Will he be happy???

[pentiumobile]

I have a nice surprise for my "little" brother...He is 16, I decided to update his ?old-fashioned? PC and see his reaction when the system is on my room
( I will call him over on Christmas and tell him: "Hey, look that sh!t...It's yours)I was going to buy him a video card?But his P4, is kinda obsolete.

I MUST ORDER TODAY, TO RECEIVE IT BEFORE THE 24

ASUS A8N5X Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 ATX ----------------------------------> 92$

eVGA 256-P2-N515-AX GeForce 7800GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 ---> 304$

AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ 1GHz FSB Socket 939 --------------------------------> 325$

CORSAIR XMS 2GB (PC 3200) Unbuffered ---------------------------------------> 252$

Western Digital Raptor 74GB 10,000 RPM Serial ATA150------------------------> 156$

Logitech MX518 ---------------------------------------------------------------------> 36$

NEC IDE/ATAPI DVD 3550A--------------------------------------------------------> 40$

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Total: $1,204.64

This is a BETALIST (because i don't know exactly what parts to pick)

• The system MUST be sub-$1,300
  
  The system is for Gaming?Gaming?Gaming...Uh, and Gaming
  
  He likes ?Photoshoping? (that?s secondary)
  
  SLi?hmmm?I have to sacrifice something...DAMN. But it will be good, since he can later buy another card to keep up with the graphics.
  
  I almost forgot, the system WILL be overcloked to "save" limits
  
  I still need a KEYBOARD---CASE----PSUPPLY.

 

[mike3uz]

As for keyboard any cheap keyboard like liteon or keylogix is good. Case would be a Cooler Master Centurion with a fortron 450 On newegg. All you need is xp and your set. You could save some money and go value ram.

 

[theMan]

if you can find a cheap opteron 165, get it. its the same as an A64 X2, except overclocks well beyond it. also, switch the mobo to an epox 9npa+ ultra. i really dont like asus...

 

[eXx08]

Your very nice. Ditch the Raptor and SLI he wont need it and it's not that big of a performance gain. He is better off with a WD 400GB HDD.

You can always upgrade to another stick of RAM so I suggest gettin a single stick of Corsair ValueSelect 1GB and getting a 7800GTX.

Get hima Antec case with 450watt PSU.


Again you are so very nice. I wish my big bro did that.

 

[pentiumobile]

Thank you bro.

You know something, I DONT even know what a Opteron is an what is it's charming side. I think i am way biased with the X2.

I cheked on Newegg and they didin't had it.

The EPoX EP-9NPA+Ultra is---------------->$105

Why is it good??

 

[Malladine]

Fortron, Seasonic and Antec all make good power supplies.

Antec or Coolmaster for your case.

Keyboard, who cares

You're gonna struggle finding those three items for $96 though.

 

[mike3uz]

I too would ditch the raptor. A seagate 300 or 400 GB would be better since it has real world performance comparable to the raptor.

 

[Crescent13]

Ditch the raptor, get a Opteron 165 (it's a X2 with twice the cache pretty much), and get the 7800GT with the free SLI motherboard

 

[pentiumobile]

The WD 400GB raises my budget. So the Raptor is not good anymore??

This is the RAM you recomended.

RAM PIC

So it will run 1GB but save me almost 150. Then later he can buy the other stick. That sounds perfect.

Is that memory good?

 

[mike3uz]

How about the 300 GB Segate drive. It's less expensive and you get more storage. You can always add storage later. I have 1 stick of patriot ram in my future build so I can expand. Raptors are nice but you there hdd's are just as good that are cheaper.

 

[pentiumobile]

That Seagate 300GB comes in SerialATA an UltraATA

10 Bucks difference

SATA is faster???

 

[mike3uz]

SATA is what the raptor has. It's around the same performance but it has neater connectors. Most PSU's come with SATA connectors.

 

[pentiumobile]

160 to 200 GB is more than fine for him. Since he just stores games then he uninstall them.

I think I can save a couple of bucks there.

 

[Newfie]

Wow, your some nice m8. All I want is my brother to give me a 52' plasma tv...is that so much to ask for!

 

[otispunkmeyer]

your a cool ass big bro ... and ditch the raptor, and grab a Samsung Spinpoint 250Gb. it'll be just as fast in the real world, hold more data, and be extremely quiet.

i have two spinpoints in my rig (and im goin to add a 3rd after xmas) and they are effectively silent in operation.

also on the RAM, forget the enthusiast stuff, value ram will be sufficient. Geil do some great value ram, for great prices, and considering its value ram....it overclocks like stink! (ive seen geil value hit 260mhz completely stable)

2Gb of value ram will save $$$, and there'll be negligable performance diff......but make sure to enable 1T command rate if you can (though i think all most all 939 boards will only run 2T with all 4 DIMMS fulll)

the MX518 is awesome, but how about the G5?

 

[pentiumobile]

Hi Otis, im am not that big...Im 23. Jejeje

I think that Samsung sounds perfect. But the thing is that everyone suggest a diferent without consensus.

This system must last like 4 years, so I must pick the best "bang bucker" stuff.

I dont know anything about the 1T 2T and overclocking stuff.

I just want to buy good parts with your help and then reaserch how to do it.

I am running against time.

 

[slpaulson]

For gaming you really don't get any benefit from having a dual core cpu.

 

[thesurge]

$100 left for a Case, PSU and a Keyboard?

Well you can get a Logitech Internet Black Keyboard

 

[NoStateofMind]

Originally posted by: cRazYdood
For gaming you really don't get any benefit from having a dual core cpu.

For now you are right. This is supposed to last four years thogh, So a dual core rig makes sence since games will be starting to be coded for dual cores. My 2 cents

 

[eXx08]

Originally posted by: pentiumobile
The WD 400GB raises my budget. So the Raptor is not good anymore??

This is the RAM you recomended.

RAM PIC

So it will run 1GB but save me almost 150. Then later he can buy the other stick. That sounds perfect.

Is that memory good?

That is the RAM. Yes and with that extra $150 get a 7800GTX he will deffinatly love you that is the top of the line card.

 

[JEDIYoda]

nice choice of components so far!!

I would stay away from Antec ( I know I just alienated all the antec lovers) and instead go with the fortron 450......fortron is much more reliable!
Fortron also doesn`t suffer from bad caps.

Also if your brother is going to be gaming and not doing much downloading then that Western Digital Raptor 74GB 10,000 RPM Serial ATA150 is the way to go!!

Also I would go with dual core that way when all games use dual core your brother will be ahead of the curve!!!

Good Luck!!

 

[jimbob200521]

id go with the corsair xms, but drop down to 1gb. the reason i way this is because the origional poster said he was going to overclock, and unless you use dividers, your not going to get very far with corsair value ram.

antec or forton, either will be an excellent psu.

as for the raptor, if space is a concern, get western digitals 400gb drive, but if space is not, the raptor is a fine choice.

 

[pentiumobile]

CPU
Athlon 64 X2 3800+ ----------------------------------------------> $325

MOBO
ASUS A8N5X-------------------------------------------------------> $92

EPoX EP-9NPA+Ultra----------------------------------------------> $105

Any Sugestión Please I have no idea????????????????????

RAM
Corsair Valueselect 2GB (2 sticks)------------------------------> $183

VIDEO CARD
eVGA GeForce 7800GT 256MB-----------------------------------> $304

HARD DRIVE
SAMSUNG SpinPoint 250GB 8MB IDE Ultra ATA133 -----------> $100

MOUSE
Logitech MX518 ----------------------------------------------------> $36

KEYBOARD
Logitech Internet Pro----------------------------------------------> $10

DVD-R
NEC 3550A----------------------------------------------------------> $40

POWER SUPPLY
Fortron AX450-PN 450W------------------------------------------> $50

CASE
COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 Black-----------------------------> $50


TOTAL-----------------------------------------------------------> $1203

This is my RIG so far with your advises, !!!PLEASE!!! inform any component that has better performance/value or overclockability/stability ratio.

I will order the system today.

THANKS BOYS.

 

[johnnqq]

is that the basic nforce 4 asus mobo? get the a8n-e. it's nforce 4 ultra (google it. more features). everything looks good. i'm personally getting a seasonic s12 psu (quiet but epensive), an antec 3000b ($50 case), seagate 250gb (samsung is quieter, but seagate is good quality and has a good warranty)

 

[JMoore]

I don't think he really needs that much Ram. 1 gig would probably be fine because the Vid card is the most important thing for gaming. As for the mb, ???. I would just stick to a brand name with good reviews on Newegg. If you are Overclocking I would def go with the DFI board because it is the best for overclocking. If you are overclocking I would also get a good heatsink/fan. BTW you are the best brother ever, seriously.

Edit: Also you can get some really good HD's from BestBuy and Circuit City for cheap. You just need to do some rebates.

Edit 2: I would also get him a fan controller because I like a quiet computer (Until I turn my fans up again for gaming).