OK, im done. Here it is

[BigCoolJesus]

Well, ive finally pieced it together, and here it is:

AMD Athlon 64 3700+ (San Diego) CPU
Asus A8N SLI Deluxe Mobo
(2x) Patriot PC3200 1GB DDR RAM RAM
eVGA 6800 GT (PCI-E) Video Card
Sound Blaster Audigy ZS Gamer Sound
(2X) Hitachi SATAII 160GB hard drive HDD
Lite-On SOHW-1693S DVD/CD burner DVD/CD burner
Sony Floppy Drive Floppy
Windows XP Professional 64bit XP

Logisys Dracula Case Case
Thermalright XP-90C heatsink Heatsink
Artic Cooling Silencer 5 VGA heatsink
TR2 430W Power Supply by Thermaltake PSU


And then of course the various other fans, lights, etc.

Anyone see of anything that im missing/any helpful comments or suggestions?
(espacially in the area of the VGA heatsink and PSU)



Can anyone tell me how much better this PC will be then my current one
(Current one is:
Athlon 64 3200
K8v SE Deluxe
6800GT
1GB of ram
Audigy LS
(2x) WD Raptors
Windows XP Pro

Thanks)

 

[2Xtreme21]

x800XL instead of 6800GT would save you quite a bit of money, unless you're really considering SLI.

 

[shoRunner]

thats really not worth the upgrade, doubt you'd see a noticeable difference in anything.

 

[BigCoolJesus]

Originally posted by: 2Xtreme21
x800XL instead of 6800GT would save you quite a bit of money, unless you're really considering SLI.

I dont want to start a flame war, but ill take the 6800GT over the X800 anyday.
and yes, SLI may be an option once i get more money for a second GT.



and shoRunner, really? becuase i am going from socket 754 to 939, not to mention ill be overclocking the 3700+ to at least 2.6GHZ, and the extra RAM

 

[MQ]

WOW your old system is just fine... got too much money to burn?

 

[bluestrobe]

Must be nice to have money to waste. Stay with your old system, hell, I even be happy to have it. I run a XP +3000 and never ran into any troubles.

edit: I've always lived by the saying "Upgrade because you need to, not because you want to."

 

[BigCoolJesus]

well when i built it last summer i told myself, make it good enough to last for 4 years since ill be going to college soon and i dont want to have to do a whole makeover, just upgrade piece by piece

but that was before 939 and PCI-E

so now, im going by the same philosophy, upgrading majorly so in a few years, i can just upgrade peice by peice (maybe a FX-55 in a few years, or a 7800GTX, etc)

everything im upgrading to is entirely new, which is what i want (such as SataII, 939 socket, PCI-E, etc)


so yes, it may seem like a waste, but its the best i can do before i enter a time of life when money will be almost non-exsistant

 

[nick1985]

that case = barfo, IMO

 

[BigCoolJesus]

Originally posted by: nick1985
that case = barfo, IMO

yea, im usually not one for the cheesy looking cases, but i love the black/chrome look, that and i cant stand just plain old ordinary cases



Like i said, im open to any suggestions, so if u have a different item in mind, share it and ill check it out
(that wasnt just directed at you nick, more towards everyone, and im saying it in a nice way, i wouldnt mind some help)

 

[BigCoolJesus]

I am looking into other cases, but does anyone have suggestions (under $100 bucks, and the only thing i dont want is some drab computer case, you know, the kind that looks like i bought my pc at best buy)??

O and it has to be black.


thanks

 

[nick1985]

antec sonata is a great sub $100 case. although it doesnt have all of the windows and flashy ricer lights

 

[BigCoolJesus]

Originally posted by: nick1985
antec sonata is a great sub $100 case. although it doesnt have all of the windows and flashy ricer lights

it is a nice case, but for me i just dont like cases like that.
I at least need a window (im an xbox modder, so i love all the flashy crap and windows, windows are awesome)

i found a few others on xoxide, but im gonna broaden my search a little more


anyone else have any comments on the soon to be computer?

 

[xTYBALTx]

Don't do that upgrade. Why not wait until dual cores and next-gen video cards fall in price? I know we don't like to wait for things, but some patience will really pay off here.

 

[eXx08]

Ge the Antec PlusView 1000AMG case, it's not black but is still better than any case. It is silver.

 

[shoRunner]

if you are gonna upgrade go with an x2

 

[Mrvile]

I urge you not to upgrade. Your current comp will last you for the next 2 years at least! You won't notice a single difference. Same video card, the difference between a 2.6ghz 3700+ and a 2.4ghz 3200+ is pretty much...nothing. You'll build the comp and be very disappointed I guarantee it.

If you really have an urge to waste money, might as well make a small upgrade to your current machine like another hard drive or something (seriously though, what can you get that's better than 2 raptors??). You won't even notice the extra GB of ram.

I can't emphasize this enough, DUMB IDEA TO UPGRADE OMFG

Maybe if you had an aging 2ghz P4 with an old geforce 4 and 512 ram that upgrade would be a good idea but for now, I'd rather buy porn with that money.

 

[BigCoolJesus]

actually my 3200+ is only running at 2GHZ (stock) despite it being advertised as Clawhammer

and like i said, i want to upgrade now to switch over to 939 and PCI-E
besides, with all the crap ill be selling on ebay and parting out, im only going to be using about $400 bucks of actual cash for this upgrade


and shoRunner, i was under the impression that the X2's are only good for multiple tasks (such as video encoding, huge process users like that) and that for a gaming pc its hardly any better then a single core cpu
but then again, i could be wrong

 

[BigCoolJesus]

Originally posted by: xTYBALTx
Don't do that upgrade. Why not wait until dual cores and next-gen video cards fall in price? I know we don't like to wait for things, but some patience will really pay off here.

That why im upgrading now, thats what im trying to get at, so that later on all i have to do is sell off the cpu or video card, and get a better one

where im at right now im stuck, i cant upgrade the video card later on without PCI-E, and i cant upgrade the CPU to a better one without 939. So im cutting it down so i can just upgrade certain things later on


o and Mrvile, my raptors suck, ive ran out of room, and the only way i can do better then two 36gig raptors is two 76 gig raptors, which will cost me about $370 bucks. Seriously, the raptors arent any better then two 7200rpm drives in raid 0 (and i have the raptors in raid 0), according to Sisoft.

 

[Mrvile]

Originally posted by: BigCoolJesus

Originally posted by: xTYBALTx
Don't do that upgrade. Why not wait until dual cores and next-gen video cards fall in price? I know we don't like to wait for things, but some patience will really pay off here.

That why im upgrading now, thats what im trying to get at, so that later on all i have to do is sell off the cpu or video card, and get a better one

where im at right now im stuck, i cant upgrade the video card later on without PCI-E, and i cant upgrade the CPU to a better one without 939. So im cutting it down so i can just upgrade certain things later on


o and Mrvile, my raptors suck, ive ran out of room, and the only way i can do better then two 36gig raptors is two 76 gig raptors, which will cost me about $370 bucks. Seriously, the raptors arent any better then two 7200rpm drives in raid 0 (and i have the raptors in raid 0), according to Sisoft.

I'm sorry, that's not really how it works. Two or three years down the line, AMD is bound to release a new socket, or nVidia is going to release another chipset, and you're SOL. That's how the computer world spins. Give it some thought.

 

[BigCoolJesus]

Originally posted by: Mrvile

Originally posted by: BigCoolJesus

Originally posted by: xTYBALTx
Don't do that upgrade. Why not wait until dual cores and next-gen video cards fall in price? I know we don't like to wait for things, but some patience will really pay off here.

That why im upgrading now, thats what im trying to get at, so that later on all i have to do is sell off the cpu or video card, and get a better one

where im at right now im stuck, i cant upgrade the video card later on without PCI-E, and i cant upgrade the CPU to a better one without 939. So im cutting it down so i can just upgrade certain things later on


o and Mrvile, my raptors suck, ive ran out of room, and the only way i can do better then two 36gig raptors is two 76 gig raptors, which will cost me about $370 bucks. Seriously, the raptors arent any better then two 7200rpm drives in raid 0 (and i have the raptors in raid 0), according to Sisoft.

I'm sorry, that's not really how it works. Two or three years down the line, AMD is bound to release a new socket, or nVidia is going to release another chipset, and you're SOL. That's how the computer world spins. Give it some thought.

yea, i know how it works, but for now, im just going to get the best of whats new (PCI-E, 939, SataII) and in 2 or 3 years, ill sell it off and get the newest technology

o, and i just factored how much the system will cost me ($1568, give or take 40) and how much in useless crap i have to sell ($1300), meaning at most ill be paying $200 out of my pocket for this, which is fine by me.

So for $200 bucks, i give myself plenty of more upgrading room in the near future to future (6 months, 1 year, etc)


I didnt post this to have a debate on whether i should do it or not, i posted it to ask for suggestions on alternatives to some of the smaller stuff, thats all

 

[BigCoolJesus]

Ok, if we put behind the fact that i dont need to upgrade, but since it will only be costing me $200 or so dollars, what do you think of my choice of components?

im still looking into cases, but i changed the PSU to a OCZ 520watt Modular PSU

also, is there a better VGA cooler to get for a 6800GT??



and are the x2's better for gaming then a single core cpu, or are they only good for applications such as encoding or streaming video, etc???


i appreciate the help, and i can tell where ur all coming from, but im only upgrading because it will be cheap and i want to do it one last before i start to run out of money/free time (ie. College).

Thank you


EDIT*

well i asked a friend for some case help, and these are the three he liked the most

First one

Second one

Third one

which one do you guys like the most?

 

[shoRunner]

the X2 will be as good as a single core of equal speed. but if you were to ever multitask the benefit will be substantial or when multithreaded games come(who knows when).

a nice case with a window.

or just nice case

the case is your deal though, whatever you like...but just don't advertise that you one of those crappy neon plastic-y cases, or you will be made fun of.

 

[Mrvile]

Originally posted by: BigCoolJesus
Ok, if we put behind the fact that i dont need to upgrade, but since it will only be costing me $200 or so dollars, what do you think of my choice of components?

im still looking into cases, but i changed the PSU to a OCZ 520watt Modular PSU

also, is there a better VGA cooler to get for a 6800GT??



and are the x2's better for gaming then a single core cpu, or are they only good for applications such as encoding or streaming video, etc???


i appreciate the help, and i can tell where ur all coming from, but im only upgrading because it will be cheap and i want to do it one last before i start to run out of money/free time (ie. College).

Thank you


EDIT*

well i asked a friend for some case help, and these are the three he liked the most

First one

Second one

Third one

which one do you guys like the most?

Those are all terrible. If you want a flashy gawdy looking case, at least get a Thermaltake or something.

 

[BigCoolJesus]

Originally posted by: Mrvile

Originally posted by: BigCoolJesus
Ok, if we put behind the fact that i dont need to upgrade, but since it will only be costing me $200 or so dollars, what do you think of my choice of components?

im still looking into cases, but i changed the PSU to a OCZ 520watt Modular PSU

also, is there a better VGA cooler to get for a 6800GT??



and are the x2's better for gaming then a single core cpu, or are they only good for applications such as encoding or streaming video, etc???


i appreciate the help, and i can tell where ur all coming from, but im only upgrading because it will be cheap and i want to do it one last before i start to run out of money/free time (ie. College).

Thank you


EDIT*

well i asked a friend for some case help, and these are the three he liked the most

First one

Second one

Third one

which one do you guys like the most?

Those are all terrible. If you want a flashy gawdy looking case, at least get a Thermaltake or something.

Ive been looking, but the only good one i found was $170 bucks, then theres a good thermaltake one, but i think its to tall for my computer desk

sigh, this is gonna be hard



o and shoRunner, im gonna hold back on the X2's, id rather play around with this 3700+ for a while, and then after that i might go to a X2 if the price comes down and the appropriate games come out



damn shoRunner, that first case you linked to is awesome but its 2 inches to tall :frown:

 

[Mrvile]

I'm not gonna quote because it's very long, but if you want an average, mid-sized gawdy flashy case you could consider the NZXT Nemesis cases. There's nothing really bad about them in terms of quality, they just look like dog turd but if you like how they look, it's not a bad choice.