I'm new to the building scene but have been doing my research (tomshardware, newegg, etc.) on what hardware to use. I'm gonna go with the AMD Athlon 64 am2 X2 3800+ but haven't made up my mind for the rest. I'm looking at some middle of the line motherboards ($80-120) and video cards but don't know which will suit my needs. I do some gaming (COD2) and photoshop but mainly just have IE and azureus running. Also any components/advice about making this a home theater system and connecting it to my receiver and TV is welcome. I'm not looking to purchase a top of the line system but do want to have everything run smoothly and be able to upgrade (am3) in the future easily.
I was planning on a PCIe vid card and at last a gig of ram. At first I wanted to keep it below $1000 but now I am thinking that will not happen. I really cannot give a strict number I want to keep it around but I will say I am not looking to build someones beast dream machine. Looking for a stable PC that will run smoothly for a couple years.
I think it will be an almost complete new build as I am using a 3 year old Dell dimension 4600 and I don't know if I can/want to use anything from it. I will keep the the monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers, and any other non CPU things (let me know if you can think of others) that are compatible for sure until I have enough funds to upgrade each of those. I believe the CPU itself will consist of all new hardware.
Heres a breakdown of what I think/want...
CPU - AMD Athlon 64 am2 X2 3800+ (pretty much set in stone...have read too many threads comparing/degrading/arguing about processors to change my mind now!)
MB - want PCIe but have no need for SLI, a HD or 2 (don't know much about RAID but it looks like I will be going that route in the near future), enough PCI slots for a wireless card, ram (2x1gig), and does sound card use PCI
Vid card - Geforce 7600 GT for $149.99 or the $206.68 Radeon X1800 GTO but if I get persuaded maybe the GeForce 6800GS will fit the budget. All I really need to do is to play COD2 and the next few series of games. I can play COD2 on my NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 and the graphics are bearable but not the best. I would be happy if I could play the next few years of games on this new card (starcraft 2, warcraft 4?, COD3?). I also need the capability of connecting to the TV (I would like a digital connection, like HDMI, if at all possible)
Sound card -I want 5.1 digital sound. Gaming sound is not that improtant as I am currently playing COD2 with one speaker most of the time! Not fun hitting the speaker with someone in the crosshair trying to snipe!
Memory - just want something that is solid and compatible. I don't think I need DDR2 800 for the performance jump over the 939 socket like I am hearing. Just need at least 1 gig that will work for the time being. Another gig will come later if things become laggy or I have extra funds.
Case, power supply, fans - decisions on all those will come later as I think they should be picked following all the above hardware (correct me if I'm wrong). I do want a relatively quiet machine though so again I'm open to any recommendations.
Questions? Suggestions? Insight?
AMD am2 X2 3800+ build...advise anyone?
Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee
Welcome to SPCR!
It seems you want the most bang for your buck, so I'll throw out what I would do:
Antec P150 - its a nice quiet case thats not too big and comes with a Antec NeoHE 430W PSU (plenty for your needs) ~$140
ASUS M2N-E Socket AM2 - Solid ASUS board with passive cooling of motherboard components and only 1 PCIex16 slot since you're not going for SLI ~$93
Gigabyte 7600GT 256MB Silent Pipe II - Passive graphics card that should handle moderate gaming (i.e. highest resolution not needed) for at least the next few years. ~$167 from Newegg before rebate (~150 after rebate)
Sound card? Why do you need a sound card if the motherboard already gives you 7.1 digital sound? You don't need a separate sound card these days unless you're recording music or really want high quality sound and have the $$ to spend on it.
2x 1GB sticks of DDR2 533 or 667 from Corsair or Mushkin ~$170. If you're doing photoshop or multitasking with photoshop and games, you'll need the extra memory.
Processor: Athlon 64 x2 3800+ AM2 socket ~$150
Fans: 2x 92mm ~$25 from Jab-tech.com These will be the intake fans for the P150. I'd keep the Tri-Cool that comes with the case for the 120mm exhaust and switch it on low. If its still too noisy you can always get a better fan later.
Heatsink/Fan: Since you're on a budget, I'd recommend something like the Scythe Mine heatsink. It should be plenty for the 3800+ and its only $40 from Jab-tech.com
Western Digital 4000KS - 400GB drive should be plenty and you can move your old hard drive from the Dell over if its not too noisy. ~$190
CD/DVD Drive: You might want to salvage this from the old system if possible. If not, the NEC 3550A or BenQ 1650 is a solid choice. ~$30
The total should be around $1000, maybe less with the rebates, but then you add in tax and shipping. You should be able to output the video to the TV with an adapter, but I'm not sure how the quality will be. Its usually best to get a dedicated TV tuner card when setting up a HTPC system. If the TV tuner card pushes you over your budget, maybe consider only getting 1GB of RAM or skip the intake fans (they might not be necessary if the hard drives don't get too hot).
For more research, check out anandtech.com and xbitlabs.com. They're usually better than tomshardware.
Good luck!
It seems you want the most bang for your buck, so I'll throw out what I would do:
Antec P150 - its a nice quiet case thats not too big and comes with a Antec NeoHE 430W PSU (plenty for your needs) ~$140
ASUS M2N-E Socket AM2 - Solid ASUS board with passive cooling of motherboard components and only 1 PCIex16 slot since you're not going for SLI ~$93
Gigabyte 7600GT 256MB Silent Pipe II - Passive graphics card that should handle moderate gaming (i.e. highest resolution not needed) for at least the next few years. ~$167 from Newegg before rebate (~150 after rebate)
Sound card? Why do you need a sound card if the motherboard already gives you 7.1 digital sound? You don't need a separate sound card these days unless you're recording music or really want high quality sound and have the $$ to spend on it.
2x 1GB sticks of DDR2 533 or 667 from Corsair or Mushkin ~$170. If you're doing photoshop or multitasking with photoshop and games, you'll need the extra memory.
Processor: Athlon 64 x2 3800+ AM2 socket ~$150
Fans: 2x 92mm ~$25 from Jab-tech.com These will be the intake fans for the P150. I'd keep the Tri-Cool that comes with the case for the 120mm exhaust and switch it on low. If its still too noisy you can always get a better fan later.
Heatsink/Fan: Since you're on a budget, I'd recommend something like the Scythe Mine heatsink. It should be plenty for the 3800+ and its only $40 from Jab-tech.com
Western Digital 4000KS - 400GB drive should be plenty and you can move your old hard drive from the Dell over if its not too noisy. ~$190
CD/DVD Drive: You might want to salvage this from the old system if possible. If not, the NEC 3550A or BenQ 1650 is a solid choice. ~$30
The total should be around $1000, maybe less with the rebates, but then you add in tax and shipping. You should be able to output the video to the TV with an adapter, but I'm not sure how the quality will be. Its usually best to get a dedicated TV tuner card when setting up a HTPC system. If the TV tuner card pushes you over your budget, maybe consider only getting 1GB of RAM or skip the intake fans (they might not be necessary if the hard drives don't get too hot).
For more research, check out anandtech.com and xbitlabs.com. They're usually better than tomshardware.
Good luck!
If you go with an M2N-E, be aware that it can only deliver 1.95v to the RAM, so doublecheck the RAM specs to be sure it doesn't need more. I just built a system very much like what you're looking at doing, bit higher specs, and my ddr2-800 is having issues - and it's specced at 1.9v. Though it's starting to look like I just have one flaky stick. I'm in the process of testing them individually, and one gets errors at 800mHz (passes brief tests at 667mHz), while the other one is running memtest as I write and is looking like it's probably good at 800mHz. So hopefully Corsair will hook me up with a replacement stick. Anyways, do be aware of that. A lot of OCZ ram likes 2+ volts, and there are lots of reports of it not working on this board. Another option would be the MSI K9N Neo-F, I think it is, at a slightly lower price point. It doesn't have that particular issue, and is also passively cooled.
I've gone with the M2N-E, X2 3800 with a Thermalright HR-01 heatsink, XMS2 Corsair dual channel 2x1GB DDR2-800 ram, Seasonic S12 430 psu, a PowerColor X1900GT video card with a Zalman 900 heatsink I'll put on once I'm satisfied the card is 100% solid, and a WD SE16 Caviar 250GB drive, along with recycled optical drives and peripherals. I probably would have gone with a 7900GT card for similar performance with lower power draw than the ATI, except there are reports of artifact issues with them and I couldn't locate anything I knew for certain was a new revision that solved the problems and I didn't want hassles with returning one. Given that you're looking to come in more midrange, I'd echo the recommendation of the Gigabyte Silentpipe 7600GT. Outside of my RAM issue, I'm quite happy with things so far (just fired it up for the first time yesterday). I've got all kinds of options cranked up in Oblivion and it looks amazing.
I've gone with the M2N-E, X2 3800 with a Thermalright HR-01 heatsink, XMS2 Corsair dual channel 2x1GB DDR2-800 ram, Seasonic S12 430 psu, a PowerColor X1900GT video card with a Zalman 900 heatsink I'll put on once I'm satisfied the card is 100% solid, and a WD SE16 Caviar 250GB drive, along with recycled optical drives and peripherals. I probably would have gone with a 7900GT card for similar performance with lower power draw than the ATI, except there are reports of artifact issues with them and I couldn't locate anything I knew for certain was a new revision that solved the problems and I didn't want hassles with returning one. Given that you're looking to come in more midrange, I'd echo the recommendation of the Gigabyte Silentpipe 7600GT. Outside of my RAM issue, I'm quite happy with things so far (just fired it up for the first time yesterday). I've got all kinds of options cranked up in Oblivion and it looks amazing.
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stealth_SS
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Tue Aug 22, 2006 3:07 pm
So thanks to all who replied in the last thread I have narrowed (after much deliberation and many headaches) a few pieces of hardware. Here are the components that are finalized but I do have a few more decisions that I need opinions on.
VID CARD-> ATI 100-714800 All-In-Wonder Radeon X1900 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.a ... 6814102685
CPU-> AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Windsor 2.0GHz Socket AM2 Dual Core Processor
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.a ... 6819103735
RAM-> will get 2gb (2x1gb) DDR2 667 or 800 of some name brand (corsair seems to be highly recommended for the ASUS boards)
Now I have had alot of trouble picking a motherboard but have narrowed it down to 3 (I think), they follow in random order...
MSI K9N Platinum Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce 570 Ultra MCP ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.a ... 6813130049
ASUS M2V Socket AM2 VIA K8T890 ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.a ... 6813131024
ASUS M2N4-SLI Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.a ... 6813131068
Again many thanks to those who responded. Hopefully I can get a little more insight on this and have the hardware selected by the end of the week. Then the fun begins!
EDIT: CASE and PSU-> Probably go with an Antec PSU but any recommendations on a good but quiet case? I hear Lian Li is top of the line but is it really worth it?
VID CARD-> ATI 100-714800 All-In-Wonder Radeon X1900 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.a ... 6814102685
CPU-> AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Windsor 2.0GHz Socket AM2 Dual Core Processor
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.a ... 6819103735
RAM-> will get 2gb (2x1gb) DDR2 667 or 800 of some name brand (corsair seems to be highly recommended for the ASUS boards)
Now I have had alot of trouble picking a motherboard but have narrowed it down to 3 (I think), they follow in random order...
MSI K9N Platinum Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce 570 Ultra MCP ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.a ... 6813130049
ASUS M2V Socket AM2 VIA K8T890 ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.a ... 6813131024
ASUS M2N4-SLI Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.a ... 6813131068
Again many thanks to those who responded. Hopefully I can get a little more insight on this and have the hardware selected by the end of the week. Then the fun begins!
EDIT: CASE and PSU-> Probably go with an Antec PSU but any recommendations on a good but quiet case? I hear Lian Li is top of the line but is it really worth it?
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pixel_pimp
- Posts: 78
- Joined: Fri Jul 28, 2006 1:07 am
- Location: UK
I went for the mATX cousin of the M2V and have found it really straightforward to work with - I was going to go for the via model but wanted to start out with onboard gfx to keep costs in check. There are some nice touches on my board like having one of the IDE connectors pointing out sideways which automatically guides the ribbon cable discreetly in behind the drive bays. Also, of course, they support all the bells and whistles - QFan/CnQ etc which, if I put them in charge, keep the machine pretty quiet. I did read about some pickiness with RAM so be sure to check compatability before you buy.stealth_SS wrote:So thanks to all who replied in the last thread I have narrowed (after much deliberation and many headaches) a few pieces of hardware. Here are the components that are finalized but I do have a few more decisions that I need opinions on.
VID CARD-> ATI 100-714800 All-In-Wonder Radeon X1900 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.a ... 6814102685
CPU-> AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Windsor 2.0GHz Socket AM2 Dual Core Processor
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.a ... 6819103735
RAM-> will get 2gb (2x1gb) DDR2 667 or 800 of some name brand (corsair seems to be highly recommended for the ASUS boards)
Now I have had alot of trouble picking a motherboard but have narrowed it down to 3 (I think), they follow in random order...
MSI K9N Platinum Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce 570 Ultra MCP ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.a ... 6813130049
ASUS M2V Socket AM2 VIA K8T890 ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.a ... 6813131024
ASUS M2N4-SLI Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.a ... 6813131068
Again many thanks to those who responded. Hopefully I can get a little more insight on this and have the hardware selected by the end of the week. Then the fun begins!
EDIT: CASE and PSU-> Probably go with an Antec PSU but any recommendations on a good but quiet case? I hear Lian Li is top of the line but is it really worth it?
As for the case, I got a SOLO and am, on the whole, very impressed with the quality. I don't think you'd be disappointed. It's worth it for the HD suspension alone.
That's a HOT video card, and probably pretty loud. Its a nice card, but I'd think about getting a passive 7600GT and a separate TV tuner card. One bad thing about the card is that it blows its hot air back into the case.
For the case, I'd second the recommendation for the SOLO/P150. They're nice cases and well worth the money. Lian Li has good looking, solid cases, but they're not the best at cooling/quiet and are quite expensive. Get a PSU in the 300-400W range. Antec ones are good, but Seasonic is better if you can swallow the extra cost.
For the motherboard, I'd suggest the ASUS M2N4. I've used VIA boards before, and although they're fine, I never liked how they have a bare southbridge (I usually put a northbridge heatsink on it to keep it cooler) and nVidia chipset usually give more performance. I also like the ASUS nvidia board better because it seems to have better cooling (bigger heatsinks), but the MSI K9N Platnium isn't bad at all.
For the case, I'd second the recommendation for the SOLO/P150. They're nice cases and well worth the money. Lian Li has good looking, solid cases, but they're not the best at cooling/quiet and are quite expensive. Get a PSU in the 300-400W range. Antec ones are good, but Seasonic is better if you can swallow the extra cost.
For the motherboard, I'd suggest the ASUS M2N4. I've used VIA boards before, and although they're fine, I never liked how they have a bare southbridge (I usually put a northbridge heatsink on it to keep it cooler) and nVidia chipset usually give more performance. I also like the ASUS nvidia board better because it seems to have better cooling (bigger heatsinks), but the MSI K9N Platnium isn't bad at all.