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**Asher** · June 13, 2005, 15:31

Say no to Foxconn.

**Solver** · June 13, 2005, 15:33

I think that with a Gig of RAM and such a good video card, your CPU will seriously bottleneck the system.

**St Leo** · June 13, 2005, 15:36

Okay. How about the Chaintech VNF4 nForce4 Socket 939 ATX Motherboard / Audio / PCI Express / Gigabit LAN / USB 2.0 / Serial ATA / RAID then?

**St Leo** · June 13, 2005, 15:41

Originally posted by Solver
I think that with a Gig of RAM and such a good video card, your CPU will seriously bottleneck the system.

What do you suggest? I'd be willing to drop another $60 on the 2 GHz Athlon, but beyond that my willingness to part with cash ends.

AMD marketers claims that their 1.8 GHz is the same as Intel's 3 GHz, and I am inclined to believe them to some extent. Intel's 3.6 GHz for 4x the price and AMD's 2.6 GHz for 6x the price are the top end, and that's not substantially faster by my reckoning.

Last time around, I got a 1 GHz P3 with 512 RAM in the era of 1.6 GHz P4s. It has served me well.

In a few years, I'll upgrade the processor for el cheapo and get a few more RAM sticks. I am in dire need of RAM for purposes of image-editing and playing Paradox games.

**Zopperoni** · June 13, 2005, 15:51

Screw Foxconn and Chaintech, go with ASUS, Abit, or MSI for AMD-compatible boards. These three brands get good reviews. For future upgradeability, the ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe seems a good bet. You can ditch the soundcard with this board and save $100.

Furthermore, how's the case + PSU? I think those are very important components worth dishing out some extra cash for. Antec and Enermax are trusted brands in that area.

Finally, I think you're getting screwed by the harddisk price. For that money you should be able to get a 250 MB S-ATA (with 16 MB cache).

**alva** · June 13, 2005, 19:45

Wow, that harddrive is expensive!

I can get a 250G 16MB for something like a 134€ and hardwere here, is expensive (21% tax).

Oh, and dammit mate, if you're gonna splash out on a new system, buy a decent mouse.
Apart from the keyboard, that's what you use the most, might as well buy something decent..something enjoyable.

**Atahualpa** · June 13, 2005, 20:43

You'll probably also need a temporary floppy drive for installing windows, because I don't think the installation routine will recognize the SATA HDD (it didn't do with my pc) and you can only supply drivers on a floppy.

Generally, I'd go with a better case and PSU, but save on the sound, HDD and memory, but that's because I like stability better than 5 more frames.
A $50 case with a 450W PSU can only be crap.

- The goal is to have a good upgrade path. CPU speed isn't very important AFAIK, so I want to get the slowest AMD Socket 939 thingie now and then plug in a faster replacement in a few years.

- One stick of 1024 MB RAM, with plans to subsequently get three more.

OTOH 2 RAM sticks are faster than 1, but if you plan to upgrade in the near future, it's not so much of a problem. But IIRC you'd have to get exactly the same 2nd stick to be able to use the performance advantage of Dual Channel DDR.

I think that with a Gig of RAM and such a good video card, your CPU will seriously bottleneck the system.

AFAIK the X600 stems from the Radeon 9600 Pro which is quite old already... how's that a good video card?
The CPU is fine.

**Urban Ranger** · June 13, 2005, 22:28

Originally posted by Zopperoni
Furthermore, how's the case + PSU? I think those are very important components worth dishing out some extra cash for. Antec and Enermax are trusted brands in that area.

Good call. The case isn't as important as the power supply, all you need is a big sturdy one with lots of fans (or places where you can add fans). The power supply is very important. One thing to remember is, try to get the case and the power supply at the same place so you can see if the power supply fits into the case. You may not have access to machine tools to modify your case at a later day.

Also, don't forget to get a good CPU cooler. I got a CoolMaster Ultra Vortex - it's big and heavy but it works great.

**St Leo** · June 13, 2005, 23:40

Originally posted by alva
I can get a 250G 16MB for something like a 134€ and hardwere here, is expensive (21% tax).

134 EUR = 204 CAD
110 EUR = 168 CAD

I can get an equivalent Seagate for 106 EUR, but I trust Maxtor far more.

**Asher** · June 13, 2005, 23:42

You trust Maxtor more than Seagate? That's the first time I've heard that.

**Urban Ranger** · June 13, 2005, 23:43

You are planning on storing a lot of porn, St Leo.

**Asher** · June 13, 2005, 23:44

200GB is child's play.

I started with a 240GB RAID in August 2003, and I've since added another 240GB, and have plans to add additional storage.

**Tassadar500** · June 13, 2005, 23:48

Originally posted by Asher
200GB is child's play.

I started with a 240GB RAID in August 2003, and I've since added another 240GB, and have plans to add additional storage.

What in the world do you do with all that space?

**St Leo** · June 13, 2005, 23:53

New plan taking into account your good advice.

	Total	$1,268.88	($1,010.77 American)
	Case	$161.99	Ultra MS Blue Dragon ATX Mid-Tower Case with Clear Side Front USB and Firewire Ports and Ultra 500-Watt X-Connect Power Supply
	Power Supply
1.8 GHz	Processor	$199.99	AMD Athlon 64 3000+ / 512KB Cache / 2000 MHz FSB / Socket 939 / Processor with Fan
	Processor Fan
	Motherboard	$175.99	Abit AX8 Via Socket 939 ATX Motherboard / Audio / PCI Express / Gigabit LAN / USB 2.0 & Firewire / Serial ATA
1024MB	RAM	$202.99	Ultra 1024MB PC3200 DDR 400MHz Memory
128MB	Video Card	$148.99	MSI Radeon X600XT / 128MB DDR / PCI Express / VGA / DVI / TV Out / Video Card
	Sound Card
5.1	Speakers	$74.99	Logitech X530-PC Multimedia Home Theater-70 Watt
200GB	Hard Drive	$168.99	Maxtor / 200GB / 7200 / 8MB / SATA-150 / OEM / Hard Drive with NCQ
+/-RW	CD Drive	$70.99	NEC ND3520 / 16x6x16x DVD-RW / 16x8x16x DVD+RW / 4x DVD+R DL / 48x24x48x CD-RW / Black / Dual Layer / OEMDVD Burner with Nero software
	Extra Fan	$13.99	Ultra 5.25" Bay Freezer with 2 - 60mm Cooling Fans - White
	Floppy Drive	$24.99	Premium 1.44 MB Floppy Disk Drive
	Keyboard	$10.99	AOpen Windows PS/2 Keyboard (White)
	Mouse	$13.99	Microsoft Basic Optical Mouse

I've intentionally ignored several rebates, so the final cost is at least a hundred dollars less + 15% tax.

Looks like I won't be able to take full advantage of DDR until I get a second stick of RAM. That can wait until later this year.

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