Requesting Advise on PC Build.

[Druelar]

Hello,

I am looking to build a nice gaming rig that will hopefully last me a while. I have been doing a lot of research and have a sample setup.

I created a wishlist on Newegg and then pasted it here. I am just over $1500.00 with this. No monitor, keyboard, or mouse. I have these and will re-use them.

What I am looking for is a reality check before I place an order. I tried to ensure everything is compatible but I feel like I am missing something.

The whole idea behind this build is upgradability. I want to be able to add any of the following in the future to keep the system running longer - Faster CPU, Up to 1gb of ram, and/or a second video card. I intended to cut some costs with a 6800GT card, but I guess since I am running 1 card right now, I am hoping to get more bang for the buck with the 7800.

So - to the build:
1 COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW Black Aluminum Bezel, SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
Model #: CAC-T05-UW

1 ASUS A8N-SLI Premium Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
Model #: A8N-SLI Premium

1 XFX PVT70GUDF7 Geforce 7800GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail
Model #: PVT70GUDF7

1 Thermaltake Silent Purepower W0014RU ATX 480W Power Supply - Retail
Model #: W0014RU

1 AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Dual Core Processor Model ADA3800BVBOX - Retail
Model #: ADA3800BVBOX

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

1 Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
Model #: WD2500KS

1 NEC Black IDE DVD Burner Model ND-3540A - OEM
Model #: ND-3540A Black

1 Creative Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS Platinum 70SB035000003 8 (7.1) Channels PCI Interface Sound Card - Retail
Model #: 70SB035000003

Do you see anything that stands out as "big mistake". I am pretty sure the memory is correct but not sure if the power supply is good for my motherboard.

I do not intend to overclock. I want a solid stable system. A few frame rates is not enough for me to risk stability. I hope that makes cooling less of an issue.

Any suggestions you have will be appreciated. I didn't want to put the ID of the wish list here because I was not sure if it would be OK or not. Advertising and all. If you want me to provide it, I can so you can see detailed specs of each component.

Thanks.

[weremonkey]

Looks like a solid build, except your going to need a SLI-approved psu. Thats a very expensive sound card, and from what i've heard, unless you're an audiophile, its probably not worth it. But if you do want a good sound card, go for the Xtreme music version of that card, the only difference is the front panel, which, imo is overkill.

[MakeYourslf2012]

Hey druelar, welcome to the forums.

that looks like a great solid build - it will make one heck of a system.

but like weremonkey said, if you plan on going SLI in the future, your going to need a SLI-approved PSU. a list of these can be found at:

www.slizone.com

[Louds3]

That XMS ram is very good RAM but you said you will not be doing overclocking so I don't think you really need it. Corsair Value Select is very good also but a little cheaper as it is not designed to overclock. If you want to spend the money on the XMS go for it but I don't believe you will see any performance benefit over Value Select and its quite a bit more money. If you do some searching you can usually find 2x512 Corsair Value Select for under 90 bucks. btw great case selection it's beautiful i've been planning on that one for my next build for quite a while seems to be a good one. Also, you are going for the dual processor (x2 3800) which from what I understand is excellent for multitasking, but you may be better served with an Athlon64 3700+ for gaming which is about 100 dollars cheaper. Can anyone back me up on this as I am not an expert persay. It's reallly up to you I would think either would do, and since you are getting a socket 939 MoBo with nForce 4 you will be pretty set on uprgradeability (haha probably not a word). hope this helps

steve

[blue60007]

Yep, if you are doing gaming, a equivalant priced single core is going to offer better performance than a dual core. Reason why: games can only utilize one core, so one would be doing all the work, while the other would just be sitting there not doing much. Each of the cores runs slower than a equal priced single core. For example I think the 3800+ X2 is something like two 3000+ or 3200+ (not sure which).

[Druelar]

Great responses. This is exactly the help I need.

I had no Idea the PSU had to be certified. Whew! Change made. Thanks weremonkey.

I will go ahead and switch to a single core proc. The money saved will help in other areas and it sounds like the performance might get better! Win-Win! Thanks blue60007 and Louds3.

Louds3 talked about memory. I had a very tough time with this. I was pretty much scared into the memory selection. In reading the reviews, I saw a lot of probs that people said was cause by memory with bad latency. The XMS memory has a CAS latency of 2 and the value select was 2.5. I have no Idea what this is or what these numbers mean, I just want a stable system.
So, how important is the latency?
Is 2.5 ok?
Will the XMS be more stable? (important)

To weremonkey's comment on sound, I just want to have good sound. I am using onboard sound now on my old PC and it is horrible. I use headphones most of the time since my PC is next to my 3-year olds room. Play at night. My headphones are Bose. I wanted to go with the XF-I since it was advertised that is tailored to headphones. After reading reviews, I see a lot of "the sound is better but not - YOU GOTTA HEAR THIS!!!" better when compared to the Audigy. I will downgrade to lose the breakout box since I really didn't mean to get that, but I guess I need to know:
Does anyone know if the XF-I card is really better with headphones?
Is the onboard sound of this motherboard as good as the Audigy with headphones?

I also need any suggestions on storage. I picked the DVD kind of willy-nilly. I only know how to install a hard drive. I do not understand RAID or anything. Do I really need a RAID setup? How large? How hard is it to set up? If I have just 1 big drive will I be OK?

Thanks again for your help. I feel better about this setup.

[jayb1234]

The latency shouldnt be an issue if you are not overclocking. Check the asus website for a list of tested RAM for that motherboard, or try the configurator at crucial.com. You really only need the XMS if you plan on overclocking.

As far as the DVD , if you switch to Liteon, they come with Nero Express and PowerDVD software.

[Tin]

Originally Posted by Druelar Does anyone know if the XF-I card is really better with headphones?

The X-Fi is an excellent card. I went from an Audigy LS to an X-Fi, and the audio quality is far superior to the Audigy...through both headphones and speakers.

[blue60007]

I would look at the Corsair ValueSelect, since your not overclocking, it will be just as good as the XMS (and will save you money).

I wouldn't mess with RAID, I'd just stick with single hard drives.

[Druelar]

I have read your posts and below is the revised build:

1 COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW Black Aluminum Bezel, SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
Model #: CAC-T05-UW

1 ASUS A8N-SLI Premium Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
Model #: A8N-SLI Premium

1 XFX PVT70GUDF7 Geforce 7800GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail
Model #: PVT70GUDF7

1 Antec TRUEPOWERII TPII-550 ATX12V 550W Power Supply - Retail
Model #: TPII-550

1 AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Processor Model ADA3700BNBOX - Retail
Model #: ADA3700BNBOX

1 CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model VS1GBKIT400 - Retail
Model #: VS1GBKIT400

1 Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
Model #: WD2500KS

1 NEC Black IDE DVD Burner Model ND-3540A - OEM
Model #: ND-3540A Black

1 Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic 8 (7.1) Channels PCI Interface Sound Card - Retail
Model #: 70SB046000007

Subtotal: $1,335.51

Not a bad price I think for the setup

I am not sure about the DVD drive. I don't understand the cd-r dvd+rw blah blah blah stuff. Will it burn CD's that will play in a regular CD player? Will it burn DVD's that will play in a regular DVD player? The only use I see for the DVD burner parts would be to copy my 3-year olds DVD's so when he scratches em I can just make another. I need a CD burner much more for making CD's for the car from my downloaded songs. Do I need to buy a CD burner too or am I covered.

[Louds3]

A DVD Burner will indeed burn and read CD's and DVD's. so yeah you could make copies of your son's DVD's (woo hoo!) as well as CD's. the NEC burner burns the following formats
DVD +R: 16x max.
DVD-R: 16x max.
DVD +RW: 8x max.
DVD-RW: 6x max.
DVD +R9: 8x max.
DVD-R DL: 4x
CD-R: 48x max.
CD-RW: 32x max.

The DVD+R and -R are used I think depending on the type of player you want to use. I am sure you can google this but i think some manufacturers DVD players only play one or the other.
but you are covered for CD and DVD writing. good luck with your build, i'll be doing my first one soon as well, can't wait.

[Druelar]

Dangit! You just can't do enough research before building.

A8N-SLI Premium The following table shows the support for CPU / Motherboard

Athlon 64 3000+ (CG version) (Socket939) ALL 1004
Athlon 64 3000+ (rev.D) (Socket939) ALL 1004
Athlon 64 3000+ (rev.E6) (Socket939) ALL 1006
Athlon 64 3200+ (CG version) (Socket939) ALL 1004
Athlon 64 3200+ (rev.D) (Socket939) ALL 1004
Athlon 64 3200+ (rev.E6) (Socket939) ALL 1006
Athlon 64 3400+ (CG version) (Socket939) ALL 1004
Athlon 64 3500+ (CG version) (Socket939) ALL 1004
Athlon 64 3500+ (rev.D) (Socket939) ALL 1004
Athlon 64 3500+ (rev.E6) (Socket939) ALL 1006
Athlon 64 3800+ (CG version) (Socket939) ALL 1004
Athlon 64 3800+ (rev.E6) (Socket939) ALL 1006
Athlon 64 4000+ (CG version) (Socket939) ALL 1004
Athlon 64 FX-53 (Socket939) ALL 1004
Athlon 64 FX-55 (CG version) (Socket939) ALL 1004
Athlon 64 FX-55 (rev.E4) (Socket939) ALL 1005
Athlon 64 FX-57 (rev.E4) (Socket939) ALL 1005
Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 3800+ revE4(Socket939) ALL 1007
Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 3800+ revE6(Socket939) ALL 1007
Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 4200+ revE4(Socket939) ALL 1005
Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 4200+ revE6(Socket939) ALL 1006
Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 4400+ revE6(110W Socket939) ALL 1005
Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 4600+ revE4(Socket939) ALL 1005
Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 4600+ revE6(Socket939) ALL 1006
Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 4800+ (Socket939) ALL 1005

And my Athlon 64 3700+ is not on the list.

Guess I gotta upgrade to the 3800+

Lucked into this one. Glad I checked!

[Jaggannath]

Or you could go for the cheaper 3500+, and barely notice the difference

[Druelar]

Seems the A8N-SLI Deluxe will work with the 3700+

I have 2 more questions.

Is the hard drive I have selected compatible? It says it is a SATA 3.0Gb/s but I do not see that as supported on the motherboard.

It supports:
PATA - 2 x ATA 133 up to 4 Devices
SATA - 4 x SATA II
Additional SATA - 4 x SATA 150

Is PATA better than SATA?
Is the drive I selected SATAII?
When looking on Newegg, I can only find SATA 3.0Gb/s as a search option.

My other question concerns the BIOS. How can I tell before I buy the MB from newegg what BIOS is installed? If the BIOS installed is older than the one needed to run the 3700+ CPU, then I am screwed. Can't flash the BIOS without booting up. Any suggestions on how to tell?

[Tin]

It says it supports Rev E6 CPUs, which are the Venice and San Diego cores. If your 3700+ is a Socket 939 its an E6 San Diego and should work no problem at all.

[Druelar]

It says it supports Rev E6 CPUs, which are the Venice and San Diego cores. If your 3700+ is a Socket 939 its an E6 San Diego and should work no problem at all.

I am not so sure.

A8N-SLI Deluxe
The following table shows the support for CPU / Motherboard

CPU / Since PCB / Since BIOS / Note
Athlon 64 3000+ (CG version) (Socket939) / ALL / 1002 /
Athlon 64 3000+ (rev.D) (Socket939) / ALL / ALL /
Athlon 64 3000+ (rev.E3) (Socket939) / ALL / 1007 /
Athlon 64 3000+ (rev.E6) (Socket939) / ALL /1013 /
Athlon 64 3200+ (CG version) (Socket939) / ALL /1002 /
Athlon 64 3200+ (rev.D) (Socket939) / ALL / ALL /
Athlon 64 3200+ (rev.E3) (Socket939) / ALL / 1007 /
Athlon 64 3200+ (rev.E6) (Socket939) / ALL / 1013 /
Athlon 64 3400+ (CG version) (Socket939) / ALL / 1002 /
Athlon 64 3500+ (CG version) (Socket939) / ALL / ALL /
Athlon 64 3500+ (rev.D) (Socket939) / ALL / ALL /
Athlon 64 3500+ (rev.E3) (Socket939) / ALL / 1007 /
Athlon 64 3500+ (rev.E6) (Socket939) / ALL / 1013 /
Athlon 64 3700+ (rev.E4) (Socket939) / ALL / 1007 /
Athlon 64 3800+ (CG version) (Socket939) / ALL / ALL /
Athlon 64 3800+ (rev.E3) (Socket939) / ALL / 1007 /
Athlon 64 3800+ (rev.E6) (Socket939) / ALL / 1013 /
Athlon 64 4000+ (CG version) (Socket939) / ALL / ALL /
Athlon 64 4000+ (rev.E4) (Socket939) / ALL / 1007 /
Athlon 64 FX-53 (Socket939) / ALL / ALL /
Athlon 64 FX-55 (CG version) (Socket939) / ALL / ALL /
Athlon 64 FX-55 (rev.E4) (Socket939) / ALL / 1010 /
Athlon 64 FX-57 (rev.E4) (Socket939) / ALL / 1011 /
Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 3800+ revE4(Socket939) / ALL / 1013 /
Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 3800+ revE6(Socket939) / ALL / 1013 /
Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 4200+ revE4(Socket939) / ALL / 1010 /
Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 4200+ revE6(Socket939) / ALL / 1013 /
Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 4400+ revE6(110W Socket939) / ALL / 1010 /
Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 4600+ revE4(Socket939) / ALL / 1010 /
Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 4600+ revE6(Socket939) / ALL / 1013 /
Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 4800+ (Socket939) / ALL / 1010 /
Sempron 3000+ (rev.E) (Socket939) / ALL / 1007 /
Sempron 3200+ (rev.E) (Socket939) / ALL / 1007 /

The list downloaded says the Athlon 64 3700+ (rev.E4). If a Rev E6 CPU is the Venice and San Diego core, then does this mean the board supports a version of the 3700+ CPU prior to the San Diego core?

I get the feeling that my safest bet is to use the 3500+ or the 3800+. But then it shows those using the E6 with a bios update 1013. This appears to be the latest. My fear would be that the MB showed up with version 1007 bios on it.

I know I am just paranoid. Maybe I am making a mountain out of a molehill.

[Tin]

Is your 3700+ a Socket 754 or 939? San Diego is the beginning of the 3700+ on the 939 platform.

EDIT: E4 is San Diego and E6 is Venice.

[Siegler]

I would'nt recommend that XFX video card. I hear XFX are having major heating problems. Look into eVGA or PNY 7800gt. Good luck with the build!

[jayb1234]

Sata II is the same as SATA 3.0 Gb/s. Some companies just name it differently than others.

[Druelar]

Thanks Tin for the clarification. I should be OK with the CPU and MB now.
Thanks jayb1234 for your feedback on the HD. Got the right one then.

Quote from Siegler I hear XFX are having major heating problems.

Any references to this? Is it related to heat problems when you OC or heat probs in general. I couldn't find anything on the internet regarding this. If the heat probs are only when you OC the card, then I am OK. Not gonna OC.

Thanks.

[Druelar]

Thank you all for your posts. I appreciate the help.

This is the setup I plan to buy in the next few days.


1 COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW Black Aluminum Bezel, SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
Model #: CAC-T05-UW

1 ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
Model #: A8N-SLI Deluxe

1 XFX PVT70GUDF7 Geforce 7800GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail
Model #: PVT70GUDF7

1 Antec TRUEPOWERII TPII-550 ATX12V 550W Power Supply - Retail
Model #: TPII-550

1 AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Processor Model ADA3700BNBOX - Retail
Model #: ADA3700BNBOX

2 CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model VS1GBKIT400 - Retail

1 Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
Model #: WD2500KS

1 NEC Black IDE DVD Burner Model ND-3540A - OEM
Model #: ND-3540A Black

1 Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic 8 (7.1) Channels PCI Interface Sound Card - Retail
Model #: 70SB046000007

Subtotal: $1,357.92

As a comparison, so you all know where I am coming from, here is my current PC.

Built in 2002ish as a budget PC (<$500.00):
Motherboard: ECS K7S5A Socket A 266/200MHz
CPU: AMD Athlon 1.2GHz 200MHz
Graphics: Nvidia GeForce 2 MX/MMX400
Memory: 512MB (2x256)
Storage: 1 80GB and 1 12GB Hard Drive
CD: 48X CD Rom

3DMark03 Score: 201
3DMark2001SE Score: 2468

I can't believe I am actually playing games on this thing! City of Heros at that!

After I build my new rig, I will come back and post the new test results. Should get a kick out of it.

Thanks again for all your help.

[Siegler]

Originally Posted by Druelar Any references to this? Is it related to heat problems when you OC or heat probs in general. I couldn't find anything on the internet regarding this. If the heat probs are only when you OC the card, then I am OK. Not gonna OC. Thanks.

I take it back, my reference wasn't credible. XFX is good, they offer a double life warrenty.

[Druelar]

All done with my build. This computer is WAY better than my old one.

I ran 3DMark03 and got a score of over 14000. 3DMark05 is over 7000.

In the end, I changed to the 3500+CPU and the premium motorboard as it was the only one in stock at the time. The graphics card came with an offer for a free Call of Duty 2 game that I am looking forward to playing.

This was a very easy project once all the parts were selected. Thanks for all the help.