My First Xtreme Build

[ferrari_freak]

Ok, I've been waiting a year for this, and my dad is finally getting me a gaming rig in the beginning of August. I decided to build it myself since I want it to be cheap, have good performance and also have my own customized choices. It's going to be used mostly for gaming. Other things will be chatting, doing homework, etc, but my main concern is for it to be a great gaming PC. My dad is going to allow a total of ~$2000 for this and in this much money I should have everything including keyboard, mouse, speakers, shipping. All except for moniter which I will buy later on in the year. So here is what I have come up with.

MAIN COMPONENTS:
Case: Lian Li PC-V2000B Case $252.99 http://www.xoxide.com/v2000b.html
PSU: Enermax Noisetaker 600W W/SLI Support PSU $155 http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=M&Product_Code=100365&Category_Code=ps-500
Mobo: DFI Lanparty UT SLI-DR $172 http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=M&Product_Code=110630&Category_Code=AMD939
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Venice $156http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=M&Product_Code=120211&Category_Code=AMD64
RAM: Mushkin Redline PC-4000 $203 http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=M&Product_Code=140567&Category_Code=Unbuffered_Mushkin
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar SE 250GB SATAII 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=M&Product_Code=150939&Category_Code=SATAHardDrives
CD: Asus 52x CD-ROM Drive $26 http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=M&Product_Code=160873&Category_Code=C3
DVD/CD-RW: Asus 1608PBLK DVD/CD-RW Drive $84 http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=M&Product_Code=160620&Category_Code=cdrw-dvdrw
Floppy: Mitsumi Floppy Drive/Card Reader $25 http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=M&Product_Code=170108&Category_Code=Floppy
Sound Card: Creative Sound Audigy 2 ZS Gamer $121 http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=M&Product_Code=180400&Category_Code=SC
Graphics Card: eVGA GeForce 6800GT 256MB $340 http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=M&Product_Code=190670&Category_Code=nvidia-PCI-E

ACCESORIES:
Mouse: Logitech MX518 Gaming Mouse $39 http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=M&Product_Code=230239&Category_Code=log
Keyboard: Logitech Elite Multimedia Keyboard $29 http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=M&Product_Code=220212&Category_Code=log
Speakers: Logitech Z-5500 5.1 Speakers $275 http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=M&Product_Code=250336&Category_Code=log

And that is what I am considering on ordering at the moment. The reason I am not ordering from Newegg is becuase sadly they don't ship to Canada. Besides gaming, the other job of this computer is that it should be a show off computer. I am thinking about going liquid in the next few months as well which would explain the large case. I want it to be dead silent but have lots of power. Since all of my friends are used to drooling over my one of my friend's FX-51 and his GeForce FX-5950 Ultra, it will be a piece of cake. The guy is too scared to OC anything so my 3000+ will be able to kick his rig's a*s easily with some good OC. Another thing is that it has to be very futureproof. I will be begging my dad to let me go SLI in a few months as well, so I just have to hope he lets me. Sadly, I will only be able to upgrade 2 years from now. Thanks for all of your help! Hope I get some feedback soon.

Usama aka Ferrari Freak

P.S. As said in the title, this will be my first build in my entire life. If there are any precautions or guides that you have, please post them. All help is greatly appreciated, I don't want to break anything or else my dad might not let me build my next rig.

[n00b 0f l337]

Just one thing.... Stock heatsink? Or did you forget cooling>?

[[XC] leviathan18]

ferrari freak save on the lianli v2000 choose the v1200
the western digital is not trully sataII it lacks of ncq check the hitachi 250gb sata II ncq 8mb cache 3gbps
there are cheaper dvd burners of good quality

and with the spare money get the 3200 :D hope you enjoy your rig and you can play ut 2004 for many hours with it

[Turok]

Looks nice

I see you are buying a 6800GT, but everything is set up for SLI.
So your plans are to get a 6800GT latter on and connect it to SLI?

I see you are trying to buy most of your stuff from the same retialer. There are other stores that have better prices in some things.
You can get a XFX 6800GT from www.newegg.com for $300, and XFX are the best nVidia cards (especially for OCing)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814150091

Dont remember if they ship to Canada tho. I think ZipZoomFly.com does offer shipping to Canada

[masterofpuppets]

That power supply, nonono.

[Judaeus Apella]

Get the beautiful Thermalright XP-90C heatsink! It has the best performance, is already lapped, and you can further increase its performance by flipping the fan around so it sucks the hot air off instead of blowing it. The XP-90C is 100% shiny copper and would make an excellent edition to such a nice show case. You can't beat its cooling ability either. Nothing and I really do mean NOTHING I've seen can beat it. It surpases the XP-90 and the beefy XP-120. It's the next best thing below water cooling. I'm totally get it soon. :D

Good idea going with the GT for now until the 7800's come out. You can upgrade later and you won't be replacing an expensive card, compared to what else you could be buying. However, you can bet a MUCH better deal here:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814150091

Tip: You can even further increase the cooling ability of the XP-90C by not only flipping the fan around, but also stacking two fans together. These are the best fans you can get for this heatsink, not just because they push a lot of cfm, but because they produce a lot of air pressure that other fans don't, making them great for forcing air through the finely spaced fins of the Thermalright XP heatsinks:

http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/de92ff1.html
http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/de92ff1.html
http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/sicy92detf.html

[[XC] leviathan18]

the thermaltake big typhoon after a little work of laping perfoms much better than them xp90c and xp120 and if you change the fan perfoms even better

[Judaeus Apella]

http://www.3dxtreme.net/index.php?id=ttbigtyphoon4

Holly crap! Your right! 8 degrees lower than the XP-90?! :slobber: :slobber: :slobber:

Crap, found a problem though. Like the XP-120, the Typhoon is really large and can obstruct ram slots and vga slots. :(

Too bad... other than that it looks like the best.

[Ugly n Grey]

Shop those parts at NCIX in Vancouver as well dude, I found they were better on most items than their american counterparts and they have excellent service and good sales. I have had BAD service from Canada Computers every time, not recommended.

[ferrari_freak]

Ok, so here are the suggestions so far. Dump the HDD, get a different DVD burner, change the case, and also change the PSU.

So what would you guys recommend? I'll check out them Hitachi HDD's. The reason I went with the Western Digital ones is becuase they had 16mb cache. What are good DVD burners? I really have no clue in this field. For the case, I was also looking at the Lian Li PC-75B. How is that? I loved it until I saw the PC-V2000 because of its looks and also because of its 120mm fans. And what can I change the PSU to? I've heard good things about the Silverstone Zeus, how does it perform? And another question I have is about the RAM. Is it overkill considering this will be my first time OCing anything (my prebuilt computer can't OC anything at all :( )? And yes, I am looking towards SLI in the future. If there are things that I can save money on, I want to know because I am really really wanting a Athlon 64 3700+.

I'll also check out some Canadian websites if you know of any other good ones. Thank for all you people's help. Btw Turok, I loved the look of your rig, what would you recommend for a good looking showcase? Judaeus Appella, putting two fans would be a problem since it would be too loud. Yeah, I forgot to put on a cooler. I haven't decided on one yet. What do you guys think is a good cooler that isn't too loud? Btw, the cooler is only temporary since I'm probably going liquid, but it has to be good just in case my dad doesn't let me.

And yes, sadly enough Newegg doesn't ship to Canada. And this rig is also made to play UT2004. In two years I will be doing a complete overhaul of graphics card, processor, etc. to make it ready for UT2007.

Usama aka Ferrari Freak

[Turok]

This is a nice burner
The only burner that I know that runs on SATA
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827131329

For the looks, you have to work a bit. I had to sleeve every single cable I could.
I even sleeved the chipset fan :p:
I highly recommend the Vantec cable sleeving kits. If you buy a SLI PSU, you may have a lot more cables to sleeve. I would say start with 4 vantec cable sleeving kits. They run out fast, and I would recommend at least one extra sleeving kit in case of any errors.

Thats another reason why I bought this Antec NeoPower 480w PSU, because it was one of the best PSUs with modable cables, so I just had to sleeve what I needed and I could put them whereever I wanted.

For cooling, I recommend WC, so you dont depend so much on caise temps if you have a WC box outside your case with a Iwaki pumping everything in.
If you get WC, you can also get a smaller case like my Lian-Li PC-65B.
Its not more than you need, and it will be $100 cheaper



What theme are you thinking about?
The ones that I like the most are:

1) UV CC + White leds + aluminum blue led fans + blue UV and/or black sleeving + WC with no more than the 5% of Zerex on distilled to make it less redish
This will make your case look like its frozen inside. The white with UV blue will make it look like Ice with cold water

Something simmilar to this one but with white lights and blue led fans and blue UV, and a PC-64B (Outside black, insides silver)

http://www3.sympatico.ca/scanido/images/side.jpg

2) UV CC + *Pure red LEDs+ red LED feet + aluminum red fans (like mine) + red UV sleeving + WC with a bit more then 5% Zerex
*Im thinking about changeing mines, because my CoolerMaster Aurora leds are more pinkish than red in person
This will give you a really cool red theme that will have your friends saying "bloody hell :slobber: " :D
Its not so common to see people with red PCs usually because of availability, popularity, and because a lot of people like to use UV and UV is more blue/purple. If you sleeve all your cables, it will look more redish/orange than blue, and even more red with the help of the red LEDs. Note that white stuff makes UV look more blue. make sure that all your molex plugs are black, and your fittings are black. My NeoPower has black connectors and I bought a black T fitting and T cap from www.CoolTechnica.com

Here you have a sample of mine so you can compare
This is the closest I could get to real life with only the Red CC LEDs on.
http://img302.imageshack.us/img302/4201/redtheme3fm.jpg



3) UV CC + aluminum green + green LED moded feet + WC w/ green fluid + green UV sleeving (Dont add any light so its not too green)

No pics since I dont know any good green references

[Rabidmoose171]

Im working on a green mod, but its gonna be a while, this thing is complete system overhaul ive been working on my case for nearly 2 months already though.

[Judaeus Apella]

The blue theme is similar to what I want to do when I upgrade to water cooling. Only Im going to use UV lights to cause the light to fade from blue, to bluish purple, and back to blue as your eye moves from left to right. So the left side will be blue, the middle will be violet, and the right will be blue. I have trouble explaining it, so I'm just going to post a simple color blending pic I just made.

Later on I'll probably be asking for some ideas on the best ways to make this work, though I do have some ideas of my own.

I hope this isn't off topic or that it seems like I'm hijacking the thread, but I saw this stuff in the hardware store. Its a very fine powder, with no clumps or noticible graininess that would cause clogs. It has flourescent material in it and some very fine glitter, and you're suppost to mix it with grout for dance floors. I thought something like that would be totally wicked as an addative to a water cooling system, but Im sure everyone is going to say NO!!! (including my brain) but it would look so coooool! Im sure I can't use that but does anyone know of anything else I can use? Having a sparkle effect in a water cooling system would be so choice. By the way, you only get a few ounces of that powder and I'm pretty sure it was over $100!!

[IYP]

get the V2000plus at monarch and save 50$

[ferrari_freak]

get the V2000plus at monarch and save 50$

Yeah, I saw that, sadly it's in silver and I want my case to be black :(. Ok, so what's a good case? How about the PC-65B? Looks good to me plus I can save a lot of money off of that.

About the theme, I really like that frozen theme that Turok mentioned. I'm also really into his fire red theme. I'm kind of leaning more towards the frozen pc theme though... I am thinking about getting a Weapon Monster Core if I ever go liquid so of course it'll be placed outside the case. Is Xoxide like the best place for this kind of stuff? Or can I get this stuff (like cable sleeving kits) somewhere else for cheaper. Xoxide is kind of pricier than the stuff is supposed to be. Turok mentioned in another thread his bad experiences with Frozen CPU's service so I'm trying to stay away from that.

As for the dvd burner, a guy at a custom pc store said that their best selling dvd burner is the LG multi drive or whatever it's called. It's dual layer, 16X8X16. How does that one perform? Sorry for being such a noob, but I really have no clue in optical drives. And I still having found a good PSU. As I said before, how about the Silverstone Zeus?

Usama aka Ferrari Freak

[[XC] leviathan18]

ok the big typhoon is taller than the xp120 so it wont obstruct the ram slots that is why i like it more than the xp120.

ferrari freak check out the the 1200 lian li is a little bit smaller in height and cost less.

for ram well is a good ram but why you dont go tccd? ive seen a lot of redline deads over the forums due to using a lot of vdimm.

well if you raid 0 the hitachis they are the fastes right now....

i got the lg super multi drive whatever is called is good and cheap the plextor is sata and all you want but costs like 100 or 120 so i think is too expensive.

good psu well pc power and cooling 510 sli deluxe or ocz powerstream 520

and if you want a good paint job pm iyp and ask him for a custom paint job i could do it for you but im quite far from canada

[Judaeus Apella]

http://www.3dxtreme.net/index.php?id=ttbigtyphoon4

Holly crap! Your right! 8 degrees lower than the XP-90?! :slobber: :slobber: :slobber:

Crap, found a problem though. Like the XP-120, the Typhoon is really large and can obstruct ram slots and vga slots. :(

Too bad... other than that it looks like the best.


You know... I take it back. Im getting a bad vibe from that review. You think its rigged? I mean... thats an extremely dramatic difference.... Something isn't right. We don't even know if the room temperature was the same in both tests. They also used very different fans for each cooler.

[Turok]

Here is my PC edited with the blue theme I was talking about

http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/3505/bluetheme9fm.gif

Part of my plans is to update to a Iwaki pump and add a GPU block, and at the same time build an exterior WC box.

My theme is to cool the monstercore and at the same time cool the pump and a section of the loop by puttings them in a wooden air tunnel
This is better than having the pump inside the case building up heat and raising your case temps.

Here is a cr***y looking 3D representation of the concept air tunnel.

http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/5103/wcbox4tz.gif

This is how it would look inside

http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/9740/sketch8ns.gif

You can use my plans as a method for building your WC solution

Turok

[[XC] leviathan18]

you can search a thread in the AMD section of the big typhoon everybody said is the best one you have to lap a little bit the base but is awesome even with the stock fan @ very low db

[Judaeus Apella]

I knew it! Check these reviews out, they got really great results! The Typhoon doesn't do as well here though. That other review had to be rigged, cause those results were bull.

http://www.insanetek.com/index.php?page=thermalrightxp90c_4
http://www.insanetek.com/index.php?page=ttbigtyphoon

http://www.extremeoverclocking.com/reviews/cooling/Thermalright_XP-90C_4.html

[ferrari_freak]

Ok, so I've decided to lower down to a PC-65B and get a 3700+ with the money I saved. So what's good RAM if the Mushkin Redline isn't that good? Is the OCZ Powerstream 520W sufficient for SLI? This will be my first time I will be OCing as stated before, thus being the reason for not knowing good OCing hardware.

Usama aka Ferrari Freak

[Judaeus Apella]

Cheapest I've seen the 3700+ for is $319 here:

http://www.xpcgear.com/ada3700bnbox.html

Moncarch has it for $339, which is $20 more. If you were going to spend that kind of money, you might as well spend only $20 more and get a 3800+ over here:

http://www.xpcgear.com/ada3800bpbox.html

[[XC] leviathan18]

OF COURSE THE POWERSTREAM CAN HANDLE IT is a top psu lol.....

ocz 3200 platinium rev 2 or ocz 4800 platinium or maybe the 5000 those high FSB mems

[ferrari_freak]

Cheapest I've seen the 3700+ for is $319 here:

http://www.xpcgear.com/ada3700bnbox.html

Moncarch has it for $339, which is $20 more. If you were going to spend that kind of money, you might as well spend only $20 more and get a 3800+ over here:

http://www.xpcgear.com/ada3800bpbox.html

I heard that the 1mb cache comes in useful. A lower clocked 3400+ can beat a lower cache but higher clocked 3500+ just because of the 3400+'s extra cache. Anyways, saving on the case will get me enough money to upgrade to a 3700+. Or I can use it on getting the case painted and the theme jobs, etc. What you guys think? Should I get a 3700+ or should I get a 3000+ and use the money on painting, etc? Remember, this rig will only be used for 2 years so I don't want it to be too much and then be wasted when I upgrade.

And leviathan18, I get the point, lol. So I'll save some money with that as well, around $30. Then I can use it on the RAM you mentioned.

Usama aka Ferrari Freak

[Judaeus Apella]

Just get a case skin. Polygfx makes some really nice ones. You can send them a custom large format picture, or just pick from what they already have. :)

Here's a link:
http://polygfx.com/

For the system Im building, Im going to make a large format picture in photoshop, with the logo "MODULAR GODDESS" and I'll modify a high res pic of Motoko Kusanagi, and AA her against the black backround of my case so it looks nice. Shes my fav hottie, and those connections in the back of her head inspired me to put molex connectors on the back of my case so I can have an external radiator set up later on. :D

[[XC] leviathan18]

vynils doesnt look as great as custom paint job airbrush grafics are awesome...

but you better get a 3700 or wait a little maybe the athlon x2 3800 comes out soon for a reasonable price

[Judaeus Apella]

vynils doesnt look as great as custom paint job airbrush grafics are awesome...

I have no idea where I would even get that done, not to mention how much it would cost.

[[XC] leviathan18]

about 200 per panel www.mnpctech.com they do it for you i could do it but im too far and for now iyp is learning loool maybe in some time he can do it

[Judaeus Apella]

HOLLY CRAP!

Yeah... I'm really gonna spend that... :rolleyes:

A skin costs less than half that for all three panals! What a rip. Im not paying for someone's next vacation! :surf:

[[XC] leviathan18]

yes cost half that but you cant compare :P have you seen vynils in cars and have you seen custom paint jobs? the difference is HUGHE

[Ugly n Grey]

HOLLY CRAP!

Yeah... I'm really gonna spend that... :rolleyes:

A skin costs less than half that. What a rip. Im not paying for someone's next vacation. :surf:

I like nice and plain brushed aluminum, no windows, no nonsense, no one has to know what's under the hood. Even the front door on my rig is plain and hides the drives and crap....

Why spend on a skin when you could sell your AGP mobo, get a PCI-E model and end up with the 7800 you really want by doing without the fancy graphics ? :sofa:

[Judaeus Apella]

Well I don't want an entire skin, just my right panel, and it's just going to cover half of it!

I also have access to a top of the line Canon PIXMA iP5000 9600dpi photo printer. :slobber: I just might find a way to use that. I've heard you can buy high quality photo stickers for them... in fact I'm going to look right now. :)

[Frisch]

Just to confirm what's said about the PSU, DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONT PLEEEEEAAASE
go Enermax, it'll destroy your hardware and in a hot and noisy way.

[[XC] leviathan18]

lol ugly n grey some times ppl likes something different somethig like one maybe you like plain things i like blue things with silver maybe other likes red or whatever......

when you say no body can see under the hood you like to surprise ppl my best friend father have an old vw bettle and that little beast have porsche engine is funny to see how that little car runs

[Judaeus Apella]

Would an iron on work?

[Ugly n Grey]

If I cut the picture out, would an iron on work? I think it might if I made sure I cut off all the white around the picture.

The DPI will make it Ugly n Grey indeed ;)

[Ugly n Grey]

lol ugly n grey some times ppl likes something different somethig like one maybe you like plain things

With a name like this you think I have a flashy PC case? nope....it too is Ugly n Grey :banana: :banana: :banana:
:toast:

[Judaeus Apella]

The dpi will make it ugly and grey... whats that mean?

*licks finger and toches the iron*

FSSST!

[Ugly n Grey]

It'll be chunky and blocky is what I was thinking

[ferrari_freak]

Ok, I'm almost done making decisions, I'll post my results later on today. There's probably still stuff that needs to be changed for something else. And another question, what is the best vendor for a GeForce 6800 GT? I see that a lot of people use XFX for a 6800GT. Is the dual slot Leadtek one good? I've heard it has thermal compound issues... Then what about eVGA? I'll like to stay away from BFG because of their majorly overpriced cards and same with the Asus eXtreme cards.

Usama aka Ferrari Freak

[[XC] leviathan18]

xfx msi or evga is what i recomend you, bigger doesnt mean better

[ferrari_freak]

For RAM, which is the better? OCZ Platinum Rev. 2 PC-3200 or OCZ Gold VX PC-4000? The latter may be hard to get though because of it's price... Anyway, I want to know which one is better. My bet is on the OCZ Gold VX but just to make sure.

Usama aka Ferrari Freak

[ferrari_freak]

Ok, another thing, Zipzoomfly has crazy overpriced shipping in Canada or they have a problem in their shipping calculator. I'm not taking risks here so I will be getting the stuff from Monarch, Xoxide and FrozenCPU. Now, Monarch doesn't have the 250GB SATAII Hitachi's. Should I get the 250GB SATAII Western Digital Caviar SE's or should I get the 160GB SATAII Hitachi's? And still wondering about the RAM.

Usama aka Ferrari Freak

[[XC] leviathan18]

you can get 2 160gb sata II and raid them raid 0 of course and you will have the fastest raid :P

ram ocz 3200 plat rev 2 is tccd so you can get 1:1 like fsb 300 at almost no vdimm v2.8 the vx use bh5 or utt so 250 tight timmings but a lot of vdimm 3.4 3.6

[ferrari_freak]

Ok, then I'm going to stick the the Platinum Rev. 2 and the Western Digital HDDs, don't got the money to Raid drives yet, maybe for my next build :banana:

Usama aka Ferrari Freak

[Arkangyl]

As far as cases go, the Lian-Li PC-7 series (at the egg ne ways) is sub $100 and supports a 120mm front intake fan, quite nice IMO.

[Ugly n Grey]

you can get 2 160gb sata II and raid them raid 0 of course and you will have the fastest raid :P


You and that RAID thing...... :banana:

[ferrari_freak]

Ok, here is my totally updated configuration:

COMPONENTS:

Case: Lian-Li PC-65B
PSU: OCZ Powerstream 520W PSU $119
Mobo: DFI Lanparty UT SLI-DR $172
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 3000+ $156
CPU Cooler: Thermaltake Big Typhoon $52.99
RAM: OCZ 1GB (2x512MB) Platinum Rev. 2 PC-3200 $179
Hard Drives: Western Digital 250GB SATAII 7200RPM HDD $150
CD: Lite-On DVD 16x CD 48x Drive $49
DVD/CD-RW: NEC ND-3540A 16x Dual Layer DVD/CD-RW Drive + Nero Burning software $55.99
Floppy Drive: Mitsumi Floppy Drive/Card Reader $25
Sound Card: Creative Sound Audigy 2 ZS Gamer $121
Graphics Card: XFX GeForce 6800GT $330
VGA Cooler: Stock for now

ACCESSORIES:

Mouse: Logitech MX 518 Gaming Mouse $39
Keyboard: Logitech Elite Multimedia Keyboard $29
Speakers: Logitech Z-5500 5.1 Surround Sound Speakers $275
ATX Molex Pin Remover: the Xoxide one $5.99
Universal Molex Pin Remover: also the only Xoxide one $4.99

MODS:

Drive Bay Covers: 2x Lian-Li Bay Bezels $19.98 ($9.99 each)
Fans: 4x Xoxide Aluminum Blue LED Fans $15.96 ($3.99)
Cable Sleeving: 4x Vantec Cable Sleeving Kits $35.96 ($8.99)
LED Feet: Sunbeam Blue LED Case Feet $9.99
CC: Coolermaster Aurora White CCs $7.99
UV CC: Coolermaster Aurora UV CCs (currently out of stock, will order once in stock, hoprfully sometime before I order everything)
Case Badge: Frozen CPU "Warning, Overclocked" Case Badge $3.75
Case Badge 2: Frozen CPU Unreal Tournament Case Badge $3.75

All of this comes out to be $2139.26US shipped here to Canada :D . All of this stuff is ordered from Monarch, Xoxide and Frozen CPU.

Now a few more questions, lol, is that too many case badges (I also have an AMD one that comes with my processor and the Lian-Li one that's already on the case)? Do I need both Molex Pin removers or just the universal one? Is everything now ready for ordering? Thanks a lot.

Usama aka Ferrari Freak

[Xyus89]

I still remember me getting my first setup...
an hole amd 64 setup for 640 euro's what I worked for ;)

but why don't you buy an 6800LE ? orso..
and why an Lian LI, hughly overpriced imo and that XFX is overpriced also and who the heck still buys an cd drive?!

xyus!

[[XC] leviathan18]

UnG well if you see the benchs they are the fastest sata II in raid o constantly in 300MBPS quite impresive

ferrari freak forget the cd drive get a dvd drive if you want to burn a dvd to a dvd r you will have to make an iso and the burn it is more time so get a dvd drive no a cd drive

and forget about the floppy LOOL nad get a pen drive xD

[Ugly n Grey]

UnG well if you see the benchs they are the fastest sata II in raid o constantly in 300MBPS quite impresive

They can only do that when reading from the cache. I have a pair of Seagate SATA II NCQ drives right here on NVRAID 2x drives RAID 0 .....100Mb/s sustained throughput on HD bench, 220 MB.s burst. Not exactly stellar...........

[[XC] leviathan18]

you have to see if those HDD are trully 3g compliant

[ferrari_freak]

Gotta keep floppy drive, comes in useful sometimes, and I'll try to scratch some money for a dvd drive instead of the CD drive. I'll edit my post. Now is everything settled?

Usama aka Ferrari Freak

[Ugly n Grey]

Nope they are not. good call.

[ferrari_freak]

I still remember me getting my first setup...
an hole amd 64 setup for 640 euro's what I worked for ;)

but why don't you buy an 6800LE ? orso..
and why an Lian LI, hughly overpriced imo and that XFX is overpriced also and who the heck still buys an cd drive?!

xyus!

GT is better and Monarch doesn't have the LE. Lian Li is bought because it is really good. This one is the same price as a TT Tsunami Dream. XFX is not overpriced, it's the cheapest 6800GT Monarch has. The dual slot Leadtek one is the same price but I've heard that it has issues with not having enough thermal compound and I've heard that the XFX OC very nicely. CD Drive was there for burning CD's without changing disks. I've now decided to get a DVD instead and pay the ~$20 more for it. That was a stupid decision to get a CD drive :slap: but now it is fixed so no need to worry about that. Floppy drive was also needed because sometimes I need to hand in school projects and it will be a waste of time to burn them onto a CD not to mention a waste of money. This will allow me to have a backup way of handing in projects even if my printer runs out of ink. Is it perfect now?

Usama aka Ferrari Freak

[ferrari_freak]

Nope they are not. good call.

Huh? What's not what? I don't get what you mean.

Usama aka Ferrari Freak

[Turok]

Usama aka Ferrari Freak, you dont really need a Floppy in your PC, but you can have it stored somewere for wenever you need it
(like instaling RAID drivers on your mobo when installing windows, or flashing a BIOS outside of windows)

I dont have a floppy on my case, and its better this way, since I have less junk in my case, the front pannel looks better without a floppy on it, and I wasnt going to use it that ofthen

[[XC] leviathan18]

UnG was answering my question about his HDD they are not trully sataII as fas as i know the only real 3g compliant with ncq are the hitachi ones that is why in raid 0 they are the fastest :D

good i know sometimes floppy are handy i dont use them cuz im @ uni and i send every project by email lol..... besides is nice to have a card reader

nice build really nice i hope you OC as hell with it and im looking forward to see some benches on that baby see if you can top my 3d mark 03 scores :P

[ferrari_freak]

Ok, so everything is set then? And Leviathan18, dude, there is no way I can top that. This rig is what I will be learning to OC on, but it'll be cool to see how much I can get. I'll be aiming for your score :banana: Thanks a lot for all of you people's help along the way with all my noobish questions. So is everything ready?

Usama aka Ferrari Freak

[[XC] leviathan18]

i think so you have everything set to buy LOL and dont worry you will have a awesome pc maybe we can play some day ut2004 (i love all unreal games).

[ferrari_freak]

I s*ck UT because I only get to play it at my friend's house and I only go over about once every 4 months. I used to have UT GOTY though a few years back.

Anyways, if I get some money from other sources, I should get a Athlon 64 3700+ right? And if yes, will all the other parts remain unchanged or are there other parts that work better than these ones with the 3700+ that I should switch to? For example different RAM, etc. Should have this ordered first week of August (don't know why my dad won't just order it now so don't ask) I'll also ask about future SLI plans, hopefully my dad will say yes to SLI in the future.

Usama aka Ferrari Freak

[[XC] leviathan18]

if you go 3700 you can keep same config so far is an excelent pc adn well if you have time practice some ut04 i dont play it now a lot but i was semifinalist in WCG in my country so im not that bad

and if you OC that pc as it should you can score a lot more than me ;)

[ferrari_freak]

if you go 3700 you can keep same config so far is an excelent pc adn well if you have time practice some ut04 i dont play it now a lot but i was semifinalist in WCG in my country so im not that bad

and if you OC that pc as it should you can score a lot more than me ;)

:slobber: SEMIFINALIST?! :slobber:

Anyway, I got another question. What's better, Logitech MX518 or the Razer Diamondback? The price diff is only $10 so it won't effect the rig.

Usama aka Ferrari Freak

[[XC] leviathan18]

well i preffer logitech and you have the button on the mouse so you can choose the dpi with a button and not with software....

and logitech i think has better desing and technology

[ferrari_freak]

Ok, thanks a lot. I was leaning towards the Logitech anyways because of its look factor and the changeable DPi. My dad's out of the country (gone to visit my home country of Pakistan) so I'll find out about being able to go SLI tonight when we call him.

Usama aka Ferrari Freak

[ferrari_freak]

Ok, I'm finally ordering my rig tonight but a lot of things have changed since I first started this thread. I've been out of town and visiting my uncle. While I was there, I helped out has his store and by the end of August I should have $1200US. So what should I use this money on? Btw, my little bro wants to have Win 98 on this rig to play all his old school games like NFS 2, etc.

1) Get Athlon X2 4400+, GeForce 7800GTX, 2GB RAM and a Raptor (and make 2 partitions of 36GB each, one for Win 98 and one for Win XP.)

2) Get a Dell 2001FP LCD moniter, Athlon 3700+, GeForce 7800GTX and a good value HDD for Win 98.

With the first choice, I will have to get a CRT moniter later on in the year (around November). I'm personally wanting to get a good moniter earlier because my 5 year old NEC 17" CRT can't do more that 1280x1024 :( . I'm personally not able to choose because that would be 2 procs equal to an Athlon 3700+, and then the 2GB of RAM. But in choice 2, there is an AWESOME LCD. So what do you guys think? Hopefully this will be my last question before ordering. I need to make a decision fast because I'm probably going to order within 6 hours.

Usama aka Ferrari Freak

[[XC] leviathan18]

athlon x 3800 is quite cheaper than the 4400

that lcd is quite good

dont waste money on raptors just get a sataII hdd the 80 is quite cheap

just think what is the best for you :toast: hope you build that awesome rig asap me wants to see how its runs :D

[ferrari_freak]

So getting that LCD and a X2 3800+ and 80GB HDD fit in the budget? Half of my money is going to be used up from the LCD. So I got around $615 to spend on other stuff. $170 more to go from 6800GT to a 7800GTX. $445 left. $91 on a 160GB Hitachi SATAII that leviathan18 recommended for Win 98 use. Now what do I use this $354 on? Btw, for a really future proof rig, 2GB of RAM is necessary. What's good 2GB RAM? With the pricing of that, I will figure out what processor to get with the money remaining. Should I get 2GB RAM, or should I save money and get 1GB of RAM and get a better proc? That's pretty much my choices. Is everything other than proc and RAM ok or do I need to change it? HDD is awesome, graphics card is awesome, moniter is awesome so I'm thinking it's pretty much perfect. Just got to figure out the RAM and procs. $354 left to be used on this stuff.

Usama aka Ferrari Freak

[Turok]

You can tweak Win 2k or Win XP pro to work with those old games.

I was able to run Duke Nukem 3D and Quake 2 on Win XP pro. I also added some programs that help it run on OpenGL hardware aceleration so I could add AA and AF, and it looks awesome. The programs also add some cool lighting effects and stuff.
(Dont remember real well the names. I think the Duke 3D source code was the JF one, and the Quake 2 was Quake 2 Evolution)

Back to the subject :D
I would do this with your extra $1200:

1) Cheap single VGA solution to last until M2

CPU: A64 X2 4200+ (Manchester) $487
Mobo: DFI nF4 Ultra-D $135
RAM: OCZ Platinum 2x1GB DDR400 (2-3-2-5 at 2.6V) $270
($27 Mail-in-Rebate available in NewEgg)
GPU: Wait for the r520. They could be awesome :up: ~$500-$700
Audio: Wait for the X-Fi ~$100-$300
HDD: WD Caviar SATA 3.0Gb/s, 250GB, 7200 RPM ,16MB Cache $122
PSU: OCZ 520W $140

Total: ~$1754-$2154

2) Expensive dual core solution to last until M2

CPU: A64 X2 4200+ (Manchester) $487
Mobo: DFI nF4 Ultra-D $170 OR a DFI Crossfire board
RAM: OCZ Platinum 2x1GB DDR400 (2-3-2-5 at 2.6V) $270
($27 Mail-in-Rebate available in NewEgg)
GPU: Wait for the r520, or get 2x 7800 GTX (Wait a bit so prices lower) ~$1000-$1400
Audio: Wait for the X-Fi ~$100-$300
HDD: WD Caviar SATA 3.0Gb/s, 250GB, 7200 RPM ,16MB Cache $122
PSU: PC Power & Cooling 510w (SLi Ready) $210

Total: ~$2359-$2959

I recommend you start using 2Gb of ram.
Its becoming a requirement for games at high resolution.
When I run the F.E.A.R. Demo on my ram, the system lags a bit each time it loads a new room in single player.

I just mentioned the basic hardware. Try saving money on case, cooling, speakers, monitor, CD/DVD drives, and decorations
Remeber to check the LCD guide for your monitor :D (Clcik the link on my signature)

[ferrari_freak]

Thanks for the help man, but I can't wait any longer. I have to order this today or else I might not get it before my b-day party. All of my friends expect a killer rig better than they have ever seen before (best they've seen is FX-51 with GeForce 5950 Ultra). So waiting is out of the question and getting a 6200 or any other holding off until X900 comes out card is out of the killer gaming rig spec. Anyways, I'm probably going to give this an overhaul in 2 years. So what is the best thing I can get TODAY as I'm ordering as soon as my dad gets home from work in a few hours. Btw, I don't think there are any NFS 2 Win XP mods. It came out in 1997 so it's really old. I've searched everywhere. I was also thinking about that RAM. Monarch has it for $273 plus $25 mail in rebate is that makes it $248. Pretty cheap. That leaves $285 for processor. This means I can buy a processor costing up to around $450. This means I can get a 4200+ OEM.

Edit: Btw, If my dad can spare about $120 more, then I can get an OEM 4400+. Btw, Turok, I sent you a PM regarding the moniter. Anyway, is OEM safe or should I get retail boxed proc? If my dad can give me $120 more, then I can get 2HDDs for Win XP and Win 98, a 7800GTX and 2GB RAM and an X2 4400+. If he doesn't give me that much more money, then I can get an X2 4200+. Anyway, will the 520W Powerstream be enough power for this rig? nVidia recommends 480W for 7800GTX SLI so I would think this will be enough.
Usama aka Ferrari Freak

[IYP]

@your sig....the rig i used for a few weeks after my good rigs HD controler decided to crap out on me ran a 670 in 2k1....all the parts for my new rig should be coming in around friday...cant wait to get this baby running

[.sentinel]

It should be. BTW that is a sweet rig.

[ferrari_freak]

Yeah, very nice rig IYP, but I'm still wondering about the PSU. Will it handle that plus an overclock? Another thing, this will be my first time OCing anything. What are good stability tests?

Edit: Btw, do you Canadian guys know how long it will take for this rig to arrive from Monarch? How long does it take at the customs since that's my main concern. Another thing, in the pre-tested combos part of the site, it says that I get Far Cry and Half Life 2 Bronze for free. What's this Half Life 2 Bronze and are there any differences between the Bronze and the regular Half Life 2 I can get from Best Buy?

Usama aka Ferrari Freak

[Turok]

Edit: Btw, If my dad can spare about $120 more, then I can get an OEM 4400+. Btw, Turok, I sent you a PM regarding the moniter. Anyway, is OEM safe or should I get retail boxed proc? If my dad can give me $120 more, then I can get 2HDDs for Win XP and Win 98, a 7800GTX and 2GB RAM and an X2 4400+. If he doesn't give me that much more money, then I can get an X2 4200+. Anyway, will the 520W Powerstream be enough power for this rig? nVidia recommends 480W for 7800GTX SLI so I would think this will be enough.
Usama aka Ferrari Freak

wooo, chill for a sec. Dont make suden decisions or you will regret it until your next update.

I would think about saving as much money as possible for future updates and games. If you waste it all on hardware, you wont be able to get maybe a second 7800GTX for SLI.
Also note that you DO NOT need 2x HDDs and a CPU with just 512kb more cache. Do the following

1) Stay with the 4200+. It has less cache, making it cheaper and easier to OC. You wont see a big difference in peformance in games, and you will lose like $200. And yes, OEMs are safe. You jsut wont get the stock heatsink or the manual. BTW, I accidentally bought a XP-120 with a 120mm Silverstone when i was going to build my PC, so right now its boxed in my closet doing nothing and looking brand new. I coudl sell it to you if you want, just PM me and Ill se what I can sell you

2) Since you are in a rush, you mught as well get ready for SLI. But the $200 PC Power and Cooling PSU, and the DFI nF4 SLI-DR, and then get a 7800GTX. I would ask somewere here how do you get the 7800GTX below $500. <<< ANYONE KNOW?

3) In gaming, storage is not necessary unless its RAM. DO NOT but more than one HDD. BTW, get the Western Digital 250Gb HDD I mentionid in the list. Because of the large cache, its almost as fast as a Raptor, and its about $60 cheaper, plus you get 250Gb. Also, DO NOT GET WIN 98 FOR CURENT GAMING. If you get the 250Gb Western Digital HDD, you will have enough space to take 50Gb and create a partition for Win 98. The rest of the 200Gb you use it on Win XP. If the games your brother wants to play runs on MS-DOS, there shuld be a way to force it in Win XP. I was able to force Duke 3D (a 1996 game) though DOS without adding any souce codes, jsut the original game.

4) Save up money on the sound card, and run on-board audio for now. Get the X-Fi when it releases. On-Board audio is stil good, and when you get the X-Fi sound card, you will get a big boost of peformance out of that

With this said, here is the new list

CPU: A64 X2 4200+ (Manchester) $487
Mobo: DFI nF4 Ultra-D $170
RAM: OCZ Platinum 2x1GB DDR400 (2-3-2-5 at 2.6V) $273
($25 Mail-in-Rebate available in ZipZoomFly)
GPU: Get one of the higher clocked eVGA, BFG, or XFX 7800GTX below $500 ~$450-$600
Audio: Wait for the X-Fi ~$100-$300
HDD: WD Caviar SATA 3.0Gb/s, 250GB, 7200 RPM ,16MB Cache $122
PSU: PC Power & Cooling 510w (SLi Ready) $210

Total: ~$1812-$2162

[Turok]

Yeah, very nice rig IYP, but I'm still wondering about the PSU. Will it handle that plus an overclock? Another thing, this will be my first time OCing anything. What are good stability tests?

Edit: Btw, do you Canadian guys know how long it will take for this rig to arrive from Monarch? How long does it take at the customs since that's my main concern. Another thing, in the pre-tested combos part of the site, it says that I get Far Cry and Half Life 2 Bronze for free. What's this Half Life 2 Bronze and are there any differences between the Bronze and the regular Half Life 2 I can get from Best Buy?

Usama aka Ferrari Freak

If you buy the PC Power & Cooling 510w (SLi Ready) PSU that I mentioned on the list, you will have more than enough power for your OCing. That PSU is considered one of the best.
The OCZ 600w PSU that IYP is getting is really nice for a single card solution. For SLi you need the cable converter for your second card
The video card includes the converter. The converter joins two 12v rails to make one PCI-E connector

HL2 Bronze is the full HL2 game and they let you download CS:S and HL2DM. Basically a normal HL2 retail box.
Getting silver will get you HL1 with the source engine and gold gives you all the HL games, even the upcoming day of defeat. It also gives you a fanboy book on the HL2 story (I think)

[ferrari_freak]

Is the onboard sound good enough to let the Z-5500 shine? I'm really really worried about that. And I was thinking about making a 50GB partition for Win 98. So that's what I will do. Good idea about waiting for X-Fi, since it will be the best when it comes out, I can transfer it into my next rig with it sounding really even when compared to the sound cards of that gen since sound cards are pretty much as realistic as they get. I'm getting the eVGA 7800GTX that comes with Battlefield 2 for free :D . I will also get the 4200+, it sounds ok for my needs of 2 years. This ready made store bought computer costed me $1000 and lasted me 4 years in mid-low graphics so I have high hopes for the future proofness of this new rig. I'm really worried about the sound card though. I don't want the Z-5500s to be downgraded in sound quality just because the onboard sound isn't good enough. Hopefully the X-Fi will come out soon. Only 1 hour left till my dad comes home from work........... Gotta make a final decision really soon. Time's running out.

This is my plan now:

X2 4200+
2GB OCZ Platinum RAM
250GB WD Caviar SE SATAII HDD
eVGA 7800GTX
OCZ Powerstream 520W

The PC P&C just costs too much. I'll discuss this with my dad when he comes back and make a decision on the PSU with him. I'll also try to get XP Pro, if not I will have to get it crippled down and use XP Home :(

Usama aka Ferrari Freak

[Turok]

The PC P&C just costs too much. I'll discuss this with my dad when he comes back and make a decision on the PSU with him. I'll also try to get XP Pro, if not I will have to get it crippled down and use XP Home :(

Usama aka Ferrari Freak

*Try to get the PC Power and Cooling. It will help you with SLi.
*Im guessing you are also getting the DFI nF4 SLI-DR as your mobo
*Remember that you are missing a cooling solution for your CPU if you buy a OEM version. I can sell my Thermalright XP-120 with a Silverstone 120mm fan
*On-Board audio is not that bad. Its like running a Audigy 2, but audio quality is not as sharp. I dont know if it will be a huge difference with the z-5500, but I wouldnt bother too much with that. Its either that and get a X-Fi latter, or waste on a Audigy 2 ZS which will be like 5-6 times more crappy compared to the X-Fi sound cards. Looks like the X-Fi sound cards are comming soon, so be a bit more patient
EDIT: BTW, do you have a sound card on the PC you are using now?
If its at last a Audigy 2, it could be better than on-board and you could just run the PC you are using now with on-board audio

Are there any more stuff you need for your rig?
Do you have the case, and periperials?

[ferrari_freak]

For cooling I'm getting a TT Big Typhoon. My current computer is also onboard sound. Ok, I will be patient and wait for X-Fi and use onboard sound until then. PC P&C, I will get for sure then. What about the OS? Is XP Home good enough or should I get XP Pro? I have ordered nothing yet so I don't have the case or anything of the sort with me. I am getting the keyboard tonight though but that's not something that's going to make a huge difference in costs. Another thing, should I get the X2 3800+? It looks really good with a price performance ratio. Costs $100 less while sacrificing 200MHz.

Usama aka Ferrari Freak

[Turok]

For cooling I'm getting a TT Big Typhoon. My current computer is also onboard sound. Ok, I will be patient and wait for X-Fi and use onboard sound until then. PC P&C, I will get for sure then. What about the OS? Is XP Home good enough or should I get XP Pro? I have ordered nothing yet so I don't have the case or anything of the sort with me. I am getting the keyboard tonight though but that's not something that's going to make a huge difference in costs. Another thing, should I get the X2 3800+? It looks really good with a price performance ratio. Costs $100 less while sacrificing 200MHz.

Usama aka Ferrari Freak

Forgot about the OS.
Its either Win XP Pro or Win 2k.
Some say Win 2k runs better on games and benches, but I dont really know since I only used it once and it wasnt my PC.

If you get Win XP Pro, you may want to strip it down with some tweaking guides to take off all that security junk and some other stuff that take up physical ram and page file space.


I think the 4200+ OCs better because it has more transistors. Physically, the 3800+ is more limited, but from 4200+ and up, the difference is only 512kb of cache and/or a bit more Mhz

[ferrari_freak]

So then I should go with XP Pro? Ok, I also just checked Xoxide and they don't have the blue aluminum fans in stock, nor do they have the white cathodes in stock. Should I wait till they are in stock or should I just do your fire/blood theme Turok? Btw, they don't have the CM Aurora Red CCs anymore either. Do I really need to have them sound reactive or do they look good anyway? Are the ULTRA Red CCs good? Then I can just do your theme with the CM UV CCs and the ULTRA Red CCs, the Red aluminum fans and red vantec sleeving, or I can wait for the CM White CCs and the Blue aluminum fans to come back in stock. Personally I think I'm going to go with the red theme then, but I'm not so confident with the red ULTRA CCs. I will also try to get XP Pro. My dad has Win 2k but since it doesn't support SLI, it's not really my choice for the OS.

Usama aka Ferrari Freak

[[XC] leviathan18]

XP pro is a good OS

for the ccfls and the other stuff that is your personal taste .... hope you find what are you looking for :toast:

[Turok]

So then I should go with XP Pro? Ok, I also just checked Xoxide and they don't have the blue aluminum fans in stock, nor do they have the white cathodes in stock. Should I wait till they are in stock or should I just do your fire/blood theme Turok? Btw, they don't have the CM Aurora Red CCs anymore either. Do I really need to have them sound reactive or do they look good anyway? Are the ULTRA Red CCs good? Then I can just do your theme with the CM UV CCs and the ULTRA Red CCs, the Red aluminum fans and red vantec sleeving, or I can wait for the CM White CCs and the Blue aluminum fans to come back in stock. Personally I think I'm going to go with the red theme then, but I'm not so confident with the red ULTRA CCs. I will also try to get XP Pro. My dad has Win 2k but since it doesn't support SLI, it's not really my choice for the OS.

Usama aka Ferrari Freak

I would get everything CC so I can tweak everything when I want, and the price is about the same with CC and non-CC, so what can you lose? :D

The red theme is also cool, it al depends on what you want.
Personally, I think red is better because there are too much people with blue themes. :p:

I would first check reviews about the CC before buying because it could be more orange or pinkish than pure red.

www.GruntVille.com has some reviews on lighting. You could also google the brand for any reviews.
What matters is that they say that it looks like pure red.
If you are lucky enough and get a pure red CC, post it because I want to change these pinkish CCs

[[XC] leviathan18]

you want RED???? well check this little led http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=81945&page=3&pp=20&highlight=sr-71 that is just one led

[ferrari_freak]

Ok, I will be discussing pricing and finalization with my dad very soon. Currently he seems to be busy. I will post my final configuration when I order. Sadly, the budget can get much much lower, forcing me to get a 3700+ or lower to 1GB of RAM or get a 6800GT. Any of these 3 things are possible. I will try to go for a 4200+, 2GB OCZ Platinum and a 7800GTX.

Usama aka Ferrari Freak

[Turok]

Ok, I will be discussing pricing and finalization with my dad very soon. Currently he seems to be busy. I will post my final configuration when I order. Sadly, the budget can get much much lower, forcing me to get a 3700+ or lower to 1GB of RAM or get a 6800GT. Any of these 3 things are possible. I will try to go for a 4200+, 2GB OCZ Platinum and a 7800GTX.

Usama aka Ferrari Freak


2Gb is a must for high quality gameplay.
An example of how 2Gb of ram is becoming necessary for gaming could be AoE3 (Age of Empires 3)
The minimal requirements on AoE3 is 1Gb of ram, and 2Gb is recommended, and its the best looking RTS.

Video is a first in gaming. Watever you do, do not sacrifice the 7800 GTX. Try to get it below $500

Since you dont have the money for another 7800GTX for SLi right now, use the Win 2k from your dad. That will save you about $250

You can still get a really nice peformance with even an A64 3000+. Its better to sacrifice the CPU than the video card or the 2Gb of ram. Plus the CPU could OC closer to a higher end CPU with simmilar specs. A video card cant do much because the higher end card could be different in architecture.

I know decoration can become expensive when you add it up, so if your budget is too short, its better to sacrifice the looks for the better peformance ;)

[IYP]

teh 2x 1gig from OCZ is good?...i need some tight timings....and some ram thats willing to go up to like 250-260....or is it a little early to jump on the 2x 1gig wagon if i need those speeds?

[[XC] leviathan18]

go cheap in cpu and mobo and RAM why? m2 is coming 2006 ddr2 new socket new mobo so dont spend all your money in the those components my friend just my .02 cents

[ferrari_freak]

K, Just finished ordering. Saved money on the lighting and stuff. I ordered DFI Lanparty UT SLI-DR with AMD Athlon 64 3700+. Didn't get to go dual core. Also, I got 1GB OCZ Platinum Rev. 2, didn't get 2GB of RAM. Another thing is that I got an eVGA 7800GT, couldn't get the 7800GTX. HDD, case, optical drives, speakers, etc. are still the same as was planned. My dad just didn't want me dumping my $1200 plus his $2000 on a rig, even if it was mine. He said that I have to learn to save, and I gotta admit, he is right, can't just go throwing your money on rigs and not be able to feed yourself because of it. Anyways, thanks for all of you people's help. I will be posting benchies, etc. soon. Another thing, since I'm going to be OCing for the first time, can someone tell me what is good stability test apps and where I can find them?

Usama aka Ferrari Freak

[pduan87]

I don't understand why you went with the 3700+. Could've got yourself the 3000+ and another gig of ram.

[ex2cib]

I don't understand why you went with the 3700+. Could've got yourself the 3000+ and another gig of ram.
more multi's and that 1mb cache...i wish i had a 3700 that could clock as good as my 3000 right now

ferrari freak

the rig looks good from what i can tell, i was sitting right where you were a few months ago with a 1.4ghz tbird and fx5600. maybe a little better than where you were...but still bad. had that thing for about 3-4 years. now my parents' computer.

with your speakers and onboard sound, the only problem i ever had with older sound cards(never tried DFI onboard) and my z-680s was that there was a lot of hissing at higher volumes since the signal wasn't very clear. but with my audigy 2 the only time i hear hissing is if i have my ear right next to the speakers.

whenever you get everything put together go take a look at kakaroto's thread on TCCD ddr 600+. it helped my setup out a lot.
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=57317&page=1&pp=25

[ferrari_freak]

Oh ya, and another thing. I also didn't get the PC P&C, I got the OCZ Powerstream 520. Still good considering even dual GTX's need only a 480watter. I might try to persuade my dad to change the order to 2GB RAM instead of just 1GB as the order still hasn't shipped yet due to credit card adress verification problems (we just moved into a new house). I will post benchies as soon as I have it set up and I'll also take a look at that thread that you mentioned ex2cib.

Usama aka Ferrari Freak