What do you think of this rig - new mobo, cpu, vid card and hdd

whisper

whisper

Limp Gawd
Joined
Mar 16, 2003
Messages
466
What do you guys think of this new build to replace my long obsolete Athlon XP 2100+ rig. I am basically ready to order everything now but just want to make sure I'm not making any big mistakes with anything. I know AM2 is the new way to go, but I generally prefer to stick with the tried and true and hence my decision to go 939. Price is not a huge concern but if I can keep it below $500 mark I'd be pretty happy.

Mobo:
DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 SLI-D

CPU:
AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego

Vid Card
eVGA 256-P2-N624-AR GeForce 7900GS 256MB

hdd:
Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s

Btw - these will be paired with the Corsair RAM and Lian Li case in my sig. Like I said, I already know there are higher end and more expensive alternatives, especially with the vid card. So no need to tell me I should go for an 8800 GTS/GTX instead :p I'm mainly just interested in quality and stability, and overall performace and bang for buck sort of stuff. Is there any reason to think it would not be a solid rig. Thanks in advance.

Edit: I meant to put this under general hardware. Sorry 'bout that :eek:
 
looks good... but i would go C2D with $500

maybe get an opteron 165 instead of the 3700+ DC are definately worth it... get a used video card from the for sale forum.

maybe get the HDD used also...

you can definately find a used 3700+ or 3800+ single core...

and also the DFI board... lots of people are getting rid of their 939 stuff so.. get a used DFI board...

with $500 i would go all used and get a dual core CPU and a 7900gt

with a 250gb sata drive...

it can be done with 2gb of RAM also..

some DDR is being sold some cheaper becasue of DDR2 :) but that might be pushing your luck..


$60 DFI mobo
$65 for WD 250gb drive
$125 X2 3800+
$150 7900gs
512x2 TCCD GEIL RAM $95

$495 and you might not find a Ultra-D DFI for $60 but this is close... 2GB is way over the price range... but the dual core is much better than the 3700+
 
What's the most intensive program or game that you run?

C2D is great, but also too expensive for a $500 upgrade.

Is there any reason you want that specific DFI board? Abit's KN8 SLI is only $87.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813127225). I used the KN8 Ultra for a year with a 3700+ and loved it to pieces. If you chose it instead of the DFI you would also be able to take the dual core Opteron 165 and hit $500.
 
Pooky said:
What's the most intensive program or game that you run?

C2D is great, but also too expensive for a $500 upgrade.

Is there any reason you want that specific DFI board? Abit's KN8 SLI is only $87.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813127225). I used the KN8 Ultra for a year with a 3700+ and loved it to pieces. If you chose it instead of the DFI you would also be able to take the dual core Opteron 165 and hit $500.
Click to expand...

The most intensive programs I will run will probably be current and next gen games, like HL2, Oblivion, etc. and whatever's next. Also some older games like WoW, but of course even my current rig runs those fine so that's not much of a factor. Still, regardless of the game (old or new) I prefer to run everything at high to max settings so even older games may benefit from a better rig.

There's no particular reason why I picked the DFI board aside from the fact that it seems to have gotten very good reviews and it has nice looks for my window case. However, that Abit board seems like a very good alternative and the price is better (not to mention equally good looks, imho). So I'm actually considering going with that now instead.

As far as dual core processors go, I might be inclined to go with the Opteron 175 despite the higher cost, but I don't think I want to sacrifice one faster core for two slower ones. From what I've heard, most games are not designed to take advantage of dual core so you can basically expect better performance with a faster single core chip. From that standpoint, I suppose I could also go for an opteron 148 single core instead of the 3700+ San Diego, though I'm not exactly sure what advantage I might gain there (and the 3700+ chip is a little cheaper).

I'll look around a bit at used vid cards and maybe go that route. We'll see. Speaking of which, I'll definitely be selling that 7800 GS OC of mine for a reasonable cost so if anyone's interested...
 
Pooky said:
What's the most intensive program or game that you run?

C2D is great, but also too expensive for a $500 upgrade.
Click to expand...
My C2D upgrade:

E6300 - $150 (including mobo I'll use in another machine)
Dual775-VSTA - $55
2GB PC5300 - $150
6600GT - $100 (bought months ago, can get 7600s for this price now)
-----
$455

-bZj
 
man with that DFI mobo you wont be getting a slower core with a 165 0r 170.... LOOK at my sig... OC that damn CPU...

if you arent OCing then dont get a DFI....

honestly the 165s and 170s will beat the 3700+ OCed in single core apps... they generally OC to higher clock speeds..
 
I have a (single) AMD 3800+ right now and it's ok for the moment but if I had to buy something today I would go for the Intel again.Look at these specs to make my point.

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2802&p=4

I would seriously consider:
Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 (S775 BTX, 2x1.86GHz, 2MB, 1066MHz FSB)

Maybe twice the 3700+ price but than you realy have a fast and upgradable system.
Even the X2 3800+ nearly falls from the bottom list.

Or if you don't have the money buy a Celeron or cheaper Intel Pentium D 805 first (they fit on the same Mobo I guess_check it anywayz) so later you can upgrade.

Upgrade with s939 impossible.
 
I have seriously considered going the C2D route and agree that according to benchmarks and probably some real world scenarios as well, it is the top performer. But I've been an AMD fan for years becuase of the high performace to price factor, and I don't think the 939 and AM2 CPUs currently available are any exception. Plus, I wouldn't exactly say that going 939 has no upgrade path since you could go for a single core opteron now and then upgrade to a dual core chip later. I would go AM2 but honestly I have been doing a lot reading up and I can't seem to find a single board right now that seems reliable and trouble-free.

So I think I've re-affirmed my decision to stick with a 939 system, but I'm probably going with an opteron 165 which I definitely plan on oc'ing. It will bump up the price slightly but I think it will be more than worth it. Still haven't quite decided on the DFI board but Adidas seems to have had good luck with it, which is basically what I'm seeing in the reviews and stuff that I've found. I hear the little chipset fan makes a lot of noise though... makes the Abit board seem tempting.

Another perk for me at the moment in terms of going 939 is that I can keep my RAM. That would bump the price up even more if i went AM2 or C2D.
 
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