Almost Getting New Computer This Year...

Well I'm doing some upgrades, this year. I should have enough money to afford it all this summer or some time near the end of summer. I'm hoping to take my week's paid vacation that week to build my new system up, reload everything, and then have a LAN party on that weekend to show off and have some fun with the new toy. Looking at around $1000 for everything I want, and I'm looking at two maybe three different orders. I'm not totally sure about a few items and I'd really enjoy your opinions on what I've decided on so far.

My first order consisted of the video card and PSU:

[Order #1 - NewEgg]
-- Fortron 530WATT PSU - $96.83
-- XFX GeForce 6800GT 256MB 256-bit video card $404.84



[OLD COMMENT]
I might end up getting a regular 6800, but a 6800GT would be awesome. Not sure what to decide on right now. =\ As for the hard drive, I know a lot of you will say "GO SATA", but all I really need is more HD space right now. I'm not to concerned about the speed of it at the moment. And I'll get a DFI refurb board cause it'll be cheapest.

For the video card, I'll buy whichever top brand (PNY, XFX, EVGA, LeadTek) has it for the cheapest price at the time.



Second order consisted of the CPU, motherboard, video and CPU coolers, and the primary SATA drive:

[Order #2 - NewEgg]
--GIGABYTE "GA-K8NS Ultra-939"
--AMD Athlon 64 3000+, 512KB L2 Cache - Winchester
--NV Silencer 5
--Zalman CNPS 7700 Cu
--Hitachi 80GB SATA drive


Third and last order for some time will be the case, second hard drive, mouse and the mousepad:

[Order #3 - Newegg/Xoxide]
--Lian-Li V1000B case
--200GB Seagate SATA drive
--Logitech MX510 mouse
--X-Ray Professional Thunder8 - Black


[Old Comment]
I'll order an Icemat 2nd edition - black off of their website, and I'm planning on an identical 17" monitor to go along with my current two ones (don't bother trying to get me out of this one ). The monitor isn't something I'm promising myself, but if I've got the funds at the time, then yes.

I've ordered teh X-Ray Thunder8 Black mousepad instead, because everyone was out of stock of the Icemats. I'll get an icemat in the future, and this will become my LAN party pad. I've also bought the MX510 instead of hte MX1000 as I had planned before, the MX1000 just costs to much for me right now.

Another 512MB - 1GB of RAM is also in play, but also not promised. Again, if I have the funds at the time.

[Optional Upgrades]
Minifridge
Logitech MX1000 cordless mouse
Icemat 2nd Edition - Black
19" monitor
--1GB more of memory
--Plextor 16x dual layer DVD-RW drive

Feel free to suggest if I should get something else or ask questions. Basically, I want a really nice system, but still being based upon the A64 3000+ and the DFI LanParty 250GB motherboard, unless the 3200+ has dropped in price significantly at the time of purchase.

Any items with "--" infront of them I have already purchased, and they will have the price I paid for them at the time.

~C.P.

Okay. So far I've done one purchase from NewEgg . That would be the XFX 6800GT 256MB 256-bit card, and my Fortron 530WATT PSU (Figured quality should go above looks this time).

My next paycheck or two will go towards my motherboard. I'm kinda concerened which to get now though. Should I stick with the DFI LanParty 250GB or get an ASUS AV8? The AV8 is a socket 939 board and has four DIMM slots instead of three.

~C.P.

I'd get an nforce3 ultra. S939 CPus are far superior to their S754 counterparts. You will NOT be disapointed.

I would suggest either:

MSI K8N Neo2
Asus A8V Deluxe
Abit AV8 3rd Eye

All are fantastic choices

Yes, but my only iffy part about a 939 based board is I know nothing about them. Some info about 939 vs. 754 would me much appreciated as well. Does the 3200+/3000+ work in a socket 939 board?

bump

Still waiting on another response about the 939 board. I've still got about another week and a half before I go ordering that part though.

I'm also informing that I'm going to be going with a SATA 16MB cache 250GB Maxtor instead of an ATA-133 drive. Done some thinking and figured it'd be best to have SATA now.

Got the Fortron 530W today. Before even letting it touch my case, I checked the voltage rails with my dad's Fluke 87 multimeter. The 12V was running at 11.06 and the 3.3V at 2.09. So I pop open the top (glad there arn't any warrenty stickers on it ) and adjust the potentiometers. And even the 12V line off at 12.00 and the 3.3V at 3.32. Near perfect.

I connect everything back up, start my comp up (sounds a little loud...odd) and go into the BIOS to check it's voltage readings.....13.55V!!!!!! I take the multimeter to some unused power connectors and sure enough, it's running at 13.43! I adjust the pots one more time with everything connected, back down to 12.00V and all is good now.

I must say, Fortron is good, mainly because I can adjust the pots on the PSU now instead of RMAing it after seeing my computer shut down after an hour (has happened to me once with a codegen PSU). Although Antec has alwasy shipped me perfectly tuned PSUs, I decided to go Fortron with this one this time since I've heard it's a heck of a lot more stable.

Right now I've got the Fortron and the 6800GT. I'm now wondering how I'm going to power the A64 3000+ and mobo until I get my new case it's going into, so I can test it (arrives Monday).

I'm thinking pictures will be going up soon to. This is the first entirely (for the most part) new computer I've built in five years. My first comp was a P166 with 32MB RAm, 6GIG hard drive and a 4MB S3 video card, fun stuff! Since then, it's been one upgrade at a time (mobo and CPU here, video there, case last). Finally I'm building something entirely new, and all I'm taking from my existing computer is the optical drives.

The case, Lian-Li V1000B, mouse, mousepad, and the 200GB drive will hopefully be ordered on the 7th, and be here the following week. I'm so hyped!

^^^

Updated the first post to what I've actually ordered. I ordered the case, 200GB HD, mouse, mousepad, and two 24" SATA cables since the original 14" ones arn't going to reach the bottom of the case where the HDs will be.