I decided to post for some guidance after lurking the forums for about 2 weeks now. I'm glad to see that this forum is relatively flame free ^^. For a while I've always been interested in overclocking but I kept finding incredible deals on prebuilt PCs. (dell 8250 rebate fiasco if anyone remembers that from a couple years ago). I read many other peoples new PCs (and their wallet seems to be bigger than mine /cry)
I'm looking to build a decent gaming PC that will leave me with upgrade options in the future (2 years or so). I would also like to learn how to overclock as a hobby as well. Most importantly for this PC is price vs performance. I'm not very interested in flashy look of parts, just how they perform. Noise isn't a huge priority but I also would like parts that are not extremely loud and overbearing. My goal is also to keep things under 900 dollars or so though spending a little extra is not out of the question. Any guidance is greatly appreciated.
All prices with shipping included.
Case: SLK3000B ATX Super Mid-Tower without Power Supply BLACK 47.05
http://www.provantage.com/buy-7ANTG...t-power-supply-black-antec-cases-shopping.htm
I'm neither for or against cases with the side panels. This seemed to be a very solid case, especially for the price. I originally considered The sonata 2 but from all posts I've searched here, it seems like a waste to buy a case with a pre existing powersupply.
Processor:A64-3000BW $125.42
http://www.ewiz.com/shopcart.php?additem=A64-3000BW
This seems like the best chip for me to try overclocking on. I understand the BW is the E6 revision which is fairly new. Reports so far seem pretty positive overall.
Powersupply: OCZ OCZ52012U ModStream ATX 2.0 520W $94
http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=M&Product_Code=100162
I never knew how important a powersupply was to a computer before I started reading here. I originally was leaning towards the Fortron 500W Bluestorm http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...&Category=0&minPrice=&maxPrice=&Go.x=0&Go.y=0
however the price was so close to the OCZ and it seems like I would need an adapter for 24 and 20 pins.
Motherboard: Oh boy, this scares me the most. Theres a couple things I'm trying to balance. On one hand I'd like to learn how to overclock, on the otherhand I'd also like stability. I still havn't decided between everyone's favorite :DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 Ultra-D Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail (only $125.50 at newegg now!) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813136152
or the
EPoX EP-9NPA+Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail (112 shipped) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813123236
The DFI seems to have the most potential but seems to be the most difficult board to work with. Keep in mind this will be the first OC'ing PC I will own. Reading the DFI threads and DFI-streets definetly make very hesitant (especially with the RAM compatibility options.) I was however really impressed with DFI's commitment to their customers with DFI-streets
The Epox seems to have good overclocking potential and I have read less issues about stability and part compatibilities. However, I'm not sure if this is due to less people actually owning the Epox board. Right now I'm about 51% leaning towards the Epox due to my lack of experience however I would switch to either board with the right arguments
Ram: This is probably going to be dependant on which MB I purchase. I read the sticky on DFI boards and they recommended the Patriot 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Dual Channel Kit System Memory - Retail ($163.78) http://www.newegg.com/product/Produ...hannel+Kit+System+Memory+Model+PDC1G3200+XBLK
As another reminder I'm looking for price vs perfomance. I noticed most people on this boards (from their sigs) are not using 2Gigs of ram due to timings (I'm still very confused about ram timing, but still reading). Based on my understanding, Ram seems to be the most inefficent way to spend your money to increase performance. Would I be better off with 1 or 2 Gigs of value ram(also which would be more recommended for the DFI vs Epox) boards. I understand there were some issues with Corsair VS ram on DFI boards.
Hard Drive: New SATA Western Digital 320GB SATA $150 8MB http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=M&Product_Code=150439
Cache 7200RPM or keeping an old 7200 120gb Hard drive. I guess it depends on the true speed gain (but I'll eventually pickup another HD for storage anyways)
Soundcard: Probably SB Live 24bit, not too concerned about sound ATM, Most of my music is streamed to my xbox media center.
Videocard: I am not really biased towards either ATI or NV but I am definetly NOT interested in SLI or crossfire. Because of the two motherboard choices, I'm locked into PCI-E and am presently considering the x800 (waiting on some good deals to pop up again). There are so many x800 and 6800 cards, It will probably depend on what I'm spending on the rest of the computer. For a base I think anything within 200 dollars seems reasonable.
MISC: Once again I'm probably going to wait to see peoples tips and recommendations. I'm not too sure what heatsinks/coolers I would need to purchase for the OEM chip/Graphics card. The thermaltake everyone seems to like costs about 30-40 dollars shipped. For that price, it seems worth it to maybe put towards an upgrade in either the processor or videocard.
Sorry for the long post, (I edited it down as much as possible). Once again for this gaming pc, Price VS performance is my goal. If I can see a greater overall gain in purchasing Value ram and skipping a heating fan for the GFX card and instead putting it towards a better processor or GFX card, I would rather do that. (also saving up towards a LCD).
Summary: Rant from a clueless noob. Total expected in parts: Figuring in the DFI route , assuming 200 for vid card, 30 for a sound card I am at 983.1 I am probably going to have to wait on the new SATA HD. Taking out the HD bringing my total to 833 or so. I didn't know my future hobby would cost so much money! Please recommend some changes or leave some feedback, Thank you! (I didn't list anything in my sig since I don't own any of these parts yet)
I'm looking to build a decent gaming PC that will leave me with upgrade options in the future (2 years or so). I would also like to learn how to overclock as a hobby as well. Most importantly for this PC is price vs performance. I'm not very interested in flashy look of parts, just how they perform. Noise isn't a huge priority but I also would like parts that are not extremely loud and overbearing. My goal is also to keep things under 900 dollars or so though spending a little extra is not out of the question. Any guidance is greatly appreciated.
All prices with shipping included.
Case: SLK3000B ATX Super Mid-Tower without Power Supply BLACK 47.05
http://www.provantage.com/buy-7ANTG...t-power-supply-black-antec-cases-shopping.htm
I'm neither for or against cases with the side panels. This seemed to be a very solid case, especially for the price. I originally considered The sonata 2 but from all posts I've searched here, it seems like a waste to buy a case with a pre existing powersupply.
Processor:A64-3000BW $125.42
http://www.ewiz.com/shopcart.php?additem=A64-3000BW
This seems like the best chip for me to try overclocking on. I understand the BW is the E6 revision which is fairly new. Reports so far seem pretty positive overall.
Powersupply: OCZ OCZ52012U ModStream ATX 2.0 520W $94
http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=M&Product_Code=100162
I never knew how important a powersupply was to a computer before I started reading here. I originally was leaning towards the Fortron 500W Bluestorm http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...&Category=0&minPrice=&maxPrice=&Go.x=0&Go.y=0
however the price was so close to the OCZ and it seems like I would need an adapter for 24 and 20 pins.
Motherboard: Oh boy, this scares me the most. Theres a couple things I'm trying to balance. On one hand I'd like to learn how to overclock, on the otherhand I'd also like stability. I still havn't decided between everyone's favorite :DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 Ultra-D Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail (only $125.50 at newegg now!) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813136152
or the
EPoX EP-9NPA+Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail (112 shipped) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813123236
The DFI seems to have the most potential but seems to be the most difficult board to work with. Keep in mind this will be the first OC'ing PC I will own. Reading the DFI threads and DFI-streets definetly make very hesitant (especially with the RAM compatibility options.) I was however really impressed with DFI's commitment to their customers with DFI-streets
The Epox seems to have good overclocking potential and I have read less issues about stability and part compatibilities. However, I'm not sure if this is due to less people actually owning the Epox board. Right now I'm about 51% leaning towards the Epox due to my lack of experience however I would switch to either board with the right arguments
Ram: This is probably going to be dependant on which MB I purchase. I read the sticky on DFI boards and they recommended the Patriot 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Dual Channel Kit System Memory - Retail ($163.78) http://www.newegg.com/product/Produ...hannel+Kit+System+Memory+Model+PDC1G3200+XBLK
As another reminder I'm looking for price vs perfomance. I noticed most people on this boards (from their sigs) are not using 2Gigs of ram due to timings (I'm still very confused about ram timing, but still reading). Based on my understanding, Ram seems to be the most inefficent way to spend your money to increase performance. Would I be better off with 1 or 2 Gigs of value ram(also which would be more recommended for the DFI vs Epox) boards. I understand there were some issues with Corsair VS ram on DFI boards.
Hard Drive: New SATA Western Digital 320GB SATA $150 8MB http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=M&Product_Code=150439
Cache 7200RPM or keeping an old 7200 120gb Hard drive. I guess it depends on the true speed gain (but I'll eventually pickup another HD for storage anyways)
Soundcard: Probably SB Live 24bit, not too concerned about sound ATM, Most of my music is streamed to my xbox media center.
Videocard: I am not really biased towards either ATI or NV but I am definetly NOT interested in SLI or crossfire. Because of the two motherboard choices, I'm locked into PCI-E and am presently considering the x800 (waiting on some good deals to pop up again). There are so many x800 and 6800 cards, It will probably depend on what I'm spending on the rest of the computer. For a base I think anything within 200 dollars seems reasonable.
MISC: Once again I'm probably going to wait to see peoples tips and recommendations. I'm not too sure what heatsinks/coolers I would need to purchase for the OEM chip/Graphics card. The thermaltake everyone seems to like costs about 30-40 dollars shipped. For that price, it seems worth it to maybe put towards an upgrade in either the processor or videocard.
Sorry for the long post, (I edited it down as much as possible). Once again for this gaming pc, Price VS performance is my goal. If I can see a greater overall gain in purchasing Value ram and skipping a heating fan for the GFX card and instead putting it towards a better processor or GFX card, I would rather do that. (also saving up towards a LCD).
Summary: Rant from a clueless noob. Total expected in parts: Figuring in the DFI route , assuming 200 for vid card, 30 for a sound card I am at 983.1 I am probably going to have to wait on the new SATA HD. Taking out the HD bringing my total to 833 or so. I didn't know my future hobby would cost so much money! Please recommend some changes or leave some feedback, Thank you! (I didn't list anything in my sig since I don't own any of these parts yet)
