The PC im going to purchase unless somebody can find something wrong with the setup..

F

fultz

New Member
AMD Athlon 64 3500+ 2.2GHz, 512KB Cache, 2000MHz FSB 64-Bit Socket 939
Thermaltake Venus 12 AMD Athlon Copper CPU Fan
Asus A8V-E Deluxe (64BIT, 939, K8T890, PCIex, DDR400)
RaidMax Scorpio 868 Black Mid-Tower 420W USB
Default Power Supply
12 Inch Cool Blue Neon Light
1024MB PC-3200 DDR Dual Channel Ram (2x 512) @ 400MHz
200GB Western Digital Serial ATA 7200RPM 8MB HDD
Sony DD2A-B2 16x Dual Layer Black DVD+/-RW Drive
1.44MB 3.5" Floppy Disk Drive (SONY)
256mb nVidia GeForce 6800GT GDDR3 EXP TV/DVI PCIe
Soundblaster Audigy 2 ZS Gamer 7.1
10/100/1000T Intergrated Gigabit LAN/Ethernet Adapter
Conexant v.92 56k PCI modem with Voice and Fax
A-Shape Wireless Keyboard and Optical Mouse Set
1 Year Parts & Full Labor Warranty & Tech Support

$1550 + $49 S&H

Is the default cooling okay? Says 420 Watt, I can get an additional 400 Watt but id rather not since it's $36 dollars more and already this pc is going to cost me a fortune since I have to buy some good 7.1 speakers, a monitor and a mouse pad and such. :(
 
Asus A8V-E Deluxe (64BIT, 939, K8T890, PCIex, DDR400)
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VIA sux0rs. Definitely consider the NF4U ... like the DFI board for instance, easy mod for the NF4SLI and even without that you'd be running 80% SLI performance as a potential. The single chip solution is nice too. Not to mention that VIA sux0rs :P

RaidMax Scorpio 868 Black Mid-Tower 420W USB
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If you want to do anything funky with this computer, consider a solid PSU :)

Conexant v.92 56k PCI modem with Voice and Fax
A-Shape Wireless Keyboard and Optical Mouse Set
1 Year Parts & Full Labor Warranty & Tech Support
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Save your money
 
Praetor said:
VIA sux0rs. Definitely consider the NF4U ... like the DFI board for instance, easy mod for the NF4SLI and even without that you'd be running 80% SLI performance as a potential. The single chip solution is nice too. Not to mention that VIA sux0rs :P


If you want to do anything funky with this computer, consider a solid PSU :)


Save your money
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Hey if I don't get a warranty if anything breaks im screwed, what's wrong with the abit AV8? NF4 sli is a waste of money until they invent a 16x16 SLI capable board plus most games don't support sli and i dont plan on having 4 drives in raid since i cant afford it and i cant afford two graphics cards either :( other than that whats wrong with the board? If there's something i should know please tell me i dont want to waste $1500 bucks

Oh yeah, and do you think that power supply will be sufficient enough for the contents that I mentioned?
 
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Hey if I don't get a warranty if anything breaks im screwed
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Dont break it :)

what's wrong with the abit AV8
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It uses the VIA chipset. Just like my board.

NF4 sli is a waste of money until they invent a 16x16 SLI capable board
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Which is why I suggested NF4U. If you stop and think about it 16x16 is useless for the foreseeable future considering AGP8X isnt really tested and AGP4X isnt a serious handicap.

plus most games don't support sli
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Yeah, the drivers support SLI. Games are independent

and I dont plan on having 4 drives in raid since I cant afford it and I cant afford two graphics cards either
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Two 6600GTs in SLI will outperform a 6800Ultra. And cost roughly the price of the 6800GT (you do need to do your homework there though)

other than that whats wrong with the board?
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Via chipset. And im quite serious (considering ive got one). You said you dont care for SLI .... but you evidently want PCIe, so get the NF4U as I suggested -- if you get the DFI board its possible to get a perfect mod to NF4SLI so you double the value there for nothin ... and even if you dont you can still run it in mock SLI mode and even if you decide not to do that the NF4U is a superior chipset

If there's something I should know please tell me I dont want to waste $1500 bucks
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Ya the chipset is horrible -- ok that might be a bit over the top ... its not bad -- if you want to use your computer. If you want the most performance (OC or otherwise) out of the box then its not the ideal platform
 
Praetor said:
Dont break it :)


It uses the VIA chipset. Just like my board.


Which is why I suggested NF4U. If you stop and think about it 16x16 is useless for the foreseeable future considering AGP8X isnt really tested and AGP4X isnt a serious handicap.


Yeah, the drivers support SLI. Games are independent


Two 6600GTs in SLI will outperform a 6800Ultra. And cost roughly the price of the 6800GT (you do need to do your homework there though)


Via chipset. And im quite serious (considering ive got one). You said you dont care for SLI .... but you evidently want PCIe, so get the NF4U as I suggested -- if you get the DFI board its possible to get a perfect mod to NF4SLI so you double the value there for nothin ... and even if you dont you can still run it in mock SLI mode and even if you decide not to do that the NF4U is a superior chipset


Ya the chipset is horrible -- ok that might be a bit over the top ... its not bad -- if you want to use your computer. If you want the most performance (OC or otherwise) out of the box then its not the ideal platform
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I saw a website somewhere pit dual 6600gts against a single 6600gt and an ultra 6800gt annd the 6600gts only scored more in the higher resolutions with less dropped frames but the overall score was basically the same other than when you increase to really really high resolutions, in some cases the 6600gt single outperformed the 2x 6600gts in sli... I also read that most games especially the not-so-popular ones don't have drivers written for them to utilize sli, what exactly is wrong with the av-8 other than the lack of those features, is there something directly wrong with it that i should know such as failure or anything? You also didn't answer my question about the Power Supply which i really need to know id appreciate it if you could help me out.

My budget is around $1600, if you can tell me where i can find a config with

AMD Athlon 64 3500+
1GB DDR Ram @400Mhz
nForce 4 Motherboard
sound blaster live 6.1
200gb 7200rpm hdd 8mb cache
16x dvd+/-rw dual layer
thermaltake fan

For around this price range then id really be interested but i can't afford anything more than around $1600 because i also have to buy a monitor and speakers and a keyboard and mouse. Please help me out here. At first glance I was going to get the nforce4 but it's more expensive and i heard that it didn't offer that much of a performance upgrade because of the 8x8 pipes?
 
Praetor said:
Two 6600GTs in SLI will outperform a 6800Ultra. And cost roughly the price of the 6800GT (you do need to do your homework there though)
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Every benchmark and test I ever seen shows the 6800 ultra beating the 6600GT SLI. In most test the 6800 GT also beated it except on a game like doom3 with 1280X1024 AFX8 or higher settings.
 
I saw a website somewhere pit dual 6600gts against a single 6600gt and an ultra 6800gt annd the 6600gts only scored more in the higher resolutions with less dropped frames but the overall score was basically the same other than when you increase to really really high resolutions,
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And whats the point of all this if not to play at high-res?

Every benchmark and test I ever seen shows the 6800 ultra beating the 6600GT SLI
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And what benchmarks are you looking at? :P http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2284&p=13

In most test the 6800 GT also beated it except on a game like doom3 with 1280X1024 AFX8 or higher settings.
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Well if stands to follow if the 6600GT-SLI wins over the 6800U then the 6800GT doesnt stand a chance.

in some cases the 6600gt single outperformed the 2x 6600gts in sli...
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That does make sense although that is because of the overhead introduced by the bridging connector. Rest assured those performance drops occur at low-res and usually account for a whopping 2fps, compared to potentially a 30fps+ improvement

I also read that most games especially the not-so-popular ones don't have drivers written for them to utilize sli
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It has been about 15 years since games use their own drivers for the most part.

what exactly is wrong with the av-8 other than the lack of those features, is there something directly wrong with it that I should know such as failure or anything?
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Ya the simple fact that it uses the K8T800Pro chipset -- the same as the one ive got. If you're looking at the AV8 then I strongly urge you consider the MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum (nforce3Ultra, handsdown dominant AGP board for A64)

You also didn't answer my question about the Power Supply which I really need to know id appreciate it if you could help me out.
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The wattage doesnt matter as much as the voltage stability (which is why I suggested you look somewhere esle than Raidmax for solid PSUs). For the record and comparison, im using a 420W Vantec Stealth and its more than capable of reliably powering what ive got here + lots more

My budget is around $1600, if you can tell me where I can find a config with

AMD Athlon 64 3500+
1GB DDR Ram @400Mhz
nForce 4 Motherboard
sound blaster live 6.1
200gb 7200rpm hdd 8mb cache
16x dvd+/-rw dual layer
thermaltake fan
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That shouldnt be too hard to find all around... oh yeah about the soundcard .... your K8T890 comes with plenty-good onboard sound ... and having the addin card doesnt allow you to have two soundcards (and yes there are uses where dual soundcards may be useful ... a very serious peev I have with this board) ... so you can save money there. Also you said something about 7.1 sound ... 7.1 speakers with 6.1 soundcard isnt gonna be pretty. :)

At first glance I was going to get the nforce4 but it's more expensive and I heard that it didn't offer that much of a performance upgrade because of the 8x8 pipes?
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The NF4U is the 6800GT of mobos, excellent performance on its own, excelent price and modability to NF4SLI as for pipe-age, like i said earlier, AGP4X is a minor handicap so PCIex8 isnt a handicap at all -- theres tons of room to move (why do you think weve not seen cases were Dual 6800Us are saturating the bandiwdth and getting bottlenecked?)
 
So can you recommend a place where I can config a system like this? I can't find one I've tried everywhere the only place i can find a system like this is ebay and it's price tag is insane.
 
So can you recommend a place where I can config a system like this? I can't find one I've tried everywhere the only place i can find a system like this is ebay and it's price tag is insane.
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Alas I cannot. I build my own systems (and reccomend you do too ... as long as you dont rush things and attempt to brute force your way through the installation, its pretty easy and fairly idiot-proof).
 
Would this be a better configuration?

AMD Athlon 64 3500+ 2.2GHz, 512kb Cache, 2000MHz, Socket 939, 64-Bit
Thermaltake Silent PurePower 480W Power Supply
MSI "K8N Neo4 Platinum SLI" NVIDIA nForce4 SLI Chipset Motherboard For AMD Socket 939 CPU
Corsair 184 Pin 512mb DDR PC-3200x2
Western Digital 250GB Sata HDD
16x Dual Layer DVD+/-RW
1.44" Floppy Drive
nVidia GeForce 6800GT 256mb, 256-BIT PCIe Graphics Card
Thermaltake AMD Athlon 64 CPU Fan

$1537

Would the power supply on this be sufficiant?

EDIT: I put the wrong motherboard :P
 
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Awesome:
1. What make is the DVD±RW drive? If its something like an LG, Cicero, BenQ, Samsung, etc drive, dont expect anything fancy from it
2. The PSU is plenty fine
 
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