teh Forum

I am putting together a machine for a buddy. I am trying to stay under $700 with everything but the display. I have done some research into the current trends in mid range HW and am looking for some opinions. All prices are Newegg current today.

MB - AGP
Chipset: ULi M1689 (Chaintech S1689 $72 - or as low as $50 on mwave)
Chipset: NForce3-250GB (Gigabyte GA-K8NSC $78 )
Chipset: VIA K8T800 (MSI K8T Neo2-F $94)

MB - PCI-E x16
Chipset: NForce4 (Chaintech VNF4 -$79) or (MSI K8N Neo4-F $88 )
Chipset: VIA K8T890 (Gigabyte GA-K8VT890 $95)

VIDEO
NVidia 6600
128MB PCI-E 300MHz/550MHz (Jaton) $103
128MB AGP 300/550 (Asus) $122
256MB PCI-E 300/550 (Gigabyte) $125
256MB AGP 300/500 (Asus) $144

NVidia 6600GT
128MB AGP 500/900 (Chaintech) $152
128MB PCI-E 500/1000(Chain/Giga) $166
128MB AGP 500/1000 (Apollo) $167

NVidia 6800 128MB AGP 325/700 (eVGA) $194

NVidia 6800LE 128MB AGP 300/700 (Leadtek) $162

ATI 9800Pro 128MB AGP 380/680 (Saph) $123

ATI 9800XT 256MB AGP 412/? (Jetway) $184

ATI X700
128MB PCI-E 400/700 (Asus) $97
256MB PCI-E 400/700 (Saph) $122

ATI X700 Pro
128MB PCI-E 425/860 (Abit) $130
256MB PCI-E 425/860 (Abit) $151

ATI X800
128MB PCI-E 392/700 (Saph) $186
256MB AGP 392/700 (Saph) $248


So because of all the issues with the NF4 and MSI I and the fact that I need this thing to work well for him without my assisstance (seeing that I will be OOC), I am leaning towards the MSI NF3 board and the $152 Chaintech 6600GT (or would you go with that crazy 6800LE?).

The rest of the PC will be:

3000+ or 3200+ Vencie (depending on budget)
1GB Corsair VS
and some other regular type innards.
Do I need to pay any particular attention to the power supply?

Comments gentlemen?

If you aren't doing SLI (which is apparent,) then a nice 350W or above will work fine.

Corsair VS is definitely the way to go if you aren't wacky like McNevin and I. The memory controller on the A64 chip isn't very picky, and actually benefits very little from fast CAS rates and things like that. All our expensive XMS does for us is allow us to use the CAS rate advertised when overclocking. Otherwise you can easily bump up the clock rates, and leave the CAS a bit lower. Excellent choice.

Definitely go with PCIe. AGP is dying (the 7800s don't even come in AGP.) It's just more future proof, a better chipset (NF4) and the cost difference is neglibible.

For video, if having SM3.0 isn't a big must right now, get the ATI X300 or X700. For lower end cards they perform excellently, and are very inexpensive. The 6600 series costs a little more for not much return. Nvidia's sweet spot is the 6800 and above. I recommend BFG for Nvidia boards as they have lifetime (if I'm not mistaken) warranties, and 24 hour support. (Handy when building a PC for someone else.) For ATI, go with ASUS, ATI or Sapphire (whoever gives a better deal.) They are reliable, and don't cost much more than the bottom of the barrel OEMs.

Despite McNevin's problems with the higher end MSI, I can vouch for the effectiveness, reliability, and low cost of the standard $80 MSI NF4 non-ultra/non-sli board. I've built two systems with these, and they work perfectly. Seems the problems are with the particular model McNevin has. If you're going to spend a bit more in the board area, I'm back to ASUS for my recommended brand. They're really putting out the quality boards these days. I just proved this a few times over with my last few PC builds.

You know what my opinion is for HDDs. Seagate 7200.7 or 7200.8 depending on whether you're going SATA or not. (and size I suppose)

Do NOT get a VIA based board even for someone else. When there are so many inexpensive NF4 boards available, there really is no reason to go with another chipset. The AMD64 is VERY happy on the NF4, so why fuck with it? (I'm a bit saucy right now, got into the Pinot.)

The Venice is the ONLY way to go for AMD 64 now, as it supports dual channel memory, SSE 3, and is on the smaller process. (Less power use, and lower temps.)

If you need something other than stock cooling for either thermal or noise reasons, get the Zalman CNPS7700-Cu. It uses a built-in 120mm fan, it's all copper, and is both cool and quiet.

I recommend you install about 6 of these:

Six at least! Get a couple of hubs and branch them out.

Make that baby fly!

The X300 is inadequate; it’s comparable to a 9250, which wouldn’t run WoW at all. That’s what I was playing it on at your house, in Kim's PC.

The 6600GT Looks like the best bang for the buck.


http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphi ... index.html

I just stuck an X300 in an A64 system for someone. The PC is mainly for audio, but he wanted to play a game or two here or there. I threw a couple games on it to try it out, and they worked ok. Obviously not what we're used to, but then I didn't see WoW as a requirement. If newer games are the aim, then yes, the 6600GT or the X700 would be the way to go.

You want to buy my 400w fortron source power supply for $50

All the new motherboards are coming with 24pin power connectors these days, but for now a 20 pin is still compatible.

I was under the impression that my power supply was the culprit, but as we all know now, that wasnt the problem.

The Fortrons are excellent. I'd do it.

What did you end up getting?

I went with teh Gigabyte 6600GT PCI-E, the Chaintech NF4 board, and a Venice 3000+. THX for teh inputery.

I think he ment 6600GT.

Definitely

Benchmark scores are in:

3DMark 2005 1024 - 3520

Doom3 1.3 Ultra (no AA - 2nd Run) = 69.5fps

Pretty damn good system for under $700.

Not bad at all. You really can't even build an Intel system that can compete with an A64 system, but if you could, it would probably cost 2-3 times more. I love AMD. I occasionally go with Intel when AMD is on a down-cycle and Intel is on and up-cycle, but that doesn't happen all that often.

Even with all the part swapping, and cooling parts, etc. that I had to do with my last system, I doubt that I could have built a competitive Intel system for the same final price.

69fps in D3, thats better than your machine ender!

What did you clock the machine to?

I just ran stock at 1.8. I wasn't about to deal with OCin his machine and then leaving the country. But it was running so cool that just in windows with the case sides off the fan would occasionally stop running! My P4 runs so hot that I have to keep the sides off to not have that horrible high speed whine.

I am looking forward to rejoining the AMD-fold in half a year's time or so.

Yes, by then the dual core chips will be very inexpensive. I'd like to pick one up, but I think I'm done spending money on my PC for a while. Maybe in six months.

...that would be very good timing.