A New Gaming PC under $1600

[Thechefxxxv]

Hi. I wanted to know what you guys thought about putting these parts together for a nice gaming PC. I already have optical drives and a case , but do these parts look good? what do you think?
ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard

AMD Athlon 64 4000+ San Diego 1GHz FSB 1MB L2 Cache Socket 939 Processor

2x Western Digital Caviar SE WD3200JD 320GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache Serial ATA150 Hard Drive

ATI 100-435703 Radeon X1800 XL 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 VIVO PCI Express x16 Video Card

2X CORSAIR XMS 1GB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) System Memory

I hope this comes together nicely, but I HAVE to keep it under $1600.

 

[TheChef]

Looking at the video card (wow) and assuming you are a gamer, I would go for an MSI Neo4 Platinum SLI or a DFI Lanparty SLI-DR. Other than that, it's a nice system you have put together.

 

[Thechefxxxv]

But............

Do you think its worth it upgrading to Vista when it comes out?
Can you reccomend any very good RAM?
And should I go with a X2 3800+ or a 4000+?

 

[TheChef]

I wouldn't upgrade to Vista exactly when it comes out due to a lack of support from hardware. I've been quite interested inteh Muskin redline series (which was created specifically for the DFI nf4 series), as it is extremely stable memory and runs at 3.3-3.5v, and can be pushed to a very high clock. Read RAM101:

http://www.computerforum.com/showthread.php?t=11096

The new Xpert Series from Corsair looks quite nice as well.

Of course the X2 4000+ will yeild greater performance, but comparing price with performance, I'm not sure if the extra cash is worth it.

 

[skidude]

I like that X1800, thats gonna be a fast PC!

 

[Geoff]

im not that familiar with ati's crossfire, but would you be able to use 2 ATI cards in a nForce SLI motherboard?

The specs looks very nice, although i would go with the X2 3800+.

Make sure you post your 3DMark score!

 

[Thechefxxxv]

How many FPS do you think Ill get in UT 2004 at 4X AA and 8X AF?
SLI is for Nvidia card only, not ATI. But I cant find a single motherboard that supports Crossfire. If I find one I think Ill get 2 X800XTs .
If I get a new case, what do you recommend? I love Aspire's X-plorer case, but the X-navigator seems the better choice.
I want to get 2 gigs of THE BEST RAM available, But I'm a noob at overclocking, but ill get it up to 10-15% overclockage.
The 320 gig drives will be in RAID 0 so I can squeeze every last bit of performance out of this baby.
What speakers do you have? I think I'm gonna upgrade from 2.1 to 5.1.

 

[Thechefxxxv]

Should I really get an SLI motherboard????

 

[Vampiric Rouge]

Should I really get an SLI motherboard????

If your going to get an ATI card, no. Cross fire (when it comes out) wont work on an Nvidea board you will have to get a new mobo to use the cross fire so in short it would be pointless to buy a SLi board with an ATI card.

 

[Praetor]

- AMD Athlon64 X2 4200 [ADA4200DAA5BV, 475USD]
- DFI LanParty UT NF4-Ultra-D [130USD]
- Maxtor DiamondMax10 300GB [16MB, 120USD]
- Maxtor DiamondMax10 300GB [16MB, 120USD]
- BFT 7800GT OC [350USD]
- Mushkin RedLine PC4000 2x512 [2-2-2-6, 195USD]
- Mushkin RedLine PC4000 2x512 [2-2-2-6, 195USD]
Subtotal = 1585

im not that familiar with ati's crossfire, but would you be able to use 2 ATI cards in a nForce SLI motherboard?

Yes

How many FPS do you think Ill get in UT 2004 at 4X AA and 8X AF?

More than 100 so it wont matter

SLI is for Nvidia card only, not ATI. But I cant find a single motherboard that supports Crossfire.

SLI may be an nvidia feature but it doesnt mean you cant use ATi cards on a SLI board (and yes Crossfire boards exist)

If I find one I think Ill get 2 X800XTs

Well make sure one of them is a Crossfire edition master card or yer gonna be not so happy

Should I really get an SLI motherboard????

I wouldnt

If your going to get an ATI card, no. Cross fire (when it comes out) wont work on an Nvidea board you will have to get a new mobo to use the cross fire so in short it would be pointless to buy a SLi board with an ATI card.

What??!! A crossfire card will work on an nVidia board. Whether its a smart thing to do is another issue altogether but it will work.