My next PC

Bilbo · Post by **Bilbo** » 04 Aug 2005, 05:48

I'm beginning to think about changing my PC. What I'm currently looking for is something like this:

Motherboard: ASUS A8N-SLI Premium
CPU: Athlon64 between X2 3800+ and X2 4400+ (rebates announced)
HSF: if not included w/ CPU then must be speed-adjustable.
Memoire: Corsair TWINX XL Latency 1024MB (2x512) PC3200 Dual-Channel DDR 400MHz Memory (Samsung TCCD) 2-2-2-5-1 Timings.
Video: nVidia GeForce6 6800GT 256MB DDR3 (MSI NX6800GT-T2D256E or ASUS EN6800GT/TD/256)
Sound: Creative Audigy 2 ZS OEM
HD: 2x Hitachi Deskstar T7K250 (HDT722525DLA380) (SATA 300/NCQ/8.5ms)
CD: DVD+/-RW DL burner (compatibility/reliability more important than speed/price)
Mouse: Logitech MX510
KB: standard "Windows" keyboard
PS: Enermax NoiseTakerAX 600W EG701AX-VE
Case: ATX Full tower, max air flow + max internal 3.5" capacity (bonus points for side access to HD "bay").
OS: WindowsXP64 Pro OEM

Does it make sense? Am I forgetting anything? Any recommendations for a good DVD burner?

BTW, for "religious" (i.e. not debatable) reasons, I'm NOT going the ATI way on this computer.

My goal with this PC is to have an "almost" top notch PC without wasting too much money (yes, there are some expensive components above but I think they're worth the extra $$ compared to the overall price). Power is critical to this system as I will eventually add another 6800GT video card (SLI setup) when they come down in price and, if I'm consistent with my past practices, I will also be adding extra hard disks over time (can you say RAID?).

Am I crazy?

Flow · Post by **Flow** » 04 Aug 2005, 14:27

Well how mutch is this little baby?

Bilbo · Post by **Bilbo** » 04 Aug 2005, 17:24

I figure about CAD$3k, more or less...

Steve · Post by **Steve** » 06 Aug 2005, 14:14

hm, since you're spending so much cash, i would say go for PC Power And Cooling for your power supply Bilbo, they are the absolute best there is, bar none !! http://www.pcpowercooling.com/products/ Also, for the video card, go with eVGA or BFG, they are supposed to be the best manufacturers of Nvidia cards

carrera · Post by **carrera** » 06 Aug 2005, 16:22

I'm starting to think you have too much money to spare Bilbo...LOL>...
Good idea for an sli setup with nvidia though.I think you will reap the rewards for years to come...I heard evga was the best manufaturer of nvidia cards.Sli is the wave of the future.Its definitely worth the money.
This will put you years ahead of anyone one else.
carrera

Steve · Post by **Steve** » 06 Aug 2005, 17:14

just out of curiosity, why not ATI? < other than no SLI >

Bilbo · Post by **Bilbo** » 06 Aug 2005, 18:42

Steve & Carrera, thanks for your comments.

I have looked at the BFG "OC" cards but I think they charge a bit too much extra for what amounts to almost trivial overclocking I could get for free on any decent, non-OC-branded card. I have run my old stock GF3 at 15% GPU and 5% memory overclock for years without any problems.

As for the why I am going nVidia, there a few reasons:
- Many of my friends have been "burned" by old ATI cards (Rage et al.)/drivers compatibility problems.
- We have low-end Radeons at the office and I'm very NOT impressed by the performance. My trusty old GF3 (the original, from before they introduced the "Ti" models) could run rings around a Radeon 7000. I recently got a 9250 and things are better (I did not have much time yet to really "play" with it though) but still, we're comparing cards that came out YEARS apart.
- I'm definitely going the SLI way as I'll probably get an LCD screen as soon as my current monitor dies and I will want most of my games to look good and fast at 1280x1024 (i.e. the native resolution of most LCDs). Where is Crossfire? If I wanted to wait another 6 months or a year, I would be waiting for the upcoming M2 CPU socket too. I'm not as I've waited much already for the dual-core CPUs to be available.
- ATI have improved their stability, but nVidia didn't have to in the first place. From reading most game's readme files (which I always do), there are/were more ATI-related items than nVidia-related. I want my gaming to be trouble-free, that's VERY important to me and I'm willing to pay extra for this.

So these are my reasons for not going with ATI. That's pretty much the same reasons as the AMD/Intel debate of a few years ago (but I became pro-AMD when the compatibility problems were fixed so it's not just because I'm "stuck up" or anything).

Finally, as for power supplies, it's getting hard to choose as not every manufacturer supplies specs in the equivalent formats and it's not easy to find trustable and competent PS reviews...