building a new PC

Bart1987 · May 11, 2005, 03:38 PM

I'm going to build a new pc for myself.
It's going to be an AMD athlon64 s939. I was thinking of a 3500+.
I want 1GB of ddr (2x512MB) PC3200 cas2. Something like corsair cmx3200LLPT. Is 1GB enough or should I get 2x1GB?
I was thinking about the Abit AN8 Fatal1ty motherboard. Or should I get nforce4 SLI? or another chipset.
Does thermaltake make good powersupplies? Or would you recommend another brand?
I'm also doubting wether I should buy an x800 xl or a 6800GT. Which do you recommend?
Are western Digital good harddrives, or would you recommand something else?

Thanks,

Bart

topbob · May 11, 2005, 05:56 PM

what do you plan on using the computer for? from that we can make recommendations

mkk · May 11, 2005, 06:38 PM

Yes, what do you want out of the system? In general though, hold on a few weeks or something to make sure you get a Venice core Athlon64 and a motherboard that officially supports it. Lower (Edit: correction, Venice power consumption is actually slightly higher) power consumption and improved memory handling makes Venice the thing to go for. And the 3500+ models aren't really worth the price so a 3200+ is a better buy on overall. 1GB modules remains pretty expensive but I'd go with two of those if you have the money. Even if 2x512MB is enough for most uses it's always nice to have extra RAM in the system, for extra disk cache if nothing more. I love having 1.5GB on my simple AthlonXP system for the good it does to the overall system experience.

Zelig · May 11, 2005, 07:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mkk

Yes, what do you want out of the system? In general though, hold on a few weeks or something to make sure you get a Venice core Athlon64 and a motherboard that officially supports it. Lower power consumption and improved memory handling makes Venice the thing to go for. And the 3500+ models aren't really worth the price so a 3200+ is a better buy on overall. 1GB modules remains pretty expensive but I'd go with two of those if you have the money. Even if 2x512MB is enough for most uses it's always nice to have extra RAM in the system, for extra disk cache if nothing more. I love having 1.5GB on my simple AthlonXP system for the good it does to the overall system experience.

Venice actually has slightly higher power consumption than Winchester... everything else is good advice though.

kelticknight · May 11, 2005, 07:32 PM

have thermaltake 580 psu,no prods.would go seagate or maxtor as for h-disk.g-card ,myself would go ati x800 series,over all your choices are good,best of luck with it

mkk · May 11, 2005, 07:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zelig

Venice actually has slightly higher power consumption than Winchester... everything else is good advice though.

Oh, sorry about that then. I had expected a slightly higher consumption since that's normal when chip makers get more headroom into an existing design, but read a review stating much the opposite so I must have swallowed that too easily.

Son_of_Thunder · May 11, 2005, 08:43 PM

i'd say get a OCZ modstream or powerstream PSU, and i'd go for the x800xl if you get a single slot mobo, and a 6800gt if you get a SLi mobo. that way you could upgrade to a second 6800GT if one wasn't cutting it anymore.

Bart1987 · May 12, 2005, 01:36 AM

I will be using the PC for gaming: HL2, CS:S, Guildwars, Maybe some Farcry, Need for Speed, GTA:SA, etc.

topbob · May 12, 2005, 02:42 AM

mkk's cpu's suggestions is where its at.
OCZ is the win psu, x800 pro is an insane card with out the premium price. if you want dual video cards, well, im waitting around for ati's dual video. your good with a gig for now, although im waitting again, for ddr2 to come out for socket 939 and 2x pci-e

~~ut2k4wikichici~~ · May 12, 2005, 02:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by topbob

mkk's cpu's suggestions is where its at.
OCZ is the win psu, x800 pro is an insane card with out the premium price. if you want dual video cards, well, im waitting around for ati's dual video. your good with a gig for now, although im waitting again, for ddr2 to come out for socket 939 and 2x pci-e

What do you mean your waiting for Socket 939 it allready out dude! and so is SLI and DDR2

so wat are you talking about dude ?

Lakevren · May 12, 2005, 05:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ut2k4wikichici

What do you mean your waiting for Socket 939 it allready out dude! and so is SLI and DDR2

so wat are you talking about dude ?

He said "waiting for DDR2 to come out for 939".

DDR2 are those memory modules with high speed clocks, which P4 incorporates. AMD (or at least no motherboard manufacturer) has NOT incorporated DDR2 for any A64 motherboard.

From what I hear, though, AMD is gonna skip DDR2, and move to DDR3.

I'd wait for ATI's MR too, if looking for dual cards. 2 different cards, not the same identical card like Nvidia's SLI.

Bart1987 · May 12, 2005, 11:48 AM

OCZ powersupplies are very rare here. Only 2-3 companies in the country sell them, so what powersupply brand is best after OCZ?
Would Corsair TWINX 2048-3200C2PT 2048 MB be a good choise, or should I get something else?
I think I'll go for the x800xl. The abit fatal1ty is a good motherboard then?
Is there a case you would recommend? I was thinking about the thermaltake Shark case

Drakon · May 12, 2005, 02:55 PM

The Shark case is nice. The Armor case is nice too.

rico01 · May 12, 2005, 05:41 PM

Antec makes good power supplies.

As for the DDR2 issue, yes rumour has it that AMD will not actively support it since they think the new on-chip memory controllers will do for now until DDR3 (or that's what I read).

For gaming purposes choose an NForce system. If you choose ATI or NVidia is no big matter, as both makes decent graphic cards (I can already hear the soft mumbling and growling from the ATI and NVidia camps after that comment).

Bart1987 · May 13, 2005, 08:07 AM

I'm not really interested in DDR2 at the moment anyway :-P. But what are the big differences between the nforce 4 ultra and sli, which performs better? Are there any other differences except for sli?

rico01 · May 13, 2005, 11:17 AM

The NForce 4 chipset is NVidia's PCI-E chipset. The ultra version is commonly an upgraded version of the first version of any chipset. SLI is the 2 card technology from NVidia. So SLI is really a technology feature on top of NForce 4 Ultra. There are conflicting reports as to how good SLI really is. In theory it should be a better performer (all things equal) but some will tell you that a single faster card is better performing than two in SLI mode. What is hampering SLI at the moment seems to be the driver support.

My very personal suggestion would be to go for SLI if you have the money for it. Be aware that it might not perform as awesome as you'd think though. Also, heat is an issue so make special care to have a case with tremendous airflow if you follow this route.

OTOH, a single X850 or Geforce 6800U might be sufficient enough.

Bart1987 · May 13, 2005, 01:18 PM

Well I'm not planning on buying an X850 or Geforce 6800U. They're to expensive to me. I'm thinking of buying an X800XL from ASUS

Bart1987 · May 21, 2005, 06:21 PM

what is the difference between the san diego core and the venice core. Which of the two would you recommend?

mkk · May 22, 2005, 04:03 AM

The San Diego variant has a larger L2 cache, 1MB compared to 0.5MB. The larger cache can make a difference in cache intensive programs, but typically not more than a few percent on overall use. I would guess that they are a bit too expensive to make it worthwile right now, but hunt around for prices and see what you could get.

Bart1987 · Jun 25, 2005, 11:46 AM

I decided to go with this:

AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Venice 2.2 GHz, 2000 MHz, Boxed
NEC 3,5 Inch Diskette Station Zwart
Corsair TWINX 2048-3200C2PT 2048 MB, PC3200, 400 MHz, 2, Kit Of 2
Maxtor Diamond Max Plus 9 80 GB, 7200 Rpm, 8 MB
Maxtor Diamond Max 10 200 GB, 7200 Rpm, 8 MB, Serial ATA/150
Philips 109B50 19 Inch
Logitech MX 518 Retail
Logitech Deluxe Keyboard PS/2
Thermaltake Armor
NEC ND-3540A
MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum
OCZ ModStream 450W

but should I get a XFX GeForce 6800 Ultra for €370 or an Asus x800xl for €310? What would you recommend?

Drakon · Jun 25, 2005, 12:38 PM

Well seeing that the Ultra is 60 euros more than the x800xl, then I'd get the Ultra

Bart1987 · Jun 25, 2005, 12:52 PM

I've read a couple of reviews and in most of them the 6800ultra wasn't that much faster, and sometimes it was even slower than the x800xl. But you would say the 20% extra which you pay for it, compared to the x800xl, is worth it? Because of PS3.0? Or because of all the twimtbp games? I'm really not sure what to get. So could you give some arguments why I should get the 6800u or the x800xl.

Sandok · Jun 25, 2005, 01:10 PM

Well simply, the 6800 Ultra is better. It's got PS3, which is good and stuff but remeber that the direct competitor of the ultra is the XT, not the lower clock speed version of the XL.

I've got a XT and I love it but if you can get a 6800 Ultra for just 60 more bucks, I'd say go for it!

It's simply faster in almost all programs!

HawgsHead · Jun 26, 2005, 01:07 AM

Power supply= PC Power & Cooling!...www.pcpowerandcooling.com

Necrosis · Jun 26, 2005, 01:54 AM

You might think of one of the GT instead of the Ultra, especially since "most" GT's can acheive Ultra speeds.

Bart1987 · Jun 26, 2005, 05:23 AM

the cheapest 6800gt PCI-X costs € 349,- which is only €20euro cheaper than the 6800 ultra. And I don't really like to OC my videocard, especially not with a brand new one that costs €349. Or would you say an x850xt for €429 is worth another €60 more?

May 11, 2005, 03:38 PM	#1
Bart1987 DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: The Netherlands Posts: 634 Rep Power: 0	building a new PC I'm going to build a new pc for myself. It's going to be an AMD athlon64 s939. I was thinking of a 3500+. I want 1GB of ddr (2x512MB) PC3200 cas2. Something like corsair cmx3200LLPT. Is 1GB enough or should I get 2x1GB? I was thinking about the Abit AN8 Fatal1ty motherboard. Or should I get nforce4 SLI? or another chipset. Does thermaltake make good powersupplies? Or would you recommend another brand? I'm also doubting wether I should buy an x800 xl or a 6800GT. Which do you recommend? Are western Digital good harddrives, or would you recommand something else? Thanks, Bart

May 11, 2005, 05:56 PM	#2
topbob DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: SFBA, CA, USA Posts: 456 Rep Power: 32 System Specs	what do you plan on using the computer for? from that we can make recommendations __________________ 12090 in 3DMarks06 on current system, 5001 on old system, 4164 on older, 1587 on oldest

May 11, 2005, 06:38 PM	#3
mkk cheap philanthropist Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Gefle, Sweden Posts: 3,698 Rep Power: 67 System Specs	Yes, what do you want out of the system? In general though, hold on a few weeks or something to make sure you get a Venice core Athlon64 and a motherboard that officially supports it. Lower (Edit: correction, Venice power consumption is actually slightly higher) power consumption and improved memory handling makes Venice the thing to go for. And the 3500+ models aren't really worth the price so a 3200+ is a better buy on overall. 1GB modules remains pretty expensive but I'd go with two of those if you have the money. Even if 2x512MB is enough for most uses it's always nice to have extra RAM in the system, for extra disk cache if nothing more. I love having 1.5GB on my simple AthlonXP system for the good it does to the overall system experience. __________________ Playing Dragon Age, might forget everything else. Last edited by mkk; May 13, 2005 at 08:52 AM. Reason: correction

May 11, 2005, 07:32 PM	#5
kelticknight DriverHeaven Knight Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: EIRE{great for black stuff ,bulmers cider and Munster rubgy Posts: 1,098 Rep Power: 0	have thermaltake 580 psu,no prods.would go seagate or maxtor as for h-disk.g-card ,myself would go ati x800 series,over all your choices are good,best of luck with it __________________

May 11, 2005, 08:43 PM	#7
Son_of_Thunder DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Kalamazoo, MI Posts: 1,434 Rep Power: 37 System Specs	i'd say get a OCZ modstream or powerstream PSU, and i'd go for the x800xl if you get a single slot mobo, and a 6800gt if you get a SLi mobo. that way you could upgrade to a second 6800GT if one wasn't cutting it anymore. __________________

May 12, 2005, 01:36 AM	#8
Bart1987 DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: The Netherlands Posts: 634 Rep Power: 0	I will be using the PC for gaming: HL2, CS:S, Guildwars, Maybe some Farcry, Need for Speed, GTA:SA, etc.

May 12, 2005, 02:42 AM	#9
topbob DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: SFBA, CA, USA Posts: 456 Rep Power: 32 System Specs	mkk's cpu's suggestions is where its at. OCZ is the win psu, x800 pro is an insane card with out the premium price. if you want dual video cards, well, im waitting around for ati's dual video. your good with a gig for now, although im waitting again, for ddr2 to come out for socket 939 and 2x pci-e __________________ 12090 in 3DMarks06 on current system, 5001 on old system, 4164 on older, 1587 on oldest

May 12, 2005, 11:48 AM	#12
Bart1987 DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: The Netherlands Posts: 634 Rep Power: 0	OCZ powersupplies are very rare here. Only 2-3 companies in the country sell them, so what powersupply brand is best after OCZ? Would Corsair TWINX 2048-3200C2PT 2048 MB be a good choise, or should I get something else? I think I'll go for the x800xl. The abit fatal1ty is a good motherboard then? Is there a case you would recommend? I was thinking about the thermaltake Shark case Last edited by Bart1987; May 12, 2005 at 11:58 AM.

May 12, 2005, 02:55 PM	#13
Drakon DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Floatin'... Posts: 4,958 Rep Power: 43	The Shark case is nice. The Armor case is nice too.

May 12, 2005, 05:41 PM	#14
rico01 Audio Junkie Join Date: May 2004 Posts: 126 Rep Power: 0	Antec makes good power supplies. As for the DDR2 issue, yes rumour has it that AMD will not actively support it since they think the new on-chip memory controllers will do for now until DDR3 (or that's what I read). For gaming purposes choose an NForce system. If you choose ATI or NVidia is no big matter, as both makes decent graphic cards (I can already hear the soft mumbling and growling from the ATI and NVidia camps after that comment). __________________ My middle-name is Audiophile.

May 13, 2005, 08:07 AM	#15
Bart1987 DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: The Netherlands Posts: 634 Rep Power: 0	I'm not really interested in DDR2 at the moment anyway :-P. But what are the big differences between the nforce 4 ultra and sli, which performs better? Are there any other differences except for sli?

May 13, 2005, 11:17 AM	#16
rico01 Audio Junkie Join Date: May 2004 Posts: 126 Rep Power: 0	The NForce 4 chipset is NVidia's PCI-E chipset. The ultra version is commonly an upgraded version of the first version of any chipset. SLI is the 2 card technology from NVidia. So SLI is really a technology feature on top of NForce 4 Ultra. There are conflicting reports as to how good SLI really is. In theory it should be a better performer (all things equal) but some will tell you that a single faster card is better performing than two in SLI mode. What is hampering SLI at the moment seems to be the driver support. My very personal suggestion would be to go for SLI if you have the money for it. Be aware that it might not perform as awesome as you'd think though. Also, heat is an issue so make special care to have a case with tremendous airflow if you follow this route. OTOH, a single X850 or Geforce 6800U might be sufficient enough. __________________ My middle-name is Audiophile.

May 13, 2005, 01:18 PM	#17
Bart1987 DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: The Netherlands Posts: 634 Rep Power: 0	Well I'm not planning on buying an X850 or Geforce 6800U. They're to expensive to me. I'm thinking of buying an X800XL from ASUS

May 21, 2005, 06:21 PM	#18
Bart1987 DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: The Netherlands Posts: 634 Rep Power: 0	what is the difference between the san diego core and the venice core. Which of the two would you recommend?

May 22, 2005, 04:03 AM	#19
mkk cheap philanthropist Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Gefle, Sweden Posts: 3,698 Rep Power: 67 System Specs	The San Diego variant has a larger L2 cache, 1MB compared to 0.5MB. The larger cache can make a difference in cache intensive programs, but typically not more than a few percent on overall use. I would guess that they are a bit too expensive to make it worthwile right now, but hunt around for prices and see what you could get. __________________ Playing Dragon Age, might forget everything else.

Jun 26, 2005, 01:07 AM	#24
HawgsHead Rest In Peace Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Danville Virginia.The United States of America"In the God of Abraham,Isaac and Jacob We Trust" Posts: 2,012 Rep Power: 0	Power supply= PC Power & Cooling!...www.pcpowerandcooling.com __________________ Rig specs to the left in the boxes....X-Box 360 w/Hitachi 42" HDTV....If Darwins theory of evolution is true then why are monkeys still monkeys?It takes much more faith to believe in Darwin's theory over the Genesis account of creation.

Jun 25, 2005, 11:46 AM	#20
Bart1987 DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: The Netherlands Posts: 634 Rep Power: 0	I decided to go with this: AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Venice 2.2 GHz, 2000 MHz, Boxed NEC 3,5 Inch Diskette Station Zwart Corsair TWINX 2048-3200C2PT 2048 MB, PC3200, 400 MHz, 2, Kit Of 2 Maxtor Diamond Max Plus 9 80 GB, 7200 Rpm, 8 MB Maxtor Diamond Max 10 200 GB, 7200 Rpm, 8 MB, Serial ATA/150 Philips 109B50 19 Inch Logitech MX 518 Retail Logitech Deluxe Keyboard PS/2 Thermaltake Armor NEC ND-3540A MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum OCZ ModStream 450W but should I get a XFX GeForce 6800 Ultra for €370 or an Asus x800xl for €310? What would you recommend?

Jun 25, 2005, 12:38 PM	#21
Drakon DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Floatin'... Posts: 4,958 Rep Power: 43	Well seeing that the Ultra is 60 euros more than the x800xl, then I'd get the Ultra

Jun 25, 2005, 12:52 PM	#22
Bart1987 DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: The Netherlands Posts: 634 Rep Power: 0	I've read a couple of reviews and in most of them the 6800ultra wasn't that much faster, and sometimes it was even slower than the x800xl. But you would say the 20% extra which you pay for it, compared to the x800xl, is worth it? Because of PS3.0? Or because of all the twimtbp games? I'm really not sure what to get. So could you give some arguments why I should get the 6800u or the x800xl.

Jun 25, 2005, 01:10 PM	#23
Sandok DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 9,501 Rep Power: 53	Well simply, the 6800 Ultra is better. It's got PS3, which is good and stuff but remeber that the direct competitor of the ultra is the XT, not the lower clock speed version of the XL. I've got a XT and I love it but if you can get a 6800 Ultra for just 60 more bucks, I'd say go for it! It's simply faster in almost all programs!

Jun 26, 2005, 05:23 AM	#26
Bart1987 DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: The Netherlands Posts: 634 Rep Power: 0	the cheapest 6800gt PCI-X costs € 349,- which is only €20euro cheaper than the 6800 ultra. And I don't really like to OC my videocard, especially not with a brand new one that costs €349. Or would you say an x850xt for €429 is worth another €60 more? Last edited by Bart1987; Jun 26, 2005 at 06:59 AM.