Good spec upgrade?

The Old Man · 26 Jun 2006 at 22:07

Hi guys, can you give your thoughts on this gaming spec PC for me, want to get the best from COD2 at 1280x1024 but want the dual core and 7900 GTX to have enough power.

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4400+ (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA4200BVBOX) (CP-126-AM)
Asus A8N-SLi SE nForce4 SLi (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-101-AS)
OcUK GeForce 7900 GTX 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-038-OK)
2 - Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 10 NCQ 160GB 6V160E0 SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-091-MD) in RAID 0 format
2GB of Crucial DDR400
Antec NeoHE 550W Modular ATX2.0 PSU

My current system:
AMD64 XP3200
Asus A8V Deluxe
2GB Crucial DDR400
6800GT 256MB
160GB IBM SATA HDD 7200rpm
Antec Tru Power 480w PSU

Will there be quite a difference in performance and is the Antec PSU okay? I can't afford some of the usual recommended PSU's. I only overclock what the system lets me on air, no additional cooling beyond stock AMD cooler and case fans.

I am going for RAID-0 with the SATA drives for performance and plan to use an additional old HDD for daily backups with Norton Ghost - good compromise?

Help me justify the upgrade, please! Thanks!

fenderbass86 · 26 Jun 2006 at 22:21

The Antec PSU is fine, but ditch the Maxtor HD for something else.

Also wait until conroe is released, the price of that 4200+ will drop by 50% supposedly!

Stelly · 26 Jun 2006 at 22:35

fenderbass86 said:
The Antec PSU is fine, but ditch the Maxtor HD for something else.

Also wait until conroe is released, the price of that 4200+ will drop by 50% supposedly!

Yes I agree

Stelly

Murzo · 26 Jun 2006 at 23:12

I would ditch the 4200+ and get a 3800+ oem and an artic freezer 64, works out cheaper and will clock better.

The Old Man · 27 Jun 2006 at 17:05

Ok thanks for the replies, much appreciated.

Have the Maxtor's got a bad reputation? I thought they were reliable? What's the next alternative?

The Old Man · 27 Jun 2006 at 17:25

Well, I'm in the process of ordering and have gone for the AMD64 X2 400 OEM, just trying to figure out which cooler to put with it. I see from the tech specs on the artic freezer 64 it goes up to 3800, no where near the 4400. Can anyone quickly help on a suitable cooler for it? Many thanks!

nighoftheeighth · 27 Jun 2006 at 18:55

I had...

AMD64 XP3000
Leadtek 6800NU
Soltek Q-bic
1GB Geil Value
80GB Maxtor HDD

Now i've got...

AMD64 x2 4200+ & A64 Freezer
Gigabyte K8N51GMF-9
Sapphire X1900XT 512MB
2 x 160GB Maxtor 6V160E0
2GB Corsair XMS
Silverstone TJ08
Enermax Liberty 400w

I've had it a few weeks now and it's been fantastic. No problems with the HDDs and 12v 5v rails are perfect. Haven't tried COD2 but every game i've played on are at max details 8xAF 1280 x 1024 EE2, Fear, AOE2, Doom3, BF2 and they've been as smooth as silk.

It sounds like a very good upgrade in my opinion and you have the SLI option for the future

Oh and good choice on the CPU, the Freezer 64 is perfect, i get 35c idle and 45c under load at 2.4Ghz and thats in a Micro ATX case.

fenderbass86 · 27 Jun 2006 at 19:14

How's that gigabyte motherboard workin out for ya? There's a thread in the motherboards section about "how crappy" Gigabytes boards are. I've never had a problem with them, and you seem pretty happy having all your new gear hooked up to it.

nighoftheeighth · 27 Jun 2006 at 22:16

It was a bit iffy without the latest bios version on, but so far I'm happy with it. Touch wood

.

The Old Man · 28 Jun 2006 at 09:42

Well this was the final spec, bumped it up a bit:

Goods Ordered (prices in GBP)
£56.95 x 1 - Asus A8N-SLi SE nForce4 SLi (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-101-AS)
£209.95 x 1 - AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4400+ (Socket 939) - OEM (CP-174-AM)
£14.95 x 1 - Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940) (FG-000-AR)
£269.95 x 1 - OcUK GeForce 7900 GTX 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-038-OK)
£64.95 x 1 - Antec NeoHE 550W Modular ATX2.0 PSU (CA-046-AN)
£46.95 x 2 - Hitachi Deskstar T7K250 NCQ 250GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (0A31636) (HD-002-HI)
£74.95 x 1 - NZXT Lexa Classic Series Ultra light Aluminum Midtower (CA-000-NX)
£6.50 x 1 - Akasa Rounded Ultra ATA133/100/66 IDE UV DAY-GLO Cable (0.60m) - Blue (CB-062-GE)
£2.95 x 2 - Akasa Serial ATA 45cm DAYGLO Blue Data Cable (CB-001-AK)
£8.90 x 1 - Akasa Dual UV Cold Cathodes 1 Inverter (CA-008-AK)

Sub-Total: 806.9
Shipping: 10.95
VAT: 143.13
Total: 960.98

Unfortunately, I got an email saying they couldn't deliver to my place of work due tot he value of the order and as I'm not home until after 3pm the order has been cancelled.

Wasn't meant to be! Thanks for the replies and advice though, much appreciated.

t31os · 28 Jun 2006 at 09:49

Make the order for home, when you're not there, the delivery will be held at the depot, simply pick it up.

The Old Man · 28 Jun 2006 at 10:12

The problem is that its too far away. I may re-order next week. I got a reply saying the problem is I have used different cards in the last 12 months (credit cards) and this time its a debit card which I last used with over a year ago. Daft really, becasue with a debit card they get the money asap from my bank account with no additional credit charges.