$1500-$2000 AMD Gaming (1st build)

[ictiger]

Hello everyone, new to the forums as well as the concept of building my very own computer. A friend built his very first pc with the help of these forums, and suggested that I ought do the same.

I've only been lurking for about a week, maybe 20 minutes a day. I know I should lurk more, but I'd really like the computer ASAP, so apologies if I don't understand all that much.

So...here it is. This computer is primarily for playing The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. I would also like it to be future-proof for at least 3 years (before I may consider upgrading it...maybe utilize SLI). Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

For the moment, I don't need a monitor/keyboard/speakers.


Budget: Roughly $2000

Case: Antec Solution SLK3700-BQE Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case Single fan 350W SmartPower ATX12V Power Supply - Retail
Price: $90.00
Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129140

PSU: Antec TRUEPOWERII TPII-550 ATX12V 550W Power Supply 115/230 V UL, TUV, CB, FCC CLASS B, CUL - Retail
Price: $89.99
Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817103931

Mobo: ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce SPP 100 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
Price: $219.99
Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131568

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Manchester 1GHz HT 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket 939 Dual Core Processor - Retail
Price: $357.00
Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103547

HDD: Western Digital Caviar RE WD2500YD 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM
Price: $99.00
Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136010

RAM: CORSAIR XMS 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Kit System Memory - Retail
Price: $200.00
Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145575

Optical: LITE-ON Black 16X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 16X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 24X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2M Cache ATAPI/E-IDE 16X DVD±R DVD Burner - Retail
Price: $41.99
Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106013

Sound Card: ???
Sound is important, but it's secondary to visual effects in terms of priority for me. Is onboard sound sufficient if I have decent 5.1 creative speakers? Or is there no such thing as onboard sound jacks that can do the whole 5.1 thing?

Video Card: ATI 100-435801 Radeon X1900XT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 VIVO PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail
Price: $519.00
Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814195002
Is this overkill if I might upgrade within 5 years (and reuse this card)?

FDD: SAMSUNG Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive Model SFD321B/LBL1 - OEM
Price: $11.00
Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16821103203

Mouse: Logitech MX518 931352-0403 2-Tone 8 Buttons 1x Wheel USB + PS/2 Optical Mouse - Retail
Price: $36.89
Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16826104178

OS: Windows XP Pro
Price: possibly $5.00 at my University's computer store

Subtotal: $1667.86 without monitor/keyboard/speakers/sound card

Edit: I don't think I'm ever going to overclock, it sounds like a huge hassle to learn how to fine-tune everything

[MakeYourslf2012]

Welcome to PC Mech

If your not going to overclock, you can get regular Corsair ValueSelect RAM (2x1GB) - it will be cheaper.

Also, instead of using the X1900XT, go with it's nVidia equivilent - which would probably be the 7900GTX. Reason being is that ATi doesnt support SLI.

If you want to keep the ATI card, you can switch to the A8N-E, which is basically the same board without SLI capabilities. The motherboard switch would probably save you around $100 and still give you the same graphics capability.

[786ARS]

if you want to spend the same amount of mone on graphics cards, but go sli, get two 7800Gts and enable sli.

[Davermonk]

From what I've read, the "crossfire" boards (ATI's version of SLi) isn't too stable at the moment, so I agree that if you're considering SLI, go with an nVidia product.

However, if you're going to stick with a single video card, the 1900XT is a very good card for the money. I have mine on an Asus A8N5X (non-SLi board) and it's running great.

I also switched to the ValueRam (at the advice of the folks at this forum) and my benchmarks (3dMark 05 & 06) have been pretty competitive with other systems that are similar to mine. That confirms for me that it was a good choice to save $$ on the RAM.

Looks like you're going to have a great system once you get everything together!

[blue60007]

A single 7900GTX will be better than two 7800GT or 7900GT.

Even the Value Select overclocks nicely on AMD systems.

Updgrade that hard drive to the WD SE16, the one with a 16MB cache.

If you are looking for a good sound card, you might look at the Creative X-Fi Xtreme Music, I have it and it's quite an improvement over the onboard sound...

You might be able to get that case (or a similar one) without the power supply to save a few bucks.

Hey Davermonk, I didn't think the 3800+ X2 was compatible with the A8N5X. I thought you had to bump up the A8N-E to support it.

EDIT: Looks like they added support for it... requires a newer BIOS version.

[Davermonk]

Hey blue... I remember you saying that the 3800+ wouldn't work on the A8N5X board, but I read later that people used them together without a problem so I took a chance. It was hard to resist that board since so many people recommended it in various threads and on various forums.

I haven't updated the bios on it, but the board has the 2nd newest bios (so I assume the board must have been upgraded at the factory?)


Here is a nice review of the 7900 series cards. Lots of comparitive benchmarks.

I agree with the 16MB cache upgrade on the hard drive.

[ictiger]

Originally Posted by blue60007 Upgrade that hard drive to the WD SE16, the one with a 16MB cache.

Wait... I can't tell the difference between the two WD hard drives... the only thing that seems different to me is that one is Serial ATA150 and the other is SATA 3.0Gb/s... so SATA 3.0Gb/s is better?

[blue60007]

Originally Posted by Davermonk Hey blue... I remember you saying that the 3800+ wouldn't work on the A8N5X board, but I read later that people used them together without a problem so I took a chance. It was hard to resist that board since so many people recommended it in various threads and on various forums. .

The last time I checked the CPU support for that board it did not have 3800+ X2 support. It looks like they've updated it and have already been shipping it.

Originally Posted by ictiger Wait... I can't tell the difference between the two WD hard drives... the only thing that seems different to me is that one is Serial ATA150 and the other is SATA 3.0Gb/s... so SATA 3.0Gb/s is better?

Hmm, it looks like that drive you picked out does have a 16MB cache...I thought that was only the SE16 series and the SATA 3.0Gb/s ones...Nevermind then, either one will work. SATA 3.0Gb/s can be slightly faster, but it isn't really going to be any faster, the difference is minimal. My bad, I didn't know there were others with a 16MB cache.

[glc]

I'd look for a different case that comes without a power supply unless you want to use that 350 in that case for something else. Waste of money otherwise.

[HiFi]

why is 16mb cache important for the hdd?

[786ARS]

it allows for fast data access, more cache = better performance.

[ictiger]

thanks for the help. gonna go for nVIDIA.