How's this system sound guys

[alexs242081]

Hi all, here's what I"m considering building:

Athlon AM2 3800+
2GB DDR2 (would it be of great benefit to invest in the fastest speed DDR2?)
XpertVision 8600GTS 256MB
Audigy 4 sound card... most likely. not sure yet.
160GB SATA HDD

... and PSU/Mobo to match.

Any comments/suggestions?

Thanks guys.

 

[GP_38-2]

Assuming of course this is meant to be a gaming machine:
Get something more powerful than a 3800+
Athlon X2 5600+'s are cheap these days
2GB of DDR2 is a good place to start (DDR2 667 or 800 will be optimal)
Drop the 8600 and get a good 8800 GTS 640MB from either BFG or XFX, 3rd rate brand names are something you don't want to be buying from.
Good sound cards X-Fi might be something to consider as well
might as well go with a SATA II drive. The extra speed will be worth it.

As for a PSU 700W minimum from a good company (Thermaltake, Ultra, BFG are good).
Mobo: Again not some 3rd rate brand. MSI, Gigabyte, ABIT, ASUS (best choice) are the best choices.

Now if your just talking a comp for low end games (2yrs old) and internet browsing
Again drop the 8600 GTS and either go higher with an 8800 GTS 640MB the 8600 just isn't a good card (unless you want internet browsing, i's just not a gaming card)
other than that not much changes from the above.

 

[johnwhelan]

Hi all, here's what I"m considering building:

Athlon AM2 3800+
2GB DDR2 (would it be of great benefit to invest in the fastest speed DDR2?)
XpertVision 8600GTS 256MB
Audigy 4 sound card... most likely. not sure yet.
160GB SATA HDD

... and PSU/Mobo to match.

Any comments/suggestions?

Thanks guys.

Depends on your budget. The following might be of interest.

http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/09/17/sbm_low_cost_system/

Personally the 8800GTS would be my video card of choice on a budget system and Intel dual cores are currently worth looking at.

Cheerio John

 

[AussieNightcrawler]

I would agree with the rest, the Athlon AM2 3800+ is slow and old, you could actually increase this to a 5600+ for $205 or a 6000+ for $240.

Intel, you could go something like the E6600 Duel Core for $325 or the Q6600 Quad Core for $379.

Graphics, the 8600GTS is a good card, from about $230 up to around the $320 for the overclocked extreme version.

The 8800GTS cards start from around the $440 for the 320MB versions and go up to the $660 640MB version.

So yeah, depends on your budget as John said, but seriously though I would think twice about the 3800+, replace it for something faster.


Hope this helps...

 

[alexs242081]

Yeah seriously on a bit of a budget

Is a 8600GTS a seriously better card than a 7600GT (under XP Home)?

Consider the difference in price

7600GT $112 AUS

8600GTS $215 AUS

... considering I wouldn't 'really' be benefiting from the DX10, is the 8600GTS really worth its extra price for XP usage (trainz etc...) ?

Thanks in advance
Alex

 

[AussieNightcrawler]

Hi,

If you were talking about the 7600GT and the 8600GT then in all honesty, no, there is no performance difference between the 2 cards, but since you actually said the 8600GTS then yes there is.

The 8600GTS has a higher memory clock, about 600MHz which gives it a higher memory transfer rate, 32GB/s plays 22.4GB/s for the 7600GT.

If the budget can can stretch, then go the 8600GTS, this will last you for longer then the 7600GT.

 

[alexs242081]

thanks mate

 

[GP_38-2]

oy scratch what I said, ok so you are on a budget.

if you are indeed on a tight budget then yes the 8600GTS is the way to go. But I would definately buy from a different company. BFG and XFX are the best as far as service and customer support if anything goes wrong.

Here's a head-to-head comparison of the two cards
http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=512&card2=498
great site for comparing bang-for-buck.

still on the budget look for some quality RAM:
Kingston Valueram is good stuff and fairly cheap

 

[johnwhelan]

oy scratch what I said, ok so you are on a budget.

if you are indeed on a tight budget then yes the 8600GTS is the way to go. But I would definately buy from a different company. BFG and XFX are the best as far as service and customer support if anything goes wrong.

Here's a head-to-head comparison of the two cards
http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=512&card2=498
great site for comparing bang-for-buck.

still on the budget look for some quality RAM:
Kingston Valueram is good stuff and fairly cheap

Yes but Aussie is smaller than the US so what is available maybe different as may prices. What we probably need is an Internet Aussie web site similar to newegg to be able to give better direction within a price range.

Cheerio John

 

[swdw]

Hmm, On a budget, the 3800+ x2 is a good option because most of them (most not all) are good overclockers.

For the MB, you might want to shop around for an ABit AN52. This is a good lower cost mb that has lots of overclocking options. Mine is very stable and runs fairly cool. It also includes a built in gigabit ethernet controller, SATA 300 controller, one ide controller, and a built in 7.1 sound card that doesn't seem to cause to much of a performance hit. This will let you take your time and pick out and save for the audio card you want. Make sure you have the latest BIOS installed though, flash it if needed.

My new system is a 3800+ x2 with a 2GB DDR2 800, the AN52 MB, a PCI-e firewire card, a 650 W Antec PS, and a Seagate SATA drive. Where I differ is I found a great price on a Sapphire ATi x1950 Pro w/ crossfire capability ($150 U.S.). But then, I like ATi cards. Haven't decided on a sound card yet, but the on board sound will hold me until I do.

I have TRS 2004 and 2006 maxed out on polys, textures and the resource cache at max size. The only slowdown I noticed was passing through a yard with 6 hi poly count steam locos and their tenders and about 30 cars in the yard and while running the complete Hiawatha using the 4-6-4 Hudson. I set that up deliberately to see what would happen. Otherwise it runs beautifully.

IL2 1946 runs with all settings maxxed. Battle of Britain II runs with most settings maxed. It will get a little slow (21 fps) when there's 20 to 30 bombers in the air, 20 to 30 fighters and lots of particle effects from flak. Silent Hunter 4 is gorgeous with this system.

I will upgrade later to the 6000 when the price falls more.

This system also runs the 64 bit Sabayon Linux and for speed, its a screamer compared to XP.