Building New OC Computer (please review and give advice)

fruscai · 06-12-2006, 12:54 PM

Well as of this moment, I have a piece of crap Dell Dimension 4100 from '98. I've gotten tired of waiting up to 2 minutes, no joke, for my start menu to pop up, and although I've done everything I can software wise to keep this hunk of machinery running smoothly, I think its more than time for an upgrade.

Anyway, looking at a brand new computer, here's what I've got so far, $1500 max.

Newegg Computer Parts

NZXT LEXA-NP Black/ Silver Aluminum Construction Plastic Front Panel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
- $124.99

DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 Ultra-D Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard
- $123.99

MSI RX1800XT-VT2D512E LITE Radeon X1800XT 512MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card
- $299.99

Rosewill RP550-2 ATX 2.01 550W Power Supply
- $64.99

AMD Opteron 165 Denmark 1000MHz HT Socket 939 Dual Core Processor Model OSA165CDBOX
- $327.00

G.SKILL Extreme Series 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 500 (PC 4000) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model F1-4000USU2-2GBHZ
- $179.99

SAMSUNG Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive Windows 98SE/ ME/ 2000/ XP
- $7.99

Western Digital Caviar RE WD2500YD 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
- $89.99

ASUS Black ATAPI/E-IDE DVD-ROM Drive Model DVD-E616A2 BK
- $21.99

NEC 16X DVD±R DVD Burner Black IDE/ATAPI Model ND-3550A
- $35.99

Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Card
- $121.99

Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound
- $5.99

ZALMAN VF700LED - CU 80mm 2 Ball Blue LED Light VGA Cooling Fan with Heatsink
- $62.99

ZALMAN VF700LED - CU 80mm 2 Ball Blue LED Light VGA Cooling Fan with Heatsink
- $34.99

total: $1492.87

I'm definetly looking to overclock as much as possible, even though I'm new at it, any advice on anything would be much appreciated, thnx.

bigsaucybob · 06-12-2006, 01:21 PM

Quote:

ZALMAN VF700LED - CU 80mm 2 Ball Blue LED Light VGA Cooling Fan with Heatsink
- $62.99

ZALMAN VF700LED - CU 80mm 2 Ball Blue LED Light VGA Cooling Fan with Heatsink
- $34.99

I dont get it, same thing difference prices.

What are you using the computer for?

baballin328 · 06-12-2006, 11:17 PM

I've heard that opteron overclocks very well, so i guess you can go really high with it.
wut speakers are you getting/ have because if you aren't going with surround sound, you probably wont need a really good sound card.

fruscai · 06-13-2006, 01:32 PM

sorry i havnt posted for a bit, i live in south africa, and the internet here sucks hard, anyway, mistake on the two VGA coolers, the first one is actually

ZALMAN CNPS9500 AT 2 Ball CPU Cooling Fan/Heatsink
- $62.99

i want to use the computer to play games, UT, CS Source, and do whatever else, burn and watch movies and the same with music

im saving up to get a nice sound system, but hmmmm, it might not really be worth it as it would take a long, long time, what do you suggest? I can always buy some decent speakers cheap here and then buy some nice gaming hifi headphones

bigsaucybob · 06-13-2006, 01:33 PM

O Ok, looks good.

BTW: Where in SA?

fruscai · 06-13-2006, 06:46 PM

bigsaucybob, i live in johannesburg, fourways gardens to be exact

i've decided to go with a different power supply after reading the PSU tutorial on this site, this maxcool one is less wattage but its got 36A on both its twelve volt rails, more than i should need

any advice on that sound card? should i just scrap it to save some money? i'm not going to be in the states until this summer, and then not for a year or maybe more after that, it might be easier to just buy it now...

bigsaucybob · 06-14-2006, 03:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fruscai

bigsaucybob, i live in johannesburg, fourways gardens to be exact

O I dont remeber fourways garden but I have been around Pretoria and i cant remember any other names.

computermaineack · 06-13-2006, 07:58 PM

if you're not getting really good speakers, than integrated audio will usually do.

by the way, i'd look into an AM2 socket motherboard and cpu.

fruscai · 06-13-2006, 08:49 PM

I know that socket 939 will lose support as soon as AM2 is released (if it hasn't been yet, I'm not sure) but it'll will still work to upgrade individual components for quite a while, besides i don't have cash for recently developed equipiment, and the AM2 would need 2 cpus to function to full effect, which i definetly do not have cash for...

will the sound card affect the sound quality of hifi headphones?

[-0MEGA-] · 06-14-2006, 03:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fruscai

I know that socket 939 will lose support as soon as AM2 is released (if it hasn't been yet, I'm not sure) but it'll will still work to upgrade individual components for quite a while, besides i don't have cash for recently developed equipiment, and the AM2 would need 2 cpus to function to full effect, which i definetly do not have cash for...

AM2 is out right now, it was actually released a couple of weeks ago.

AM2 doesnt need two processors, they have Semprons, Athlon 64's, X2's, and FX's in the socket AM2 format.

06-12-2006, 12:54 PM	#1 (permalink)
fruscai Silver Member Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Johannesburg, South Africa Age: 21 Posts: 103	Building New OC Computer (please review and give advice) Well as of this moment, I have a piece of crap Dell Dimension 4100 from '98. I've gotten tired of waiting up to 2 minutes, no joke, for my start menu to pop up, and although I've done everything I can software wise to keep this hunk of machinery running smoothly, I think its more than time for an upgrade. Anyway, looking at a brand new computer, here's what I've got so far, $1500 max. Newegg Computer Parts NZXT LEXA-NP Black/ Silver Aluminum Construction Plastic Front Panel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - $124.99 DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 Ultra-D Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard - $123.99 MSI RX1800XT-VT2D512E LITE Radeon X1800XT 512MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - $299.99 Rosewill RP550-2 ATX 2.01 550W Power Supply - $64.99 AMD Opteron 165 Denmark 1000MHz HT Socket 939 Dual Core Processor Model OSA165CDBOX - $327.00 G.SKILL Extreme Series 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 500 (PC 4000) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model F1-4000USU2-2GBHZ - $179.99 SAMSUNG Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive Windows 98SE/ ME/ 2000/ XP - $7.99 Western Digital Caviar RE WD2500YD 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - $89.99 ASUS Black ATAPI/E-IDE DVD-ROM Drive Model DVD-E616A2 BK - $21.99 NEC 16X DVD±R DVD Burner Black IDE/ATAPI Model ND-3550A - $35.99 Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Card - $121.99 Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - $5.99 ZALMAN VF700LED - CU 80mm 2 Ball Blue LED Light VGA Cooling Fan with Heatsink - $62.99 ZALMAN VF700LED - CU 80mm 2 Ball Blue LED Light VGA Cooling Fan with Heatsink - $34.99 total: $1492.87 I'm definetly looking to overclock as much as possible, even though I'm new at it, any advice on anything would be much appreciated, thnx.

06-12-2006, 11:17 PM	#3 (permalink)
baballin328 Silver Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 227	I've heard that opteron overclocks very well, so i guess you can go really high with it. wut speakers are you getting/ have because if you aren't going with surround sound, you probably wont need a really good sound card. __________________ My comp: AMD Opteron 165 (312x9 1.425V) (overclocked to 2.8GHZ,woot!) Western Digital 160GB hard drive DVD Burner 1GB RAM Ultra Microfly Nvidia 7900GS 256mb GDDR3 (stock) Creative SB LIVE! Logitech x-530 Envision 19" Widescreen LCD

06-13-2006, 01:33 PM	#5 (permalink)
bigsaucybob Diamond Member Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: ny Age: 19 Posts: 3,915	O Ok, looks good. BTW: Where in SA? __________________ Equipt NOW

06-13-2006, 07:58 PM	#8 (permalink)
computermaineack Diamond Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Connecticut Posts: 2,322	if you're not getting really good speakers, than integrated audio will usually do. by the way, i'd look into an AM2 socket motherboard and cpu. __________________ "In the beginning the Universe was created. This made a lot of people angry, and was widely regarded as a bad idea." -Douglas Adams CPU: Q6600 G0 Mobo: eVGA 680i NF67-A1 Case: Antec P180B GPU: eVGA 8800GTS G92 512mb HSF: Tuniq Tower 120 RAM: 4gb DDR2-800 Corsair XMS2 4-4-4-12 PSU: Antec True Power Trio 550w

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06-13-2006, 01:32 PM	#4 (permalink)
fruscai Silver Member Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Johannesburg, South Africa Age: 21 Posts: 103	sorry i havnt posted for a bit, i live in south africa, and the internet here sucks hard, anyway, mistake on the two VGA coolers, the first one is actually ZALMAN CNPS9500 AT 2 Ball CPU Cooling Fan/Heatsink - $62.99 i want to use the computer to play games, UT, CS Source, and do whatever else, burn and watch movies and the same with music im saving up to get a nice sound system, but hmmmm, it might not really be worth it as it would take a long, long time, what do you suggest? I can always buy some decent speakers cheap here and then buy some nice gaming hifi headphones

06-13-2006, 06:46 PM	#6 (permalink)
fruscai Silver Member Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Johannesburg, South Africa Age: 21 Posts: 103	bigsaucybob, i live in johannesburg, fourways gardens to be exact i've decided to go with a different power supply after reading the PSU tutorial on this site, this maxcool one is less wattage but its got 36A on both its twelve volt rails, more than i should need any advice on that sound card? should i just scrap it to save some money? i'm not going to be in the states until this summer, and then not for a year or maybe more after that, it might be easier to just buy it now...

06-13-2006, 08:49 PM	#9 (permalink)
fruscai Silver Member Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Johannesburg, South Africa Age: 21 Posts: 103	I know that socket 939 will lose support as soon as AM2 is released (if it hasn't been yet, I'm not sure) but it'll will still work to upgrade individual components for quite a while, besides i don't have cash for recently developed equipiment, and the AM2 would need 2 cpus to function to full effect, which i definetly do not have cash for... will the sound card affect the sound quality of hifi headphones?