$1100 - Help With Athlon64 Build...

[Kaine01]

(UPDATED: changed to value RAM, upgraded to 6600gt, changed power supply, ditched dvd rom)

I have $1100 to spend on a new tower. I do not need any accessories, no monitor, no keyboard, and i do not need a hard drive (have a 80gb WD 8mb sitting here already)

I am primarily going to use this system for development. It will be commonplace to have SQL Server, MySQL, several instances of Visual Studio.NET running, etc. I need quick compile times and need to have tons of programs open at once.

I am also a bit of a gamer, so it would be nice to be able to run Doom3 or HL2 with a decent framerate.

This system needs to be reliable, and i dont want to have to tinker with it a lot. I may mess around with OCing it, but probably will not.

Heres what i have so far:

Lian-Li Aluminum Case with Side Panel Window & 1 Ball-Bearing Fan on the Top (Black), Model "PC-65B" -
$110.00


CD/DVD Burners (RW Drives)
NEC 16X Double Layer DVD±RW Drive, Black, Model ND-3500A BK, OEM
$62.99


Arctic Silver Premium Silver Polysynthetic Silver Thermal Compound, Model "Arctic Silver 5", 3.5-gram( 1 cc. ) tube
$10.99


Alps Black 3.5inch Floppy Disk Drive, Model DF354H121F, OEM
$10.00

Memory (System Memory)
Corsair Value Select Dual Channel Kit 184 Pin 1G(512MBx2) DDR PC-3200 - Retail
$155.00


Motherboards - AMD
MSI "K8T NEO2-FIR" VIA K8T800 Pro Chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket 939 CPU -RETAIL
$117.50

AMD Athlon 64 3200+, 512KB L2 Cache, Socket 939 64-bit Processor - Retail
Item# N82E16819103502
$203.00


Power Supplies
Cooler Master Real Power 120mm fan 450W Power Supply With Active PFC, Model "RS-450-ACLY"RETAIL
Item# N82E16817171001
$69.99


Sound Card
Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy 2 PCI Sound Card, Model "SB0244" -OEM
Item# N82E16829102158
$58.00


Video Cards
XFX nVIDIA GeForce 6600GT Video Card, 128MB GDDR3, 128-Bit, Dual DVI, AGP 8X, Model "PVT43AND" -RETAIL
Item# N82E16814150080
$240.00


Total (Before tax): $ 1,037.47 + $66 shipping = $1103.


Would i better off getting a cheaper vid card and getting better RAM? (reccomendation?)
Is there a better, equivalently priced mobo?
Anything big i am forgetting? (remember i dont need HD, monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers)


Thanks!

 

[Hajime]

You probably don't need the sound card, unless you buy audiophile-quality speakers.

However, you may not want to buy that vid card. Keep your head up on FS/FT - you'll be able to pick up a 9800Pro for the same price or less, and it's a faster card.

The PSU is a bit iffy - a 500w for that cheap leads me to believe bad things about it. I don't know much about Rosewill, but a quality 350w runs that much. A 500w? No way.

The ram plain owns, though .

 

[LordPhoenix]

Get a better Video Card. You can get an ATI Radeon 9700 Pro for $125 on the For Sale / Trade forums on AT *OR* I recommend if you wanna buy on NEWEGG you get the Gigabyte model. Just not CONNECT3D Brand.

 

[Waylay00]

Also, I would use the MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum mobo.

 

[LordPhoenix]

And get an Nforce 3 250GB Chipset. Screw VIA.

 

[ts3433]

Ditch the soundcard (if you don't have high-end speakers) and swap the Ballistix for some CL2.5 value PC3200 (you said you aren't going to be OCing much, and Corsair Value can reach around ~215 okay, which is probably enough for light screwing around). As said before, get an NF3 250 motherboard. You'll be fine with a retail processor HSF, so you won't need the AS5. PSU is definitely a problem; if you don't already have a quality 350W or better, get an Antec/Enermax/Fortron with such qualities. And if you can, discard the separate DVD reader. Use these savings for a much better videocard (9800 Pro, 6600 GT, or 6800 vanilla should be fine).

 

[drpootums]

as much as i hate to say it, if you're going to be compiling and doing heavy duty multitasking, go intel. I really dont like intel, but with HT i know it would perform better than a comparably priced AMD. I'd go 3.2 or 3.4.......

 

[MrCodeDude]

1. nForce 3 250 > VIA K8T800 Pro
2. Get a real, name-brand power-supply
3. Soundcards are pretty much useless unless you're investing $100+ in your computer audio
4. Ditch the floppy, go with a portable memory stick (which are like $20)

 

[Vee]

Originally posted by: drpootums
as much as i hate to say it, if you're going to be compiling and doing heavy duty multitasking, go intel. I really dont like intel, but with HT i know it would perform better than a comparably priced AMD. I'd go 3.2 or 3.4.......

I wouldn't sink so much money into a 32-bit-only system. Wait for the 630/640 P4Fs, in that case. But then I wouldn't sink so much money into a A64 either, socket 754, nevermind...

Anyway, I don't see much problem multitasking on the A64. It's ok. Besides, he said lots of programs open, that's not the same as heavy multitasking. Lot's of RAM is what he needs. Speaking about RAM. That's too expensive for non-OC. Cheaper standard PC3200 2.5-3-3 RAM, and put the money in a 3500+ or video instead.

 

[Kaine01]

Thanks for the tips.... any my responses:

~Sound
I already have a $300+ klipsch audio system, so sound is important to me, and why i added on the sound card. From the responses i think it should stay.

~PSU
Thanks for the tips on this one. I switched it up to a Cooler Master Real Power 120mm fan 450W Power Supply With Active PFC, Model "RS-450-ACLY" -RETAIL for $69. Had great reviews and looks like a solid unit.

~Floppy
For $10 ill keep it for posterity's sake.

~MOBO
I *am* going to primarily be doing heavy duty compiling / multitasking. Would i be better off looking at intel? Otherwise this is my biggest area of decision,,, still not sure which one to go with. Iv heard good and bad about MSI. Dont really want to spend 189 on the NForce. (Unless you tell me its worth it) As for the processor, w/o OCing will i be ok with the retail HS/Fan? Is it noisy?

~Memory
Downgraded to Corsair Value Select 184 Pin 512MB DDR PC-2100 - Retail 78.00. This saves me 100 which can goto the vid card (or mobo). Or should i stick with the ballistix? (remember, no ocing and not a primary gaming machine)

~Video Card
I agree, i dont like my previous decision and am going to look for a 9800.

 

[Astu222]

get corsair VS pc3200 its cheaper than the pc-2100 for some reason, and naturally faster. I saw a 9700pro Refurbished at crucial.com for $130, good deal if you dont want to go to the FS/FT forum. a stock HSF should be find if you arent OCing . you dont need low latency ram like the balistix if you arent overclocking.

 

[formulav8]

I do tons of multi-tasking and such. I program with VB.NET and VB6.0 and such. My A64 Multi-Tasks perfectly. I do not see why people thinks Athlons don't multi-task well. They must be really caught up in the hype. The P4 is still a single core cpu. All it does is uses whatever unused cpu cycles on a second active thread. It does not help as much as people think. I had first hand experiance with a 3.06ghz HT P4 so I know. I don't know why people say if you multitask get a P4. Just my 2cents anyways.


Jason

 

[SleepWalkerX]

*agrees with astu222* get the pc3200 corsair value select, its cheaper and faster. if you happen to save 100 bucks like you said, and your 9600xt costs about 140 or so, then you just might be able to squeeze in an xfx 6600gt agp model. of course this depends on how much you want to game.

 

[Vee]

Originally posted by: Kaine01
Thanks for the tips.... any my responses:


~MOBO
I *am* going to primarily be doing heavy duty compiling / multitasking. Would i be better off looking at intel? Otherwise this is my biggest area of decision,,, still not sure which one to go with.

I've so strong need for 64-bit that I'm uncapable of objectivity here. But my sentiment is no money for 32-bit-only. If you want Intel, wait for their 2MB cache, 64-bit 6x0 series of P4s. I'm going to check out one of those when they arrive, but I'm all for AMD now. AMD sometimes has a phenomenal advantage that is not visable in common benchmarks. I use a pretty massive (obscure and expensive) technical app that runs incredible 44% faster on my A64 (s754 3400+ vs 3.2 P4C).

AMD compiles slightly better than Intel. Question is what you intend with multitasking. The area where you will see clear advantage for Intel's ht, is when you have two simultaneous, full CPU loads. Just having lots of programs 'open' is not the same thing. On the A64, I have absolutely no problems editing documents, or using Internet while playing a CD and a massive computation is going on in the background. But Intel will make a better job of running your SQL, while compiling. I think MartinCracauer has expressed prefering Intel (on this forum) for compiling, due to the ht.

~Memory
Downgraded to Corsair Value Select 184 Pin 512MB DDR PC-2100 - Retail 78.00. This saves me 100 which can goto the vid card (or mobo). Or should i stick with the ballistix? (remember, no ocing and not a primary gaming machine)

But you should go for PC3200, but there're other brands than Corsair ballistic. I don't OC. I never buy expensive RAM. Now and then I have to go back with a stick and have it replaced. But if it works, it works indefinitely (have done so for me at least). Check it with Prime95.

~Video Card
I agree, i dont like my previous decision and am going to look for a 9800.

R9800pro 256bit 128MB is the star of the previous generation cards. Also check out current generation stock 6800, and 6600GT which will be available with AGP.

 

[Kaine01]

Thanks guys!

My main post is now updated reflecting your suggestions. What ya think? Biggest thing i am iffy about is the mobo. Is there a better (equivalently priced around 120) mobo? Should i drop to s754 to take advantage of the more mature boards?