Could I do better without increasing the price?

I looked around and in an evening with a bit of advice I layed out plans for two possible systems that I could buy depending on my budget. I'm looking to see if for the same price I could do any better for a pretty straight forward gaming PC, with light to moderate multitasking. I don't plan on doing any extreme overclocking as I have never done it before, and I can't afford to replace anything expensive that might get fried. Moderate OCing with a good margin for error would be acceptable.

The two systems share a lot of components, in fact the only real changes are the CPU and the HDD.

Shared components :
DFI nF4 Ultra-Infinity Socket 939 board for $105
eVGA GeForce 6800GT 512mb PCI-Express for $350
OCZ modstream 450w PSU for $90
OCZ Performance 2x 1GB PC 3200 RAM for $220 total
Samsung Spinpoint 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0 HD for $115
Plextor DVD burner model PX-740A/SW for $85
Audigy2 ZS sound card for $70
total of the shared components is $1050

The cheaper system has a X2 3800+ for $350 and comes to a total of $1,400

The more expensive one has an addition 74 GB Raptor HD for $180 and uses a X2 4400+ Toledo for $530 and costs $1,750.

So what changes would you make to either system without going over 1400 for the cheaper one and lets say 1800 for the more expensive one? If you can make the cheaper one less expensive, 1200 would be ideal, without sacrificing much performance that would be great.

Also, I don't know if general hardware is the place for something like this. If not, I apologize and please move it somewhere more appropriate.

3800+ manchester, 500gb hitachi deskstar, audigy x-fi(buy it later if you find the onboard sound quality terrible), and a 7800gt instead. also, plextor is too expensive when an NEC does just as well.

-1cem4n

1cem4n said:

3800+ manchester, 500gb hitachi deskstar, audigy x-fi(buy it later if you find the onboard sound quality terrible), and a 7800gt instead. also, plextor is too expensive when an NEC does just as well.

-1cem4n

Click to expand...

I'll second that. The only change I'd make is that you can get a OCZ Powerstream 520W for around $95 instead of that Modstream 450W for $90. Check the cyberdeals section.

I really don't need 500 gbs of storage, so unless its ridiculously unexpensive it would just be a waste to get a HD that big.

The NEC drives I looked at at Newegg don't have buffer underrun, which I was told makes a big difference. Thoughts on that?

And about the processor, the 3800 manchester, which system would that fit into? I'm assuming the cheaper one because of the lower number, but I don't know.

I'm not on the up in Hard drives but you could get some reviews here and it should help you with your choice.

just search buffer underrun like I did at the newegg DVD-RW page. It comes up with much cheaper drives, like the Lite-on 1693S and the LG GSA-4163B

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...rice=&MaxPrice=&SubCategory=5&Submit=Property

I hate samsung drives they are terrible IMO,
I'd go with this Hitachi which is cheaper too http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822145087

samsung drives are slow but they're silent.

-1cem4n

Alright, PSU, HD and DVD drive changed.

What changes would you make to the CPU and video card, if any?

Please give at least a brief reason why, and tell me if you would put it in the cheap system, expensive system or both. It doesn't help me if I don't understand the advice. I hope I don't seem too demanding or underappreciative or anything. I really do appreciate help, after all that is why I am here. But if I am going to spend a bunch of money, I need to know why I am buying what I will be buying, that is of course also why I am here.

3800+ instead of the the 4400+ They will give around the same OC's and the extra cache is not worth it.

7800GT instead of the 6800GT because it will run circles around it.

oh man, just looked at newegg at 7800GTs and saw the price, I feel like an idiot now. I just assumed they would be way more expensive, but the price gap is miniscule, definately gonna go for one of those.

If I only overclock the processors moderately, will the 3800 still be able to match the 4400 or come near it?

well if you overclock them both equally, then obviously they won't be equal but a 3800+ manchester(with decent cooling) can reach 4400+ speeds easily.

-1cem4n

buy yer 3800 from ewiz, they carry the Toledo core ones
OR
do what i now plan on doing and getting my hands on a s939 opteron 146