Need Some Recommends Guys

Frodo301 · Jul 26, 2005, 06:43 PM

I hope you all can help shed some light on some decisions I need to make in regards to building a new 'puter. Please excuse my current lack of knowledge as for the past year I have delt with my wife's preggie, her 8 months of bedrest, and a severe case of postpardom depression. A good friend of mine came over to the house and noticed my homebuilt computer which although a tad under 2 years old is still humming along quite nicely and serving me quite well. He was impressed with the custom design and the fact that I was overclocking a 2100xp to 2900xp speeds with air only. He has asked me to build him a computer and I've taken him to the task. Now to the question, due to my wife's illness I've really neglected checking on new hardware reviews for much of anything in quite some time. I am shocked at how so much has changed in such a small amount of time. SLI Geforces, dual core AMD/Intel chips is boggeling my mind. What configs specificly mb/vid card should I be looking at for an AMD board and can you pass on some of the reviews. He has about $2,000 for the entire setup and is open to overclocks for bang for the buck appeal. I appreaciate the input.

swimtech · Jul 30, 2005, 02:47 AM

Welcome back Frodo301...

Three things to suggest as a start -

The Hardware Reviews area accessible from the DH home page is a great place to start - gives practical and concise information on every reviewed component - and Veridian3 is really consistent in his review methods. There are mainboards, processors, ram, video cards - the gamut - a good variety over the past year...

An odd idea but I think might be a good second suggestion -

Look for the award avatars given to those members who participate in Roadee's Fastest Rig Competition thread (they're stickied at the top of the thread list) in the Overclocking and Modding forum. The avatars given are for the fastest machines across several benchmarks for a given class of computer. The information they give there and the information in their sigs will give you a really good idea of the bestest, fastest, most reliable components that work well together.

Third - start a thread in that Forum...

Again, welcome back - and it says a lot that you have been helping your wife through such a tough time and congratulations! Hope she is doing better...

CDsDontBurn · Jul 30, 2005, 03:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by swimtech

Look for the award avatars given to those members who participate in Roadee's Fastest Rig Competition thread (they're stickied at the top of the thread list) in the Overclocking and Modding forum. The avatars given are for the fastest machines across several benchmarks for a given class of computer. The information they give there and the information in their sigs will give you a really good idea of the bestest, fastest, most reliable components that work well together.

w00t w00t

. lol

To start off man, with the budget your friend has at hand is quite a good one. Do you know if he is wanting to get a monitor, keyboard, mouse, and speakers to go along w/his system? I'm asking because that would take away from the $2,000 budget he has to make an ubber rig. Well, even if he does have to get all that, you should be able to build him up a rig with ONE 7800GTX, a 3500+ winchester/venice, at least 1Gb of good RAM (corsair xms, OCZ, Crucial Ballistix, Mushkin blue/black, Kingston Hyper X, Geil, etc.), a good MoBo (DFI Lan Party, MSI Neo4, ASUS A8N-Delux, etc.), a DVD burner, at least one WD Raptor (for OS) and a large HDD for data storage. That should put your friend under his budget.

A large portion of the budget will be decided on CPU, RAM, video card, and MoBo. I say have your friend get the best possible video card, and take a slower CPU, RAM, something like that.

Necrosis · Jul 30, 2005, 04:05 AM

CD's pretty much has you covered. Though I'm tempted to say dual core for future proofing. I only have two things to add.

1. OCZ or Enermax PSU
2. Samsung HD for storage

CDsDontBurn · Jul 30, 2005, 04:16 AM

.......I beg to differ there Necrosis, but we have difference of opinions. We're only human right?

1. OCZ or Antec (though Enermax is good, but there are better out there)
2. WD or Seagate HDDs for storage. WD = 3yr. warranty, Seagate = 5yr. warranty and their Barracudas have liquid bearing = quiet HDDs

Oh yea....dual core is the way to go, you're right on that, but i don't think that $2,000 will be enough to cover either an Intel or AMD dual core set up.

Necrosis · Jul 30, 2005, 04:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CDsDontBurn

.......I beg to differ there Necrosis, but we have difference of opinions. We're only human right?

1. OCZ or Antec (though Enermax is good, but there are better out there)
2. WD or Seagate HDDs for storage. WD = 3yr. warranty, Seagate = 5yr. warranty and their Barracudas have liquid bearing = quiet HDDs

Oh yea....dual core is the way to go, you're right on that, but i don't think that $2,000 will be enough to cover either an Intel or AMD dual core set up.

Of course there are better like PC Power & Cooling. I have a personal dislike for Antec supplies now since owning a couple. Don't get me wrong they're good but they're not any better than Enermax. Seagates are good too, I've been very impressed with their drives. However, the Samsungs are very quiet too. Price wise they're hard to beat.

CDsDontBurn · Jul 30, 2005, 04:28 AM

i didn't like my old enermax only because it wouldn't let me OC as high as i wanted to. my system would just shut off w/o warning if i threw too much voltage at my CPU/RAM. It's a rock solid PSU at stock speeds though.

Necrosis · Jul 30, 2005, 04:32 AM

I had the same thing with my Antec supply on my P4 setup. I still like OCZ the best, though I'm not crazy about the modular supplies.

CDsDontBurn · Jul 30, 2005, 04:35 AM

you have reason not to be crazy about them. Modular supplies create more resistance where they connect, making less power go through the lines to your devices. And OCZ is by far the best bang for the buck PSU on the market IMO. Great quality, great rails, great stability both stock and OCed, and you don't have to pay an arm and a leg for them like you do PC Power & Cooling. Though the only thing that i don't like about them is the green fan on the rear =\

Necrosis · Jul 30, 2005, 04:38 AM

Indeed we agree on this. You basically get a PC Power Cooling quality at quite lower prices. I was also say in regard to the thread about the dual cores. It maybe possible to get one of the lower models from AMD. However, I wouldn't skimp out on any other parts just to get the processor.

CDsDontBurn · Jul 30, 2005, 04:40 AM

very true. If one is to get a low end X2 AMD CPU, then they should only get the best quality parts for everything else. PSU, MoBo, RAM, HDD(s), video cards, etc.

Necrosis · Jul 30, 2005, 04:44 AM

I just hope this guy has a nice monitor, so it'll open up quite a few more options.

CDsDontBurn · Jul 30, 2005, 04:45 AM

ya, that's what i was thinking too. i mentioned it on my first post

.

Jul 26, 2005, 06:43 PM	#1
Frodo301 Outraged Join Date: May 2002 Location: The mountains Posts: 584 Rep Power: 0	Need Some Recommends Guys I hope you all can help shed some light on some decisions I need to make in regards to building a new 'puter. Please excuse my current lack of knowledge as for the past year I have delt with my wife's preggie, her 8 months of bedrest, and a severe case of postpardom depression. A good friend of mine came over to the house and noticed my homebuilt computer which although a tad under 2 years old is still humming along quite nicely and serving me quite well. He was impressed with the custom design and the fact that I was overclocking a 2100xp to 2900xp speeds with air only. He has asked me to build him a computer and I've taken him to the task. Now to the question, due to my wife's illness I've really neglected checking on new hardware reviews for much of anything in quite some time. I am shocked at how so much has changed in such a small amount of time. SLI Geforces, dual core AMD/Intel chips is boggeling my mind. What configs specificly mb/vid card should I be looking at for an AMD board and can you pass on some of the reviews. He has about $2,000 for the entire setup and is open to overclocks for bang for the buck appeal. I appreaciate the input. __________________ The greatest thing you'll every learn is to love, and be loved in return. Last edited by Frodo301; Jul 27, 2005 at 07:54 PM. Reason: Not enough info?

Jul 30, 2005, 02:47 AM	#2
swimtech HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: North Carolina Posts: 4,040 Rep Power: 124 System Specs	Welcome back Frodo301... Three things to suggest as a start - The Hardware Reviews area accessible from the DH home page is a great place to start - gives practical and concise information on every reviewed component - and Veridian3 is really consistent in his review methods. There are mainboards, processors, ram, video cards - the gamut - a good variety over the past year... An odd idea but I think might be a good second suggestion - Look for the award avatars given to those members who participate in Roadee's Fastest Rig Competition thread (they're stickied at the top of the thread list) in the Overclocking and Modding forum. The avatars given are for the fastest machines across several benchmarks for a given class of computer. The information they give there and the information in their sigs will give you a really good idea of the bestest, fastest, most reliable components that work well together. Third - start a thread in that Forum... Again, welcome back - and it says a lot that you have been helping your wife through such a tough time and congratulations! Hope she is doing better... __________________ It's not so much getting your way that matters or not - what matters is how you go about getting it.

Jul 30, 2005, 04:16 AM	#5
CDsDontBurn Lurking DriverHeaven Join Date: May 2003 Location: Southern California Posts: 22,795 Rep Power: 235 System Specs	.......I beg to differ there Necrosis, but we have difference of opinions. We're only human right? 1. OCZ or Antec (though Enermax is good, but there are better out there) 2. WD or Seagate HDDs for storage. WD = 3yr. warranty, Seagate = 5yr. warranty and their Barracudas have liquid bearing = quiet HDDs Oh yea....dual core is the way to go, you're right on that, but i don't think that $2,000 will be enough to cover either an Intel or AMD dual core set up. __________________ Her First Day \| A year later

Jul 30, 2005, 04:28 AM	#7
CDsDontBurn Lurking DriverHeaven Join Date: May 2003 Location: Southern California Posts: 22,795 Rep Power: 235 System Specs	i didn't like my old enermax only because it wouldn't let me OC as high as i wanted to. my system would just shut off w/o warning if i threw too much voltage at my CPU/RAM. It's a rock solid PSU at stock speeds though. __________________ Her First Day \| A year later

Jul 30, 2005, 04:35 AM	#9
CDsDontBurn Lurking DriverHeaven Join Date: May 2003 Location: Southern California Posts: 22,795 Rep Power: 235 System Specs	you have reason not to be crazy about them. Modular supplies create more resistance where they connect, making less power go through the lines to your devices. And OCZ is by far the best bang for the buck PSU on the market IMO. Great quality, great rails, great stability both stock and OCed, and you don't have to pay an arm and a leg for them like you do PC Power & Cooling. Though the only thing that i don't like about them is the green fan on the rear =\ __________________ Her First Day \| A year later

Jul 30, 2005, 04:05 AM	#4
Necrosis HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: Ohio Posts: 8,838 Rep Power: 131 System Specs	CD's pretty much has you covered. Though I'm tempted to say dual core for future proofing. I only have two things to add. 1. OCZ or Enermax PSU 2. Samsung HD for storage

Jul 30, 2005, 04:32 AM	#8
Necrosis HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: Ohio Posts: 8,838 Rep Power: 131 System Specs	I had the same thing with my Antec supply on my P4 setup. I still like OCZ the best, though I'm not crazy about the modular supplies.

Jul 30, 2005, 04:38 AM	#10
Necrosis HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: Ohio Posts: 8,838 Rep Power: 131 System Specs	Indeed we agree on this. You basically get a PC Power Cooling quality at quite lower prices. I was also say in regard to the thread about the dual cores. It maybe possible to get one of the lower models from AMD. However, I wouldn't skimp out on any other parts just to get the processor.

Jul 30, 2005, 04:40 AM	#11
CDsDontBurn Lurking DriverHeaven Join Date: May 2003 Location: Southern California Posts: 22,795 Rep Power: 235 System Specs	very true. If one is to get a low end X2 AMD CPU, then they should only get the best quality parts for everything else. PSU, MoBo, RAM, HDD(s), video cards, etc. __________________ Her First Day \| A year later

Jul 30, 2005, 04:44 AM	#12
Necrosis HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: Ohio Posts: 8,838 Rep Power: 131 System Specs	I just hope this guy has a nice monitor, so it'll open up quite a few more options.

Jul 30, 2005, 04:45 AM	#13
CDsDontBurn Lurking DriverHeaven Join Date: May 2003 Location: Southern California Posts: 22,795 Rep Power: 235 System Specs	ya, that's what i was thinking too. i mentioned it on my first post . __________________ Her First Day \| A year later