Ultimate Gaming System

[Vicious38]

Well, I figured out how much everything is going to cost and I'm going to order all the parts next week. This will be my Rig. Do you think anything should be changed? I have a few concerns about the motherboard, I heard MSI has alot of problems, although I never used it myself. I finally made my decision between Intel and AMD. I'd appreciate any of your opinions...

My Power Supply is a PC Power & Cooling 510W ATX-Deluxe I already put it into my Case, I'm not sure how that would react with MSI Motherboards... I heard most of there problems had to do with voltage problems.

Edited: 08/22/2004 at 08:38 PM

Well, I just upgraded my list, changed alot of things around including Video Card, Memory, and Monitor.
Going to either being putting the ATI Radeon X800 XT Platinum Edition in another computer or sell it on eBay for a couple hundred more.

Does the Memory and Motherboard work together? Can I go faster with Memory? Like to DDR 500 MHz? Is MSI even a good Motherboard or should I go with Gigabyte, Asus or Abit?

 

[jpeyton]

Yes, sweet Christ that's a nice chunk of change. Enjoy. See the thread in my sig if you ever decide you'd like a more modest "top of the line" system instead.

 

[EGGO]

Noice, not so different from the one I'm building now.

 

[Mik3y]

y would you need 2 gb of ram? thats overkill. no game takes up 1gb...yet.

 

[Vicious38]

Yeah, well I finally saved enough money to be able to buy every part I ever dreamed of, I still have money left over if I decide to buy a piece thats better but may be more expensive. I still question the Socket 939 Motherboard selection. I usually go with Gigabyte but MSI has gotten alot of great reviews. I don't mind paying $219.00 for Gigabyte K8NSNXP-939...

Gigabyte K8NSNXP-939
MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum
Asus A8V Deluxe Revision 2
Abit AV8

Money is not an option... I just want to best performance. I'm usually a Intel man so I go with Intel Motherboards or Gigabyte Motherboards. But I finally saw the light and switched toward AMD, but its a new area for me. Any Suggestions would be great...

 

[Looney]

Originally posted by: Vicious38
Well, I figured out how much everything is going to cost and I'm going to order all the parts next week. This will be my Rig. Do you think anything should be changed? I have a few concerns about the motherboard, I heard MSI has alot of problems, although I never used it myself. I finally made my decision between Intel and AMD. I'd appreciate any of your opinions...

I've only had a problem with MSI once, and their RMA was absolutely fantastic. It was outsourced of course, and the company where i shipped it to was here in Toronto, Canada, so your experience in the US may be different... but i just wanted to add that my experience with MSI boards in the past has been good, and when i did have a problem, RMA was a painless experience (unlike some companies like IBM or Hercules).

 

[Vicious38]

Originally posted by: Mik3y
y would you need 2 gb of ram? thats overkill. no game takes up 1gb...yet.

This will be my Gaming System... but I'm going to use it for everything, programs and all. Adobe Photoshop and Premiere. Premiere takes up alot of Memory... This will be my system for atleast a year before I upgrade again. So 2 GB of Memory is ment for Future games too.

 

[Looney]

Originally posted by: Mik3y
y would you need 2 gb of ram? thats overkill. no game takes up 1gb...yet.

BS, Farcry and Doom3, as well as many other older games like EQ, SWG, FFXI, and others run much better on 1gb. As for 2gb, true not too many games would benefit that much from it, but in the near future it would... i can think of EQ2 that would run much better on 2gb than on 1gb. Perhaps he just wants to futureproof his system more. I've been running 1gb on my systems for almost 3 years now, and when i build my next system in the next couple of months, i plan on upgrading to 2gb minimum.

 

[Chronoshock]

Consider klipsch promedia 5.1's instead of the z-680's...

 

[EGGO]

How do you plan to cool that thing there?

If you plan on using RAM, and since money isn't an option (I'm in the same place you are at), get this RAM. It helps a lot with Premiere.

http://www.securemart.com/cgi-bin/future/SM113126.html?pcode=4

That about the cheapest you'll find it. It kinda stinks because I got it when it was a little lower ($594.15 including S&H).

 

[klah]

Have you actually found somewhere with a X800XT or s939-FX53 or are you going to just try ebay?

 

[JackBurton]

Originally posted by: Chronoshock
Consider klipsch promedia 5.1's instead of the z-680's...

That's the only thing I'd do different. But if you are hell bent on the z-680s, the machine is still an AWESOME machine. Perfect choice in parts. Good job. :beer:

 

[JBT]

Woa Cox has a 100MBit connection??!?!?! I think you r talking about maybe your LAN connection and even at that its only Mbit connection not B Either way nice rig. I wouldn't get an MSI mobo but suit your self...

Any ways the ram is NOT going to work in that motherboard not sure how many people saw that it is DDR2 which is 240 pin while what you need is only 184 pin plain ond DDR.

 

[MegaWorks]

yep! that's a sick a$$ machine you got there enjoy it!

3yrs ago my system was the ultimate

------------------------------------------------------
AMD Athlon XP T-Bred B DLT3C 1700+ @ 2.3GHZ (1.775v) 400FSB = 3200+
Abit NF7-S V.2 (nForce2-U400)
Corsair TwinX XMS 3200LL 512MB @ 2-3-2-6 (2.6v)
Sapphire Radeon 9500 Pro Platinum Edition 128MB (380/600)
Antec TrueBlue 480W
Thermalright SLK-947U with 92mm Vantec Tornado @2800RPM
Antec PlusView 1000AMG
Cambridge SoundWorks MegaWorks THX 550 5.1

 

[Vicious38]

As for Cooling I have 6 Aerocool X-Static Fans at 21 dba each, and a Aluminum Blue LED Aerocool Fan at 20 dba on the side panel... A little excessive, but It doesn't bother me, I may take out some fans and put in a Water Cooling System.

 

[Vicious38]

Originally posted by: klah
Have you actually found somewhere with a X800XT or s939-FX53 or are you going to just try ebay?

I already have a 939 Socket AMD Athlon? 64 FX-53 and I ordered the ATI Radeon X800 XT Platinum Edition from ATI's website a while back and it should be here anyday now. Only things I haven't bought are the Memory, Motherboard, Sound Card, Speakers, and Hard Drives. Sound Card and Hard Drives I'm buying tomorrow and the Memory and Motherboard I'm still trying to make a final decision.

 

[JBT]

lol I wouldn't count the XT being there any day unless you mean weeks or they actually gave u a tracking number.. Also I hope you read my post before about the DDR2 not working with that motherboard.

 

[Vicious38]

Well this is the reason I put this post up, I need some suggestions about the Motherboard before making a decision... That will delay me buying Memory so if the DDR 2 doesn't work with MSI maybe I'll go with Gigabyte. And about ATI Radeon X800 XT Platinum Edition, Yes I did get a tracking number so I'm pretty excited about that.

 

[bjc112]

Originally posted by: Mik3y
y would you need 2 gb of ram? thats overkill. no game takes up 1gb...yet.

Doom 3 will pull about 1100 for me..

Sim City 4 is a hog ( IMHO i think it was coded poorly )

C&C Generals uses quite a bit.

 

[bjc112]

Originally posted by: MegaWorks
yep! that's a sick a$$ machine you got there enjoy it!

3yrs ago my system was the ultimate

------------------------------------------------------
AMD Athlon XP T-Bred B DLT3C 1700+ @ 2.3GHZ (1.775v) 400FSB = 3200+
Abit NF7-S V.2 (nForce2-U400)
Corsair TwinX XMS 3200LL 512MB @ 2-3-2-6 (2.6v)
Sapphire Radeon 9500 Pro Platinum Edition 128MB (380/600)
Antec TrueBlue 480W
Thermalright SLK-947U with 92mm Vantec Tornado @2800RPM
Antec PlusView 1000AMG
Cambridge SoundWorks MegaWorks THX 550 5.1

And your machine is still damn good..

Throw in a new GPU and maybe some ram and your all set..

 

[JKing76]

If you're going to be spending this kind of cash, why are you getting a WD drive instead of going all out for SCSI?

And unless you're going to be connecting two or three 5.1-outputing computers to one set of speakers (this is my new pet issue), I'll join with those that recommend the Klipsch ProMedia 5.1 Ultras or the Creative MegaWorks.

 

[Connoisseur]

Originally posted by: Vicious38
Well this is the reason I put this post up, I need some suggestions about the Motherboard before making a decision... That will delay me buying Memory so if the DDR 2 doesn't work with MSI maybe I'll go with Gigabyte. And about ATI Radeon X800 XT Platinum Edition, Yes I did get a tracking number so I'm pretty excited about that.

No dude, you don't understand. NO AMD boards support DDR2. That is purely intel. Get a couple sticks of Crucial Ballistix, OCZ Gold, Geil platinum, Mushkin Black etc. etc. and make sure it's DDR 1.

 

[JBT]

Originally posted by: Vicious38
Well this is the reason I put this post up, I need some suggestions about the Motherboard before making a decision... That will delay me buying Memory so if the DDR 2 doesn't work with MSI maybe I'll go with Gigabyte. And about ATI Radeon X800 XT Platinum Edition, Yes I did get a tracking number so I'm pretty excited about that.

DDR2 won't work with ANY AMD board right now... or for the next few months. not only the MSI it won't work with the Gigabyte either.
So choose some PC3200 regular DDR for some ratio action or PC4000 For some 1:1 action.

 

[renierh]

you're such an experienced poster, yet you still life in the delusion that it's possible to "futureproof" a system.. tss..

if you really want something future proof, divide the budget for this thing into 4 parts, and then buy a new system every 4/5 months, instead of one every 1,5 year..

buying top of the line will NEVER get you the best bang for the buck. that's ok though, but just don;t set yourself up for a dissapointment. by the time you will need 2 GB, your system will be old.

 

[Zebo]

Ballistix is the only mem you should consider for A64.

Edit: In that price range... aka extreme build