Im selling my current pc to a clanmember and im gonna build an entire new one with PCI-e.

here are the specs:
- AMD Athlon 64 3700+
- ATi Radeon X1800XT 512MB (Sapphire)
- Gigabyte K8NF-9 nF4
- OCZ Modstream 520 Watt 28A on the +12V
- Western Digital Caviar SE16 16MB Cache 320GB (Bulk , WD3200KS, S-ATA2)
- OCZ DIMM 1 GB Performance (Retail, OCZ4001024PFDC) 2-3-3-6

a few things i wanna check up on since its a gaming pc.

- the PSU is pretty good i suppose. confirmation?
- memory good enough?
- S-ATA2 better than IDE? is the one i picked good? with its 16MB cache?

- any other things i forgot or shouldnt do?

i'd like some confirmation because last time i bought parts i hadto change some things.

thanks...

ATi Radeon 9600 PRO
AMD Athlon 64 3700+
Gigabyte K8NSC-939
1Gb Team Group DDR400
Maxtor 200Gb
450 Watts PSU
4 vents

thats a damn nice setup. probably costs alot. the PSU looks great, especially on the 12v rail. and this is my opinion, if you have a lil extra money to dish out, get 2GB of that RAM and a sound card. if you are gonna game you need all the RAM you can get and a good Sound card will help out so you don;t get a sluggish system sometimes. I recconmmend a Soundblaser X-Fi, but thats just me, i know some people will argue. SATA2 im not really familiar with it but i have a friend that said SATA was kinda confusing if you don't know how to set up up correctly, and if you don't then you can run into serious problems. but i'd wait for someone to reply who really knows heir stuff, i just know a little bit about constructing systems so i help when i can. goodluck.

Go with a DFI motherboard, and make sure you get an NForce4 Ultra motherboard.

Look at the Opteron 144 ($170). Clocked a little lower, but has the same amount of cache and costs less. It's also a monster overclocker. Could also consider the Opteron 165 dual core ($330), although it won't benefit you right now for most games, games will undoubtedly be optimized for dual core more and more. It also has 1M cache per core, and quite an overclocker.

2GB would be prudent with that high end of a machine.

SATA is superior to IDE, but it's not a huge performance difference.

Also, what games will you predominantly play?

"SATA2 im not really familiar with it but i have a friend that said SATA was kinda confusing if you don't know how to set up up correctly"

Uhh, SATA is easier to setup. No jumpering the drive! About the only thing that could possibly be harder is to know you need to hit the button on Windows setup to load 3rd party controller drivers. Make sure you have a floppy drive to do this.

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Why not drop the 512mb vram x1800xt to a 256mb one? The money saved from that, you put in another stick of 1gb ram. 512mb is overrated anyway, although can be helpful at times.

It might just be in my head, but when I'm sure SATA is a lot faster than IDE.

Not really. Drives haven't been able to saturate ATA100 or 133 yet. Where it can help is if IDE devices are daisy chained on the same cable. That can't be done with SATA.

"Milk was a bad choice!"

hmm so lowering to 256 Mb card will save me 60 euro that wont get me another 1GB stick and a sound card:P tho now you put me on a thinking u say opteron 144 is as good as 3700+ or what because i think i could get a good extra money to spend

ATi Radeon 9600 PRO
AMD Athlon 64 3700+
Gigabyte K8NSC-939
1Gb Team Group DDR400
Maxtor 200Gb
450 Watts PSU
4 vents

DFI board will cost me 70 euro more
so i could go for the X1800XT 256MB and buy a better mobo.

ATi Radeon 9600 PRO
AMD Athlon 64 3700+
Gigabyte K8NSC-939
1Gb Team Group DDR400
Maxtor 200Gb
450 Watts PSU
4 vents

and the board doesnt support SATA2 and Dual channel mode so i dont know if getting 2Gb would be really worth it

ATi Radeon 9600 PRO
AMD Athlon 64 3700+
Gigabyte K8NSC-939
1Gb Team Group DDR400
Maxtor 200Gb
450 Watts PSU
4 vents

You're looking at the wrong board then

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813136163

but no SATA2 or is it?

but in the end im still dealing with this problem:

soundcard yes or no w/7.1 surround system

or an extra Stick of 1Gb yes or no

can only choose 1 of both..

ATi Radeon 9600 PRO
AMD Athlon 64 3700+
Gigabyte K8NSC-939
1Gb Team Group DDR400
Maxtor 200Gb
450 Watts PSU
4 vents

The soundcard could be added later without any additional cost of eating something you're replacing since you'd use what's onboard. I'd hold off a bit.

I'd go with 2GB of RAM because DDR memory is only going to go up from here as RAM makers shift production to DDR2.

The Gigabyte board you referenced isn't an NForce4 Ultra motherboard. That is why the cost is that much higher probably to go to a DFI. Look at the DFI Infinity NForce4 Ultra chipset. You should definitely get an NForce4 Ultra motherboard, even if you go Gigabyte! That is honestly more important than 2GB of RAM.

"Milk was a bad choice!"

it is.. it is an K8NF-9 (nVidia nForce4 Ultra)
now i think ill go with 2Gb of GEIL
or 2 Gb kingston Valueram what would u suggest? budget is around 170 euro

ATi Radeon 9600 PRO
AMD Athlon 64 3700+
Gigabyte K8NSC-939
1Gb Team Group DDR400
Maxtor 200Gb
450 Watts PSU
4 vents

hmm 2GB OCZ GOLD GX 2-3-3-8 good enough?

ATi Radeon 9600 PRO
AMD Athlon 64 3700+
Gigabyte K8NSC-939
1Gb Team Group DDR400
Maxtor 200Gb
450 Watts PSU
4 vents

If you aren't upgrading to a hardcore gaming rig, this is pretty much a waste of time & other resources.

I'd take the OCZ over Kingston and Geil.

"Milk was a bad choice!"

ghehehe why is that saber? what would u suggest

ATi Radeon 9600 PRO
AMD Athlon 64 3700+
Gigabyte K8NSC-939
1Gb Team Group DDR400
Maxtor 200Gb
450 Watts PSU
4 vents

I would suggest you postpone your upgrade plans until you actually NEED one or at least build something that'll run circles around what you got now..........<EOM>

yeah i could wait a little longer but by the time i need to upgrade i wont get enough cash for my pc now! hmm i really need to reconsider this and get a second, third maybe 6th opinion.

ATi Radeon 9600 PRO
AMD Athlon 64 3700+
Gigabyte K8NSC-939
1Gb Team Group DDR400
Maxtor 200Gb
450 Watts PSU
4 vents

.......the best time to also get the most trade-in value for a new car is not very much after you drive it off the lot....;-)

hehe i know i know but i can get 750 euro for my current system i know its a little ripoff but its for a friend so i wouldnt wanna miss the chance the only investment i make is 200 euro well that i less than the X1800XT i was planning to upgrade for i mean getting an extra stick of 1Gb and a an X1800Xt a 520Watt 28A and an axtra 50Gb hard disc + 8Mb Extra Cache and better mobo with nVidia nForce 4-Ultra for only 200 euro!!!! thats a hell of deal i think:P

now you again

ATi Radeon 9600 PRO
AMD Athlon 64 3700+
Gigabyte K8NSC-939
1Gb Team Group DDR400
Maxtor 200Gb
450 Watts PSU
4 vents

LOL....I had a gut feeling someone that ain't you was being ripped off in this whole transaction all along, but thanks anyway for admitting to it.

However, there is still not much to the upgrade if you aren't getting something much faster & better, and $1100.00 won't get you that IMHO.

yeah but if i had to upgrade to your standards it would be like an FX-57 (FX-60 isnt better for gaming) with 2 X1900XTX 512Mb TOXIC
or an XFX 7950 GX2 1GB XXX
with a 1kW PSU and some Terrabyte with an 18x DVD writer and 4Gig of memory and the best DFI board i can get but that would obviously cost me about 4 times the price and in a few years those items will become way much cheaper anyway. and i dont know if games can keep up with the graphics i mean the games should look like all the intro's like the trailers if u know what i mean. u seen the trailer of COD3? the graphics used there its just a movie if you are playing the actual graphics wont be that high and when they do i think that technology has gone so far that games just cant keep up and that the technology eventually stop growing because there is no need to develop better ones and it would all come down to who sells the most and AMD or INTEL dies! that is what i think will happen :P

ATi Radeon 9600 PRO
AMD Athlon 64 3700+
Gigabyte K8NSC-939
1Gb Team Group DDR400
Maxtor 200Gb
450 Watts PSU
4 vents

There aren't many of us that recommend bleeding edge technology (most expensive board, FX-60, top of the video line cards in SLi, 4GB RAM, etc). Most of us realize that there's a huge depreciation in PC hardware. It makes much more sense to stay a step or two behind, than to camp out on ATI's front lawn just to be the 1st to pay $600 for the latest card...but there are always extremists in all groups.

Other than your weak video card, you appear to have a solid system. All I would do is upgrade the card & be happy about the money I saved.

thanks for the wise words but then i would have to wait and buy an AGP card. i just thought upgrading to PCI-e would be better and it will cost me less then just buying an AGP card

ATi Radeon 9600 PRO
AMD Athlon 64 3700+
Gigabyte K8NSC-939
1Gb Team Group DDR400
Maxtor 200Gb
450 Watts PSU
4 vents