BF2S Forums new rig plans, recommendations welcome

plz remove porn images from ur sig...

other than that use 2x1gb which is a lot better. get a 7900gt if u got the cash since its the most bang for the buck card on the market, get an asus sli board... they have a lot of tweak options

if you need to keep the agp, get the ASRock Uli chipset board.  It offers both AGP and PCI-E slots and should work for your situation.  I would get the dual-core processor as well.

Cyborg nailed it. 2x1GB and 7900GT will get you where you want to be. I'm going to grab prices from newegg. Just tell me if you have a hard time finding any of these, and I'll link back.

As for CPUs:

Athlon 64 3700+ 2.2GHz San Diego, 90nm, 1MB L2 Cache $238
- the only non-FX single-core AMD choice, in my opinion; this is probably going to be your best choice in performance/value, if you're strapped so much as to bring in hardware from an older system
Athlon 64 X2 4200+ 2.0GHz Manchester, 90nm, 2x512KB L2 Cache $357
- this processor would be seriously outperformed by the 3700+, not by just being 200MHz slower, but by having a smaller cache
Athlon 64 X2 4400+ 2.0GHz Toledo, 90nm, 2x1MB L2 Cache $460
- if people really want to use dual core, this is the cheapest one I'll recommend. while others are servicable, this one really kicks butt

As for Hard Drives:

As you're holding back on spending, throw the Raptor out of your specs and get this instead:

Western Digital Caviar RE WD2500YD 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive $95
- it's only $5 more than the Caviar SE16, which is otherwise identical, but this one has two more years under warranty

As for Memory:

OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model OCZP4002GK (2-3-2-5; 2.8V) $141 (after $50 rebate)
- currently, these are the 2x1GB modules I recommend to computer shoppers

As for Video Cards:

Cyborg recommended a 7900GT. I'll go farther by recommending a 7900GT from BFG Technologies.

As for Motherboards:

Again, Cyborg is right.

ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail $142
- go with the non-Deluxe variant of this motherboard to save $32 if you're desperate; virtually identical, but with less USB2 connections.

As for Power Supplies:

I really do not recommend bringing old power supplies into new systems, merely because they are old. If they blow and leave a brown, grill-shaped smoke mark on your wall's white paint job, there's a good chance they could take your new computer with it too.

SilverStone Strider ST60F 600W Modular Power Supply - SLI Certified $150
or
a PSU from Antec or Enermax; Thermaltake Silent Purepowers are alright, but I had to RMA a couple of their 550W's recently. The 480W one I have (in another rig) has had no issues.

As for Cases:

If you're not reusing, get something with good airflow. This is more important than if it has a plastic Decepticon head on the front of it. If you are reusing, get every speck of dust OUT. If you are reusing, do be careful of your hands. Some of those edges aren't folded, and you can fillet a finger faster than you can feel the bite of the cut. I know, because I've done it. If you are using a new case, watch out when you're popping the PCI, 3.5 and 5.25 bays' bits of metal out. They are just as sharp.

And Finally:

GET. A. UPS. An uninterruptable power supply. You are not building a lamp. Computer power supplies can NOT handle every single fluctuation thrown at them, so you should always have a UPS between your expensive rig and dirty wall power. And it gives you time to properly shut down in the case of a power failure. Much better than reinstalling Windows after a few cases of sudden lack of power. OPTI-UPS, Belkin and APC all offer good products. Might I recommend something rated 500-1000VA, like:

OPTI-UPS GS1100B 1100VA 550W UPS - Retail $89
- if you're going to poo-poo UPS's, shame on you

cyborg_ninja-117 wrote:

other than that use 2x1gb which is a lot better. get a 7900gt if u got the cash since its the most bang for the buck card on the market, get an asus sli board... they have a lot of tweak options

Krappyappy wrote:

i am shopping for parts for my new rig, i would like your input. this will be the first time that i build a system from scratch. i am doing this on a budget, it doesn't need to be bleeding edge, just sufficient for this generation of games.

current computer:

dell dimension p.o.s mobo [only has 4x agp slot why god]
p4 2.4 gHz
512 mb samsung rdram
msi 6600gt agp [replaced original ati 9700 pro]
generic 200gb hd [replaced original 100 gb one from dell]
sound blaster live
coolmax 450w psu

as you can see, there aren't a whole lot of things that are salvageable out of that thing.

plans for my new rig:

biostar nf4ul-a9-a01 mobo [has both pci-e and xgp/agp, so i can reuse my 6600gt for now to save cash]
athlon x2 4200+ OR athlon 64 3700+ [relatively cheap but powerful]
2gb of decently good ram
wd raptor
msi 6600gt [reused]
sound blaster live [reused]
coolmax 450w psu [reused]
removeable media [reused]

my biggest concern is that xgp isn't compatible with all agp cards, and the 6600gt is not in biostar's list of tested compatible boards. that doesn't guarantee that it won't work, but there's no way of knowing until i try to boot the thing.

i know that the 3700+ has a lot of overclocking potential, even on stock heatsink/fan. not really sure about the x2 4200+, but i doubt i'd ever need to overclock it at all.

if i opt for the dual core proc, will i see any benefit to having more than 2gb of ram?

which is preferable for dual channel, 2x1gb or 4x512mb?

at this point, i will only have to spend around $600 to get this together, depending on what kind of deals on components i can get. if you can think of a better rig for the same amount, feel free to chime in.

Last edited by unnamednewbie13 (2006-04-26 15:04:45)

Janus67 wrote:

Stealth42o wrote:

THe 2700 AMD doesn't overclock well.  If you like to sqeeze more juice outa your CPU, might want to get a different chip.

you mean the 3700+?  It does overclock by about 500mhz if you get a decent chip, I consider that to be a pretty decent overclock.  I can probably get mine to about 2.8 (600mhz) with some fiddling, that and my WC system doesn't hurt.

Yeah...

I remember a video where someone overclocked an old Pentium to the point where it exploded...out the back of the motherboard...with a hole burnt through the wooden table.

Last edited by unnamednewbie13 (2006-04-26 15:07:06)

unnamednewbie13 wrote:

Janus67 wrote:

Stealth42o wrote:

THe 2700 AMD doesn't overclock well.  If you like to sqeeze more juice outa your CPU, might want to get a different chip.

you mean the 3700+?  It does overclock by about 500mhz if you get a decent chip, I consider that to be a pretty decent overclock.  I can probably get mine to about 2.8 (600mhz) with some fiddling, that and my WC system doesn't hurt.

Yeah...

I remember a video where someone overclocked an old Pentium to the point where it exploded...out the back of the motherboard...with a hole burnt through the wooden table.

I saw that video as well. Later they (the makers of the video) admitted to rigging the explosion with small explosives. Which is fucking weak.

Was positive it was a Pentium, but that must be the video. Hmm. Well, I was a bit suprised and skeptical of that explosion as well. I'd expect it from a capacitor hooked up and overvoltaged in reverse, but not from a CPU.

As for sixshot's MHz difference correction, thanks. I was tired when I made that post. I swear I'm not a noob.

I agree w/ all of the posts, especially on unnamednewbie13, great stuff mate. But if u can wait till like july/august, u can get a conroe system which is a LOT better than AMD's (no flame, go see the benchies) or if are desperate in 2 weeks AM2 is released. The main reason to get AM2 system is because it uses DDR2 (more future proof). A 7900GT is good and its a really great card w/ high overclocking potential (750mhz core.... extreme oc w/ air cooling and volt mod). for a psu u can safely get a 550w since the power required for a pc is getting lower since of new core architecture.

It's worth remembering that the dual core solution, whilst cool, isn't widely supported yet. I've not heard of many (if any) games that are going to take advantage of dual core systems. That said, it's a good way of future-proofing your rig, as developers will take advantage soon enough.

As you rightly say, the 939's are likely to dip in price once the M2's are released...perhaps not immediately, but they will. You could potentially pick up a 4000+ for a good price, for example.

i'll have to admit i have not done any research whatsoever on the conroe, i just assumed it would be expensive. if the cost is indeed that low, it may be a real option to consider.

Hmm cant really suggest anything apart from getting a 6800GT PCI video card. About middle of the range (not the best but far far better than a 6600 (also try and get them matched and SLI them. I dont know about price and performance over the 7800, but 2 6800GTs have to at least be the match of 1 7800)......
Hard drive - Dont get a Raptor 10 billion RPM 80GB drive. Much more economical to get a 200-300GB SATA drive instead (maybe something like a Seagate or WD for 1/2 the price).
My 2 cents

Go for the Asus A8nSLI Premium Mb 939 socket of course  with a AMD 3800 +processor and some OCZ enhanced latency memory. The rest is up to you.