VeeshanVault

Hey Guys I'm trying to upgrade the guts of my computer to something that can play WoW and EQ2. Would you mind looking over these choices and commenting if you see something not compatible or inadvisable?

thanks,



AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Manchester 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Dual Core Processor Model ADA4200DAA5BV - OEM
Model #: ADA4200DAA5BV
$537.00

ABIT AN8-ULTRA Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
Model #: AN8 - Ultra
$132.00

CORSAIR XMS 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model TWINX1024-3200C2PT - Retail
Model #: TWINX1024-3200C2PT
$134.00

WinFast PX7800GTX Geforce 7800GTX 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail
Model #: WinFast PX7800GTX
$541.00

Thermaltake Tsunami VA3000BWA Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
Model #: VA3000BWA
$104.00

ASPIRE ATX-AS 520W BLACK ATX 520W Power Supply - Retail
Model #: ATX-AS520W BLACK
$55.00

Subtotal: $1,503.00

If you don't want firewire, perhaps the ASUS A8N-E? http://stores.tomshardware.com/rating_g ... d_type=M//

I have better history w/ ASUS than ABIT, and that board in particular seems to have had a string of BIOS issues..

You might want to do some searches for comments or reviews on 64 bit boards. A friend of my son's is having all kinds of odd, seemingly MB\bios related problems with his Abit. Don't know the model offhand though.

I've used Abit MBs for the past 5 or so years but am probably going ASUS next time. The features are nice but every board has eventually gone bad on me. The MB chipset fans have always died on me as well.

I ran into several ram issues as well with Abit which weren't a problem on ASUS MBs.

The first 2 Abit board I got (many years ago) kicked major ass.
Afer that, the next 3 I got had problems...
Previous to that (and since), I used/use Asus motherboards and have has no problems at all.

I would go with Asus over Abit in a heartbeat.



Also, if you can find a BFG 7800 for a decent price, close to the leadtek, I'd recommend that.

Thanks for the MB suggestions.

How about the card and dual core processor choice?

Are they good picks? Or would you suggest something else?

Don't skimp on the powersupply. Get an Antec powersupply and spend the extra cash...that card and the nvidia chipset require lots more power than older sets.

The thing with power supplies is not always the quantity of power, but more the quallity of it. I think you would rather have something like Antec or OCZ.

Oh, and any reason you want a dual core chip? I think with gaming it would not make a drastic enough of a difference...but I could be wrong...

edit: Here is a benchmark comparison in gaming.

The thing with power supplies is not always the quantity of power, but more the quallity of it. I think you would rather have something like Antec or OCZ

The Antec True Power are really good from what I hear. Also, if you're getting a case with a window in the side, the TP2 Blue 480 would be pretty slick with it's blue light. Although it will set you back an additional $50-75.

Oh, and any reason you want a dual core chip? I think with gaming it would not make a drastic enough of a difference...but I could be wrong...

No current games are coded to utilize dual core processors. Probably be another 12-18 months before you'll see any that do.
Server, 'digital media' and benchmark programs are about the only apps out now that can actually take advantage of the sheer awesomeness of that processor.

I had trouble finding an Antec power sup with the big ass connector my mobo wanted. I ended up going with the 480W Coolermaster on from newegg.com, and it's a fucking little champion.

EDIT: Also, I swear by MSI mobos. Lots of features, good price points, and not one has fried in the 2+ years I've had my Masteen™ built rigs in circulation

As mentioned above, Antec Truepowers are good. You might want to consider the Antec Sonata II case with the 480W. It probably performs better than the 500+ PS you have listed.

Four or so people own the Sonata I case and are happy with it. I run a power hungry system with the Sonata I (three HDs, DVD, 6800GT etc and it only has a ~350W so the 480W in the sonata II will be more than sufficient)

Go with the Asus board.. I have the K8N-E and it works like a charm...


/rude for the dual core..(just jelous)
I'm a ram fiend so I always like more ram (running 2 gigs in mine) but 1 gig for EQ2/WOW is fine..

Card is fine just fine..(again /rude..and again just jelousy)

As they mentioned already, go with an Antec PS.. TruePowers are good..

If you're looking for a case with a side window and dont mind having the northern lights in your house.. this is my baby.. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811144026

That thing is so sweet and quite bright as well lol..

As for 64 bit mobos, I haven't had any problems with mine and i know of a few friends of mine who run 64 bit mobos without any issues.

Overall that looks to be a rather sick system.. Make sure you get a nice HD in there (something WD..Maybe a raptor if you have the $$ )

Hope some of this helps

I've waited since the beginning Luclin to upgrade.

Antec Sonata Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811129127

Very nice for removing individual drives and has some noise reduction features. Rubber Grommets for the screws holding the drives to the mounting trays for example.

I replaced the Power Supply in this case with this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817103213

I don't think you need a 550W Power Supply for what you listed.

I have 4 HD's, CD-ROM, DVD Player, and a power connection to my Video Card. The one I listed above handles this load with no problems. Running an AMD 3200+ Barton.

I just bought a computer recently similar to yours. After research this is what I recommend...


For motherboard ASUS...

MB ASUS A8N-SLI Premium NF4 RTL - Retail (Qty=1,Price=$172.99)
Its ready for SLI if you want it, 2xPCI Express 16x. 2xPCI Express 1x and like 3 regular PCI. 2 10/100/1000 NICs, built in sound. 4 slots for memory, IDE, 4 Regular SATA and 4 RAID SATA.

As for Video card, you could actually get 2x 6600GTs for about 316 total and they will perform about the same as that 7800GTX. Check Tomshardware for the reviews. BTW, the Gigabyte cards have gotten great reviews.

VGA GIGABYTE GV-NX66T128 6600GT RT - Retail (Qty=1,Price=$158.00)


Power...this is where you really need to be careful. The CPU and the Video card are going to suck a lot from the 12v, so you want a power supply with a lot of amps on the 12v.

The one you picked isn't too bad, but this one actually puts out more amps on 3.3, 5.0 and 12v. Take a look at it.
POWER SP|460(P4)ATXEG465P-VE(FC)NR - Retail (Qty=1,Price=$52.99)

The case looks fine. It's got a 120MM which you want, bigger fans push more air with lower RPMS, so less noise. One of the things you look for is that the openings in the grill for the fan are big like this one or the ones on Antecs. If you get one with small holes they will do poorly with cooling. If it wasn't for the doors I'd probably pick this case, after having an Antec case for several years, I'm tired of the door in front. It's ALWAYS in my way, I keep my case on my right side so when I open the door, its hitting my leg. There is actually an Antec case, about $120, Antec Performance I P180. It's very quite and great air flow. The front fans have a filter. Plus the PS is on the bottom, under a "floor" with a 120mm fan in front of it. Take a look, it may not have the looks, but as far as a case that is quiet and has great cooling, it's better than the one you picked. The front door is double hinged so it can actually open all the way flat against the side of the case.

The CPU is fine if you want to dish out the money for it hehe. My friend has it and he raves about it. Plays BF2 at the same time as he's converting a DVD to DIVX hehe.

Your memory is a little pricey, I picked Crucial. It was 42 for each 512.
DDRAM 512MB|64X64 PC-3200B 8T CRU% - OEM (Qty=2,Price=$85.96

double the ram and buy a case that doesn't suck are my suggestions.
and no sli'd 6600's won't touch the 7800, the 6800 maybe.

I would get the Antec case Winnow suggest, go with an ASUS Motherboard, get BFG GeForce 6600 GT but don't waste your money on a dual core chip if you are concerned with games it won't be worth the money. If you want to spend that amount of money, get the fastest AMD 64bit proc you can get.

Marb

PS - Vor did something similar a couple of months ago, I think most of the suggestions made here were made there as well so you might want to check that thread out.

I have the Antec Sonata. Lately when I start it up the main case fan doesn't seem to start. I have to give the blades a push to get them turning. It also seems to run hotter with the case panel on. Which makes the fan run faster to compensate which in turn increases the noise. It's definitely noticeable. I didn't have a problem when I first got it but it's been acting weird lately. Will have to check the filter in front, maybe it's clogged.

Aslanna wrote:I have the Antec Sonata. Lately when I start it up the main case fan doesn't seem to start. I have to give the blades a push to get them turning. It also seems to run hotter with the case panel on. Which makes the fan run faster to compensate which in turn increases the noise. It's definitely noticeable. I didn't have a problem when I first got it but it's been acting weird lately. Will have to check the filter in front, maybe it's clogged.

Hmmm, haven't had that problem but the Sonata cases aren't the coolest cases. One difference between the Sonata's we have and the new Sonata II is that the holes near the top of the case that spell out "Antec" aren't there anymore so that my increase temperatures but also reduce noise.

Have you checked your front case filter? There's a removable filter that can be cleaned.

and no sli'd 6600's won't touch the 7800, the 6800 maybe

Yeah, but the 6800 is over 300 and the 6600 is around 160. 1 6600 is enough to play HL2 or BF2 with max settings. I simply recommended the 6600 for bang for the buck.

If you want to spend that amount of money, get the fastest AMD 64bit proc you can get.

Really? Lets see, fastest single core AMD is what like a 2.6? Thats 800. A 2.2 dual core is little over 500. A 2.4 dual core is like 800. I'm sorry, but if you are going to spend 500+ on a CPU, doing something like converting a DVD to DIVX and doing other stuff without even a hiccup is worth getting a dual core.

Aslanna wrote:Will have to check the filter in front, maybe it's clogged.

!

I'm sorry, but if you are going to spend 500+ on a CPU, doing something like converting a DVD to DIVX and doing other stuff without even a hiccup is worth getting a dual core.

Can apps like that actually take advantage of dual core?

Marbus wrote:I would get the Antec case Winnow suggest, go with an ASUS Motherboard, get BFG GeForce 6600 GT but don't waste your money on a dual core chip if you are concerned with games it won't be worth the money. If you want to spend that amount of money, get the fastest AMD 64bit proc you can get.

Marb

PS - Vor did something similar a couple of months ago, I think most of the suggestions made here were made there as well so you might want to check that thread out.

yeah its down the page. I wasnt going for as much of a 'performance machine' as young Adex.

=)

Well I keep thinking the next gen of products would do it.

I noticed the latest revamp of Falcon 4.0 supports dual processors.

Have you heard anything about windows vista in relation to multiprocessors?

good god, i hope it supports multiprocessors. didn't linux have that down in like 1990?

good god, i hope it supports multiprocessors. didn't linux have that down in like 1990?

All 'professional' MS operating systems have had dual core/processor support for the past 10 years (or more).

Can apps like that actually take advantage of dual core?

It's not that an app like that can take advantage, but the fact that you can do more than one thing at a time. Try doing the same on a single processor. Might as well turn off the monitor and go to sleep.

Now, even though a single app might not take advantage of multiple cores/processor, the fact is the OS will. If you have pre-XP you'd probably have to get the multiple processor kernal loaded, but thankfully XP uses the same kernel whether you have one or two processor. There is a lot more going on than the game you are running. The OS has all kinds of shit running, one of them being the networking stuff which does use the CPU. So if your game is running on one core, the OS will throw other stuff on the other core.

I am a PSU newb, but don't you want a PSU with two 12 volt rails?

especially if you throw in a second GPU in the future?