Time for this lady's new rig!

AnnesAnnes Tripped Up by Libidos and HubrisAlexandria, VA Icrontian
edited August 2006 in Hardware
Alright! The time is right! After being without a desktop computer since last September it's time to build my new rig! Here's the run down...


Use: Gaming (HL2, WoW, anything you guys play at the SM LAN), web publishing, multitasking is a must, Folding for Team 93

Budget: $800 - $900

What I have already:
- Antec TruePower 430W PSU
- Monitor, Mouse, Keyboard

Wants:
- Something that will be easily upgradable to the next gen or at least make it so I don't have to buy ALL new gear to upgrade
- Not bleeding edge, but leading edge, I don't want it to be too hard to find support
- Stuff that will work well with Linux
- Something that will give me the best bang for my buck


I already have some specs in mind, but all of you are MUCH more experience at this than I and I would love your suggestions and help.

Oh yeah, I'm looking to have this built in two weeks...sorry to spring it on you guys. Thanks for the help!

Comments

  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited July 2006
    Do you have any memory on hand? If so, what make and spec is it? This will help get things rolling in an appropriate direction. Sorry to say, the leap to the next generation will require a new power supply and may or may not make it for this one.
  • AnnesAnnes Tripped Up by Libidos and Hubris Alexandria, VA Icrontian
    edited July 2006
    The RAM I have on hand: 1GB of Corsair ValueSelect PC3200

    Would I need to get a higher-quality PS? Is it too low voltage?

    Thanks for the help.
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited July 2006
    Your PSU will be just fine unless you go dual video card or have four or five drives running simultaneously. I have that same drive powering a dual core Pentium D820 system overclocked nearly 1000MHz with CPU at full load 24/7. It performs like a champ.

    The next generation technology is Intel Conroe (Core Due). It's already out, but the CPUs and supporting motherboards are still pretty fresh. AMD's AM2 is older than Conroe, but is still not what would be considered mature.

    If you want to be able to move into the next generation, you might want to consider a high quality Conroe-capable motherboard, such as an Asus P5WDH. For the interim, you could run a Pentium D805 dual core CPU. They perform nicely, and for the money - less than $100, they are an exceptional value. You would also need to purchase 1 to 2GB of DDR2 memory if you wish to be ready for the next generation - either AM2 or Core Duo. SATA or PATA hard drives will work with the P5WDH motherboard. So at this point, all you'd need to purchase would be memory, motherboard, and CPU, hard drive, and optical drive. All this comes out to approximately $620-750, depending on quantity and quality of system memory. You could run the D805 for a couple months until you think the availability and maturity of Conroe CPUs is ready to buy into. The cost estimate I provided not include a PCIe-format video card. I am not a gamer and would prefer that a gamer advise you on that.

    You could also chose an AMD system, but the parts you would need to purchase would be the same, just different formats (AMD CPU and compatible motherboard). If you chose this Asrock Dual SATA motherboard, you could continue using your PC3200 memory. In my opinion, the Asrock-AMD system would be a moderate upgrade, not necessarily significant, and your future upgrades with it would be limited because it only has DDR(1) RAM slots.

    If you want a complete, unequivocal step up from what you currently have, I would recommend the Conroe-ready system that I outlined above. Of course, you could just wait a couple months for Conroe availability and dispense with purchasing the D805 in the interim. By then, most of the Conroe motherboards at the major online retailers should have BIOSes well-matched for Conroe CPUs. By then, you should have a better choice (lower costs options) of good performing motherboards.
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited July 2006
    StainMeNow wrote:
    The RAM I have on hand: 1GB of Corsair ValueSelect PC3200

    Would I need to get a higher-quality PS? Is it too low voltage?

    Thanks for the help.
    Actually that memory would work fine for what I have in mind. :bigggrin: [strike]The PSU could be OK to if the video card isn't too much.[/strike] That would be the deciding factor. I decided to fix your system with a top notch video card so you will need a bigger PSU (mostly extra on the 12v rail). Since you want this in 2 weeks I will eliminate an Intel Conroe system. The cost of a suitable board for such a system would be prohibitive in your budget also. I currently don't have enough faith in AMD's AM2 platform yet as they need to make some revisions to get things working better (that's why I asked about having some memory on hand). This brings us to socket AMD's socket 939. Despite it not being the latest it is still not a slouch. As a matter of fact it performsjust about step for step with the newer M2 and is much more reliable. Since you have memory you won't be losing anything extra when you make the next jump in performance. Here is a system I feel would work great for some time to come.

    TOTAL = $933.42
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited July 2006
    "Two weeks?" Sorry, I missed that. In that case, I would listen very closely to what Mt_Goat has to say.
  • AnnesAnnes Tripped Up by Libidos and Hubris Alexandria, VA Icrontian
    edited July 2006
    Yeah, I need to have it built before my sister and her husband get back from the honeymoon. I promised them I would.

    I was seriously thinking about getting an AM2 processor....but I think is Mt_Goat doesn't trust it there's no reason for me to. Thanks so much guys!
  • AnnesAnnes Tripped Up by Libidos and Hubris Alexandria, VA Icrontian
    edited August 2006
    Now, would it be stupid to put both an IDE and SATA hard drive into the same computer? I've never heard of anyone doing this before but I'm assuming it's alright, just run the OS and apps off the SATA and use the IDE for file storage.

    I just found a 160GB IDE drive in my box of older parts, this is why I ask.
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited August 2006
    Or you could save $115.00 of Goats suggestion for the 7900GT and shop at Short Media :) and get something pretty dang good also :)

    I would go Low end AM2 if I was you, as AMD's new roadmap shows Quad core support for the AM2 socket, all 939 CPU's are being phased out. Sure they are cheap but so are the new AM2 CPU's :) Intel also has some good offerings, But I am an AMD guy no matter who has the current performance lead :)
  • edcentricedcentric near Milwaukee, Wisconsin Icrontian
    edited August 2006
    No problem mixing drives, but a lot of the new mobo only have a single DIE header, so one HDD and one Optical drive will fit.

    I am with the guys on this. In a few months Core2 will be the way to go. Right now the mobo is $250 and CPUs are dear as well (over $1,000).
    The choice of getting a Core2 ready mobo and putting a lesser CPU in it for now is tempting. The problem is the budget.
    On second thought maybe this will work.

    $250 for the mobo, $300 for the 7900GT, $150 2x1GB DDR2 800 (PC2-6400)
    Your PSU and HDD
    A cheap case, a cheap DVD, together less than $100
    And top it off with a D805 for $100
    Then in a few months buy a good SATA HDD and a Core2Duo CPU.

    Why not? The Asus P5WDH is very fast, I don't see that it is much of a risk.
  • BlackHawkBlackHawk Bible music connoisseur There's no place like 127.0.0.1 Icrontian
    edited August 2006
    Now, would it be stupid to put both an IDE and SATA hard drive into the same computer? I've never heard of anyone doing this before but I'm assuming it's alright, just run the OS and apps off the SATA and use the IDE for file storage.

    I just found a 160GB IDE drive in my box of older parts, this is why I ask.
    I'm currently running a 250GB sata drive with OS and other stuff and a 80GB with videos and I haven't had any problems or slowdowns.
  • airbornflghtairbornflght Houston, TX Icrontian
    edited August 2006
    My mobo wont let me mix IDE/SATA drives, well, at least it I have an IDE drive plugged in, it will only boot to the IDE, not the SATA, that and it throws a wall eyed fit, but my mobo was a pretty early mobo for sata.
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