New pc

[ifander]

My bud asked me to find him some nice parts for his computer, so here I am again :)

He's got around 2000 $ (2059 if you're picky), but then this is Sweden, so you won't get much wiser knowing that...

Anyways, here's what I got so far:

Mobo
Gigabyte GA-K8NXP-SLi - I've got one, only the nF4Ultra version, and it runs very well! And you get wireless ethernet.
http://www.datorbutiken.com/se/defau...d=GIGK8NXP-SLI
Another mobo I found:
Abit AN8 Fatal1ty nForce 4 SLi - I've heard it's a great mobo, but if it needs lots of tweaking to work well, it's worthless for my pal;) (I'm sure as hell not going to sit around and tweak this thing into perfection)
http://www.datorbutiken.com/se/defau...Id=ABAN8FATSLI

They cost roughly the same, so gimme some tips please! Or, if you have any other suggestions, they're all appreciated.
As for the choice of SLi, it's good to have as many possibilities for upgrading as possible.


CPU
Athlon 64 X2 3800+ - Either that, or a non-X2 4000+ San Diego, but I'm guessing the X2 is a better choice for various reasons.

GFX card
XFX GF 7800 GTX - Well, it's the best GeForce around, so... But there are many manufacturers, and some are faster than others, so if you know of a better board, feel free to say so.
http://www.datorbutiken.com/se/defau...d=XFXGF7800GTX
There's another though, a Sapphire X1800 XL, and to my knowledge, ATI's cards tend to have better picture quality, and be less affected by AA and AF. After all, what's the point of having 200 fps if you can get better quality with, say, 130 fps?? And, it's 50 $ cheaper.
http://www.shg.biz/link.asp?goto=infobox&varenr=341094

HDD
Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 250GB SATA - It's gotten some nice reviews if I remember correctly, and has NCQ (although that doesn't seem to do much good when playing games on a defragged PC)
http://www.datorbutiken.com/se/defau...d=SGB8-250SATA
Or
Western Digital http://www.shg.biz/link.asp?goto=in...p;varenr=420386

RAM
Corsair VS1GB400C3 Value Select 2x1024Mb - This clearly states he won't be oc'ing:)
I don't know why I'm putting up links, as Datorbutiken barely gives any info at all
Or
Kingston Dual Channel ValueRAM PC3200 2x1024 mb
http://www.shg.biz/link.asp?goto=in...p;varenr=350892
(It' depends on where I'm gonna order this stuff...)

Case
Thermaltake Soprano VB1000SNS Super Miditower SILVER ATX + 450W PSU
It looks good, although in my personal opinion, Thermaltake's cases are a little "too much".
Or
CoolerMaster Tidal Wave silver, w/o PSU
http://www.shg.biz/link.asp?goto=in...p;varenr=810232
This one is nicer, but it lacks a PSU, and again, it depends on where I'm gonna buy this PC.
PSU (if the case lacks one;)
http://www.shg.biz/link.asp?goto=in...p;varenr=820155

http://www.shg.biz/link.asp?goto=in...p;varenr=820154

http://www.shg.biz/link.asp?goto=infobox&varenr=820134
The first one rated at 520W, active PFC and 18 and 20 Amps on the +12V1 and +12V2 rails respective.

The second was basically the same model, but it's rated at 450 watts, and 15 and 17 amps on the +12 volt rails.

The third is from ThermalTake, and has 15A on each 12V rail. Rated at 460W.

I'm just not sure if they will support this system, it's not exactly mid-range.
But then, it won't be OC'ed either, so the 450 watt model should be enough, right?

Any input on this would be (highly) appreciated!

(phew! That's the longest post I've ever written!)

[[email protected]]

Re: New pc

Ok this is my opinion. I would go with the Gigabyte mobo, but you do not need a SLI mobo? You are only going to use one video card, so why do you want one that is better suited for two? As for processors, I would go for the x2 without a doubt. The graphics card looks good, but the 7800gt is almost as good and it costs less. If you overclock a little bit on the video card, it probably could match the speed of the 7800gtx. I prefer Nvidia to Ati anyway. Do you really need that much hard drive space (again, my opinion). I would go with the seagate even if you change hd sizes. You really do need a much larger psu. The video, processor, and everything else in your case are going to suck every last drop of power. 550W would be a good place to start. For ram, you don't need 2gigs of it. I think 1gig of some good corsair or some other ram would be more suited. By the way, your system is very extreme, so you should get some higher performance ram.

[ifander]

Re: New pc

(I'm sure as hell not going to sit around and tweak this thing into perfection)

As I said, I'm not gonna tweak/oc this comp for him, that's his prob. But, on the other hand, some RAM with tighter latencies would probably be better than having exessive amonts of ram with low latencies. And it doesn't require lots of tweaking, either..

550W would be a good place to start

Is a PSU that strong really needed? I've got a 410 W PSU from Chieftec and, even though my PC is pretty much mid-spec, it's overclocked and stable. I thought that efficiency and amperage was more important than sheer wattage? Wouldn't that 520W be enough? I'm not really sure, I don't know much about PSU's other than that.

...but you do not need a SLI mobo?

The Gigabyte mobo costs the same with or without SLi, so..
As for the Fatal1ty mobo, I'm not sure there is one without SLi, or is there?

As for the drive space; good point! But when it comes to drives, the cost difference between 160 gb and 250 gb, for instance, is pretty small (compared to this budget at least).

[[email protected]]

Re: New pc

Ok what I was meaning was to get something other than "valueram" or low cost ram. You should atleast get some performance series ram. I don't overclock my ram anyway. Start with the good stuff and go from there. The OCZ ram you use in your own computer sounds pretty good for your friends computer.

As for the psu, 520W would be enough. If you have a little psu, your computer will shut down randomly during periods of higher activity since the psu can not handle the increased demand for power.

On to mobos. I would honestly go with a good one from Chaintech. The Chaintech VNF4 Ultra only has one pci-e, but one 7800gt is already in excess. If you really want to have SLI, I would go with one from DFI. They make some really good ones. By the way, did you decide to go with the 7800gt? If so, I would go with the 7800gt from BFG. It is already overclocked so you don't have to do anything to get it going.

Consider this for hard drives; I have a prebuilt computer from Dell. It has a 40gig hd. I have XP Pro, Halo, NFSU2, GTA Vice City, Office 2003, Nero Burning Ultra Edition, SpySweeper, Window Washer, Norton AntiVirus, 4 gigs of various videos and other files, and the list goes on infinetly. I have about 22 gigs of extra space left. GTA San Andreas takes about 5gigs and the operating system is about 5 or 6 depending on which one you purchase. It really depends on what you are going to use it for. If you don't really need a TON of space, but want speed, get a 70 something gig Raptor hd. The larger the hard drive, the slower it is to start up and find files. That is from my experience. Hope this helps!

[ifander]

Re: New pc

Thanks for the input!

OK, so I looked for some better RAM, and followed your suggestion to get 2x512 instead, and came up with this:
Corsair Twinx1024-3200XLPT - DDR400, 2-2-2-5 latencies, 2x512 MB
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="560"> <tbody><tr><td>
</td> <td class="text" align="left" valign="top">http://www.shg.biz/link.asp?goto=infobox&varenr=350636</td></tr></tbody> </table> It looks pretty good, tight latencies.

When it comes to PSU's, I'm trying to find one that doesn't fail (after reading the Live PSU Stress Test over at Tom's Hardware, I'm being a little more cautious).

So, I've picked this PSU: Chill-Innovation - CP-520A2, 520W, two 12V rails, 18 and 20 amperes. I read a review, where they tested the PSU with a fairly high-spec system, and no voltages went below specification, so it should work out well with this one.

As for mobos; I don't think I've ever seen a Chaintech mobo here in Sweden, neither on the major internet stores nor around where I live. As for DFI, it would be a waste since they're basically meant for overclocking.
But I found this mobo from MSI, the K8N-SLi Platinum, and it seems good enough. It's got a good bundle, and has recieved some nice reviews. If you're wondering why I'm obsessed by SLi, it's merely because there are few decent non-SLi boards around, at least where I'm choosing this stuff for my friend. (it's the cheapest store, and someone recomended it to me, so...)

For graphics, I'm planning to get him an X1800XL. According to the reviews I've read, the x1800 series runs faster than the 7800GT/GTX when high levels of AA and AF are enabled. And who buys a PC this expencive and plays games without AA/AF anyway?

As for harddrives, I'm sticking to the Barracuda (it's a 7200.9, not 7200.8, if that makes a differance). A 160 Gb will do well. At theese sizes, the price difference is even smaller, so going below that would only be nessecary if there would be very limited cash (which isn't the case here).
The Raptor series are great drives, but the price/performance ratio is just crazy. It would be nice to have one, sure, but HDD performance isn't really that big of a deal.

Oh, and I changed the case (I asked my buddy for his opinion; it's his PC after all!) and chose this one instead: ThermalTake Shark Silver.