New PC

[RDL]

Hey folks. I am looking to build a new PC, which will mainly be used for gaming, but I will probably be running it 24/7 with the likes of IRC etc. on. I may or may not surf the net with it, I haven't decided yet.

I was thinking along the lines of the list which follows, but I would appreciate suggestions to improve it, aslong as they don't up the price too much. I don't have a set budget, but spent 2k on last pc so I'm looking for something cheaper.

Case:Akasa 62
PSU:Tagan 480W Whisper
Mobo:Asus A8N SLi Deluxe Edition
CPU:Socket 939 A64 3000/3200/3500 (help me on this one, I have seen the 3500 at £145 (excl. VAT) and it is quite attractive, but how far will it OC? I will be using air cooling (XP-120 or Asus Star Ice) so I don't want to buy the 3500 if I can get the 3000/3200 at the same speed as it when overclocked)
CPU CoolerXP-120
RAM:I need help with this one-something very low latency, great for overclocking and very fast. I am willing to spend up to about £200 on the RAM. Also something that goes well with A64.
HDD:200Gb Barracuda 7200.7 8MB Cache x2
GPU:XFX 6800gt (I'l prob buy a second at a later stage) OR 2 6600gts
CD-ROM Drive:52x LG
DVD-RWPlextor PX-712SA or 716 A

I think that is everything, I will be using some spare peripherals right now until I can afford another TFT etc.

I haven't totalled it all yet as it isn't finalised, but I'm hoping it is £800-£900. Certainly less than £1000. excl. VAT

[RDL]

Note that the price I'm looking at is without VAT as I get VAT back, which means it won't be too expensive.

[AaronTBE]

sounds a nice setup, i have the 3500+ and to be honest i havnt needed to overclock it yet, but betta to get 3500+ at standard than overclock a lower model, go for the winchester at 90nm as it is faster than the newcastle.

The asus boards do not get the best overclocking reviews but the SLI allows 2 graphics card which is a very tasty idea! Abit have excellent reviews if your into overclocking.

I thought about the star ice cooler but its not worth it, its a lot bulkier for 1, my CPU under full load wont raise above 34c with the standard heatsink.

the barracudas are more quiet and very reliable but is it worth losing 100gb?

and as for your RAM!! no competion m8 go for the corsair xms i have 1gb of 3200 cost me £170 it is fast as hell easily overclocked not that ull need to and those funky flashing lights on the side really do tell you how its workin what more could u ask for lol

if SLI had of bin out when i got my board i would of got it, but if its overclocking you want Abit 3rd eye seem to be the rage, after all the 6800gt destroys most games by itself.

Hope this helps m8

[Marcos]

I hear the DiamondMax 10s are noisy, not good for 24hour PCs , i could be wrong though.

Why do you need a CD drive and a DVD-RW?

[RDL]

I don't really to be honest. I just thought it might be a good idea if I wanted to copy CDs straight from one cd to another, plus they only cost a tenner these days.

Aaron-aren't the Barracudas slightly cheaper though? Which means you aren't really losing that much, and also I will lose out on a bigger drive, maybe the 250gb version of the maxtor?

Also, the third eye does look very attractive, but so does 2 graphics cards. Although I won't be getting a second graphics card straight away, probably not till may.

[Daymonkey]

dont get the dvd drive get a dvd drive, can copy cds and dvds straight off then

[RDL]

Did you mean don't get the CD drive, get the DVD drive?

[jimborae]

For ram i'd recommend this : Patriot Dual Channel 1GB PC3200+ XBLK DDR £134 exc vat.
Its TCCD chips on a Brain Power pcb. Better than Corsair, as good as OCZ or G-Skill and cheaper. A winnie 64 3200 will do 3500 speeds when overclocked no problem so it really depends on whether you want to spend the extra & get the higher multiplier, could be important if you plan on doing some extreme overclocking.

I'm not familiar with that case but tha Antec SLK 3700BQE is fantastic value at £48 exc vat & comes with a great Antec 350w psu which you can either keep or flog. Granted it doesn't have a window or removable mobo tray but it has quick release mountings in for cd/dvd drives and silent rubber dampening mounts for the hard drives.

[RDL]

link to case

I should really link to all the parts, but what manufacturer? Scan is still fairly good IMO.

[Marcos]

Or just get one good DVD-/+RW DL drive and be a little more patient when copying CDs or DVDs ,

then invest saved cash towards other actually useful components

[Daymonkey]

Did you mean don't get the CD drive, get the DVD drive?

yeh sorry didnt check it over.

[RDL]

Well, I see that the XFX Geforce Ultra isn't too much more expensive that the gt, so I may get that instead. I also had a though about the Hard Drives. Since they are gona be in RAID I should really buy them both at the same time, to save hastle formatting later, so I will have to buy two.

Also, can someone help me out on RAM? I want a gig of the fastest I can get for £200ish, with very fast timings. Links would be appreciated, together with an explanation on why I should get the particular model.

[StormPC]

A few things:

I'd stick with the Seagates over the Maxtors.

Go for a Winchester over a Newcastle. The 3200+ Winnie will beat a 3500+ Newcastle with good RAM.

Get some PC3200 TCCD that is SPD programmed to run 5-2-2-2 @ 400MHz. The Corsair XL is good stuff, but not the pro. The lights look nice if you have a window but performance suffers a bit.

I'm typing this on an A8N-SLI system and just finished some testing. I'd have to say that this A8N/3500+ Winnie/XP-120 combo is one of the best "stock" overclocking rigs I've ever had. Since the motherboard goes to 3.00 volts on the DDR and only 1.65 volts on VCORE it's a great match for a Winnie and some strong RAM. At the moment I'm running at 2664MHz 100% stable as a rock with 1.488 vcore and 3.00 vdimm. DDR is running 484MHz 1T with 2.5-3-3-7 timings. That's 7000MB/s 24/7 bandwidth on air. Not too shabby.

One last thing...if you are going SLI you're better off getting two less expensive videocards than one more expensive one with the hopes you might be able to buy another later. The reason is that if you can't get another identical card you'll be SOL because SLI doesn't work unless you use identical cards. Even a revision on an identical card may be enough to cause the SLI stability problems. Two 6600GT's SLI beat one 6800GT everytime in games.

Cheers!

[RDL]

Thanks man.

First off, I was planning on going for a winnie, just wasn't sure whether I should go 3200 or 3500. That RAM looks nice, I'l take a look. Do you happen to have a link? Sounds nice on the overclocking front, that is the kind of speeds I was looking for.

On the video card front. I know you're right, but I can't help thinking that two 6600s are about equal with ultras (except on higher resolutions where they fall down) but wouldn't two 6800gts be pretty amazing?

[AaronTBE]

ok dude if your looking at raid m8 go for 2 seagate 200gb they are very responsible one of the quietest out and for a 24/7 system beats the maxtor.

the 6800 ultra will beat everything out there at the moment, your main choice is either :-

1. something like the ABIT board brill for overclocking with an overclocked 3200 and a geforce ultra,

2. the SLI board with 2 6600s (6800s would be betta but £600 ouch!) and a 3500 winni, if its a 24/7 system i would go for the 3500+ stay perfectly stable.

if you get the 6800 ultra you wont need to upgrade it for a long time trust me! but SLI is still futureproof aslong as if you wait to buy the second graphics card it isnt discontinued lol

RAM- heres a couple of links to that corsair mentioned for an excellent overclock-

http://www.overclockercafe.com/Revie..._Pro/index.htm

(need adobe 4 this 1) http://www.corsairmicro.com/corsair/...-3200c2pro.pdf

Corsair 1GB PC2 5400 Pro DDR2 also has gd reviews if board supports it, comes at a price tho lol

the other RAM mentioned i havent tested but check some reviews and make up your own mind. either way you wont need more than 1gb at dual channel.

yes do u really need two dvd drives? i have a dvd re-writer and dvd rom and i never use the rom only thing it can be used for is if i need to keep a disk in or for drive to drive copys, upto u if you wanna spend the 15 quid.

whatever you do make sure you buy a nice psu cos mine is 500w that may need replacing ill be posting my fault in a minute lol

[RDL]

The Tagan is one of the finest PSUs around at the moment.

Also, AMD 64 doesn't support DDR2, only DDR.

I won't buy the DVD Rom to start with then, I'l pick it up later.