My new Gaming PC

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This is my first draft for a new Gaming PC. Any ideas,changes or comments are welcome. Thanks

 

[TheChef]

Wouldn't you want to go with a Logitech or simialr brand 5.1 system for about the same amount with a 7.1 card? Other than that, nice.

 

[[email protected]]

I don't have the space, but I do agree with you ,it was one of my first thoughs. Thanks

 

[ripken2004]

ya i saw that too, the excellent audigy zs with 2.1 speakers, whats the point?

and maybe u should get another hdd unless this comp is only for gaming

 

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Re speakers

This is a total Gaming machine only. as for the Sound card, I have this card in my present machine( which I'm selling to my Brother) and I live in a noise sensitive area, but I have a pair of Sennheiser HDR 65 cordless surround headphones that are sweet. That's why the Audigy 2 ZS card.

 

[Praetor]

Thermaltake Xaser III V1000A Black Chassis: 1.0mm SECC Japan Steel;ATX Mid Tower Case $129.50

Interesting that the case is the first thing on the list

ASUS A8V Deluxe Socket 939 VIA K8T800 Pro ATX AMD Motherboard $115.00

Not the best mobo on the planet by far ... you're much better off with a nForce3/4 based motherboard

AMD Athlon 64 FX55 Clawhammer/Hammer 1GHz FSB 1MB cache Socket 939 Processor $808.00

Ah definitely go with an nForce3/4 motherboard .. you may also want to scale back on this overpriced proc, either the FX53 or 4000+ (which is essentially a nonoverclocking oriented FX53)

ATI Radeon X800XT 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 VIVO AGP 4x/8x Video Card $345.00

In this case, look for an nForce3 250gb board, i'd suggest the MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum

Western Digital Raptor WD740GD 73GB 10,000 RPM 8M Cache Serial ATA150 Hard Drive $179.00

Id suggest you get another harddrive (since 74GB is gonna be empty pretty quick) or consider a 200-300GB DiamondMax10 drive (see the HDD101 ... http://www.computerforum.com/showthread.php?t=10947)

LITE-ON Black 16x DVD+R 8x DVD+RW 4x DVD+R DL 16x DVD-R 6x DVD-RW 16x DVD-ROM 48x CD-R 24x CD-RW 48x CD-ROM 2M Cache IDE DVD Burner $54.99

As much as I love Litey for their CD burners and pre-1633s DVDburners, they've really fallen back as far as performance and capabilities go with DVD burners ... have a look at the CD/DVD101 for some suggestions http://www.computerforum.com/showthread.php?t=11610)

Cyber Acoustics A3780 180W 2.1 Speakers $89,95

Oi ... you can get a basic (but good) Logitech Z640 5.1 setup for less ...

EG651P-VE

Very nice

but I have a pair of Sennheiser HDR 65 cordless surround headphones that are sweet

Hehe nice

Seems like you're going balls out on the system ... overall a nice setup but a few things really keep it back (the speakers and mobo) and a few things are potentially bad financially (FX55) and one change you may want to consider (going PCIe via NF4Ultra/SLI)

 

[Geoff]

personally, i wouldnt go for a processor that costs $800+, but if you have plenty of money then you should get it. Everything else looks good.

 

[[email protected]]

Thank You for your help Praetor. I am a newbie to PC building, so I'm dependant on knowable people like yourself. As for the speaker selection I wouldn't be able to get the true use out of a 5.1 speaker system because of my layout and noise sensitive area i'm in and I play games at night and use my headphones alot. Why and to what advantage should I choose the MSI K8N NEO 2 Platinum MOBO over the ASUS A8V Deluxe MOBO? Thanks Again

 

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Thanks for your help Bro. I am trying to keep the system around $2500.00.

 

[spacedude89]

ive had bad experinces with Cyber Acoustics, i got some the $80 2.1 system and the midrange/high speakers stopped working, i had to switch to my older pair, the less expensive set, and now the right speaker doesnt work sometimes, go with a logitech 2.1 system for sure...

 

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Updated Specs

I've since updated my specs, two changes are MOBO and Speakers. Not sure if I want to give in on the processor yet, haha. As for the speakers,right now I have a pair of Boston Acoustics BA735s that i'm happy with and want something comparable to them. After researching and comparing the MOBOs, I've decided on the MSI over the ASUS.

 

[Praetor]

Again my comment about the potential overkill of the FX55 and about the limit capacity of the system with only a single 74GB drive, other than that... very nice

 

[[email protected]]

Thanks for All your help!

Thank you very much for your help. I'm not going to build this system until later this Summer or Fall, so I'm hoping for price drops later on. I have decided to add another WD Raptor HD and RAID 0 them together, but I'm a stubbron Irishman and I am keeping the Athlon 64 FX55 and hope the price drops this fall. Thanks again

 

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Gaming PC Build

HI all, I've been doing some web searching for a Gaming PC build and came up with this.Your input is most welcome. I plan to spend around $2500.00 give or take.

-Enermax EG651P-VE ATX 550W power supply.
-Thermaltake Xaser lll Black Chassis ATX Mid Tower case.
-ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 ATX AMD Motherboard.
-AMD Athlon 64 FX55 processor.
-eVGA 256MB GeForce 6800Ultra PCI-Express x 16 Video card (another to follow later on).
-1 GB Corsair XMS DDR 400 DRAM(PC3200) system memory.
-2 Western Digital Raptors 73GB (in Raid 0 configuration) hard drives.
-NEC ND-3520A Black IDE DVD Burner.
-NEC FD-1231H Black Internal Floppy drive.
-ViewSonic G90FB 19" 0.25mm CRT Monitor.
-Ideazon ZBoard Gaming Keyboard.
-Windows XP Pro- x64 operating system.
I plan to use the onboard audio for now, If I don't like it I'll get a sound card.

 

[Praetor]

*merged*

Same comments as before about the processor and HDDs. Also, what cooling system do you intend to use?

 

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Re

I though that with the Case I'm going with having around 9 fans total including component fans that it would be sufficiant? As for the processor, do you not like it for it' price or it's performance? I figure with dual core processors right around the corner that single core processors prices will drop soon after. And for the HDDs I don't need a large storage drive as I'm only interested in a few number of games at a time and would perfer the speed of the Raptors in RAID0 insted. I'm not building this system any time soon but later this summer/fall so hopefully time is on my side.

 

[Praetor]

1. Case fans dont matter as much as the CPU HSF.
2. AMD Dual Core solutions are in the Server market so far so they wont have as much an impact on the single core consumer market

 

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Sorry Praetor, I'm a little green HSF? Heat sink Fan? what do you recomend? Thanks

 

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CPU Cooler

This is what I've decided on for a cooler for my Athlon 64 FX55 processor

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835118115

 

[ripken2004]

excellent choice