Prelimary specs for my new system.

[Living-In-Clip]

Alright, as everyone knows I have been in the process of building a new system. So, now I\'ve got some prelimary specifcations , here\'s a rundown. You\'ll notice I am missing a DVD burner, monitor and speakers, so , post your suggestions on those three.


Thunder K8W (S2885) -
Opteron 242  X 2 -
RADEON 9800 XT 256MB  -
2 GIG PC2700 DDR -
4 160 Gigs Drive  -
Windows XP Pro -
ThermalTake Hardcano 12 -

Thoughts? Recommendations?

[§ôµÏG®ïñD]

I wouldn\'t bother with 256meg Vid cards. Won\'t make much difference. Also faster mem.

[Living-In-Clip]

If I am spending this much money on my system (over 3K), I am going to put high end components in it. You say it "won\'t make much a difference", much meaning it will make some slight difference, which is fine by me. Squeak every little bit out of it I can and when the next generation cards come out, upgrade again.

[§ôµÏG®ïñD]

hey dood, if u like wasting the cash to get that little bit extra that you\'ll only notice on paper and benchmark results, go for it.
Myself i\'d rather just keep up with the needed specs for current gaming and save S@#t loads of cash for other things.. Like case modding wooo.

[Living-In-Clip]

Because we all know case modding isn\'t a waste.

I am not really concerned with modding, but more performance.

[§ôµÏG®ïñD]

I get performance without wasting the cash in the process..  Why bother trying to get 200 fps on games when u only need a constant 60 etc..  Its just my opinion.  I can understand getting cpus, mem or that etc. It changes perfomance in  apps and games etc. But a 256meg card that will end up outdated pretty fast and for the cost they are is just a total waste. (which also doesn\'t add much more fps over 128meg cards)
Just wait for the next gen series and buy one of them, atleast you\'re getting what you pay for.   Case modding isn\'t the only thing i waste my cash on, also waste it on other things like cds, dvds, 5.1 sound systems etc.   Save your cash and get a 128meg card and put it towards faster mem etc.

Well if you\'re going to drop this much money aren\'t you just going to wait for the next lines top card since it isn\'t too far around the corner?

[§ôµÏG®ïñD]

^ my point too.    why pay out heaps for a 256meg card, when it\'ll be outdated pretty fast.  Atleast waste your cash on a newer series card.

The problem is that there is always a new card around the corner.

back OT..

CRIKEY!  You\'re system will kick arse, everyone will be asking you to post screenshots of how HL2 should look @ 1600x1200. :cool:

Just curious, why did you decide on 2 Opertons as opposed to the Athlon 64?  I don\'t know much about the Operton but checking the prices on Pricewatch it  seems like some good $#!+.

You seem to have a big budget for your new system, for the monitor consider looking at the 16:9 CRT Sony offers.  Newer games are supporting widescreen resolutions, and many can be made 16:9 simply by editing a game config txt.  $2g\'s on the site but defintely can be found elsewhere cheaper.

DVD burner, I dunno a Lite-On or Pioneer that can handle multiple formats..?

Speakers.. Klipsch Promedia Ultra.
Even better some Tannoys or M-Audio Studio Monitors.
Note these choices are powered only for computer use.

PS- don\'t listen to these g00ns about waiting for the next big thing.  That can always be an excuse as every single new chipset for a card that ATi or nVidia releases is soon after upgraded.  5700, 5800, 5900, 5950....  9800pro, 9800pro 256, 9800xt...

You\'ll be more than happy with your brand new 9800xt.  And if a new card does come out that blows it out of the water (highly unlikely) you\'ll have no problem selling that sob on the Anandtech forums and spending a little extra to get that newer card.

I agree with Soulgrind. I\'ve read countless tests that show almost no performance gain with 256mb vid cards. Waste of money IMHO.

Also 2 CPUs are also a waste of money. Seeing as you only get about 25% (if that) with a second CPU and not 100%.

Seeing as games and most applications are serial programmed apps, you won\'t get a significant jump in performance with another CPU.

Buy an Athlon 64 instead or the 3.4GHz P4 Extreme Edition.

u might wanna ditch those 2 gigs of pc 2700 ram and get something like the corsair xms pc3200 ram, much better imo. other wise yer doing ok.
but why a dual proc? only a hand full of progs require a dual proc setup..

256mb graphics card isn\'t an issue here since the XT *ONLY* comes in 256mb flavors.  If you want him to go 9800pro just because there is an 128mb version then he\'ll lose about 10fps on games.

I told you, don\'t listen!:p

I bought a 9800 Pro 128 recently, and I think they are priced reasonably right now.  Sure, the XT 256 is "better," but not enough to warrant the absurdly higher price.  

L-I-C I think you should cut some corners so you can buy new wheels for your Celica!    That\'s the nightmare I\'m trapped in now.  It used to be that my only purchasing goals were for the home theater and the PC.  Now, the car is the first priority, and the other two are 2nd and 3rd.