Building a gaming system - Asking for advice.

[FreakyShadow]

Hello,

I would ask for some advice from you guys, because I'm thinking of building a gaming system.

I don't want to spend more than 700 bucks, so here are my thoughts:

Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM - $80
CORSAIR XMS 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Kit System Memory - Retail - $82
ASUS A8N-SLI Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail - $107
Thermaltake TR2 W0070 ATX 430W Power Supply 115/230 V - Retail - $25
XFX PV-T73G-UDD3 Geforce 7600GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail - $196
<<And the processor>> (a max of $140) I am looking forward an AMD, but about processors is what I don't have much knowledge. What would you recommend me to buy? Is this one ok? AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice 2000MHz HT 512KB L2 Cache Socket 939 Processor - Retail - $99

Another thing I would like to ask, is about the MOBO. Is that MOBO/other pieces ok for overclocking + future upgrades?

About the hard drive, I am not really interested in having a 250 gb hard drive, with 130gb im OK, so I would like to know if it was much better to buy a lower capacity but faster hard drive?

Yet another question, is about the Power Supply, are 430W fine for future upgrades, overclocking or a SLI alternative?

Thanks in advance!


-FreakyShadow

[cHiNgY1788]

well, right now AMD are introducing the new AM2 socket, so future proof aint that good
You are only stuck with S939 CPUs...

Overclocking on that board should be good
HDDs, get around 160-200Gb
you might want a more powerfull PSU, like 500W or something

[FreakyShadow]

Originally Posted by cHiNgY1788

well, right now AMD are introducing the new AM2 socket, so future proof aint that good
You are only stuck with S939 CPUs...

Overclocking on that board should be good
HDDs, get around 160-200Gb
you might want a more powerfull PSU, like 500W or something

thanks for the quick reply, I didnt got that about the S939 CPUs, can you explain a bit further please?

you mean, I should wait a bit for non-AM2 sockets lower their price so I get one of those non-AM2??

thanks

[cHiNgY1788]

i think you should wait a bit

if you get a socket 939 CPU, you can only upgrade to socket 939 cpus.

[FreakyShadow]

Originally Posted by cHiNgY1788

i think you should wait a bit

if you get a socket 939 CPU, you can only upgrade to socket 939 cpus.

wow, wow! now I get it!

thanks for the great tip!

also, DDR2 support is quite a difference, isnt it?

though, can do me a great favor? can you help me find a Socket AM2-less than $130 efficient board? I've taken a look at newegg.com and I only found about 22 but most of them, have some DOA negative reviews, so which would I go for?

thanks

[k-slice]

I really dont think socket 939 boards will become "obsolete" any time soon...
AMD will continue to makeand improve s939 processors for many years to come (they still make 754 chips).

ddr2 is an advantage but not a huge one right now. many of the most hardcore gamers will still use ddr down the road. the reason you saw many bad marks about the am2 MoBo's is because they are pretty much first gen. the MoBo companies still need time to perfect their new foung technology.

if i were you (and had that kind of money) i would go with the setup you originlay listed. this is only my opinion and you dont have to take it but...

[FreakyShadow]

Originally Posted by k-slice

I really dont think socket 939 boards will become "obsolete" any time soon...
AMD will continue to makeand improve s939 processors for many years to come (they still make 754 chips).

ddr2 is an advantage but not a huge one right now. many of the most hardcore gamers will still use ddr down the road. the reason you saw many bad marks about the am2 MoBo's is because they are pretty much first gen. the MoBo companies still need time to perfect their new foung technology.

if i were you (and had that kind of money) i would go with the setup you originlay listed. this is only my opinion and you dont have to take it but...

Well, you might be right, but for example, I took a look at your MoBo's reviews at newegg.com (ECS RS400-A) and I'm getting 3 eggs out of 5. I guess those reviews aren't as useful as they seem to be... I don't think you are getting much problems with it, though: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813135196

So... maybe I should go for the AM2 boards, right? They DO have positive reviews as your MoBo and negative reviews too. I do want DDR2 support and in the future AM2 Sockets will be the state-of-the-art AMD processors, right?

What I want primarily, is to have this PC last for long, so I can upgrade it through time without being obsolette.

Viewing it with that perspective, what do you think of it?

[k-slice]

AM2 is the next gen of processors but with all new technology they haven't been perfected yet. the processors themselves probably work fine, it's the motherboards that haven;t caught up to speed.

reviewers that give MoBo's a bad review because their DOA arent really fair since newegg will replace a doa board.

AM2 and ddr2 will give you alot of time before your computewr becomes obsolete. also what do i think of what? list a MoBo you like and ill tell you what i think of it

[Murf]

I use Tom's Hardware Guide as my bible. Check out hardware reviews there:

[FreakyShadow]

Originally Posted by Murf

I use Tom's Hardware Guide as my bible. Check out hardware reviews there:

Thanks for the great page! I will be going for the configuration listed at this great article from Tom's Hardware: http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/06/...g_rig_for_720/

It looks great to have the opportunity of squeezing up the Intel Pentium D 805 2.66 GHz (Dual-Core) to finish up with a 4GHz ending machine!! I guess the only thing I might change, is the hard drive and the video card! The video card to a better one and the hard drive to a cheaper one, what do you think??

Thanks you all for helping me,

with that, I'm off.