Post by Amarsaudon on Jan 6, 2005 11:14:06 GMT -5
Motherboard: Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe. If you're going for socket 939 AMD chips, there shouldn't even be any consideration there.
CPU: AMD Athlon64 3500+. I have it, right now its overclocked 300 MHz and completely stable (as well as running at about 4 degrees over room temp.) With stock cooling, this chip does run HOT, so don't plan on overlcocking without a new heatsink at least.
RAM: No sense in burning $300 on 1 gig if you can avoid it, I say go with a corsair XMS 1 GB pack. will set you back $200 and will be well worth it. www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=20-145-450&DEPA=1
Video cardS: Notice the capital S there. if you do one thing in this system, go with dual video cards. That is the single biggest advancement in computer technology I have ever seen.. you now have the capability of achieving literaly double the video performance. I recommend dual Gigabyte 6600 GTs, because combined they will set you back $375, and they will smoke (together) anything ati can throw your way. Also, they generaly run cooler then ati cards, allowing you to take advantage of overclocking later if you ever need an extra boost.
Hard drives: it really depends on how much money you have. I am a devout raid 0 fan, so I will recommend a serial ATA raid 0 no matter how much you have (if you don't know what this means, it means you need to HDDs and can basicaly make your computer think its one uber-kickass one). You are also talking to a western digital fan, so I will recommend the Western Digital Raptor any day, it is still the only <SCSI HDD to hit 10k RPMs. which depends on your budget. A 37 gig will set you back $110 (so $220 for a <80 gig super kickass HDD). Myself, thats what i'd do, cuz I really don't use more then 80 gigs anyways.
Case: I recommend Aspire, because they all seem to have decent Power supplies. Oh, and you get what you pay for. $100 in aspire will get you a SICK case with a nice p/s.
Sound Card: Save your money.... seriously. Unless you already have it, onboard audio has NEVER failed me.
Cooling: Because this is your first machine, I'd stay pretty conservative here. Just max your case out with 80 mm fans and get an aftermarket heatsink for your cpu, preferably copper. Water cooling is cool, but I think that is a bit ambitous for a first comp. If you do decide to, search for " Liquid" on newegg and go to the only kingwin thing. Get 2 of those, one for bother your video cards, and one for your processor. That'll set you back $200, but if you're going liquid, you gotta go all the way. I also recommend ramsinks for your video memory, because the stock heatsink probably cooled that too, and you don't wanna be taking steps backward.
Media Drive: Get a DVD burner. they are $50, and worth the extra $20 in a heartbeat.
CPU: AMD Athlon64 3500+. I have it, right now its overclocked 300 MHz and completely stable (as well as running at about 4 degrees over room temp.) With stock cooling, this chip does run HOT, so don't plan on overlcocking without a new heatsink at least.
RAM: No sense in burning $300 on 1 gig if you can avoid it, I say go with a corsair XMS 1 GB pack. will set you back $200 and will be well worth it. www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=20-145-450&DEPA=1
Video cardS: Notice the capital S there. if you do one thing in this system, go with dual video cards. That is the single biggest advancement in computer technology I have ever seen.. you now have the capability of achieving literaly double the video performance. I recommend dual Gigabyte 6600 GTs, because combined they will set you back $375, and they will smoke (together) anything ati can throw your way. Also, they generaly run cooler then ati cards, allowing you to take advantage of overclocking later if you ever need an extra boost.
Hard drives: it really depends on how much money you have. I am a devout raid 0 fan, so I will recommend a serial ATA raid 0 no matter how much you have (if you don't know what this means, it means you need to HDDs and can basicaly make your computer think its one uber-kickass one). You are also talking to a western digital fan, so I will recommend the Western Digital Raptor any day, it is still the only <SCSI HDD to hit 10k RPMs. which depends on your budget. A 37 gig will set you back $110 (so $220 for a <80 gig super kickass HDD). Myself, thats what i'd do, cuz I really don't use more then 80 gigs anyways.
Case: I recommend Aspire, because they all seem to have decent Power supplies. Oh, and you get what you pay for. $100 in aspire will get you a SICK case with a nice p/s.
Sound Card: Save your money.... seriously. Unless you already have it, onboard audio has NEVER failed me.
Cooling: Because this is your first machine, I'd stay pretty conservative here. Just max your case out with 80 mm fans and get an aftermarket heatsink for your cpu, preferably copper. Water cooling is cool, but I think that is a bit ambitous for a first comp. If you do decide to, search for " Liquid" on newegg and go to the only kingwin thing. Get 2 of those, one for bother your video cards, and one for your processor. That'll set you back $200, but if you're going liquid, you gotta go all the way. I also recommend ramsinks for your video memory, because the stock heatsink probably cooled that too, and you don't wanna be taking steps backward.
Media Drive: Get a DVD burner. they are $50, and worth the extra $20 in a heartbeat.