Suggestions for new rig

jaredjared College Station, TX Icrontian
edited May 2006 in Hardware
Hey guys, I am finally getting around replace my desktop computer. My old XP 2400+ with a 9600 pro is past its prime... so I am building myself a nice machine. This new machine I'm building... I am going to have it for awhile.. much like the one I am about to replace, so I want to make sure I build a solid box. Anyways my budget for the machine isn't anything to brag about at around $1200 give or take a little.

Below is what I have spec'ed out from newegg. I set on getting a shuttle since I will be moving to a small apartment next semester and attending some lans (hopefully the SM as well) this summer. Some of the other parts I am not as sure about ie corsair xms vs corsair value. So if you have any input on that, by all means don't hold back.

However, my main question is when it comes to video card selection. Anything from $200-300 and preferably nvidia. I have some ideas, but I figured I would ask some people who are really up to date with video cards and hardware. So, using newegg, with a max of $300... what vid card do you recommend?

(here is what I have so far)
  • AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego 2000MHz HT Socket 939 Processor Model ADA3700BNBOX - Retail ($235.00)
  • CORSAIR XMS 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model Twinx2048-3200c2pt - Retail ($188.00)
  • Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM ($89.99)
  • BenQ 16X DVD±R DVD Burner With exclusive SolidBurn Technology Black ATA/ATAPI Model DW1650 BK - OEM ($34.99)
  • Shuttle SN25P AMD Socket 939 AMD Athlon 64 FX/Athlon 64/Sempron NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra Barebone - Retail ($374.99)
Subtotal: $922.97

Cheers :bigggrin:
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Comments

  • i0esign
    edited May 2006
    I just bought the best deal in videocards in the world....

    I got a X850 XT for $135 at Newegg..

    I have been going nuts for the last month trying to deside between a X1800GTO, X850 or the 7600gt.

    The X1800GTO is huge,wastes a LOT of power, makes a LOT of heat and is 12 pipes.($169)

    The 7600gt is small(good),uses no extra power(good) and has SM3.0(Good?)
    but it is 128bit memory and loud(12 pipes).($179)

    The X850 is last gen(but Top of the line last gen) needs ex power and is big, but 16pipes 256bit mem and FAST for $135. I remember when they were $500

    I saw the 7900gt at newegg for $279(good card, good price but too rich for my blood)
  • jaredjared College Station, TX Icrontian
    edited May 2006
    Yeah I was actually thinking about the 7900 GT, I too saw it on newegg for right under $300 or so.

    I read the GS models suck, so that leaves me with the GT....
  • i0esign
    edited May 2006
    the gs is for AGP.

    have you thought about the Qpack case and a Biostar Tforce micro mobo.
    I have that and its a lot nicer (and cheaper)than the shuttle.

    it also has a handle built in, MUCH better cooling, room for 4 gigs of mem, a better PS, room for a full size video card and 2 HDDs.:Rocker:
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited May 2006
    At a $1200 budget, I don't think he needs to go Shuttle or Biostar.
  • i0esign
    edited May 2006
    Leonardo wrote:
    At a $1200 budget, I don't think he needs to go Shuttle or Biostar.
    ?
  • tmh88tmh88 Pittsburgh / Athens, OH
    edited May 2006
    $375 is pretty damn expensive for a mobo. If thats not it, then i have no idea what hes talking about either.

    Shuttle SN25P AMD Socket 939 AMD Athlon 64 FX/Athlon 64/Sempron NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra Barebone - Retail ($374.99)
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited May 2006
    i0esign, my point was, that with a $1200 budget, why does he need to micro with all its limitations? He can go high performance with his budget.
  • tmh88tmh88 Pittsburgh / Athens, OH
    edited May 2006
    oo, sorry leo i didnt see that it was a micro. Yea go for something bigger. Spoil yourself, buy a lian li.
  • jaredjared College Station, TX Icrontian
    edited May 2006
    Well Leo what would you recommend? If it were your $1200 what would your system look like? I'm all open for suggestions here.

    The reason I originally choose a shuttle is because it is portable (easy to take to lans) and won't take up a lot of space on in my small future apartment.

    The machine is going to be used for a fair amount of gaming, tons of photoshop and illustrator work (hence the 2 gigs of ram), web dev, etc.

    If you think I can get that much more power and performance by ditching the shuttle and spending the money on something else, do tell.

    I just didn't want some huge system that is a complete pain in the ass to move. I have a lian-li case for one of my other machines... not lan friendly to say the least.

    Anyways let me know you guys suggestions...
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited May 2006
    The reason I originally choose a shuttle is because it is portable (easy to take to lans) and won't take up a lot of space on in my small future apartment.
    I just reread your first post. Ok, those parts make sense now. Sorry for going over your thread too fast.

    You might want to consider Antec Super Lanboy. They are small towers, not as small as the Shuttle, but small and light enough to carry around and would be much easier to work in than a Shuttle. The integral case cooling is excellent and they come with a carrying strap. The included case fans, 2 X 120mm are nearly dead silent, but aren't adequate for an overclocked system. The case will accept all full-sized components. My systems 2 and 3 are housed in Super Lanboys. They aren't tall or long, but are deep.

    If you want to look at one close up, CompUSA usually has them on display.
  • tmh88tmh88 Pittsburgh / Athens, OH
    edited May 2006
    yea but dont buy from compusa, everythings a ripoff
  • jaredjared College Station, TX Icrontian
    edited May 2006
    Alright well I am spec'in out my second option which would be ditching the shuttle and going with the lanboy. I checked it out and I must say it looks very nice. Price is about right, lots of room inside for all sorts of future upgrades (compared to the shuttle), yet it is still small enough to carry around. Great suggestion Leo.

    Now I just am looking at at motherboards and stuff.

    cheers :)
  • i0esign
    edited May 2006
    jared did you look at the Qpack

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811144110

    I have one and it has a full size Videocard,fine for the 7900gt. The Biostar Tforce is a much better mobo (for OCing)than the Asus A8N-VM csm

    mine has a 3700+(OCd to 2800mhz), 2 Hitachi Sata2's in Raid0, 4gigs mem,a full size PS and a handle in front.

    Pretty hard to beat for a SFF comp.
  • jaredjared College Station, TX Icrontian
    edited May 2006
    nice man, that looks awesome!

    Now I can't decide!! The Qpack and the Lanboy both look like better options than the shuttle....

    decisions decisions
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited May 2006
    Now I just am looking at at motherboards and stuff.
    The Lanboy accommodates full-size ATX, so your motherboard opportunities just multiplied dramatically.

    TMH88 - CompUSA's prices generally are not good, but much better than most of the mom & pop shops. Their prices can be excellent when they've got sales going in conjunction with rebates.
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited May 2006
    i0esign, that Qpack is a very interesting case. It's a 10/10 on the "coolness" scale. Too bad they don't make it in a size to accomodate an ATX motherboard. I'd be ordering one now!
  • jaredjared College Station, TX Icrontian
    edited May 2006
    Leo I see in your sig your more recent systems all seem to be intel boxes, but any recommendations on a 939 board?

    I was looking at the ASUS A8N-E Socket 939 board..... (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813131530)

    Also from your experiences, is it worth the extra cash to get the XMS line of ram over the value select...
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited May 2006
    mine has a 3700+(OCd to 2800mhz), 2 Hitachi Sata2's in Raid0, 4gigs mem,a full size PS and a handle in front
    That's very impressive for a cube case. I notice the case has a 120mm exhuast port. Tell me more about it's cooling. Can't be too shabby if you've got a 3700+ @2800.
  • i0esign
    edited May 2006
    Actually I got it to 2910mhz with my 3700+.
    Cooling is amazing if you are smart.

    Il post the picts of mine later, I painted the face with color change paint, it turns Green,purple and blue depending on how you look at it.

    It can use a full size PS!!!!!!

    I used a Thermatake copper heatsink with a 80mmfan and had a 3" pvc elbow ducted out the side so it sucked cool and rammed it to the cpu.

    The front 2 corners are perferated so air gets in, and cools the HDDs and the 120 mm fan sucks the hot out(as well as my X850 with the AC 5 cooler.

    I was able to keep the cpu VERY cool by using the ducted air.
  • i0esign
    edited May 2006
    http://qpackbuild.blogspot.com/

    Sorry this is before I got into cable management so its a little sloppy. But it will give you an idea. Also I used the Chenming version of the Qpack case. At the time it was cheaper but only had a 300 watt PS. At first I cut out the back and put a 700 watt monster but later settled on a Coolmax 450(it fit without cutting)

    Also there was room for UV lighting.

    The front pictures are of the same face just the paint changes colors.

    The Qpack is better cause it has a fine PS(420 watt) just remember get a Lite-On CDRW or DVD as they are shorter than others.

    I tried 4 mobos and the BIOSTAR Tforce was the best, with 1 button in bios it ODed the 3700+ to 2750mhz and worked fine for a year till I got bored and built the Lego comp.

    For Lan parties it is so cool, everyone went nutts! And if you used the 7900Gt with a AC cooler it would play so sweet. I have built about 10 of em so if you need pointers or hints just let me know.. Mark:Rocker:
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited May 2006
    Please do post pictures, i0esign! Start a new thread in "Case Physics".

    Jared, I am out of date with my working knowledge of AMD boards. When AMD's bang for buck equals Intel's, I will return to AMD, where I used to be.

    Concerning the DRAM, you will hear many different viewpoints. My opoinion is that unless you plan on overclocking the memory bus, I don't see the point in premium RAM. There are several brands of excellent quality "value" RAM available for both DDR and DDR2. Geil, and G.Skill are two brands of very good quality value RAM. Additionally, I have heard nothing but good reports on Patriot. Unless benchmarking, I really don't think you are going to notice a difference between high performance and value RAM. Others I'm sure, will beg to differ with me. Do be discriminating though. Within the value RAM selections, there are some very big differences in latencies. Some latencies are high enough, that yes, it could make a perceptible difference in performance. But then, sometimes a module with a higher frequency and not-so-good latencies will outperform a lower frequency module with very good latencies. If I have to compromise on frequency versus latency, I usually choose higher frequency.
  • i0esign
    edited May 2006
    Oh oh oh...
    I am using Geil ONE ram now, there is NO equal. 2.5-4-4-7 at 620mhz! 1.5-2-2-5 at 400mhz.

    I feel the same about Intel, someone asked me the other day what is a good Intel mobo and I just looked puzzled and said "I dont have a clue"

    So how bout we make a deal Leonardo when someone asks for Intel il refer him to you.

    Back to the memory, good memory makes it so easy to OC, no dividers just straight up. In the Biostar Mobo I even got the memory faster than the fsb (they said it couldnt be done)

    If there is a good Intel micro mobo general keebler had a article the other day that had a Dual core intel for around $150 i think.
  • jaredjared College Station, TX Icrontian
    edited May 2006
    I was looking at this off of the egg...

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231047

    You said G.Skill isnt bad.. and damn the price is good :D
  • i0esign
    edited May 2006
    jared wrote:
    I was looking at this off of the egg...

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231047

    You said G.Skill isnt bad.. and damn the price is good :D


    Take a look at this too. its a little better.
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145575
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited May 2006
    Woo hoo. That's a nice deal on a 2GB memory kit. Good find.

    good memory makes it so easy to OC
    Yes, that is, if you wish to overclock the memory bus. Even though I have several computers, they were all built on a very tight budget. Motherboards refurbished and from trading forums, PSUs from the parts bin, CPUs from eBay, and good quality value DDR2 purchased new. Would I like to have higher quality DRAM? Well, yes, if someone gave it to me. Setting dividers in good motherboards is simple. On other boards though, like my Abit NF7S-2.0, it's not to great advantage, as there are not enough dividers. (Never did like that motherboard much.:shakehead )
  • i0esign
    edited May 2006
    Thank God for the "refurbished" spot at Newegg, lol
  • jaredjared College Station, TX Icrontian
    edited May 2006
    i0esign, what heatsink did you stick on your 3700? I want to get something other than stock so I can up the clock a litte....
  • i0esign
    edited May 2006
    It depends on the case, if you use a full size case I use the AC cooling freezer 64,

    In the Qpack case I used the Thermaltake because its smaller,copper and has many fins(better for cooling) and the fan has a control to speed up or slow down.


    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835106038

    If money is no object this is a very good cooler(but wont be easy to put in small case)
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835118223
  • jaredjared College Station, TX Icrontian
    edited May 2006
    So could I get some nice speeds from the AC 64 you mentioned... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835185125 it looks nice at isn't quite as expensive as the zalman... although that one looks pretty impressive :D
  • i0esign
    edited May 2006
    I got my 3700+ to 2910mhz with it.

    but 2750mhz seems to be the "sweet spot" 11 X 250 @ Stock voltage and very stable. And any good memory should run straight up at 250 (ddr500)

    this week im building a Watercooling setup to see if I can get it higher. I saw a 3700+ go to 3700mhz before it started smoking (a bad thing)LOL
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