhz slower as gamer dont take advantage of the second core

Edited by chopyaedoff, 30 June 2005 - 05:32 AM.

[warriorscot]

His motherboard can only support pc3200 ram why would he get pc4400, and games will be coming out in the near future wich will have the option of making use of the extra core.
Im all against DFI they are to flashy and arent good all rounders in my opinion and without a case window you are paying lots more money for a board which is pretty looking above some of the more important features: its biggest advantage is its monster overclocking ability but it is countered by other features read some reviews its for some people but others wont i wouldnt risk an X2 on one i would rather have the safety features of MSI ABIT and ASUS mobos.
The stacker is a money pit as well and not the most friendly if you want to add stuff that coolermaster doesnt approve or make.