Building new PC w/ $1500 budget

[SanAznMan]

hey everyone i'm about to build a new computer with a 1500 budget. I need some suggesetions on what kind of mobo, processor, and ram to get. i'm pretty much set on gettin an ati 1900 and a high end sound blaster card. any suggestions would be of great help. keep in mind this is gonna be a gaming rig.

 

[KoolDrew]

Are you planning on overclocking?

 

[Cinna696]

monitor/os/kb/mouse or just the box?

 

[shikhan]

If you are looking for just the box (no monitor, kb, mouse, speakers), then I just built a system for $1530 shipped that I highly reccommend - good power and /very/ silent.

Antec P150
Asus A8N-SLI Premium
AMD x2 3800+
Ninja HS
G.Skill 2GB 400DDR

eVGA 7800GT
AC NV Silence Rev 3

3x Samsung SP250

DVD Burner
Add a 120mm and 92mm Nexus fan and it's all done.

Personally, I got over a 20% overclock on the processor while still having no fan on the Ninja. I just have the 120 mm exhaust and a 92 mm intake, both at 5v. The only noise I even hear is my external HD. Prices have dropped a bit in the last week, so your price should be under 1500. Get rid of the extra HD's and you can bring that down a few hundred.

 

[atybimf]

If you're overclocking..

DFI Lanparty UT nF4 Ultra-D $130
Opteron 165 $330
ATI X1900XT $500
2x1GB G. Skill HZ $200
Fortron 500W $90
Seagate Barracude 7200.9 250GB $100

That leaves you with plenty of money for the case of your choice, and a dvd burner.

 

[Corporate Thug]

Originally posted by: atybimf
If you're overclocking..

DFI Lanparty UT nF4 Ultra-D $130
Opteron 165 $330
ATI X1900XT $500
2x1GB G. Skill HZ $200
Fortron 500W $90
Seagate Barracude 7200.9 250GB $100

That leaves you with plenty of money for the case of your choice, and a dvd burner.

i pretty much agree with this but i would recommend the asus A8n32-sli or wait a few more days for the rd580 boards to hit

 

[LiquidImpulse]

Originally posted by: atybimf
If you're overclocking..

DFI Lanparty UT nF4 Ultra-D $130
Opteron 165 $330
ATI X1900XT $500
2x1GB G. Skill HZ $200
Fortron 500W $90
Seagate Barracude 7200.9 250GB $100

That leaves you with plenty of money for the case of your choice, and a dvd burner.

thats a great bet right there. For that price, the performace:$$$$$$$ ratio, is great

 

[atybimf]

Originally posted by: Corporate Thug

Originally posted by: atybimf
If you're overclocking..

DFI Lanparty UT nF4 Ultra-D $130
Opteron 165 $330
ATI X1900XT $500
2x1GB G. Skill HZ $200
Fortron 500W $90
Seagate Barracude 7200.9 250GB $100

That leaves you with plenty of money for the case of your choice, and a dvd burner.

i pretty much agree with this but i would recommend the asus A8n32-sli or wait a few more days for the rd580 boards to hit

Yeah, I can't wait for DFI's RD580 board. Should be a good one .

 

[Cabages]

There is also currently a $30 dollar rebate from newegg on the G.Skill RAM. Same RAM I have, no problems yet at all.

Any ideas on a monitor?

 

[SanAznMan]

sorry for gettin back on so late to reply to your guys questions, been really busy with school since finals week is comming up, its box only and no i don't plan on overclocking, a little afraid to try it since i know so many people that have had bad experiences with it.

Thank you guys very much for your suggestions, i like the opteron 165 but for ram wouldn't it be better to get DDR 2 ram instead? also regarding motherboards i don't know too much yet since i'm just in the initial stages of reasearch to build this rig but i am looking at the specs and reviews for the ones you guys suggested.

I'm basically looking for a very stable and SUPER QUIET system.

 

[Bobthelost]

If you want quiet then you don't want ATI, the power draw from their high end GPUs is incredible, some sources quote them as drawing 120W at full power, that's right up there with a prescott. Wait for the 7900 refresh, they'll run cooler and thus will be much easier to silence.

DFI is out for low noise, you'd have to swap out the chipset cooler and there isn't enough room on some of the boards for a passive solution. Asus do good passive motherboards, i think abit do some too, if you're not overclocking then it doesn't really matter which board you pick in the end.

P150 is the quietest stock case around, suspended HDs and lamminated construction. With a bit of planning you can make it dead quiet. For a higher spec system the P180 is a better idea, still a very good case for low noise. Lian Li also do top notch cases that are as good if not better, but i don't know the model numbers.

AMD CPU Dual core, the higher the better.
A8N32 or other passive motherboard, the 32 is overkill unless you get SLI, which is a bad idea unless you're doing it from the word go (imo)
7900GT or GTX Buy from eVGA and swap the heatsink off for a quieter one if nessisary. SLI the GTs if you want really high end gaming performance.
2GB Low latency RAM, with your budget you might as well and it does improve things a tiny bit.
Samsung spinpoint hard drives, the quietest 3.5" drives around.
Seasonic s12 PSU 500W. Very low noise, you might be able to use a passive/semipassive like the antec phantom, but that depends on your case choice.
Swap out all case fans for nexus 120mm 1,000rpm orange fans.
CPU fan depends on your case and specification. The Scythe ninja is very low noise, but the tuniq tower would be worth a look.

 

[morkman100]

Originally posted by: SanAznMan
Thank you guys very much for your suggestions, i like the opteron 165 but for ram wouldn't it be better to get DDR 2 ram instead? also regarding motherboards i don't know too much yet since i'm just in the initial stages of reasearch to build this rig but i am looking at the specs and reviews for the ones you guys suggested.

I'm basically looking for a very stable and SUPER QUIET system.

939pin Athlon's and Opterons use DDR RAM, not DDR2.. There are not interchangable.

 

[SanAznMan]

Originally posted by: morkman100

Originally posted by: SanAznMan
Thank you guys very much for your suggestions, i like the opteron 165 but for ram wouldn't it be better to get DDR 2 ram instead? also regarding motherboards i don't know too much yet since i'm just in the initial stages of reasearch to build this rig but i am looking at the specs and reviews for the ones you guys suggested.

I'm basically looking for a very stable and SUPER QUIET system.

939pin Athlon's and Opterons use DDR RAM, not DDR2.. There are not interchangable.

thanks, after doing some research i just realized that only the intel dual cores use DDR2.
on that note does anyone have any experiences with some of the intel dual cores and how they perform?
i know most of AT is into Overclocking and therfore AMD rules, but it never hurts to ask.

 

[atybimf]

Originally posted by: SanAznMan

Originally posted by: morkman100

Originally posted by: SanAznMan
Thank you guys very much for your suggestions, i like the opteron 165 but for ram wouldn't it be better to get DDR 2 ram instead? also regarding motherboards i don't know too much yet since i'm just in the initial stages of reasearch to build this rig but i am looking at the specs and reviews for the ones you guys suggested.

I'm basically looking for a very stable and SUPER QUIET system.

939pin Athlon's and Opterons use DDR RAM, not DDR2.. There are not interchangable.

thanks, after doing some research i just realized that only the intel dual cores use DDR2.
on that note does anyone have any experiences with some of the intel dual cores and how they perform?
i know most of AT is into Overclocking and therfore AMD rules, but it never hurts to ask.

I could live with owning an Intel single core over an AMD single core. But I would never buy and Intel dual core. They way behind AMD's dual cores.

 

[Bobthelost]

There are a few people in the CPU forum who use them, if you buy the high end ASUS motherboard then it's possible to get some rather impressive overclocks out of them.

If you want a quiet PC then intel isn't the way forward.

 

[TecHNooB]

Originally posted by: atybimf
If you're overclocking..

DFI Lanparty UT nF4 Ultra-D $130
Opteron 165 $330
ATI X1900XT $500
2x1GB G. Skill HZ $200
Fortron 500W $90
Seagate Barracude 7200.9 250GB $100

That leaves you with plenty of money for the case of your choice, and a dvd burner.

Go with this build. Budget = No SLI/Crossfire. This is the best budget build.

 

[TheNewGuy8]

lol "budget build" with a $500 vid. card in there? No way. a 6800 is a budget card, not an X1900XT.

However, if you meant bang for buck within a $1500 budget, then I'd agree that is a great setup. If you shop around you can get the Opty 165 for a LOT less. I ended up getting mine retail through Monarch for $265 with a deal they were running a few weeks ago.

 

[Bobthelost]

Originally posted by: TecHNooB

Originally posted by: atybimf
If you're overclocking..

DFI Lanparty UT nF4 Ultra-D $130
Opteron 165 $330
ATI X1900XT $500
2x1GB G. Skill HZ $200
Fortron 500W $90
Seagate Barracude 7200.9 250GB $100

That leaves you with plenty of money for the case of your choice, and a dvd burner.

Go with this build. Budget = No SLI/Crossfire. This is the best budget build.

I do love the way people are still recomending an overclocking build for someone who's not going to overclock, and parts that are known to be loud for someone who wants a quiet PC.

 

[LittleNemoNES]

yeah but he set the budget -- might as well give em high quality parts. BTW, theres a coupon for $65 off @ Monarch for an Opty 165! Use it fore it ends. I opted for the 170 with a $35 off coupon. Not Bad, not bad.

the x1900xt is a steal @ newegg -- $450

 

[TriggerHappy101]

Read up. Search up.