Right, my thoughts on the hardware: you only need one dvd-rw, but you know that (see I have read the thread ). I would ditch one of them and get an extra gig (or 1/2 gig) of RAM. (hell, why not?). Also, do you want a fan controller/a printer/scanner/adsl modem/ etc? if you're spending that much dosh (money) I would invest in one of those surgeprotector extension lead thingimabobs. Oh, and dont forget all the little things like cable sleeving etc. If you're going to make a beast of a machine, it has to look sexeh Cheers Sam
Dont be foolish enough to get a 9800 XT! the 6800 Ultra stomps that card into the ground, and will be available in Mid-May! Just wait until then. Also, while you are at it, get an FX-53 As you have the bidgewt for it; might as well max out everything, eh?
waiting has been adressed i will stick to ATi / AMD all the way. i think i am going to get the extra set of 2 x 512MB corsair memory, since the mobo has 4 slots. i am going to go with a "PC Power and Cooling Turbo-Cool 510 Ultra" psuu that has pre-sleeved (black) cables. also, black rounded ide cables for the DVDs and sata cables are sexah enough for me. all the extras (lighting.. fans.. etc etc) will be bought much later, after it all WORKS
Heh! Its going to have to be a pretty hefty PSU anyway to power that lot Don't you want to get the fans in there first? I mean, its going to get pretty hot in there... Cheers Sam
Worry about the sound and speakers later. Concentrate on the guts of the system. Then, when the smoke has cleared and one night when the headphones get sweaty, start making new plans. That whole avenue isn't going anywhere. There are next generation video cards due in less than 1 month from Nvidia and about 2 months from ATI. If you have to suffer with an old card until then or wait a month or two to put your system together then you would have a screamer.
sound and speakers are important! once again... I A M B U I L D I N G T H E S Y S T E M W I T H I N T H E W E E K OK?
made me use dictionary.com its obsolescence and, of course, PC hardware phases out so quickly that it doesnt really matter what you buy... However, I do not plan to wait, since the new hardware will be ridiculously (sp) expensive, and then there will be even better hardware around the corner. please drop the subject of waiting for better hardware
It's still an option to buy a cheap card until the real card is for sale. This saves $300 towards the next card. Also. gives you room to upgrade your CPU. If you look at it as money on hand, but then you will still need to come up with the dough for the good graphics card later.
That's not true. What you are doing is buying something at the end of it's product cycle. Paying almost the entire price of the newest card which would have given you an entire product cycle. This just sounds like a bad deal to me. If you saw the benchmarks of the 9800 XT and the 6800 Ultra then I'm surprised that you would put in such an inferior graphics generation as what you are choosing to do. Why pay for all that CPU processing power and have a bottle neck at the graphics end? http://www.bit-tech.net/review/313/
updated shopping list, without the prices: Code: +---------------+---------------+---------------+ +Part +Manufacturer +Model or Name + +---------------+---------------+---------------+ +Case +Antec +P160 + +---------------+ + + +Processor +AMD +Athlon FX-51 + +---------------+ + + +Motherboard +Gigabyte +GA-K8NNXP-940 + +---------------+ + + +Memory +Corsair +Twin XMS2 + +---------------+ + x2 + +Power +PCPower&Cooling+Turbo-Cool510D + +---------------+ + + +Hard Drive +Western Digital+WD74-GD + +---------------+ + x2 + +CD / DVD +Plextor +PX708A + +---------------+ + x2 + +Video Card +Asus +Radeon 9800 XT + +---------------+ + + +Sound Card +Creative Labs +Audigy 2 ZS P/P+ +---------------+ + + +Speakers +Creative Labs +Gigaworks S750 + +---------------+ + + +Headset +Plantronics +.Audio 90 + +---------------+ + + +Input +Logitech +MX Duo BlueT + +---------------+ + + +Cooling +Antec +120mm SmartCool+ +---------------+ + x2 + +Monitor +Hyandui +Q17 + +---------------+---------------+---------------+ good luck figuring out the ugly ascii / notepad table
I'd say go ahead and buy the 9800XT now, then, when the new lines of cards come out, sell your 9800XT and get a new ATI card. Although, I think its pretty silly of you to only want ATI. Up untill a couple of years ago, nVidia was dominating the graphics card market until ATI came out with the radeon 9700. I'm an ATI man myself, but thats mostly b/c I own one. If I had to choose between a 9800XT and 6800 Ultra (assuming price didn't matter), I would go with the 6800 no doubt. But w/e, it's your (dad's) money. P.S. You should get more than just 2 120mm fans; you should have the same amount of air coming into the case as is going out. You should have at least one case intake fan, one intake fan blowing over the HDDs, and two outake fans at the minimum (with those parts) And of course, water cooling is something to consider for the future (sorry if you already mentioned it) and you won't have to worry about fans
d'oh! does that mean i will be stuck with a whole line of expensive dual procs ahead and your a fool not to go FX53 and 6800u (or ATI next gen)..... save some money, get a second hand card/scrounge an old AGP card for like 2 weeks... and then shell out on a 6800ultra(or ATI alternative ). you will have a running system until then, and you wont regret it in the long term. also FX53 maybe new.. but it really isnt that much more expensive, and will give the a FX51 a whooping. also it doesnt need the slower, more expensive ECC reg. RAM to run. or maybe throw it hell and get dual 248 opterons.... you will get some SERIOUS power outta that. (oh.. and as a dual mon user.. i would say get second monitor, or ditch the crappy over priced TFT and get dual 19" CRTs if you dont wanna shell out too much)
