Advice on a gaming Rig...

Hi everyone I've recently decided to upgrade my old AthlonXP 3000+ rig. It was great for the past couple of years (Abit N7-S rev 2.0, 1 gig DDR3200, Ati 9700Pro, two 80Gb SATA HD in Raid 0 config, sony DVD burner, pioneer DVDROM, and all of it is in a Silver Thermaltake XaserIII Case which was the biggest regret ). But it unfortunately doesn't do it for me anymore. Lol if anyones intersted and in buying it Australia drop me a line.

Anyways enuff of my lamenting, Here's the new Gaming Rig I was thinking of getting:

Case: Lian-Li PC-V1000 Aluminium Silver Midi Tower case (this case looks sooo Hot)

CPU: AMD Athlon64 4000+ with a Zalman CNPS7700-Cu CPU Cooler

Motherboard: DFI LanParty nF4 SLi-D

Video Card: PowerColor PCI-E X850XT PE with an Arctic Cooling VGA Silencer ATI 4

Memory: Corsair 2GB TWINX2048-3200

PSU: Antec NEO480 Watt ATX12V Power Supply (is this a good choice??)

HDD1(Primary): 2x Western Digital WD360GD Raptor 36GB 10, 000rpm in Raid 0 Configuration.

HDD2(Storage): Western Digital WD2500JD 250GB 7200rpm

DVD-RW Drives: Sony DRU720A Internal Dual Layer 16x DVD+/-RW Drive

I play games with my headphones (Sennheiser HD555) so thats why there is a need for Speakers and what not.

So thats what I was thinking of getting. All that comes to roughly $3600AU.
So what I'm after is some comments on choice of hardware, whether theres something better i should get or if there will be any conflicts. I'm not a fanboy of any particular brand I've just had good experiences with some of the brands I've listed, so if there are any components you think are better or more compatible, please share your knowledge with me.

Another question I have is whats a really good or dare I say it "best" LCD monitor for gaming preferably 19"??, I'm currently using a 19" Philips109P4 which I love to bits but its taking up too much space, so suggestions on this would also be greatly appreciated.

Thankyou in advance, and I await your responses on baited breath.

WELCOME TO THE FORUMS!

psycocookie said:

Lol if anyones intersted and in buying it Australia drop me a line.

Click to expand...

You cant post that here.

psycocookie said:

CPU: AMD Athlon64 4000+ with a Zalman CNPS7700-Cu CPU Cooler

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I would probably look into one of the new Venis Chips.

psycocookie said:

Motherboard: DFI LanParty nF4 SLi-D

Video Card: PowerColor PCI-E X850XT PE with an Arctic Cooling VGA Silencer ATI 4

Click to expand...

The ATI card wont work in SLI.

psycocookie said:

PSU: Antec NEO480 Watt ATX12V Power Supply (is this a good choice??)

HDD1(Primary): 2x Western Digital WD360GD Raptor 36GB 10, 000rpm in Raid 0 Configuration.

Click to expand...

I would probably go for a beefier PCP&C or a OCZ PSU. They are well made and have lots of power

psycocookie said:

HDD1(Primary): 2x Western Digital WD360GD Raptor 36GB 10, 000rpm in Raid 0 Configuration.

Click to expand...

I would just get a single 72GB Raptor. Simpler and just as fast or so.

No clue if they ship to Aus, but Dell seems to be good atm. 1905 or 2005 (19 or 20", 20 in normal or wide) are sometimes available for a good price.


On vid card, you are getting an SLI board, why not get a 6800GT for just a little more so you can upgrade to a 2nd card in future? ati isn't compatable atm, is it?

If this a gaming rig, I would go for 1gb of ram instead of 2gb or ram. Just a waste if you ask me if your not going to be any heavy editing that requires alot of ram for textures and what-not.

PEACE

Why not just get a 74GB Raptor instead of 2 x 36GB ones?

To run in raid.

PEACE

My Two Cents Worth

Overall a great component selection.I would like to throw out a few thoughts:
1) One Raptor will run your games great.I would think about buying a pair of ide drives for the storage and keep the Raptor clean.If money grows on trees there don't worry about it.
2) I like the fact your upgrading the power supply I would also recommend considering either the PCP&C or a OCZ PSU (as 9mmCensor recommended)
3) Seriously consider the Venice core for the chip.It looks to be another step in the right direction.
4) If your never going to consider using SLI the ATI vid card looks good if you ever going to consider using SLI then you have no option except Nividia.I would hate to see you have to buy a ATI now and then buy two vid cards later if you decided to go with the SLI(unless thats your plan).
Good Luck