939 System upgrade - Looking for advise please?

Onslaught

Onslaught

Onslaught

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Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
436
Location
Fife, Scotland
I'm seriously considering a full upgrade just now and have spent the past 2 days trying to learn all I can on the 'new' stuff that has came about in the past few years. It will be a switch from a low spec Barton to a spanking new setup! :D

Anyway, I have narrowed things down from everything listed on this site to the following components:-
  • AMD Opteron UP 144 - £117.44 Including VAT
  • Asus A8N32-SLi Deluxe nForce4 SLi X16 - £135.07 Including VAT
  • Zalman CNPS9500-LED Aero Flower - £35.19 Including VAT
  • OCZ 2GB PC3200 Dual Channel Gold GX XTC - £152.69 Including VAT
  • BFG GeForce 7900 GT OC 256MB GDDR3 - £246.69 Including VAT
  • Antec Sonata II (450W Smart Power PSU) - £77.49 Including VAT
Total £764.58

My reasons for choosing the CPU and MOBO were from discussions I have read in this the forum and reviews from the web. From what I have read - The CPU can clock well, even up to approx 2.8 (MOBO dependent etc). Also the MOBO is full spec'ed and will provide future upgrade paths (SLI) as well as being a good over clocker.

The CPU cooler was chosen for its low noise and decent cooling - Mainly the low noise, my PC is in the living room.

The memory was a tough choice though, it was between that and all the other 2 x 1GB PC3200 chips on offer. There was no real reason for this memory over the others, other than it 'felt' good. Please feel free to let me know if other are better.

The GFX card it a funny one, this will be my main upgrade to last a few years, If I choose a well spec’ed option now, then later-on in the year(s) most games will still run smooth(ish) - The BFG comes with the higher clock speeds and lifetime warranty which steered me in its direction..

Finally the case was selected as it came with a good power supply. At least that is what I have read, and I am hoping it means all these bits should run well upon it? Other reasons for the case were its 2 x 120mm fan spots and decent reviews.

The downside... £764.58 it a tad over my budget. I was looking at about £600 - £650. I may be ok with this if my wife goes for the idea and you all show me the thumbs up, however there is always the possibility I am a bit over spec’ed, even for possible future upgrades…

So my pressing questions in no particular order. 1) Is this a good spec for now and the future? 2) Is it over spec’ed? 3) Can you suggest something within budget that will perform well in all current games (Possible future also)?

I thank you for your time to read this, and even more for any assistance you provide :)
 
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I think your spec looks very good. If you can afford to go with that then do. Otherwise drop the mobo to one not so feature rich. You could also change Gcard to: PowerColor ATI Radeon X1800 XT 512MB £229.07 Including VAT
 
gary996 said:
I think your spec looks very good. If you can afford to go with that then do. Otherwise drop the mobo to one not so feature rich. You could also change Gcard to: PowerColor ATI Radeon X1800 XT 512MB £229.07 Including VAT
Click to expand...

I have spec'ed that card against the GT 7900 and it seems to be just about on par. As this one has the most memory, it seems the ideal choice? - I would have to get a crossfire motherboard though, but have drawn a blank on the better choice of these.. can anyone help me with this?

Also if there is a better alternative gfx card which will do sli (At some point) could you throw that into the mix please?

StarShock said:
also if you need to shave some pennys go for the Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro CPU Cooler, just as good but half the price ;)
Click to expand...

I did look at this cooler, It was reported as approx 50 decebels? Maybe I picked this up wrong.. Possibly a fan controller may help with this but I will keep it in mind thanks :)
 
There are games out & coming that require 512MB to run at max (some like the next Tomb Raider game only allow max settings with 512MB cards).

So i would agree that the X1800XT 512MB is the better choice. Same performance but doulbe the ram & a cheaper price; you cant go wrong.

For motherboard then i would suggest ...
Asus A8R32-MVP Deluxe Crossfire (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-131-AS) Available This Week Only for just £99.95 +VAT.
 
You could get rid of the 9500 cooler and get a Scythe Ninja for slightly less which should be a bit better. As said previously if you go for an ATI card then theres no need for the expensive Sli board, get a crossfire or Nforce 4 ultra board instead.
 
After much though I have settled upon and ordered the following:

  • PowerColor ATI Radeon X1800 ***CrossFire Edition*** 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express)
  • Asus A8R32-MVP Deluxe Crossfire (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard
  • OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC4000 Dual Channel Gold GX XTC Series EL-DDR CAS3
  • Antec Sonata II Piano Black Quiet Case - 450W Smart Power PSU
  • Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro CPU Cooler
  • AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Venice 90nm (Socket 939) - OEM
  • Logitech QuickCam Communicate STX
  • Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 10 NCQ 160GB 6V160E0 SATA-II 8MB Cache
Total: £797.95

It is slightly over budget and possibly a bit lower spec'ed than the first choice, however It will do exactly as I require for the next few years at least :)

Thanks for the assistance though, It has helped me choose the above!
 
Also just out of interest WHY would you want to spend more on a motherboard than on a processor, that AR32 board is completely overpriced IMO and the crossfire chipsets are bug ridden to hell. Look at something like the DFI nForce4 Ultra-D or the MSI Neo4 motherboards, much better and more reliable IMO.
 
Onslaught said:
After much though I have settled upon and ordered the following:

  • PowerColor ATI Radeon X1800 ***CrossFire Edition*** 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express)
  • Asus A8R32-MVP Deluxe Crossfire (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard
  • OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC4000 Dual Channel Gold GX XTC Series EL-DDR CAS3
  • Antec Sonata II Piano Black Quiet Case - 450W Smart Power PSU
  • Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro CPU Cooler
  • AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Venice 90nm (Socket 939) - OEM
  • Logitech QuickCam Communicate STX
  • Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 10 NCQ 160GB 6V160E0 SATA-II 8MB Cache
Total: £797.95

It is slightly over budget and possibly a bit lower spec'ed than the first choice, however It will do exactly as I require for the next few years at least :)

Thanks for the assistance though, It has helped me choose the above!
Click to expand...


Only about £20 more and far superior IMO, £800 new rig and not even dual core, look at this:
CP-152-AM AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ (Socket 939) - OEM (CP-152-AM)
£169.95 £169.95
FG-000-AR Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940) (FG-000-AR)
£15.95 £15.95
MB-046-MS MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum nForce4 Ultra (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-046-MS)
£64.95 £64.95
MY-057-OC OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC3200 Dual Channel Platinum Series EL-DDR CAS2 (OCZ4002048ELDCPE-K) (MY-057-OC)
£139.95 £139.95
HD-001-HI Hitachi Deskstar T7K250 NCQ 160GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (0A31637) (HD-001-HI)
£44.95 £44.95
CA-040-AN Antec Sonata II Piano Black Quiet Case - 450W Smart Power PSU (CA-040-AN)
£65.95 £65.95
GX-048-PC PowerColor ATI Radeon X1800 XT 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-048-PC)
£194.95 £194.95
Subtotal £696.65
VAT £121.92
Total £818.57

Plus don't forget they've just released a dual core patch for quake 4 that's reporting nearly 60% quicker. Most big games will be using dual core soon!
 
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