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Need help with 1st rig.
- Thread starter Scratch99
- Start date
- Joined
- Aug 30, 2004
- Location
- Santa Barbara, CA
Everything going ok so far? I'll drop in periodically to check on you. You better not screw up! 
- Thread Starter
- #23
Some great posts so far. Thanks again. I think everything is going well. At this point I'm comparing some of the parts ie 6600 vs 6800. The 68 is double the price. Is it worth it? I am leaning towards the 66. I’m also looking into upgrading to an x2 system; however, I will probably go with the athlon64 3200+.
The ocz seems better for oc’ing than the value right? Not sure if the price is worth it though. I’m pretty sure I want to divide my HD by pair. I like the idea of using raid? I don’t know much about it but my friend explained it to me somewhat and it sounds good. Otherwise, I haven't chosen a brand really.
As far as the budget goes, I can stretch it a little. I like the idea of going with bluestorm. I don’t want power supply to be an issue. The budget is really just a rough guess. I can afford more but wouldn’t mind paying less.
I just didn’t want to get carried away and end up with a 2k$ computer that becomes obsolete before the parts arrive in the mail.
I have a tv card. It’s really the only thing I have left from my old computer. I don’t know anything about it to tell you all more. It is in a box somewhere. When I lost my old computer in divorce (along with everything else I owned, my home, etc) I made sure to remove it from my old compaq tower before going.
Thanks again everyone. I’ll keep you all posted on my progress. Feel free to keep posting, it is all very helpful. Thanks.
The ocz seems better for oc’ing than the value right? Not sure if the price is worth it though. I’m pretty sure I want to divide my HD by pair. I like the idea of using raid? I don’t know much about it but my friend explained it to me somewhat and it sounds good. Otherwise, I haven't chosen a brand really.
As far as the budget goes, I can stretch it a little. I like the idea of going with bluestorm. I don’t want power supply to be an issue. The budget is really just a rough guess. I can afford more but wouldn’t mind paying less.
I just didn’t want to get carried away and end up with a 2k$ computer that becomes obsolete before the parts arrive in the mail.
I have a tv card. It’s really the only thing I have left from my old computer. I don’t know anything about it to tell you all more. It is in a box somewhere. When I lost my old computer in divorce (along with everything else I owned, my home, etc) I made sure to remove it from my old compaq tower before going.
Thanks again everyone. I’ll keep you all posted on my progress. Feel free to keep posting, it is all very helpful. Thanks.
- Joined
- Feb 7, 2004
- Location
- Southwest Oklahoma
Info
1) At this point I'm comparing some of the parts ie 6600 vs 6800. The 68 is double the price. Is it worth it?
1R)This is a value judgement you have to make.There is no doubt the 6800 has a lot more preformance than the 6600.This link will show you a comparission:
http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20050705/index.html
The 6600gt should handle any any game or function you have mentioned and fits within your budget nicely.The 6800gt meets your current needs and gives you a lot of room for future upgrades.If money isn't a issue the 6800gt or a pair of them is the way to go.
2)The ocz seems better for oc’ing than the value right?
2R)Overall the better ram you get the better chance you have for overclocking.Faster ram with better timmings help overclocking. When not overclocking the critical factor is to have enough ram.A Gig of ocz ram is a very good starting place for any computer.
3)I like the idea of using raid?
3R)Raid (SATA Raid in your case) gives an excellent preformance boost to a computer.Its something I recommend for you - if not initally sometime.I would consider 2 smaller hd's in raid over a single large one.For many the need for a lot of storage space effects thier ability to initally purchase more than one drive.Many of the strong computers have a raid array of smaller faster drives and a seperate string of large storage hard drives.
1) At this point I'm comparing some of the parts ie 6600 vs 6800. The 68 is double the price. Is it worth it?
1R)This is a value judgement you have to make.There is no doubt the 6800 has a lot more preformance than the 6600.This link will show you a comparission:
http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20050705/index.html
The 6600gt should handle any any game or function you have mentioned and fits within your budget nicely.The 6800gt meets your current needs and gives you a lot of room for future upgrades.If money isn't a issue the 6800gt or a pair of them is the way to go.
2)The ocz seems better for oc’ing than the value right?
2R)Overall the better ram you get the better chance you have for overclocking.Faster ram with better timmings help overclocking. When not overclocking the critical factor is to have enough ram.A Gig of ocz ram is a very good starting place for any computer.
3)I like the idea of using raid?
3R)Raid (SATA Raid in your case) gives an excellent preformance boost to a computer.Its something I recommend for you - if not initally sometime.I would consider 2 smaller hd's in raid over a single large one.For many the need for a lot of storage space effects thier ability to initally purchase more than one drive.Many of the strong computers have a raid array of smaller faster drives and a seperate string of large storage hard drives.
- Joined
- Sep 30, 2005
I hope you know the majority of the past threads are some of the best advice you can get about how to spend your money. 
- Joined
- Feb 7, 2004
- Location
- Southwest Oklahoma
This Thread may be worth your time
Assistance for First Time Computer Builders
This thread may well be worth your time:http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=378877
When selecting your hard drives (or drives) thier are several factors worth considering:
Purchase your hard drive from a repetable manf.
All the better companies support thier drives.This means they have a solid warrenity,they stand behind it and they provide owners of thier hard drives with tools (utilities) to check out the functining of thier hard drives.
The amount of cashe the hard drive has is very important.The cheap fly by night companies often have less than a meg of cashe.The older and cheaper drives often have 2 meg.The newer and stronger hard drives may have 8 to 16meg of cashe.Cashe is like memory to a computer it assist in the reading and writing functions delivering stronger and faster preformance.
If a hard drive meets the above requirments I do not care which of the conmpanies manf it but I would go with the-7200rpm SATA drives(as long as your mb supports it-the Asus A8n's do).If you going to consider raid I would get at least the 7200rpm with at least 8 meg of cashe and match both hard drives I purchase.(same size,same speed and cashe).
Assistance for First Time Computer Builders
This thread may well be worth your time:http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=378877
When selecting your hard drives (or drives) thier are several factors worth considering:
Purchase your hard drive from a repetable manf.
All the better companies support thier drives.This means they have a solid warrenity,they stand behind it and they provide owners of thier hard drives with tools (utilities) to check out the functining of thier hard drives.
The amount of cashe the hard drive has is very important.The cheap fly by night companies often have less than a meg of cashe.The older and cheaper drives often have 2 meg.The newer and stronger hard drives may have 8 to 16meg of cashe.Cashe is like memory to a computer it assist in the reading and writing functions delivering stronger and faster preformance.
If a hard drive meets the above requirments I do not care which of the conmpanies manf it but I would go with the-7200rpm SATA drives(as long as your mb supports it-the Asus A8n's do).If you going to consider raid I would get at least the 7200rpm with at least 8 meg of cashe and match both hard drives I purchase.(same size,same speed and cashe).
- Thread Starter
- #27
Well, after building a hundred on paper, this is what I have decided on so far:
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Processor - Retail
$152 + free s/h.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103535
ASUS A8N-SLI Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard -
Retail
$133 + $5 s/h
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131524
XFX PVT43GNDF3 Geforce 6600GT 128MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16
Video Card - Retail
$149-20 rebate (november) + $5 s/h
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814150098
CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Dual Channel Kit
System Memory - Retail
$81 + free s/h
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145440
2x HITACHI Deskstar T7K250 0A31636 250GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0
Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
$103 x 2 = $206 + $7 s/h
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822145087
I went with the sli mobo so I could use the SATA II (2?) with the hard drive. Plus it leaves it open for an extra graphics card down the road with the sli. I didn't select the premium because it only adds 4 drives?
I guess the sale on the valueselect ram ran out? Still seems to be the best value though.
Double hitachi, better price than seagate, seems to be quality.
I was going to go with this...
Fujiplus FP-988D Silver-Black 19" 12ms LCD Monitor 250 cd/m2 600:1 Built in Speakers 0.264mm Pixel Pitch - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824168005
or
AOpen F90GS Black 19" 12ms LCD Monitor 250 cd/m2 500:1 Built in Speakers 0.294mm Pixel Pitch - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824174029
but I am leaning towards this instead.
BenQ FP91G+ Black 19" 8ms LCD Monitor 250 cd/m2 550:1 0.294mm Pixel Pitch - Retail
$296.99-$30 rebate + 14.50 s/h.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824014090
8ms instead of 12, DVI + better reviews. Very few reports of dead pixels. But I am probably going to keep shopping around for deals on monitors.
with case and powersupply ($60), windows ($90), an nec dvd($40), a cd($25), floppy($10), keyboard & mouse($30), it looks like I'm around $1200.
About $200 more than I expected but it looks like it will be a nice machine.
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Processor - Retail
$152 + free s/h.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103535
ASUS A8N-SLI Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard -
Retail
$133 + $5 s/h
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131524
XFX PVT43GNDF3 Geforce 6600GT 128MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16
Video Card - Retail
$149-20 rebate (november) + $5 s/h
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814150098
CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Dual Channel Kit
System Memory - Retail
$81 + free s/h
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145440
2x HITACHI Deskstar T7K250 0A31636 250GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0
Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
$103 x 2 = $206 + $7 s/h
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822145087
I went with the sli mobo so I could use the SATA II (2?) with the hard drive. Plus it leaves it open for an extra graphics card down the road with the sli. I didn't select the premium because it only adds 4 drives?
I guess the sale on the valueselect ram ran out? Still seems to be the best value though.
Double hitachi, better price than seagate, seems to be quality.
I was going to go with this...
Fujiplus FP-988D Silver-Black 19" 12ms LCD Monitor 250 cd/m2 600:1 Built in Speakers 0.264mm Pixel Pitch - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824168005
or
AOpen F90GS Black 19" 12ms LCD Monitor 250 cd/m2 500:1 Built in Speakers 0.294mm Pixel Pitch - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824174029
but I am leaning towards this instead.
BenQ FP91G+ Black 19" 8ms LCD Monitor 250 cd/m2 550:1 0.294mm Pixel Pitch - Retail
$296.99-$30 rebate + 14.50 s/h.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824014090
8ms instead of 12, DVI + better reviews. Very few reports of dead pixels. But I am probably going to keep shopping around for deals on monitors.
with case and powersupply ($60), windows ($90), an nec dvd($40), a cd($25), floppy($10), keyboard & mouse($30), it looks like I'm around $1200.
About $200 more than I expected but it looks like it will be a nice machine.
- Joined
- Feb 7, 2004
- Location
- Southwest Oklahoma
Many Excellent Choices
I respect your deligent search and it seems to have paid off in some good choices that will result in an excellent computer.
Your choice of hard drives is excellent supported by several excellent reviews and many other happy computer users.Hatachi provides good support and have a very fast hd with a repetable warrenity.
Your choice of Corsair memory gives you the option to call the Ram Guy at Corsair and ask if they have tested that specific memory with that specific MB.
They test a lot of them and I would expect that they may have tested that combination.When you deal with repetable companies they often provide this type of support.
I would run the choice of power supply over to the power supply forum and see if someone there has experience with that power supply.It might be worth your time.I would do it if I was putting togather that unit.
Good Luck and Good Computing
I respect your deligent search and it seems to have paid off in some good choices that will result in an excellent computer.
Your choice of hard drives is excellent supported by several excellent reviews and many other happy computer users.Hatachi provides good support and have a very fast hd with a repetable warrenity.
Your choice of Corsair memory gives you the option to call the Ram Guy at Corsair and ask if they have tested that specific memory with that specific MB.
They test a lot of them and I would expect that they may have tested that combination.When you deal with repetable companies they often provide this type of support.
I would run the choice of power supply over to the power supply forum and see if someone there has experience with that power supply.It might be worth your time.I would do it if I was putting togather that unit.
Good Luck and Good Computing
