So one of my friends just turned 21 a couple weeks ago, and among things that he got was a whole lot of cash (ontop of money he had saved) from his parents. He’s had a shitty dell which he has had to use for a while now and he is finally getting a new computer built by me soon. Parts were ordered last week off newegg, and all but 3 of them are there and they should get there tomorrow I’m guessing. Here’s the specs…
AMD 64 4000+ socket 939 cpu
Asus a8n sli premium nForce 4 motherboard
eVga 7800gtx w 256mb, 256 bit PCI-E vid card
1 gig Corsair XMS ddr400
250 gig western digital HDD
dvd burner and dvd player (from my favorite brand - lite on)
viewsonic 19" monitor (its veryyyyy nice)
Aspire X-navigator (I think this is the name of the case… cant remember off the top of my head).
Simply put, its going to be smoking. I cant wait to build this machine and test it out. I told him the first thing I will be doing after its complete, is installing oblivion and playing it for a while :P. Also, I will probably be getting him one more gig of memory. We’ll see how it runs first though
Not a bad start. But, you need to do more homework Heres my opinions. Just as background, I build computers for a living, am a consultant and have been for 3 years, and am a computer systems engineer as my day job. It is my job to know whats what
opteron dual core Opteron 165. Double the L2 cache, and even cheaper. Will overclock better, and at stock speeds run smoother.
I also like the DFI ultra infinity NForce4 LanParty motherboard over the ASUS.
Video card is very nice… if you want to spend a fortune
Make sure the memory is good quality DDR400… 2-2-2-6 latencies. I usually use PQI Turbo or Crucial Ballistix. They overclock well.
250 GB hard drive… get SATA II 3.0Gb/s. I’m not sure if the ASUS supports SATAII, but I know the DFI does.
DVD burner… NEC 3550A is a choice among lots of people, but Lite-Ons are nice too.
what version of the viewsonic 19" LCD?
And, a case is purely your call
EDIT: I just noticed you already ordered it!!! What were you thinking before getting advice? Oh well… its still a nice machine, but just not all it could be sigh
Eh, I’m not going to be doing any overclocking with his machine whatsoever. I have built several machines (although not for a job like you :P) so I do my research but you are probably more knowledgable with lesser known stuff. I’ve been using Asus for a while and I’ve been very happy with them so I continue to use them until I find something better or they start to suck. The video card that I was initially going to get got sold out, so he said just spend more and get something better (LOL I wish I could do that ).
The memory is definately very high quality. I have the same stuff in my system and I have been VERY happy with it. It’s actually timed at 2-3-3-6, but its good stuff.
The monitor is actually a CRT as he has the desktop space for it and he really didnt want to spend a ton extra just for LCD.
If I had more time I probably would’ve picked parts a little differently, but this machine will by no means be a slouch :P. I plan on upgrading my computer actually within a few months so when I do I’ll be sure to toss you a PM thouhg
Replace PSU with antec,OCZ,Seasonic,FSP.Aim for a 500 watt.Expensive system and I wouldnt stick an “aspire” PSU in it.Good to have incase you ever go SLI.
Where are your raptor(s) at? SATA will do but raptors put a nice touch on everything.
I would’ve went with the opty like clean baldy said.
yeah, I wasnt planning on keeping the aspire psu in it… shouldve added I’m gonna be replacing that. I would do raptors for him but that’s just more money spent for him. If this system was for myself, you can bet there’d be raptors in it
I know it’s the “nerd corner” and all, but if I had a pile of cash, I wouldn’t spend it on a computer that would be outdated in a couple years anyway. Moderation is the key. Get something that will get the job done, and put the rest of the cash into your car. This is a auto enthusiest board, right?
my current setup is an a64 / 3000 w/ 1 gig dual ddr kingstons on the asus a8n sli premium with twin gigabyte geforce 6800gt. Based on the stability of my system, I say :tup: to the system you’re building. although that 7800 is damn expensive.
for $100 or $150 or so more he could have a 21" dell widescreen LCD.
good for most anything and looks pimp.
i just built a PC for about $1000
AMD single-core (will wait for the new AMDs before i go dual core)
2GB Corsair XMS RAM
seagate 300GB SATA II hard drive
plextor slot load dvdrw drive - overpriced @ $100 but slot load is hot to me.
evga 6800GS SLI video card - plenty for counterstrike which is all i’d play and it was a GREAT deal
biostar microATX board
aspire microATX case
yep all micro. going to be a watercooling project stuffed into there as well.
i LOVE it and only $100. well i did pay almost $400 for the dell LCD but after having a 20.3" widescreen iMac there was no going back. all newegg by the way.
that looks like a good setup, but as others have said… the card is probably overkill and that money could have been spent elsewhere, like on the hard drive.
I got to say this much. I’m over his house right now, and he hooked up the monitor to his current computer. This thing is nice as hellllll… I need to get myself a 19-21" monitor =(
).