NEW comp for g/f

[thiscloudnow]

well she has a dell laptop (inspiron 1100)
she mainly plays mohaa sometimes spearhead and cod...but as you can guess that laptop isnt quite cut out for those games so after deep thought I have unfolded my heart and decided to build this....

hdd: SAMSUNG SpinPoint P Series SP0802N 80GB 7200 RPM 2MB
case: Thermaltake Xaser V Damier V5000+ Black Chassis
vid card: XFX PVT43ANDF3 Geforce 6600GT 128MB 128-bit GDDR3 AGP 4X/8X
monitor: Acer AL1715B Black 17" 12ms LCD Monitor
cdrom: SAMSUNG Black 52X CD-R 32X CD-RW 52X CD-ROM 2M Cache IDE CD Burner
floppy: SAMSUNG Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive Model SFD321B/LBL1
speakers: Logitech S-100 BLK 2.0 Speaker
psu: Thermaltake Purepower W0021 ATX 480W

As for the mobo/cpu/mem I chose:
Gigabyte GA-K8NS Pro nForce3 250 s754 ATX
AMD Athlon 64 3000+
Samsung PC3200 512MB DDR400 64x64/32x8 Original Memory
which I plan on getting at http://www.shopperexpo.com/config_system.asp?config_id=AMD643000COMBO


total price comes out to 906.25 us$ w/o ship&tax

i dont feel like going SLi because i doubt we can afford two vid cards soon plus she doesnt need that much so why waste money...this will be my first pc i've built so i was wondering if theres anything i'm missing or should know before proceeding....(i know i have not listed a keyboard/mouse )

thnx in advance

 

[spectre440]

i've been building system since i was like 13, and the most useful advice i can give you (if this is indeed the first system you're building) is to take your time and do it nice and slow.

better take the time and build the system well, and not rush it and build a screwy system, or ruin a pricey peice of hardware...

 

[djbbenn]

Go with s939 and a PCI-E board so it will be easy to upgrade in the future. It will be a little more but not much.

-Dan

 

[thiscloudnow]

i've looked into going pci-e and going w/ these:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813128301 mobo ($109.00)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103537 cpu ($146.00)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820147143 mem ($ 59.54)

so mobo/cpu/mem price was 278.29 versus 314.54

not much of a big deal...but since i will not be using two vid cards...is it worth it? (besides the fact better cpu and mobo)

and if i did, what pci-e 6600gt should i go with? will i be getting more out of this card with pci-e?

and also what is the diff between pci-e x16 and pci-e x1? i would think its just a faster pci slot, correct? which then i would think it only good to get a mobo with 2 pci-e x16 slots?...lol just tryin to figure this stuff out

 

[spectre440]

you dont need a board with 2 pci-e slots unless you're planning on going on an SLI solution.

 

[thiscloudnow]

i thought sli technology was combining two pci-e vid cards right? which in my assumption i would need a mobo w/2 pci-e slots..perferably 2 pci-e x16 to get full use of cards otherwise would be almost pointless

am i totally wrong?

 

[spectre440]

you are absolutly correct.

i think.....

 

[djbbenn]

Some of the better boards already have SLI on them so you can avoid it sometimes. It can be a good thing because you might want to get another 6600GT later on for a cheap but good performance upgrade.

-Dan

 

[thiscloudnow]

djbbenn you silly...if i were to buy another 6600gt it would be mine! lol

 

[djbbenn]

True...

-Dan

 

[thiscloudnow]

ok...after some thought...figuring only a 20 dollar diff to change to sli...it seems a better decision since after all 20 dollars now is better than another 100 later and a wasted mobo.....so im gonna go with the mobo/cpu/mem i mentioned earlier

so my next question now is the psu i picked out gonna cut it?

 

[spectre440]

oh, hell yeah.
a 480w psu is more than enough.

 

[bikesair]

also think about cooling...what your going to do once you get the beast because stock cooling isnt always the best. Plus your going to buy it sooner or later just cause it looks cool and so you might as well get it now

 

[thiscloudnow]

yeh i was thinking about water cooling but are there any "cons" i should know about or is it just plain out better

 

[spectre440]

its better, but a little more complex to install, and usually more expensive.

 

[thiscloudnow]

i was also thinking about getting slot protectors...i mean they are cheap and you cant go wrong keeping dust out of system right? but i didnt see any pci-e slot covers anyone know of any

and what are some good gaming monitors?

i've changed my mine to this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824103189

btw you guys have been great help!
i think i will wait on water cooling since i want be overclocking it...atleast i dont plan on it yet

 

[Clete2]

i was also thinking about getting slot protectors...i mean they are cheap and you cant go wrong keeping dust out of system right? but i didnt see any pci-e slot covers anyone know of any

and what are some good gaming monitors?

i've changed my mine to this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824103189

btw you guys have been great help!
i think i will wait on water cooling since i want be overclocking it...atleast i dont plan on it yet

Just get a nice cooler for the CPU and close up as many holes as possible on the outside of the case too for good cooling. Slot protectors? I wouldn't... but if you have a few $ to blow, go for it.

 

[wtf8269]

yeh i was thinking about water cooling but are there any "cons" i should know about or is it just plain out better

There's a possibility of leakage if you are running too high of a pressure. Personally if you're just going for the quietness of it I would just get a Zalman or an XP-120. Performance wise you can easily match water temps if you don't mind the noise. Water cooling kits such as the Thermaltake BigWater don't get very impressive temperatures (in my opinion) and since you have the noise of a pump and a 120mm fan I would just assume get a Thermalright XP-120 with a nice quiet 120mm fan. That way you don't have to worry about the risk of leaks.

 

[djbbenn]

Ya, a good cooling fan like a Zalman will be just as quite and give a water kit a run for the money. Water is good, but you have to pay good money to get it though.

-Dan

 

[wazzledoozle]

My advice would be to NOT get an LCD. They suck for gaming.

Get a flat CRT that can do a minimum of 1600x1200 at 75 Hz and it will smack around any LCD for less than half or a third of the price.

Also a XP-90 or XP-120 would be great for cooling. Best air cooling available and can match low end watercooling.

 

[Solaris17]

most definatley crt no LCD.

 

[CaTalyst.X]

The whole reason people dont like LCD's for gaming is because of the high native resolution and the response times, but you can get a Hyundai L90D+ With 1280X1024 and like 12ms and its just as good as any crt...how is a CRT so much better.

PSU: Thermaltake PSU's are crap, get an Antec True430

-CaT

 

[bobyjo]

If you get a LCD with a 8ms or 4ms response time. You would not go wrong, the price for these LCD's are quite expensive.
If you don't have a large pocket book, I would suggest going with a good 21" CRT.
Anything built by Sony is great. You can get these pulls from large office upgrades for about $200, this does enclude a warranty. You also have the oportunity to upgrade to a 3yr warranty for an extra charge. We purchased one of these last yearr, it is a HP monitor, but is built by Sony, goes 1600x1200x 85hz can go with 100hrz.
The crt is flawless, I purchased the 3yr warranty but never a hitch with this thing.
I paid $358 total delivered to our place. I used it for awhile, but with that huge monster on my desk, I had no room for anything on my desk except the mouse..
I purchased a 19" LCD with a response time of 25ms. It is OK and real good in most applications, when scrolling in office etc. The lines on the screen jumps from one to the next.
It is not smooth like the CRT is.
My wife has a corner desk with enough room to put a 24" crt in the corner of her desk.
The 21" works great for her.