Budget gaming PC: Opinions/Advice needed

[paJAMbla]

Please check compatibility for this budget gaming computer. I copied down a reasonably priced gaming computer a poster on this forum provided. He had The AMD Athlon 64 San Diego 3700 @ 208.00. I was wondering why the one I listed, 3800+Venice wouldn't be better???? And its only 145.00 @Newegg. Please help on that one. Also, the only reason I picked the Corsair XMS memory instead of a more budget Corsair is because it had a 50 dollar rebate (and I bought them already for my Dell but they didn't work cuz...well....its a Dell !) Thank you in advance for any input, opinion, advice, etc., etc.


LifeStyle SONATA II Piano Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 450Watt SmartPower 2.0 ATX 12V V2.0 for AMD & Intel systems Power Supply - Retail

ASUS A8N5X Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
Model #: A8N5X

eVGA 256-P2-N553-AX Geforce 7600GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail

AMD Athlon 64 3800+ Venice 2000MHz HT Socket 939 Processor Model ADA3800BPBOX - Retail
Model #: ADA3800BPBOX

CORSAIR XMS 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model TWINX2048-3200 - Retail
Model #: TWINX2048-3200

Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 SATA NCQ 3Gb/s ST3160812AS 160GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
Model #: ST3160812AS

LITE-ON 16X DVD±R DVD Burner W/ LightScribe and 5X DVD-RAM Write Black ATAPI/E-IDE Model SHM-165H6S - OEM
Model #: SHM-165H6S OEm

LITE-ON Black ATAPI/E-IDE DVD-ROM Drive Model SHD-16P1S - Retail
Model #: SHD-16P1S
Item #: N82E16827106027

Microsoft Windows XP Home With SP2 - OEM
Model #: N09-01528
Item #: N82E16837102059

Don't need monitor, keyboard, mouse at this time.

891.00 (Plus tax and shipping)

[jayb1234]

I would get that hard drive with a 16Mb cache instead of 8Mb.

And you might need a floppy drive at some point in the setup.

Other than those two things, looks pretty good.

[jfk]

The 3700+ is better because even though it's only a 2.2Ghz processor compared to the 2.4Ghz of the 3800+, it has 1Mb of L2 cache while the 3800+ only has 512Kb of L2 cache. The increased cache improves performance. Actually, if you look at Newegg, the 3500+ is a great deal right now. It's about $40 LESS than the 3800+ and half the price of the 3700+. You could easily OC it to match a 3800+, but I digress. Personally, between the 3700+ and the 3800+, I'd take the 3700+ 10 out of 10 times. If you are on a tight budget, get the 3800+ (or even the 3500+ it's a great processor). You really won't notice a LOT of difference between any of them in gaming situations.

[paJAMbla]

Here is the only negative regarding the Asus MB I chose...and these are quotes from Newegg customers:

"Only has 1.5Gb/s SATA, but that's not big enough of a deal to knock it down to 4 eggs."

"no firewire (used old audigy for that), no SATA 3.0 (not noticable)"

Is the 1.5 Gb's SATA a problem? And can I use the Seagate 16MB HD that Jayb1234 mentions? Speaking of the 16MB, will someone who knows nothing about computers tell the difference between 8 and 16MB in the hard drive? Cuz the 8MB comes in a good size HD from Seagate @160 GB's and is a lot cheaper.

Thanks again!

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by paJAMbla Is the 1.5 Gb's SATA a problem?

No. The 3.0Gb/s is burst rate speed, not sustained. Most hard drives don't operate anywhere near the advertised burst rates for any length of time, only during certain operations.

Originally Posted by paJAMbla Is And can I use the Seagate 16MB HD that Jayb1234 mentions?

Yes.

Originally Posted by paJAMbla Speaking of the 16MB, will someone who knows nothing about computers tell the difference between 8 and 16MB in the hard drive? Cuz the 8MB comes in a good size HD from Seagate @160 GB's and is a lot cheaper.

The 16MB cache is just a holding area for the hard drive where it stores certain data that the system has accessed. If you need to access the same data over and over it's pulled from the cache instead of being read off the platters. Since cache is basically very fast RAM the data is access faster than if the hard drive had to read the data off the platters (which is a much slower process). But you won't be able to really see a difference between a 8MB cache and 16MB cache hard drive during most typical operations. Getting a 8MB cache hard drive won't affect system performance that much so if it fits your budget better, go ahead and get it.

Cricket

[paJAMbla]

For the AMD 3700 will I need any thermal paste or will it have a thermal pad like the intel?

[Cricket]

If it's a retail boxed processor the heatsink will have a thermal pad stuck to the bottom of it. If it's a OEM processor you'll have to buy a third party heatsink as well as some thermal compound as the OEM processor doesn't come with anything.

Cricket

[paJAMbla]

Thanks Cricket! I was hoping someone would answer today so I could get this stuff ordered. Appreciate you being on the spot! (Again)

[paJAMbla]

I noticed that on Newegg people have indicated that the MB I've chosen (ASUS A8N5X Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 ATX AMD Motherboard) doesn't support SATA-II. The 160 GB Seagate HD is SATA II and I can't find a Seagate 160GB that isn't. Will it work?

[glc]

Yes, a SATA II drive will work on that SATA I board. If you want a SATA II board, look at the A8N-E.

[paJAMbla]

Thanks GLC. I went ahead and bought the one you recommended. I don't know if it makes that much difference but it is a bit of an upgrade for just 15 dollars more. The reviews weren't quite as good but how much stock can you put in the reviews on Newegg? To a degree perhaps.

Thanks again.

[glc]

The A8N-E had problems with the chipset fans - Asus had to come out with an improved model. If yours gets noisy, it's a no questions asked warranty replacement, Asus ships you a new fan.