New PC Builder Seeking Advice!

kevinnn · Dec 13, 2005

Hey all, I'm starting on buying parts for my new PC. Here are the parts I have so far....

ECS nFORCE4-A939 motherboard $70
AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Processor Socket 939 $150 [great deal!]
ATi Radeon x700 PRO $150

Now I'm looking to buy a Raptor HD, some good Corsair RAM [1GB] and a Case. I already have a storage HD [Western Digital 160GB 7200RPM] and a DVD-RW drive. I really want to find a cheap 10,000 raptor - maybe aroundn 36GB just for my software.

Any tips on a good case around $75? Any suggestions at all? Thanks in advance!

AZNBoiOnFIYA · Dec 13, 2005

thats a nice setup, but i would go with the x800gto2 for $200 and flash it. itll give you a much better card than the x700pro. how did you get such a nice deal on the x2 3800? whatever. just watercool it and youre set.

kevinnn · Dec 13, 2005

I got the x2 3800+ for 150 at a thanksgiving sale.

kevinnn · Dec 13, 2005

Thanks for the feedback, but i dont' think i'll be watercooling it. will i have to?

tom10167 · Dec 13, 2005

No.

Get a Raptor.

Get a 36 if you must, but get a Raptor, I don't know if the new 36s have Fluid Dynamic Bearings or not, but if they do a 36 is fine, if they don't, I'd see what I could do to get a 74.

AZNBoiOnFIYA · Dec 13, 2005

if you watercool youll get the most out of that x2. if this is your first build then i wouldnt suggest it, but down the road i would go water. i wasnt even aware of any x2's on sale during thanksgiving. congrats on the deal though.

kevinnn · Dec 13, 2005

so a raptor is really worth it huh? even just a 36GB raptor?

kevinnn · Dec 13, 2005

And for ram? I'm thinking between 1GB Corsair and OCZ 5-5-5-12. What do they timings mean?

Amarkarian · Dec 13, 2005

i raptor is worth it no matter, how big it is cause the 74 and the 34 both spin at 10,000 rpms.

kevinnn · Dec 14, 2005

I meant in terms of price....and performance. Is there a really great difference between 7200rpm and 10,00prm?

castroman · Dec 14, 2005

kevinnn said:
And for ram? I'm thinking between 1GB Corsair and OCZ 5-5-5-12. What do they timings mean?

Well in some cases you want to have those numbers lower, cause lower = faster

LordDarik · Dec 14, 2005

kevinnn said:
Hey all, I'm starting on buying parts for my new PC. Here are the parts I have so far....

ECS nFORCE4-A939 motherboard $70
AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Processor Socket 939 $150 [great deal!]
ATi Radeon x700 PRO $150

Now I'm looking to buy a Raptor HD, some good Corsair RAM [1GB] and a Case. I already have a storage HD [Western Digital 160GB 7200RPM] and a DVD-RW drive. I really want to find a cheap 10,000 raptor - maybe aroundn 36GB just for my software.

Any tips on a good case around $75? Any suggestions at all? Thanks in advance!

I'd go for a 6600GT over that X700 Pro any day, you'll get much better performance out of it.

Forget the Raptors, you should be worrying about in-game performance - not how fast you can load your maps...that just sounds lame right there. I don't see how people can even think of paying around 1/3GB per dollar unless you have alot of money to throw around, but it doesn't look like you do. Don't get me wrong though, I'd get one myself if I had the money and nothing else more worth while to upgrade.

That Corsair RAM looks to be DDR2, could you send a link? If you're not overclocking then this G.SKill kit would be an excellent choice.

EDIT: Also I would swap that ECS board with the EPoX one below, you would be happy you paid the extra cash:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813123236

darksparkz · Dec 14, 2005

Do not get the Raptor, especially for budget builds. It does not improve gaming performance, ie. FPS and video graphics and such. It only improves load times by a few seconds and a few seconds in Windows. I'd say definitely spend the money on other more valuable parts that can actually improve performance. But if anything, get the 74GB Raptor, there's been reviews showing that it performs better then the 36GB verison, duno why though.

Seconded on that Epox board, if your planning to OC, that Epox will help you learn. If you want something more extreme, the DFI Ultra-D is great, but might come with a certain amount of troubleshooting to get it working right.

For the DVD burner drive, either the BenQ DW1640 or the NEC 3550 are both great choices. I prefer the DW1640 from personal experiences, great burner for around $40.

FlakMonkey · Dec 14, 2005

Yep the Epox is great, got one myself. It was my first build and I had no problems. The BIOS was not intimidating either, well the RAM part was...but just to raise the FSB was no trouble for me for my first time at all.

kevinnn · Dec 16, 2005

ACtually, I am a little concerned with load times in windows, not really gaming. I do a lot of multi-tasking [adobe and office] so I would like to have a fast HD.

And as far as the motherboard goes, I already purchased it with the processor.

I will be willing to get a 36GB raptor, just as long as people are happy with it. Anyone have suggestions on cases?

[and no i will not be overclocking my athlon.]

LordDarik · Dec 16, 2005

kevinnn said:
ACtually, I am a little concerned with load times in windows, not really gaming. I do a lot of multi-tasking [adobe and office] so I would like to have a fast HD.

And as far as the motherboard goes, I already purchased it with the processor.

I will be willing to get a 36GB raptor, just as long as people are happy with it. Anyone have suggestions on cases?

[and no i will not be overclocking my athlon.]

In that case, you should be very happy with a Raptor. You may even want to drop the graphics card down to a X300 or 6200 and get 2GB of RAM instead, I think that would help more with what you're doing since you're not gaming.

kevinnn · Dec 17, 2005

LordDarik said:
In that case, you should be very happy with a Raptor. You may even want to drop the graphics card down to a X300 or 6200 and get 2GB of RAM instead, I think that would help more with what you're doing since you're not gaming.

thanks darik. i will look into more ram.

I'm also looking for a good case.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811156175

thats the one i'm interested in. i'm not looking for those alien cases or with dragons or any cheezy stuff. i want a clean sleek looking case. what do you guys think of the one linked?

kevinnn · Jan 24, 2006

OK so I finally obtained all the components. Here is my setup:

ECS nFORCE4-A939 motherboard $70
AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Processor Socket 939 $150 [great deal!]
ATi Radeon x700 PRO $150
Western Digital 74GB Raptor for $150
Corsair XMS 2 x 512KB PC 3200 DDR400 RAM
DYNEX ATX Mid Tower Case with a TriColor 500 Watt Power supply.

I will be using my old slave drive 130GB and NEC DVD-RW drive.

Any last comments or advice before I put this all together?

Turtle Shell · Jan 25, 2006

well you are gonna want to get a different psu the ones that comes with cases ushally suck or you could get a antec case they have decent psu that come woth them and they arent flashy.

Spade · Jan 25, 2006

i second getting a more trustworthy psu, and add going for two sticks of 1 gig ram, if you are going to be doing the editting you say you are.

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