Building a WoW PC..

[Looney]

I see the Hitachi for $98 each. Still though, that's more than the single Raptor.

 

[Makaveli]

 

[Mishkav]

AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego 1GHz FSB 1MB L2 Cache Socket 939
$223
EPoX EP-9NPA+ SLi Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI
$137
CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB (2 x 512MB)
$80
FSP Group (Fortron Source) 600watts
$140
Seagate Barracuda 120GB 7200 RPM 8M Cache Serial ATA150
$85
Lian Li PC-60USB
$99
SAMSUNG 915N-Black 19" 8ms LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 700:1
$306!!! Greeeat fo gaming daw
XFX Geforce 6800GS 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16
$200
LITE-ON Beige 16X DVD-ROM Combo drive
$30
----------------------------------------------
TOTAL: $1300 --- 8-12months later buy 2nd 6800gs, and a nice soundcard

 

[gus6464]

IMO a raptor is not that fast compared to the new SATA2 16mb cache drives from WD and Seagate. I have one of these drives:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822136003

It is very fast and a lot of space for the price. Also i think you can get Opteron 144s for cheaper than that, i think theyre around 130-140 bucks.

Also since you are going to be ocing i would suggest the DFI Ultra-D instead of the infinity. It has more oc options and plus has sata2 and sli support with a simple pencil mod. And as for ram these are rapidly becoming the best bang for buck:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822136003 DDR400 or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231021 DDR500

 

[cKGunslinger]

Update 1: Current plan

AMD Opteron 144 1.8GHz (939) - $160
DFI nForce4 Ultra Infinity (939) - $100
G.Skill 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR SDRAM (PC-3200) - $175
Sapphire Radeon X800GTO2 - $200
Hitachi Deskstar 160GB / 8MB / SATA 3.0Gb/s - $85
Hyundai L90D+ Silver 19" 8ms LCD - $330
Lite-On Black 16X DVD+/-R - $45
Thermaltake TR2 430W PS - $45
Samsung Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal FDD - $15
---------------------
Total: $1155


I wonder if it would be better to knock $60 off the video card (downgrade to 6600gt) and put that extra $$ towards are slightly better LCD?

Also, any suggestions on a decent case/PS combo? It's always nice to put a new system in a new case, to change things up a bit. Something relatively low-key, preferably black, with a good 400W PS?

 

[Lasthitlarry]

Get the Opteron if you are going to overclock, otherwise get a 3200+.

I still suggest either an X800 GTO or 7800 GT, and a 250GB HD.

Antec sLK3000 or Sonata II are always popular.

 

[Looney]

Originally posted by: cKGunslinger
Update 1: Current plan

AMD Opteron 144 1.8GHz (939) - $160
DFI nForce4 Ultra Infinity (939) - $100
G.Skill 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR SDRAM (PC-3200) - $175
Sapphire Radeon X800GTO2 - $200
Hitachi Deskstar 160GB / 8MB / SATA 3.0Gb/s - $85
Hyundai L90D+ Silver 19" 8ms LCD - $330
Lite-On Black 16X DVD+/-R - $45
Thermaltake TR2 430W PS - $45
Samsung Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal FDD - $15
---------------------
Total: $1155


I wonder if it would be better to knock $60 off the video card (downgrade to 6600gt) and put that extra $$ towards are slightly better LCD?

Also, any suggestions on a decent case/PS combo? It's always nice to put a new system in a new case, to change things up a bit. Something relatively low-key, preferably black, with a good 400W PS?

Good stuff there. But do you really need the floppy drive? If not, take that out, and put in another $50 for a better LCD, though that one sounds now.

 

[cKGunslinger]

Originally posted by: Lasthitlarry
Get the Opteron if you are going to overclock, otherwise get a 3200+.

I still suggest either an X800 GTO or 7800 GT, and a 250GB HD.

I am guessing you already have a case?

Yeah, I was planning on trying to OC the Opteron just a bit. Does the 1MB L2 cache not make the CPU > the 3200 Venice, especially if I can reach the same speeds?

Is the ability to unlock the GTO2 to 16 pipelines and OC it to X850 speeds not worth the price premium over the GTO? I usually skimp on video performance, as I can always upgrade alter for cheap. But a lot of people claim the $200 GTO2 to be a great bargain.

And since I have a 120GB drive already (only 3/4 full,) I certainly don't need any more storage space, only faster throughput on certain apps. So my goal for that = fastest storage @ lowest price (total price, not per GB.) The Deskstar gets pretty decent reviews.

Yeah, I have a solid case that has served me well over the years, but am always open for options, especially if I could get a decent Case + PS combo.

 

[cKGunslinger]

Originally posted by: Looney

Good stuff there. But do you really need the floppy drive? If not, take that out, and put in another $50 for a better LCD, though that one sounds now.

I'm thinking I may need the floppy to flash my video card, at least. Granted, my current FDD has been broken for 2+ years and I haven't needed it, but hey, for $15, why take a chance?

 

[Lasthitlarry]

Well I'm a cheap guy, so the X800 GTO with 256MB of GDDR3 RAM and 12 pipelines for 140 bucks would serve me well for at least a year, where as the the X800 GTO2 with same ram and the possibility to use 16 pipelines isn't worth 60 more bucks to me.

Everything else looks good though, I made the comment on the processor because if you don't OC your Opteron you are wasting money, but nowadays if you don't OC the 64 processors a bit you are wasting money anyway.

 

[cKGunslinger]

Originally posted by: Lasthitlarry
Well I'm a cheap guy, so the X800 GTO with 256MB of GDDR3 RAM and 12 pipelines for 140 bucks would serve me well for at least a year, where as the the X800 GTO2 with same ram and the possibility to use 16 pipelines isn't worth 60 more bucks to me.

Point taken. When you drop down to the GTO, you are in the same ballpark as the 6600GT. Is your choice of ATi over nV just a matter of preference there, or are there performance differences (I haven't done much video comparison research lately?)

 

[Danly]

For the case, compusa is having a deal on Super Lanboy's, they're $39.99 AR plus shipping. For the PSU I wouldn't go with a bundled psu unless you're buying an antec case. Newegg has a Fortron 450W for $57 shipped. Definitely more power than you'd need, and about the best PSU you'll find in the 40-70$ range.