[LilBuddy]

I'm considering purchasing the following parts tonight or tomorrow:

Abit NF-M2 nView atx board - $72
AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600+ - $59
ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 64 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler - $30
G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-2GBNQ - $81

Total: $242

I'm considering this combo because I want a board that can OC well that has 2xPATA and dual VGA on it. Any suggestions or comments?

[LilBuddy]

Comments? I broke the bracket on my P4 for the heatsink last night when I was switching PSU's out so now the upgrade time table just jumped up a lot!

[kraven]

If your PSU is compatible with all that and you already have the graphics card, this should be a decent upgrade. Enjoy your new computer.

[LilBuddy]

I plan on using the onboard video. It looks like I'm going to have to phase out my 9800 pro since it is impossible to find an AGP slot on anything now. I wanted this board because I can get it all now and later on get new HD's and get a new video card. Hopefully this thing will run UT2004 ok.

I'm using an Antec 300 watt right now. The rails look good but I was thinking I might need to step it up to a 450 watt PSU.

[Oroka Sempai]

It is frigging rediculous how cheap you can throw together a decent budget system recently! With RAM and CPU prices down, and HDDs are dirt cheap, as are DVD-RWs... other than a good graphic card, you have a GOOD system, not a budget system. That X2 3600 will OC like a champ with good cooling... with 2GB of RAM, and if you grab a cheap 8800 series video card, you will beable to run with the best of them for less than $500. For the hell of it I would grab another 2GB of RAM too.

Only reason I got a X2 6000 was cause it was on sale... the 65nm X2 3600s can OC to 3.2GHz easily... I think the X2 6000 tops out at 3.25GHz.

[LilBuddy]

I'm probably going to go with the Crucial Ballistix for $89 AR from Newegg. Since the price is the same after the rebate I figure there is no reason to get the 6400 RAM for $7 less. I would get 4gb total ram but I'm going to be using XP pro so I hear there is no reason to get that much.

[JamesXP]

Is that antec a TP by any chance?


I'd reccomend a Seasonic 380/430

If your gonna get the 8800 get yourself a corsair 520

[LilBuddy]

It is whatever came in the Antec Solutions case...probably a Antec Smart Power.

[JamesXP]

I don't know if they're the ones with the fuyjuhu caps gonna have to ask someone else about that

[LilBuddy]

Just ordered the Abit NF-M2 nView from Ebay: $71.99 shipped.

It looks like Fry's is going to have the Antec EA500 tomorrow for $50 after instant rebate so I'll be picking that up. Price on Fry's is $94.99 + $7.64 shipping.

[ryanmartini]

have you considered the intel e2140 and a gigabyte ds3 rev 1.3 mobo? they are hitting 3.0 + VERY commonly now. you could run 1:1 with the budget ddr2800 and blow that athlon away.

just a thought

[LilBuddy]

Well I ordered the board already and I'm picking out memory and a cooler now. Probelm with the Intel stuff is that the chip is $20 more and the board is about $50 more. I also couldn't find a good Intel board that had 2x PATA and 2xVGA on the board. Going with the intel stuff would have cost me about $250 more because I would have had to buy a SATA hd for $90 and a video card for $100 min.

[LilBuddy]

Well the prelim build is looking like this:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600+ - $59
Abit NF-M2 nView Motherboard - $72
2x1GB Crucial Ballistix PC2 8500 - $89 AR
Antec Earthwatts 500 PSU - $49

Total - $269 without a HSF. I'm going to be using my old Antec Solutions case for now. I really like the Antec Nine Hundred case but I don't need a case and I think I would be better off spending that money if I was going to on a video card or new HD.

Any thoughts on what HSF to use? I don't want something loud because my computer is about...4 feet from my pillow!

[ryanmartini]

Originally Posted by LilBuddy

Well the prelim build is looking like this:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600+ - $59
Abit NF-M2 nView Motherboard - $72
2x1GB Crucial Ballistix PC2 8500 - $89 AR
Antec Earthwatts 500 PSU - $49

Total - $269 without a HSF. I'm going to be using my old Antec Solutions case for now. I really like the Antec Nine Hundred case but I don't need a case and I think I would be better off spending that money if I was going to on a video card or new HD.

Any thoughts on what HSF to use? I don't want something loud because my computer is about...4 feet from my pillow!

thermalright xp-90 is a good choice, just pick up the adapter over @ svc.com.

[LilBuddy]

I'm thinking I'm going to go with the AC Freezer 64 Pro for $29.99.

[LilBuddy]

AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600+ - $59
Abit NF-M2 nView Motherboard - $71.99
2x1GB Crucial Ballistix PC2 8500 - $80.99 AR
Antec Earthwatts 500 PSU - $49
Arctic Cooling 64 Pro 92mm - $29.99

Total: $290.97

A friend of mine bought a high end dell a few months ago and upgraded the PCIx video card to an 8800GT and he said I could have his old one. No idea what the card is right now but I'm thinking it has to be better than the onboard 6100 on the NF-M2.