Building new comp need advice

[Rifter]

So here is the deal, i used to be employed as a computer tech and have lots of know how about computers and overclocking(ran the old cell 366@550 had a duron 700 running 1.1Ghz etc)but have been out of the loop for the last 3 years on new technology(heh who would have thought they would phase out a AGP slot?) and have not been paying attention to the latest CPU's and Vid cards etc. I want to build a system for mostly gaming sine i havent upgraded my comp in 3 years. Now i have a GF3 Ti 200 128MB AMD 1700+. And need to know what to go with for a new comp. I have been told that a XP3000+ will overclock great to 2.4Ghz - 2.6Ghz or so and that the DFI lanparty board is solid and clocks well. What vid card should i go with? i will also be building from scratch so will need everything case, DVD burner, Floppy drive(they still exsist right?) Case, PS, Mobo, RAM, HD, the whole 9 yards excpet monitor, max budget is $1000 USD SHIPPED. Thanks for all of your input in advance.

 

[furballi]

You may not achieve top performance in the gaming department with $1000.

CPU...AMD 3000 Venice
MB...Abit AN8, Abit AX8, or Epox EP-9NPA
PSU...Enermax 495 Noisetaker V2.0
Floppy...Samsung
DVD burner...NEC 3520
RAM...Corsair Value Select, Kingston ValueRAM, or Kingmax ValueRAM
Case...Antec SLK3000B
CPU cooler...Zalman 7000Cu or 7700Cu
Fan...Panaflo 120 medium speed
HDD...Seagate PATA or SATA 160GB (version .7 or .8)
Video card...how much more $ do you have left?

I would not attempt to push the CPU to the limit when overclocking. Another 100MHz isn't going to give you much more speed. Remember the key is STABILITY. There are reports about the Venice CPU degrading within a few months when running above 270MHz FSB speed.

I like the AX8 because it uses a passive northbridge heat sink. The board can easily hit 275MHz FSB with the 3000 Venice. Via driver is also more compatible with my DVD burn software. The performance drop is only about 2% compared to the NF4 boards. That's just noise if you're a gamer, because you will have a high-end video card.

The AN8 uses a heat pipe to cool the NF4 chipset. I haven't come across a QUIET stock NF4 fan cooler.

 

[Valkerie]

gaming with 1000 USD and no monitor, I don't believe that you can't achieve a build of an excellent gaming system

case + psu - $100
amd 64 3000 - $130
mobo - $100
1GB RAM - $100
80GB SATA HD - $60
DVD-RW 16x - $50
DVD-RW 16x - $50
Geforce 6800LE (unlock) - $140
Audigy 2 - $80
Floppy - $10

~$820
this should cut you plenty of slack, you can acheive a full 6800 if you unlock you LE card and gaming should do you no problem

 

[MentallyNorma1]

save 80 dollars by using onboard sound. Yeah it might not be the best,but you save cash.
Also you could look in the buy/sell forum. I got a great deal on a maxtor 300 gig 16meg cache sata hd for $150 and a leadtek pci-e 6600gt for 130 in the last two weeks. It's great because no taxes great for californians.

Go with the corsair value ram,works great and it's cheap. Pick up another gig for around 88 dollars last week on newegg.

 

[Fern]

I have been told that a XP3000+ will overclock great to 2.4Ghz - 2.6Ghz or so

Not at all likely without expensive and exotic cooling :thumbsdown:
Mobile XP cpu's can reach 2.4 or 2.5ghz on air if you get a good one (YMMV)

For $1K go with the newer platform-> a64 whether socket 754 (cheaper) or socket 939.

Put more money toward the gfx card (6800GT or X800XL) if you're a FPS gamer, don't worry about cpu bottlenecking. It's way overstated for fps games.

Fern

 

[BOLt]

Here are my suggestions. Use Anandtech's reviews to determine what's right for you or post here if you need clarification/explanation.

AMD Athlon 64 3000+ CPU $145
DFI LANParty UT nF4 Ultra-D Motherboard $110
(512MB x 2) OCZ EL Platinum Rev. 2 PC3200 DDR RAM $160
BFG GeForce 6800 GT OC PCI-e GPU $350
Seagate Barracuda 120GB SATA HD $90
NEC ND-3540A Optical Driver $40
Antec SmartPower 2.0 500W PSU $75
(Case) $30-200

$1000 (up to $150 more depending on the case).

This is a solid, solid build. Will perform at up to 1280 x 1024 with all settings turned up for the latest games (except BF2, in which case up the RAM to 2GB and use a 7800 GTX).

Good luck and keep us posted on your choices!

 

[Rifter]

thanks for all the input, im going to put a list of parts together over the next week or so and will post that. I plan on buying parts over the next few months as i get cash available and by x-mas have my new box up and running. BTW what is the best CPU for the bucks? remember i will OC it as much as possible with air cooling.

 

[Le Petomane]

Here you go...
Antec slk3000b
Enermax noisetaker 420w
Epox 9npa+
3000+
Corsair vlaue select (2x512)
Hitachi 160GB s2
BenQ 1620
leaves you about $400 for a video card. I suggest a 6800gt.

 

[t3h l337 n3wb]

Originally posted by: BOLt
Here are my suggestions. Use Anandtech's reviews to determine what's right for you or post here if you need clarification/explanation.

AMD Athlon 64 3000+ CPU $145
DFI LANParty UT nF4 Ultra-D Motherboard $110
(512MB x 2) OCZ EL Platinum Rev. 2 PC3200 DDR RAM $160
BFG GeForce 6800 GT OC PCI-e GPU $350
Seagate Barracuda 120GB SATA HD $90
NEC ND-3540A Optical Driver $40
Antec SmartPower 2.0 500W PSU $75
(Case) $30-200

$1000 (up to $150 more depending on the case).

This is a solid, solid build. Will perform at up to 1280 x 1024 with all settings turned up for the latest games (except BF2, in which case up the RAM to 2GB and use a 7800 GTX).

Good luck and keep us posted on your choices!

I would go with something like this, but drop the expensive RAM and go with the OCZ Value VX RAM. It's really good value RAM, and you can always run a divider when overclocking. Overclocking RAM doesn't yield that much of a performance increase anyways due to the Athlon 64's on die memory controller. I'd go with an X800XL over the 6800GT because it's a better bang for your buck, and they perform similarly. You can always overclock yourself. This way, you can probably upgrade to 2GB of RAM or get a better case or something...

 

[The Pentium Guy]

Originally posted by: Valkerie
gaming with 1000 USD and no monitor, I don't believe that you can't achieve a build of an excellent gaming system

case + psu - $100
amd 64 3000 - $130
mobo - $100
1GB RAM - $100
80GB SATA HD - $60
DVD-RW 16x - $50
DVD-RW 16x - $50
Geforce 6800LE (unlock) - $140
Audigy 2 - $80
Floppy - $10

~$820
this should cut you plenty of slack, you can acheive a full 6800 if you unlock you LE card and gaming should do you no problem

Where the hell do you get a 6800LE for $140?

Edit:
My suggestions are

-3000+ $117 (see Hot Deals)
-XP90 + Panaflo L1a $40
-EPOX 9NPA+Ultra $105
-Seagate/WD 80GB $55
-Antec SmartPower 400W $55
-Antec SLK-3000b/Coolermaster Centurion 5 $60
-X800XL $250
-1GB Corsair ValueSelect $80
-DVDRW (BenQ) $45
-Floppy $5

$812.

Shipping would cost you about $50 or so right? So you've got about $150. You could upgrade:
-PSU (for overclocking): OCZ Modstream 450W = $70 on Newegg (So that's +$15)
-Get another Gig of RAM (+$80)
-Get a better case (Lian LI PC-60) ..... +40 I think?
-120GB as opposed to 80 (+$15)

-The Pentium Guy

 

[suicidalpigeon]

egg has one for $150..

 

[The Pentium Guy]

Originally posted by: wafflesandsyrup
egg has one for $150..

Wow! Prices are goin down fast then. I always though this was $200+

 

[suicidalpigeon]

are you talking about the 6800nu?

 

[The Pentium Guy]

Originally posted by: wafflesandsyrup
are you talking about the 6800nu?

Nope: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814122212
EDIT: That's AGP! He can't use this. Cheapest PCIe version is $229 (209 after rebates)

 

[suicidalpigeon]

why does he even need an le for pci-e anyways?

 

[The Pentium Guy]

Because the board that the person who chose the AGP card picked, was a PCIe board .
Edit: That sounded very confusing, lemme try agian.
Because the board that he suggested was a PCIe board, but he chose an AGP card.