I must be nut's

[maddad ®]

Custom gaming pc ( on a budget )

I must be nut's to even try this but i feel the need to build my own PC
I have been using a AMD Athlon 1700+ on a jetway Mobo with 256 meg of ram
With a nvidia Gforce 2 MX 400 And a soundblaster live EX sound card on windows 2k
for the last 5 years .

Now i know after a few weeks research that that must look like a total joke
To all of you but it has lasted me well .
I have managed giga hours of online gaming with games like unreal tournement , ghost recon , americas army
, Most of whitch has been problem free.
I have made maps , missions and mods for my fav games .
I have created artwork for no end of clan gamers , Avatars , siggys clan web-sites.
I have managed to build some awsome websites and forums for other gaming clans .
I have downloaded teragigs of music and movies and made music of my own using programs like
Reason and frutiy loops , I have used Dj programs to supply music for countless partys with this machine.
I have become friend's with a small nation of people and been able to talk to them live using VOP in any timezone
at any time i like ..for free .

So you see if it comes down to bang for buck .. i have had my bang .

About 3 weeks ago i started getting errors telling me i had missing dll files so i set about trying to sort it out ,
While doing this i come across this forum and it got me thinking that mybe i should upgrade .

I am a total hardware noob so i set about geting a Pc built for me ...Then after a few visits to this place i got cocky
and thought ... " maybe i can do it myself" ... silly me

I found a local ( well nearly local ) place that has a good rep and is priced well and started to research what i want
with my budget ( around 1500.00 pounds ) .

I have been playing a game called Ghost recon for about the last 4 years and loved it ,I had to have all my grfx turned right down for it to run smooth
but i kicked ass ...Kind of

A new version of the game is due for release
and i would like a machine that will play it on full tilt with all the eyecandy .
The spec for the game has not been stated on the forum as the game has been put back and put back for over 18 mounths now,
But i thoght if i go big with my machine build ( on my budget ) i can come close to the requierd spec for running the new game .

Here is a rundown of what i had in mind , I would like you honest oppinion and any hints and tips you can offer regarding the spec ,
And allso any recomended products that might save me cash .


Case : Titan Graphite ATX High End Gaming Case -No PSU- £64.57 inc.VAT
http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/prod...e=CA-XTITAN-SI

PSU : HiperPower Type R 580W Modular PSU ATX2.2 - Blue
£ 63.39 inc.VAT
http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/prod...code=PSH-4B580


Mobo : Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe Sock939,PCI-E,SATA,GBLan Motherboard £146.82 inc. VAT
http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/prod...=MBA-A8N32SLID

CPU : AMD Athlon64 X2 Dual Core 4400 Skt 939 1Mb CPU -Retail Box £364.19 inc. VAT
http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/prod...=CPA-A44D1024B

Memory : Corsair Value Select 2048Mb DDR400 (2x1024Mb) Memory Modules £160.92 inc.VAT
http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/prod...MEC-DD2048V40K

Graphics card 1 : XFX 256Mb GeForce 7800 GT PCI-Express DVI VIVO VGA Card £270.19 inc. VAT
http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/prod...=GCX-XN78GT256

Graphics card 2 : XFX 256Mb GeForce 7800 GT PCI-Express DVI VIVO VGA Card £270.19 inc. VAT

( Same as G/c 1 working in SLi )

Hard drive : 80Gb Hitachi 7K80 7200rpm 8mb Cache SATA II Hard Drive £38.72 inc.VAT
http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/prod...code=HDH-800AT

Disc drive : Liteon SHW-16H5S 16xDVD+/-R LightScribe DVD Writer -Black £35.19 inc.VAT
http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/prod...DRL-SHW16H5SIV


Sound card : non as yet .


Modem : PCI Full Rate ADSL MODEM CARD £17.57 inc. VAT
http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/prod...at=149&brand=2


Network card : Wireless 108Mbps PCI Network Card £22.27 inc.VAT
http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/prod...de=NE-PWIRE100


Keyboard : Saitek Gamers Keyboard -Silver £28.14 inc.VAT
http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/prod...e=KES-GAMERKEY

Mouse : Logitech 8 Button MX1000 Laser Cordless Mouse £38.72 inc. VAT
http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/prod...de=MUL-MX1000L

Bit of fun : ) : Cigarette Lighter for 5.25 Inch Drive Bay -Black- £5.82 inc.VAT
http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/prod...code=CMS-CL-BK

TOTAL £1,526.70 inc.VAT

Ok this is not my final spec just a guideline for what i would like , If you can guide me with your wisdom
I would be forever in your debt , Feel free to add any comment about this as it will all help .

Try not to get toooo tech on me as im not too bright : )

Thanks in advance

Maddad

[blue60007]

Couple suggestions - just get one 7800GTX for now. It'll perform extremely well in any game you can throw at it for a while, then you can throw another in a year or two.

Also, Hitachi has gotten a bad name for the reliability of their hard drives. You might consider a different brand. One idea would be to look for one with a 16MB cache - those are pretty fast (more expensive though, since I think the minimum is a 250GB drive. Just an idea.

[jayb1234]

You might need a floppy at some point in the setup and they are still handy for things like diagnostics, bios updates and system recovery.

Don't forget the OS.

A nonmodular PSU might be a better choice.

List of certified PSUs at bottom of this page.

If you aren't going to use a phoneline internet connection, you can drop the modem.

[maddad ®]

Hi guy's and thanks for taking the time to read my post and helping me out

blue60007 , i will take your advice on the only one 7800GTX as it will save me cash and i can as you say allways put one in at a lter date .
With the cash saved i can look into getting a bigger HD with a 16MB cache .

I notice in your siggy you run a Hitachi 60GB 7200RPM IDE , Would you recomend that or have you had any probblems with it ?

jayb1234 , I see floppy drives as a waste of drive bay space but as you said i might need it for more important things , I was thinking of using the floppy drive in my current machine if that is ok .

The OS i was thinking of using is Windows XP Media Center Edition as i was told it is a very good OS with a very nice front end ..is this right or would i be better off with another OS better suited for gaming ?

Im lost regarding the " nonmodular PSU " can you tell me the diffrence between the two ?

The modem i will need as i will be using the machine in a spare room in the house that i have had the main phone line set up to , The day we got the phone line put in i asked if the main line could be put in the spare room as i knew i would be setting up my pc in that room , The reason i have put a wireless network card in is so i can take my machine in the lounge from time to time and run it on my new 37 inch plasma screen )

Again thanks for your input and i welcome anymore that anyone has to offer .

Maddad

[jayb1234]

A modular PSU has wires that attach to the PSU and can be removed if you are not using them. A non-modular is hardwired and the extra wires aren't removable. The extra attachment involved with a modular PSU will increase the impedance on the circuit, and can also give you problems by coming loose.

As far as the floppy goes, as long as you have one laying around somewhere, you can just hook it up outside the case when a need for it arises.

MCE is basically XP pro with the added media functionalities, so it will be the same for gaming as XP or XP Pro. From the uses you listed, I think it would be a good choice.

[blue60007]

Originally Posted by maddad ® I notice in your siggy you run a Hitachi 60GB 7200RPM IDE , Would you recomend that or have you had any probblems with it ?

I wouldn't recommend it...Hitachi has had a bad reputation, sometimes this one will do some funky stuff. Either way it's an IDE drive, and you would want to go with the newer SATA, plus it's a bit on the small size (I don't think they sell anything under 80GB these days).

[maddad ®]

Hey guy's

Recived and understood .

I have found another PSU that may do the job , Bit more cash but i remember a few words i seen on this forum that a PSU is a very important part of the machine and is overlooked by a lot of people that build a PC for the firstr time .

Antec TruePower 2.0 TPII-550PEPS 550W Active PFC PSU £79.84 inc.VAT
http://www.antec.com/us/productDetai...?ProdID=22550#

The HD is a bit more tricky as i don't know what has the better reliabilaty , I have found this and wonderd if it would be ok ?

120GB Seagate Barracuda 7200rpm S-ATA 150 Hard Drive £58.69 inc.VAT
http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/prod...=HDS-1200B5150

I was told seagate are a good make by a guy at a local store ...But im not sure if he was just telling me that to part me with my cash : }

Thanks guys

[blue60007]

Seagate's are some of the best out there...and they have 5 year warranties.

[jayb1234]

Agree about the Hard drive.

That Antec is one of the best PSUs on the market. It should be good for a long time.

[maddad ®]

Hey guy's

Thanks for helping me along to this stage ...I just hope your at hand at build time : )

Ok to recap on my revised spec the list is as follows ..


Case : Titan Graphite ATX High End Gaming Case -No PSU-
£64.57 inc.VAT
http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/prod...e=CA-XTITAN-SI

PSU : Antec TruePower 2.0 TPII-550PEPS 550W Active PFC PSU
£79.84 inc.VAT
http://www.antec.com/us/productDetai...?ProdID=22550#

Mobo : Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe Sock939,PCI-E,SATA,GBLan Motherboard £146.82 inc. VAT
http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/prod...=MBA-A8N32SLID

CPU : AMD Athlon64 X2 Dual Core 4400 Skt 939 1Mb CPU -Retail Box
£364.19 inc. VAT
http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/prod...=CPA-A44D1024B

Memory : Corsair Value Select 2048Mb DDR400 (2x1024Mb) Memory Modules £160.92 inc.VAT
http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/prod...MEC-DD2048V40K

Graphics card : XFX 256Mb GeForce 7800 GT PCI-Express DVI VIVO VGACard £270.19 inc. VAT
http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/prod...=GCX-XN78GT256

Hard drive : 120GB Seagate Barracuda 7200rpm S-ATA 150 Hard Drive £58.69 inc.VAT
http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/prod...=HDS-1200B5150

Disc drive : Liteon SHW-16H5S 16xDVD+/-R LightScribe DVD Writer -Black £35.19 inc.VAT
http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/prod...DRL-SHW16H5SIV


Modem : PCI Full Rate ADSL MODEM CARD
£17.57 inc. VAT
http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/prod...at=149&brand=2


Network card : Wireless 108Mbps PCI Network Card
£22.27 inc.VAT
http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/prod...de=NE-PWIRE100

Floppy drive : my old ( never used ) one

Sound card : my old ( Still ok ) one

Im rethinking the keyboard as i have herd some horror storys over the last few days , and i have a wired intelimouse explorer 3.0 5 button mouse witch has been a very good mouse so i might stick with it for a while ..This allso brings down the price ( good )

So with all that said ... Is this the machine for me ?

Thanks guy's

Maddad

[jayb1234]

Looks good.

Give the onboard sound a try before you put the card in, it might be better than an older card.

[maddad ®]

Originally Posted by jayb1234 Looks good. Give the onboard sound a try before you put the card in, it might be better than an older card.

Hey ,

Just looked at the spec for my mobo and it says it has no onboard sound

Is that right or am i just confused in the haze of scanning web page after web page

Item Code : MBA-A8N32SLID
Item : Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe Sock939,PCI-E,SATA,GBLan Motherboard
Brand/Model : Asus A8N32 SLI Deluxe
Chipset : NVIDIA nForce4 SLI X16
FSB :
CPU Socket : Socket 939
Max. CPU Without Bios Update :
Max. CPU With Bios Update :
Memory Type : 4 DIMM Dual DDR 400/333/266 non-ECC memory
Maximum Memory : 4GB
Max. Memory Speed : DDR 400/333/266
IDE Channels :
S-ATA Channels :
IDE Raid :
S-ATA Raid : RAID 0, 1, 0+1, 5 and JBOD
AGP : PCI-Express x16
No. of PCI Slots : 2xPCI-Ex16, 1xPCI-Ex4 3x PCI
USB2.0 : 10
Firewire : Yes
LAN : Dual Gigabit LAN
VGA :
Sound : <<<<<
PS/2 Ports : Mouse / Keyboard
Parralel Port : 1
Serial Port(s) :
Form Factor : ATX
Bundled Software :
Additional Features :
Overclocking Features : intelligent CPU frequency tuner
Weight (kg) : 2.00

[blue60007]

I checked ASUS's website, and it has Realtek audio.

http://www.asus.com/products4.aspx?m...3&l2=15&l3=226

Not sure why it's not listed there.

[maddad ®]

Hey blue ,

I can't thank you enough for all your help , Without you and jay i would be totaly lost with all of this .

I have had an input overload over the past few days but i actualy feel like im getting to grips with all of this , Im learning new stuff all the time and it feels good .

Tomorrow i start the wheels in motion for buying my PC , As you will notice from the pricing on the eclipse web site most of the stuff is webprice special offers , I plan to go to them direct and see if i can still get the same price at the shop .

Thay do offer a package build service ( witch is quite tempting : ) ) but i feel with people like yourself on hand that i will get all the help i need .

Maddad

[maddad ®]

Hi ,

I have just been reading this post saying that i "won't be able to use the two PCI slots in between the PCI-E slots because the graphics cards and the SLI bridge connector will be in the way"

http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?t=151018

Is this going to be a problem for me ? or am i just getting jummpy

Thanks in advance

Maddad

[glc]

Yes, that IS going to be a BIG problem for you if you put the second video card in. Some models are so big you will be blocking ALL the PCI slots.

Why a PCI DSL modem? Use an external. In fact, get a combo modem/router with wireless so you can put a PC anywhere in the house and use the Internet. (You are gonna need one anyway to use *any* kind of wireless) For how often you would use wireless, you might as well just get a USB dongle. If the machine is in the same room as the router, use Ethernet.

http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/prod...de=FML-WAG354G
http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/prod...de=NEL-WUSB54G

[maddad ®]

Originally Posted by glc Yes, that IS going to be a BIG problem for you if you put the second video card in. Some models are so big you will be blocking ALL the PCI slots. Why a PCI DSL modem? Use an external. In fact, get a combo modem/router with wireless so you can put a PC anywhere in the house and use the Internet. (You are gonna need one anyway to use *any* kind of wireless) For how often you would use wireless, you might as well just get a USB dongle. If the machine is in the same room as the router, use Ethernet. http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/prod...de=FML-WAG354G http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/prod...de=NEL-WUSB54G

Hi glc

Im sorry i may have confused the issue with my list of components ref the modem

Im no longer planning on having the PCI DSL modem , I have a speedtouch 576 i modem provided by my isp that i intend to use .

I will run my new machine via that and run this machine via the wirless network using a usb dongle or maybe a PCI network card .

I will edit my spec and remove the PCI modem

So with that out of the way should i be ok with that mobo and 1 7800gt ?
I do plan on adding another at a later date but for now will i have plenty of room ?

Thanks again

Maddad

[maddad ®]

Revised spec list :


Case : Titan Graphite ATX High End Gaming Case -No PSU-
£64.57 inc.VAT
http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/prod...e=CA-XTITAN-SI

PSU : Antec TruePower 2.0 TPII-550PEPS 550W Active PFC PSU
£79.84 inc.VAT
http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/prod...PSA-TPII550PEP


Mobo : Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe Sock939,PCI-E,SATA,GBLan Motherboard £146.82 inc. VAT
http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/prod...=MBA-A8N32SLID

CPU : AMD Athlon64 X2 Dual Core 4400 Skt 939 1Mb CPU -Retail Box
£364.19 inc. VAT
http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/prod...=CPA-A44D1024B


Memory : Corsair Value Select 2048Mb DDR400 (2x1024Mb) Memory Modules £160.92 inc.VAT
http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/prod...MEC-DD2048V40K

Graphics card : XFX 256Mb GeForce 7800 GT PCI-Express DVI VIVO VGACard £270.19 inc. VAT Now£246.69
http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/prod...=GCX-XN78GT256

Hard drive : 120GB Seagate Barracuda 7200rpm S-ATA 150 Hard Drive £58.69 inc.VAT
http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/prod...=HDS-1200B5150


Disc drive : Liteon SHW-16H5S 16xDVD+/-R LightScribe DVD Writer -Black £35.19 inc.VAT
http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/prod...DRL-SHW16H5SIV


Maddad



EDIT: fixed the links

[nicolaus corelius]

all the links seem to be broken

[glc]

If you are going to run your current PC wireless, then go ahead and put a PCI wireless card in it - it will be more reliable.

There is no guarantee that there will be room for any PCI cards if you use 2 video cards. You will have the best chance using the bottom slot if the video card has a low profile heatsink/fan. You may be able to use low profile or half height PCI cards in the slots between the 2 video cards.