Look over this build before I put in the order

W

whip-rush

New Member
Any glaring hardware issues before I put in the order with newegg?

I posted a different config a week or so ago, but the budget has dropped since then, so no dual core or 7800, oh well.


Total: 712.00

Processor:AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego 1GHz HT Socket 939 Processor Model ADA3700BNBOX - Retail

Video Card: eVGA 256-P2-N553-AX Geforce 7600GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail


MOBO: ASUS A8N5X Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

HDD: Maxtor DiamondMax 10 6L080P0 80GB 7200 RPM IDE Ultra ATA133 Hard Drive - OEM

Case: AMS Gmono CF-2029SW-S Silver Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

PSU: HIPRO HP-P500W/TOP-500P5 ATX V2.01 500W Power Supply - OEM

Ram: CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) - Retail

DVD Drive: NEC 16X DVD±R DVD Burner Black IDE/ATAPI Model ND-3550A - OEM
 
Get this hard drive instead,
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822135106

Your motherboard supports it, it is one dollar more expensive, and having an IDE hard drive in these ages is getting to be outdated.

Also I would check with others on the power supply, I haven't heard of them and it's pretty cheap for that much wattage. Even though it has 4 good reviews...that is usually right after the buyer purchases it.

Remember do you need windows? or a floppy drive?
 
Flipper said:
Get this hard drive instead,
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822135106

Your motherboard supports it, it is one dollar more expensive, and having an IDE hard drive in these ages is getting to be outdated.

Also I would check with others on the power supply, I haven't heard of them and it's pretty cheap for that much wattage. Even though it has 4 good reviews...that is usually right after the buyer purchases it.

Remember do you need windows? or a floppy drive?
Click to expand...

I will switch out the HDD for the one you suggested. The psu was listed in the computer specs 101 for most of the general purpose machine builds. It does seem fairly cheap though.

I have windows and will pick up the floppy. I learned my lesson last time I built my computer without initially buying a floppy drive.
 
I think we can play with this config to get a much better layout, the delta between the 3700 and the 3800x2 is about $80 so i;m sure we can find that somewhere and bump this rig up to dual core.

firstly your spending way to much on the case, you can pick up a cheaper case and save $20, so now we are looking for $60. At the end of the day this machine is for playing and not for looking at ;)

you can knock the gpu down a peg and save cash towards the cpu, overall you will see performance increase in gaming from this option, ditch the 7600gt pick up the x800gto
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102691
saving yourself about $70, so now we have a $10 surplus

I dont know if you intend to overclock or not so i'm going to assume you dont, with that in mind your ram choice is good

I also would point out that 80gb is kinda on the small size for a hdd, and that while sata is nice (esp sata II) the bandwidth of pata (ide) is not really fully used and so shouldn't discourage you from buying it. But if you choose 80gb then lets stick with that size for now, whilst flippers suggestion was valid we can do better, ditch the hdd in your budget and pick up a
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822135106
this is sata II(sata 300) and will allow you to benefit most, (sata I or sata 150, is not that much better that ata133). We have saved $2 here :) (note this suggestion is linked to you agreeing to my motherboard suggestion below)


As for the psu, i agree we can do better. Ditch the hipro, giving us 48.50 to play with ($10 [surplus from the cpu] + $36.50 [surplus from the psu]+ $2 [surplus from the hdd]). And we need to be looking at picking up a
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817159040
this is $55, but is a good solid psu. Forget about wattage ratings on psus, what you need to be looking at is amps on the 12v rail(s), which this cpu has plenty of! So we need to find $6.5

Now to be honest you have a choice here, your selection of motherboard is not the best, i mean nf4 is good but you should be able to get in a nf4ultra in there. I highly recommend this
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813127222
the abit kn8 ultra, which after rebate is 80$ great value at the moment. Now this is $1 more than the board in your setup, which pushes our overspend up to $7.50. Now i hope that is a cost you can bear, otherwise i would recommend dropping the motherboard down to a slightly cheaper nf4 to keep in budget
 
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apj101 said:
I also would point out that 80gb is kinda on the small size for a hdd, and that while sata is nice (esp sata II) the bandwidth of pata (ide) is not really fully used and so shouldn't discourage you from buying it. But if you choose 80gb then lets stick with that size for now, whilst flippers suggestion was valid we can do better, ditch the hdd in your budget and pick up a
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822135106
this is sata II(sata 300) and will allow you to benefit most, (sata I or sata 150, is not that much better that ata133). We have saved $2 here :)
Click to expand...

Isn't the one I suggested? Not too sure, also it isn't SATAII it is SATA150...good think it is backwards compatible :P
 
Flipper said:
Isn't the one I suggested? Not too sure, also it isn't SATAII it is SATA150...good think it is backwards compatible :P
Click to expand...
Sata II is another name for 'Sata 300' which is also known as 'sata 3.0' and 'sata 2'
Sata I is another name for 'Sata 150' which is also known as 'sata 1.5' or 'sata 1'
 
I know that...I am saying you might mislead him, you said it was a SATAII hard drive while it was a SATAI hard drive, just saying incase you meant to pick out a different one.
 
Also, the original MOBO you show is SATA I compatable and your HDD is SATA II.

The one suggested by apj101 is SATA II...
 
If you guys didn't notice, that hipro psu is 500 watts and has 20A on both 12V rails. much better than what anyone has put.
 
Jet said:
If you guys didn't notice, that hipro psu is 500 watts and has 20A on both 12V rails. much better than what anyone has put.
Click to expand...
yeah as per newegg stats, i couldn;t even find the psu on hipro website, which looked like a web site my 9 year old nephew made. The closet thing was the 350w with a crippled 19A on a single 12v rail.
New egg is not the best source of this information and is often as it seems in this case plain wrong.
I will do a bit more digging, but i stand by my suggestions.
 
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well i'm not going to edit my words, i'll eat a very rare little bit of humble pie, that psu is not that bad. That psu is not half bad. The rail may be 12v1@20 and 12v2@20 but they are 29A all together, but still thats decent.
ShowImage.asp


so given the price it may be a good option to save to $18 (well $11.50 given my recommendation in post #6)
but the coolmax i recommended is still a much better choice psu
 
Thanks for the suggestions, I will go with the ABIT board, different HDD and probably one of the ~$50 suggested PSU's.

I originally wanted a 3800 x2 so I will switch back to that also.

Is the x800gto comparable to the 7600gt performance wise? I will be using the computer for graphics applications like photoshop cs and games like Oblivion. I realize Oblivion is a huge resource beast so I know I cant expect too much.

Although according to an official post on the oblivion forums:

http://www.elderscrolls.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=270923
oblivion website said:
High-End (some of these cards may be "outdated," but just about any given one is OVERKILL for almost any game out there, and will definitely be able to play Oblivion with all the settings enabled)

* Radeon X1600pro
* Radeon X800 & Radeon X800GTO 128MB
* GeForce 6800 (AGP version)
* Radeon X800GTO & Radeon X800GTO² (256MB version for either)
* Radeon X1600XT
* GeForce 6800GS (AGP version)
* Radeon X800pro
* GeForce 6800GS (PCI-express version)
* Radeon X850pro
* GeForce 7600GT (preliminary ranking)
* GeForce 6800GT
* Radeon X800XL & Radeon X800GTO 16
* GeForce 7800GS (stock clock; 375MHz core)
* GeForce 6800ultra
* Radeon X800XT
* Radeon X850XT
* GeForce 7800GS (overclocked version; 400-430MHz core)
* Radeon X800XT Platinum Edition
* Radeon X850XT Platinum Edition
Click to expand...


With many people complaining about choppy frame rates with 7800gt's and 7900gt's I dont see how a x1600pro "will definitely be able to play Oblivion with all the settings enabled", yea at 10 fps maybe.
 
With many people complaining about choppy frame rates with 7800gt's and 7900gt's I dont see how a x1600pro "will definitely be able to play Oblivion with all the settings enabled", yea at 10 fps maybe.
Click to expand...
i would say so, even with a high fps
 
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