Please help..total noob needs advice on my system..

4sfed5 · Post by **4sfed5** » Sat Mar 17, 2007 9:56 pm

Ok so im thinking of uying a new rig based on the below components plus some Geil or corsair 2Gb ram kit.....

1 x Silverstone Element ST50EF ATX12V 500W Power Supply Retail
1 x Western Digital Caviar 250GB SATA II 7200rpm 8mb Cache
1 x AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Dual Core 64Bit Socket AM2 OEM
1 x Sythe ninja cpu cooler....(maybe in passive operation)
1 x Inno3D 7900GS PCI Express 512MB DDR3
1 x Samsung (WriterMaster) 16X DVD-R/+R Dual Layer DVD Writer 5X DVD
1 x Gigabyte GZ XX1CA-SNB BLACK TRITON CHASSIS
1 x Asus M2N-SLI Deluxe Support AMDÂ® Socket AM2 Athlon CPU ATX nForc
1 x Microsoft windows XP home OEM
1 x Philips 17inch LCD 170S6FB Monitor

The big questions i have are........
Is that mobo any good for overclocking?? any other recomendations?ive heard that ASUS mobo have "ram issues" Can this board be overclocked and adjust voltages on the ram???

Whats a good bang for buck graphics card? i want to play the latest games but not sure what to get..(WOULD 2X 7600GS be better than one 7900 GS as the price is around the same ?)

any advice would be great

Post by **NeilBlanchard** » Sun Mar 18, 2007 1:58 am

Hello & welcome to SPCR,

I'm wondering about the case -- will it work as well as an Antec Solo?
http://www.modernopc.com/store/images/l ... &B_LRG.jpg

dangman4ever · Post by **dangman4ever** » Sun Mar 18, 2007 12:23 pm

Whats your budget?

And no, two 7600GS in SLI would not be better than a 7900GS. A 7900GS can be found for $150 to $160 these days while a single 7600GS can be found for about $90 to $100. In addition, two 7600GS in SLI does not beat the performance of a 7900GS as well. So your best bet is to go with the 7900GS.

4sfed5 · Post by **4sfed5** » Mon Mar 19, 2007 12:41 am

the antec cases seem to be very expensive in my country...around double the cost of the Gigabyte triton....im going to mod the case and remove the HDD bays and the 3.5" bays for better airflow. The HDD will be hung in the lowest of 5" bays with a zalman cooler on it. ill probably od the front fan intake to remove the obstrucion caused by the logo plate.

still have NO IDEA about which MOBO to get (dont really need SLI but will get one if it has features that non sli doesnt have.)

ALso dont know which are good Graphics cards are......

Bobfantastic · Post by **Bobfantastic** » Mon Mar 19, 2007 3:17 am

I'll put in another vote for the 7900GS over the 7600's- you can usually overclock the 7900GS up to silly speeds.
My Inno3D 7900GS (256MB version) came with stock speeds of 450/1200MHz for core/ram; it now purs along nicely at 560/1540MHz, i.e. considerably faster than the stock 7900GT. I've never seen it above 52 degrees C while gaming (it's now got a VF-900 on minimum through a fanmate, and idles at around 40 degrees), so it should be relatively easy to keep your case cool; with an HR-03 or something similar I've no doubt you could run it passively- it would be much trickier with a pair of older-generation cards.

JohnnyWakko · Post by **JohnnyWakko** » Mon Mar 19, 2007 3:25 am

I strongly recommend you shop around for a nice little widescreen monitor too, leave the 4:3 to the cathode tube newbs. Seriously, you can get a 5ms 19" widescreen at the same price as that slow 12ms dinasour.

17" 4:3 $AU268

http://www.staticice.com.au/cgi-bin/sea ... ps+170S6FB

19" 16:10 $AU260

http://www.staticice.com.au/cgi-bin/sea ... widescreen

Wider is better.