advice

Post by **Foo** » Sat May 05, 2007 3:37 pm

Yes, or any other graphics card that states 'geforce 6800'. That particular graphics chipset is marketed by a number of different manufactureres like XFX, BFG and so on.

You'd need to pair that card with a motherboard with PCI-e slots.

Post by **vileliquid1026** » Sat May 05, 2007 3:44 pm

So far, I've found this mother board:

ASUS M2V-MX:
-supports AMD socket AM2
-Dual channel DDR800/667/553
-1 x PCI-e x16

and this for ram:
Corsair XMS 2GB (2 x 1 GB) 240 pin DDR SDR2 800

.. I'm a gibblet...

Post by **Foo** » Sat May 05, 2007 3:57 pm

Good board, lots of headroom for upgrading. Just slap in a fairly low-end AM2 chip and a gig of compatable ram and it'll be ideal for obliv.

Post by **vileliquid1026** » Sat May 05, 2007 4:03 pm

*faints* wow i picked out something good. I know you boo-hooed it, but is the 400 watt PS crappy with this? 2 One gig sticks of corsair would be okay to do, right?

Post by **vileliquid1026** » Sat May 05, 2007 4:21 pm

Stop me if I am wrong but I am now looking for a HD with a SATA 'connection'... right? I am surfing around new egg and all the ones I am finding under SATA (3gb) Are between $50 & $70. This seems too cheap so I must have done something wrong here,

Okay, well now I've given myself a headache looking at the motherboards so if some can nudge me in the right direction (or push... no. HURL me off a cliff. Yeah, that would be great.)

Post by **Foo** » Sat May 05, 2007 4:53 pm

3Gb? You should be looking for a SATA drive between 150Gb and 320Gb... However they are dirt cheap so prices from $40 to $200 is about right I think. not sure, since I work mostly in £UK

Post by **Survivor** » Sat May 05, 2007 6:26 pm

Your mainboard looks fine. I built a pc (bored) solely from parts available in a single shop near me based around that MB. And tbh I kinda like what I get for the price. It's got great upgradeability.
If foo or anyone would walk over this list and see if they agree with me so you have something to aim for?

Main Computer (€447)

Moederbord (36500)
ASUS M2V-MX, 243.84 x 218.44 mm €55 Bruto
(1) PCI-E 16x,
(1) socket AM2,
(1) max DDR2 533/667/800Ram 4 gig, 2 Sockets
(2) PCI Sockets
(2) IDE Sockets
(4) USB 2.0
(2) USB 2.0 internal front
(2) PS2 Ports
Inc audio, lan

CPU (36569)
AMD Sempron 3400+, Socket AM2 €35 Bruto (€90 Subtot)

CPU Koeler (29983)
Xilence Soc.AM2/939/754 A64 4000+/Sempron 3100+ Heatpipe €23 Bruto (€113 Subtot)

RAM (35278)
DDRAM2 1 GB PC667 CORSAIR ValueSelect CL5 €46 Bruto (€159 Subtot)

Harde Schijf (39630)
Hitachi ATBUS 250GB HDT725025VLA380 SATA2 7200 8mb €65 Bruto (€224 Subtot)

GFX (39408)
ASUS EN8500GT Silent HTD TD PCI-E 16x 256MB €100 Bruto (€334 Subtot)

DVD-Brander (37787)
DVW Lite-On 16x SATA SAW SH-16A7S SW black intern bulk €45 Bruto (€379 Subtot)

Kast (37197)
Gehäuse MS-Tech LC-190 schwarz o. NT €29 Bruto (€408 Subtot)
2x usb 2.0 front

Power Supply (28534)
XILENCE 550W 12cm Lüfter PFC Version 2.0 €39 Bruto (€447 Subtot)

Post by **vileliquid1026** » Sat May 05, 2007 9:10 pm

Is this a stupid question? Would this Power supply:
Power Supply

Work with this Tower?

Doesn't it matter that the power input is on the left and the fan hole is on the right in the case but it is vice versa on the power supply?

Im going to duck under my desk to avoid being hit by objects.

Post by **vileliquid1026** » Sun May 06, 2007 4:30 pm

Can you turn a power supply upside down?

The back of the majority of the cases I am looking at has the power plug on the left and the fan grill on the right.

The majority of the power supplies I am finding are just the opposite. Fan on the left plug port on the right.

Post by **Foo** » Sun May 06, 2007 4:34 pm

Then they're mounted upside down, yeah.

A lot of them are intended to be mounted with the second fan pointing down into the case, but on the promotional shots the fan is pointing upwards so you can see it. hence, its upside down.

Post by **vileliquid1026** » Sun May 06, 2007 4:35 pm

Thank you so much for all of your help, foo. I really appreciate it.

Post by **vileliquid1026** » Sun May 06, 2007 5:02 pm

Okay, here we go:

Case

Power Supply

Motherboard: ASUS M2V-MX

Processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800

Ram

Post by **vileliquid1026** » Tue May 08, 2007 6:54 pm

The time has come...
I am ready to buy all my parts and build my creation.

I have come into more money then I was originally thinking so I do have a few more questions (better video card, bigger hard drive, etc...) if anyone is around

Post by **obsidian** » Wed May 09, 2007 3:06 am

I would blow extra funds on stuff you wouldn't normally upgrade over the course of ownership. Stuff like mobo, CPU, etc, you will likely keep for quite some time.

Other stuff like HD's you would probably end up buying extra drives down the road, so just get best bang for the buck (250-320GB range).

Post by **vileliquid1026** » Wed May 09, 2007 7:22 pm

Okay I have hit a road block and I can't seem to find anyone to help me out...
I picked out a 550W power supply...

I still have the same mobo: ASUS M2v-MX (AM2) dual channel DDR 800/667/553, 1 x PCI-ex16

For RAM: Corsair XMS 2Gb (2 x 1Gb) 240 Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR800 (PC2 6400)

For the video card I went from the BFG Tech GeForce 6800 256MB to the BFG Tech GeForce 7950 GT 512MB GDDR3 but it's an OC video card and I dont really play on Overclocking.

I guess im stuck on the processor. I'm not really sure which direction to go in. Single core/dual core? I've read pros and cons of both and it's looking like single core is the way to go.

Post by **Scourge** » Wed May 09, 2007 7:25 pm

Can't really answer your question on the cpu, but with the video card, OC means that it's already overclocked by the manufacturer, not that you need to overclock it.

Post by **obsidian** » Wed May 09, 2007 8:26 pm

Dual core on the CPU. There's hardly reason to go single core anymore since single cores are all built off of older, obsolete platforms.

The concept of 3GHz single core = 1.5GHz x2 dual core is really quite flawed. They don't equate that way since there are large changes in architecture, cache memory, etc.

Post by **vileliquid1026** » Wed May 09, 2007 8:59 pm

What do you know about the AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ Windsor 3.0GHz 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket AM2 Processor?? That's the only one that newegg has anyway that has AM2 socket, is dual core and over 3Ghz

Post by **vileliquid1026** » Wed May 09, 2007 9:14 pm

And I was looking at this for a HD: Segate Barracuda 320Gig 7200RPM

Post by **vileliquid1026** » Fri May 11, 2007 4:42 pm

I've been looking at lots of different processors and hard drives and the two I listed above seem to be my best options. Anyone else have any input?

Post by **Silicone_Milk** » Sat May 12, 2007 9:02 am

Im running an AMD Athlon X2 64 dual-core 4200+ at 2.21ghz in my computer. It works great and was fairly cheap ($160-180 USD)
AM2 slot too by the way. I have that in an ASUS M2N4-SLI board.

I thought you had decided on a 4800+ processor though?

As for a harddrive, I'm currently looking into them myself and I have my eyes on this 10,000 rpm harddrive and I'll probably get it in the next two weeks to replace this old 7200rpm 30gb drive I've been using forever.

Post by **vileliquid1026** » Sat May 12, 2007 3:18 pm

I had originally decided on that, but I came into more money then I was expecting. A buddy of mine at work suggested a 3Gb processor. If I go to newegg and narrow my search down by socket (AM2) and then Ghz (3.0 and higher) the only choice I have is The Amd 64 X2 6000+

Under the 'Audio' stats for my mobo, it states: Realtek ALC883 6-Channel audio CODEC... is that sufficient for a 2.1 speaker system?

Post by **Foo** » Sat May 12, 2007 3:36 pm

vileliquid1026 wrote:I had originally decided on that, but I came into more money then I was expecting. A buddy of mine at work suggested a 3Gb processor. If I go to newegg and narrow my search down by socket (AM2) and then Ghz (3.0 and higher) the only choice I have is

Ghz ratings are not so simple anymore. Ignore the raw clock speed and compare the chip you want with the other chips available in terms of number of cores, clock speed, architecture..... AMD chips that equal intel chips for performance are typically clocked much lower than the equivalent intel chip, because the AMD chip does more per clock cycle than the intel chip (basically).

When your buddy said to get over 3Ghz, take that to mean a3Ghz single core intel or an AMD chip rated '3000+' or higher. And in honesty, a 3000+ is a pretty crap chip to buy nowadays, look at 4000+

Post by **vileliquid1026** » Sat May 12, 2007 4:40 pm

Okay, after your advice I did some more searching. It looks to me like the amd 64 X2 6000+ is still the way to go, unless I understood you wrong.
If you reply to this again Foo, I'm curious as to what kind of monitor you are using?

Post by **Foo** » Sat May 12, 2007 4:44 pm

I use a 17" Mitsubishi Diamondtron CRT and a 19" Samsung Syncmaster TFT. The CRT is good for Q3 because I can bump it up to a 120Hz refresh rate unlike a TFT, which will only do 60.

But of course the CRT burns more power and is a smaller screen, so I only have the TFT on 90% of the time.

BTW if you can afford the 6000+, by all means go for it. Just bear in mind that it's more cost effective to buy a midrange processor than to buy the latest thing.... because a: they're disproportionately expensive and b: by the time games come along that will need the extra power, the same components are available for less money.

2 midrange upgrades in 2 years is better than 1 cutting edge update you can only afford every 2 years. For example.