What do you think of this system?

Got a shopping cart of parts that you want opinions on? Get advice from members on your planned or existing system (or upgrade).

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Carlos The Elf
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed May 25, 2005 6:24 am

What do you think of this system?

Post by Carlos The Elf » Wed May 25, 2005 7:59 am

What do you guys think? Please make any suggestions to change anything. Thanks a lot.

Motherboard: ($165.00)

GIGABYTE GA-K8NXP-SLI Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813128269

CPU: ($485.99)

AMD Athlon 64 4000+ SledgeHammer Integrated into Chip FSB 1MB L2 Cache
Socket 939

Processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819103497

Graphics Card: ($369.00)

eVGA 256-P2-N376-AX Geforce 6800GT 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI-Express x16
Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814130215

Case: ($106.00)

THERMALTAKE Tsunami VA3000BWA Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811133132

Power Supply: ($91.00)

FSP Group (Fortron Source) AX500-A ATX12V 500W Power Supply 115/230 V
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817104934

Memory: ($43.56)

crucial 512MB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) System Memory
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820146541

teknerd
Posts: 378
Joined: Sat Nov 13, 2004 5:33 pm

Post by teknerd » Wed May 25, 2005 8:11 am

You can do better on the case, I'd recommend something from the recommended cases list.

Also, do you know what coolers you are planning on using. In stock form that system will be fairly loud. you should think about getting an thermalright xp-120 with a nexus 120mm fan for the cpu. also a passive cooler for the northbridge on your motherboard and an artic cooler NV5.

Finally you also need a power supply. the seasonic s12-430 should be the perfect fit (it sells @ newegg for about $100).

Also i'd recommend a gig of ram instead of just 512mb

also, what hard drives were you planning on using

NeilBlanchard
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Post by NeilBlanchard » Wed May 25, 2005 8:22 am

Hello Carlos & welcome to SPCR,

Overall it looks very nice, but the case is the biggest weak link -- that case hase pretty poor front ventilation. Also, this thing needs (at least) 1GB of RAM; 512MB is a bare minimum for a budget system -- and this is anything but a budget system!

I see that someone else just posted essentially the same points: you need to look into quiet CPU HS and fans.

I built an Athlon 64 4000+ system with a Gigabyte (non-SLI) motherboard, 4GB RAM (which is way more than most people need!), four Seagate 7200.8 SATA2 drives, and I used a Thermalright XP120 and a couple of low speed Yate Loon 120mm fans (the orange ones) and a Nexus 92mm in front -- all in an Evercase 4252. I used a Seasonic S12 500 PS (which was overkill!), and the whole system is pretty darn quiet; limited by the HD's. It ran quite cool, even with the CPU fan running at ~800RPM -- it maxed out at 45C or so.

Green Shoes
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Posts: 477
Joined: Thu Feb 17, 2005 6:41 am
Location: Nashville, TN

Post by Green Shoes » Wed May 25, 2005 8:42 am

I third the notion for more RAM (a gig should be okay unless you do a lot of Photoshop/Audio Editing).

I would look at the Antec SLK3000-B case, you can find that on NewEgg as well for ~$60, much better airflow capabilities.

Is there any specific reason you're going with the Hammer core? It is a 130-nm fab process and uses much more power than it's new brother, the San Diego. San Diego is a 90-nm process, uses less power, and also includes SSE3 instructions and a (supposedly) better memory controller. It's only $15 more at NewEgg.

and Welcome to SPCR!!

teknerd
Posts: 378
Joined: Sat Nov 13, 2004 5:33 pm

Post by teknerd » Wed May 25, 2005 8:47 am

good point made about going with the san diego core, improvements made in it are definately worth the extra 15 dollars.

Carlos The Elf
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed May 25, 2005 6:24 am

Post by Carlos The Elf » Wed May 25, 2005 11:07 am

I was also planning on getting the San Diego core, but I got the Hammer core for 415.00, it was a deal I couldn't pass up on. Thanks for all your advice, I'll look into better cases and PSU's and some fans, too. More comments are appreciated.

I also plan to buy more RAM, that's not the RAM I plan on buying, but I just want to build the compyuter and get it running first. More memory and the graphics card are things I'm buying last.

Spod
Patron of SPCR
Posts: 475
Joined: Mon May 03, 2004 12:14 am
Location: Leeds, UK

Post by Spod » Sat May 28, 2005 11:37 pm

No need to kick yourself about the Sledgehammer, it's still much cooler than a Prescott. With an XP-120, you can probably still run the Nexus fan at minimum. 5V mod or a fanmate would do the trick. Same for case fans.

Having just read the P180 preview, I'd regard it as worth waiting for... or if not, worth getting a temporary case to tide you over until it's available! The Antec SLK3000B is cheap but good.

RAM - do you plan to completely replace that RAM with 1 GB or so of low latency memory at a later date? If not, it doesn't make much sense to get cheap RAM now, as it will hold back your system when you buy the rest.
Assuming you care about low latency RAM, of course. It's pretty costly for the gain in performance, though your budget could probably handle it.

GPU cooling - I'd say the Zalman VF-700Cu would be quieter than the Arctic Cooling NV Silencer 5 - it still cools adequately at 5V, and shouldn't get in the way of the NB-47J chipset cooler. I had to heavily modify my NB-47J to fit around the NV Silencer 5 on my 6800GT. I also had to fanmate the silencer before it was remotely quiet (though it's still quieter at 12V than the stock fans you usually get).

PSU - I'll second the S12 recommendation. The S12 430 should meet your needs, unless you plan to go SLI, in which case the S12 500 would be better equipped (having two PCIe power connectors).

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