4+ GHz

[Amazin Caucasian]

If I were to get a AMD processor what should I get? What about Intel?

[Amazin Caucasian]

When I get a Geforce 6800 gt what brand should I get and which one cuz there are the PCI EXpress and a bunch of different ones?

[rightcoast]

If I were to get a AMD processor what should I get? What about Intel?

When I get a Geforce 6800 gt what brand should I get and which one cuz there are the PCI EXpress and a bunch of different ones?

Both questions really depend on what motherboard you choose. Obviously the mobo is the heart of the system, so that really is most important choice.

You want a gaming rig, so I would go with an AMD Athlon 64 CPU, you can get one now like a 3000+ or whatever to both save money toward a better video card and keep future upgradability in mind. That means being certain to buy a mobo with a 939 socket for the CPU.

From what I know about the latest cards, I know that the eVGA cards are the closest to the Nvidia chipset and seem to sell the most models on newegg, so until someone more knowledgable on gaming comes by, I think that is a good card to take a look at.

I don't know anything firsthand about SLI, but I think that SLI capable mobos require a PCI graphics card, paired cards for SLI to be in effect. I don't think AGP slots can do SLI. Could be wrong though, look around newegg and see if any AGP models offer SLI.

[thefultonhow]

The A8N-SLI motherboard only supports PCI-Express anyway -- AGP would not even fit into any of the slots. I would personally get an Athlon 64 3500+.

[Amazin Caucasian]

I had a question on memory. Yuanji suggested this: http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Produ...82E16820146890 and whenever I go to wish list it puts two for quantity, does that mean I need to order two of those and spend $447 on memory- if i get that?

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by Amazin Caucasian I had a question on memory. Yuanji suggested this: http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Produ...82E16820146890 and whenever I go to wish list it puts two for quantity, does that mean I need to order two of those and spend $447 on memory- if i get that?

That's a Dual Channel Kit...it includes 2 sticks of 512MB DDR400 RAM for a total of 1GB of RAM. If you bought 2 kits you'd end up with 4 sticks of 512MB DDR400 RAM for a total of 2GB of RAM.

Cricket

[Amazin Caucasian]

that's what I was hoping! I also had a question on the AMD Athlon 64 3500+ I have heard the Clawhammer OC's very well but runs really hot, is this true? This a good vid card eVGA Geforce 6800GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI-Express x16 Video Card? apparently it runs hot tho.

[Amazin Caucasian]

For my case, the 450W PSU apparently has no brand yet reviews all say great power supply, would it be in my best interest to stick with the stock PSU and then if unhappy install a new one? What's a good hard drive?

[Yuanji]

i would just buy a better PSU since you are going to get SLi anyways and are OCing. get an OCZ powerstream 520 or 600W. for HDs, i like seagate for general purposes, WD raptors, or the Maxtor 16MB cache drives.

[thefultonhow]

Don't get the ClawHammer; wait for the Venice core. I would definitely replace the PSU -- you can't really trust Newegg product reviews. And are you looking for size or speed in your hard drive?

[Amazin Caucasian]

a combo of both, good amount of size but more so speed I would have to say. Fulton you said you didn't like my case, got any good suggestions on other cases just so I can shop around?

Yuanji, are there any really quiet 600W PSU's?

[Yuanji]

what's wrong with the powerstream 600W? it's not going to be that loud and it's one of the best PSUs you are going to get anytime soon. it looks like it's just one 80mm fan, mabye one on the bottom. that can't be too loud. I never noticed the sound of the fans on my enlight 420 and that had 2 80mms. for size+speed, look into the 16mb cache maxtor drives. they are supposed to rival raptors but have very respectable space 250gb and 300gb iirc

[Amazin Caucasian]

I was just curious if that was quiet. Looks like you have the same vid card I am looking at, are you happy with it?

[Amazin Caucasian]

When is the Venice Core coming out?

http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Produ...82E16822140152 is this good, or do you have better suggestions?

[Yuanji]

i would get a SATA drive because of NCQ and i don't know if ATA has it. i'm fine with my video card, plays all games i have thrown at it fine.

[thefultonhow]

Originally Posted by Amazin Caucasian Fulton you said you didn't like my case, got any good suggestions on other cases just so I can shop around?

I said I don't like the looks of your case, but if you like how it looks, then by all means buy it, because it looks like it's well-constructed and easy to work in. I'm a bigger fan of subtlety in case design over bling. I particularly like the following cases:

Favorite: Lian-Li PC-V1000 (silver, black, silver w/ window, black w/ window)
Runner-Up (budget): Cooler Master Praetorian (silver, black)

[Yuanji]

well when are you expecting to do your build? as a rule of thumb for all computers, it's not good to wait for the next best thing cuz you'll be waiting forever as there is always something better on the horizon. 3000+/3200+ or 3500+ winchesters OC fine. You can probably get at least 2.6ghz out of either one if you are going WC like you planned.

[thefultonhow]

The Venice core will be out in a matter of days, so Amazin won't have to wait too long. The Winnies are in general not on sale on Newegg anymore -- they've been cleared out to make way for Venice.

[DOnTmAKeFuNpLZ]

Well if you're going to buy a winnie, then you probably shouldn't get the four sticks of memory because it has to slow down the speeds to run properly. The Venice is coming out May the 6th or something and the 3200+ is supposed to hit 2.8 cake. ALSO, it is supposed to be able to use four sticks of memory without having to slow down the speed of it, but really you only need a gig of ram and you should be good for a while. A couple of other things, if you really want to overclock you might want to try the DFI over the Asus. They have awesome customer assistance at www.dfi-street.com. If you want to spend towards $400 in memory, look for G.skill LE sticks. They are usually out of stock, but its supposed to get crazy OC's. Its around 280 for a gig. It might be a good idea to worry about getting everything together first before you even think of overclocking though.

[rightcoast]

I got your PM A.C, I like that mobo a lot (A8N-SLI), when I build this summer I will likely use it. One thing I have read a couple of times was the fact that with 2 6800's in there running in SLI, you can only use 2 PCI slots. Keep that in mind if you need a lot of slots like me. I will build it just to try and play some games again, proper-like.

I usually care more about NIC's, Modem's for VNC, etc...
But on this one I am thinking SLI, an HDTV card, and good soundcard. It already has 2 gigabit LAN ports. Then hopefully it goes in the living room with XP and and a Linux flavor with some MythTV (switching back to XP is really no different than turning on a console wait-time wise). Right now I am debating all that, but the house is selling and I think that plus one of those $3500 42" Dell plasma's would be sweet.

My wife and I needless to say, aren't seeing eye to eye on spending $5,000 on that.

[Amazin Caucasian]

Well first of all, I am not getting 4 stick of memory that was a mixup so you can forget that. I am going to build this summer so I will have lots of time to wait. No doubt right coast that would be sweet. Is it true, should I go for DFI over Asus, any opinions? Hard-drive wise, SATA any suggestions?

[David M]

For your graphics cards not only do the cards need to be identitical but so does the bios version in the card. Best thing to do is to buy them at the same time.

[Amazin Caucasian]

ok, Hard Drive?, and what's the deal with RAID on mobos, what parts do I need heatsinks for? Maxtor DiamondMax 10 6B250S0 250GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive this a good drive?

[glc]

It's good that you are doing your homework now, but if you aren't building till this summer, things will be quite different by then. Don't sweat the exact details yet, just get an idea of which way you want to go. Start locking in exact components about a week before you place your parts order.

[Amazin Caucasian]

alright well the for SATA do I want Sata II or Sata150? Heatsinks? What is the deal with Raid?

[Amazin Caucasian]

What's the deal with this infamous Venice Core, for the 3500+, you guys keep talking about. When is it coming out? How could I find it on newegg, what would the title look like of the product.

[Yuanji]

venice comes out in may i think and SATAII is backwards compatible. In fact, NCQ is the only thing i know of that SATAII has that SATA150 doesn't. i think it's more of a hardware thing

[Nav]

Personally. I like DFI Lanparty SLI-DR. It's one of my options when i start my new build after exams.

[Amazin Caucasian]

so really, there is no point in getting SATA II, what would I need backwards compatability for? Do I really need 200+ GB for a hard drive?

[Yuanji]

hmm it appears that the connection is always called SATA150 and SATAII is just new HD tech?