Time to start my new PC (recommenations needed)

I\'m starting the thrill and excitement of building my first PC.  I can\'t play any of the new PC games at all, and it\'s just been killing me.  So i\'m starting the process of buying my components, so I could use a little help deciding which way to go on a few things.  I have a budget of about $800 - 900, so i\'m going to re-use my existing DVD drive, CD Burner & Hard drive (for a little while at least).

CASE & POWER SUPPLY

I was looking into getting an ANTEC case that came with a PSU.  Would a 350W PSU be good enough?  Are there other brands of cases that I should also consider.  I\'m not looking to go overboard, i\'d like to keep the case & PSU to under $80 if possible.

MOTHERBOARD

Here is my first major decision of what to go with.  I decided on an Athlon64 3000+, but should I go with the socket 754, or wait out for a deal on a 939?  

I also think i\'m going with the Nforce 3 chipset 250gb version, is that a good choice?  What\'s a good company?  I saw a Chaintech and Biostar that looked pretty decent.

CPU

With gaming being my primary concern, i\'m going Athlon 64 all the way.  I\'m hoping to OC a A64 3000+, is this enough processor to keep up with a 6800GT?  I could go up to a 3200+, but that starts cutting my budget a little close.

MEMORY

I was looking at the Geil 512 MB  memory with the blue heat spreader, but it\'s a value memory type.  I\'d like to try my hand at overclocking, so would I need something better?  What is a good brand to go with?  In a few months (or maybe after christmas i\'ll get another 512).

VIDEO CARD

This one I got picked out.  I\'m going 6800GT 256 MB with GDDR3 memory.  This is one place I don\'t want to skimp at all.  I\'m still a little undecided on either an AGP or PCIe version.  There aren\'t any PCIe motherboards for AMD yet, but with the new Nforce 4 chipset there should be some coming out really soon.  Should I just hold off and wait to get a PCIe or just go AGP?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.  I can\'t wait to get this thing started and post my progress.

mmmm I love when you guys get a new system.  It\'s like the rest of us nerds get a new one as well. :nerd:

For PSU I\'d get a 400w Fortron like me.  It\'s better and quieter than an Antec.  You can make the 120mm go into uber fast mode for gaming but most of the time I leave it on silent.  nvidia256 will recommend a PC Power & Cooling but not sure if it\'ll fir your budget.  My system with a 6800gt + p4 + 3 HDs + extras runs perfectly fine with it.  No stability problems ever.

CPU sounds good.  I wouldn\'t skimp here though.  If you can afford a faster one go for it.  Then get a Thermaltake or Zalman HSF and OC it.

Soully or nvidia could help you with the mobo chipset but I heard nVidia\'s are really popular.  I like Asus or Abit brands.  You pay up the wazoo for Asus but they come loaded with extras.

Get at least 1 gig of ram if you want to game.  You can also take advantage of dual channel speed (AMD has this too right?).   Geil\'s decent but I prefer Corsair or Crucial, just because I\'ve used them before.

No real world measured benefits between PCIe vs AGP8x yet so don\'t sweat it.

You should still be able to stay under or around $900 with the stuff you\'re looking at.

[Living-In-Clip]

For alittle bit more you can get a 3200 or 3400, if you are going to use the Socket 754 format. I would at least get the 3200.

Go Chaintech for your Mobo. That is what I have for my 754 and I love it. Great motherboard all around.

I run Cosair XMS RAM, great RAM with low timings.

And if you want to save abit more cash, just get a regular 6800, not the GT. You won\'t have the BEST performance, but you will still be able to run DOOM 3, Far Cry in high resolution, with everything on and get an acceptable frame rate.

[§ôµÏG®ïñD]

Go Amd 64 line, go Nvidia Nforce Chipset. Asus, Gigabyte, Abit or MSI are good brands. Go 939 for future proofin. If you figure out its not in your budget just go the other.
Dual Channel doesn\'t work the same on AMD machines as it does for intel. Simply because of the way the systems handle their bandwidth.
Go for a 6800 GT gfx card, I prefer leadtek, but just research to make sure you get what you pay for, Asus strip down their 6800 cards.
Get a Audigy 2 soundcard, not sure if Nforce3 uses Soundstorm (mcp-t) chipsets.
Sata Seagate or WD hd.
For Ram go Crucial, Cosair or Kingston\'s Hyper X ram etc (1 gig atleast)
For PSU, Any high end one will do, its all personal preference.  I\'ve tested antec and Tt psus and found they\'re very stable. Even though i\'m on a justcooler SP400, with Antec or Tt and you can\'t go wrong. Get atleast 400watt minimum.

cool guys, thanks for the input

I\'m probably just gonna go with on-board audio for now, i\'m on a serious budget here and really can\'t afford a nice sound card anytime soon.  As long as I can hear it, it\'s good to me.

And yeah, I was thinking maybe just going with the 6800 vanilla, then I could bump up the ram to some of the good shit, and a gig of it at that.  Oh and what chaintech mobo did you get?  I\'m reading some really glowing reviews of their boards.

Is a PNY 6800GT a good card?  I was looking at LeadTek as well, they have that really nice copper heatsink don\'t they?

[Living-In-Clip]

(1) The 939 boards are going to cost you quite abit. Go with 754 if you want a high performance on a budget. I recommend the 3400, but you could easily get away with a 3200 and overclock it!

(2) I got the Chaintech ZNF-150. Great motherboard. The smart card reader it comes with is not all that great, but the board itself is great.

(3) There is a difference in a 600 , and 6800 GT. You will only have 128 meg of RAM on the regular 6800 and it is clocked abit slower, and you only get 12 pipes (tho\' you can softmod it for all 16). Still, if you want to save about $100 bucks, I recommend the Giga-byte 6800 128meg card. Get\'s great reviews and will cost you less than a 6800 GT, which is great if you are on a budget. Not to mention it has a great bundle (Thief 3 and etc).

I run a n Antec 450 Watt PS. Very stable and never had a problem with it. Nviidia will be here to lecture you on how to buy an expensive PS and what not. It comes down to personal choice. I think Antec are decent PS for the price you pay.

Any idea on your storage? What brand are you looking for on your optical? I have a Plextor 708-A and love it. Are you going to go SATA?  If so, how much storage do you need? If you just want performance , buy you a small SATA Western Digital Raptor drive.



Oh and most Chaintech motherboards come with excellent onboard audio!

[§ôµÏG®ïñD]

Don\'t get a gigabyte 6800 card, Pretty much every card i\'ve seen out performs it, for the same costs Albatron, Leadtek or MSI are the way to go.

[Living-In-Clip]

*hugs his 6800 Giga-byte*

/ The evil man is not talking to you...


Either way, I recommend it, because he is on a budget. If you want an affordable card that can run the highest games at acceptable rates, I think the plain ole 6800 will suffice. I was going to go GT, but I just cannot justify that cost right now. Maybe after the price drops abit I will sell the Gigabyte off and upgrade, but for the time being the Gigabyte 6800 willl do fine.

And if you want to argue about this, I think the XFX card is getting all around best reviews and it comes with DOOM 3.

[§ôµÏG®ïñD]

Then get the XFX, if it performs equal or over the other cards for the same price.   Personally don\'t know much about them or their quality control. But if they are a good card, using decent electronic components. Then go for it.

[Living-In-Clip]

*argh*
*head explodes*

Damnit, man!

Alright, alright, let\'s agree with one thing..

Get a 6800 card and not the new ATI card.

[§ôµÏG®ïñD]

Agreed.

Hold off and wait for Nforce4 PCI-E. Then get a 6800GT PCI-E card.

This way it\'s more future proof.

i\'m not really worried about future proofing, cause by the time I need to upgrade again it will probably be time for a new mobo and the like.

I\'ve ordered my 420W PSU and an Antec Mid-Tower case, now I gotta decide if I wanna go with the 754 or 939 A64.

I\'m hearing awesome stuff about the new 90nm A64 and overclocking.  A lot of people are getting like 30-40% increases in their clock... on air!  So what should i go with?

[videoholic]

All I notice is your avatar.  Nice.

[Living-In-Clip]

You can go ahead and buy an AGP card. They are going to be around awhile and if you go ahead and buy a good card today you won\'t have to worry about upgrading within two years. Not to mention there isn\'t any really outstanding PCI-Express motherboards...  I got my Giga-Byte card in  and it runs Doom 3 with all the settings on very well, I can\'t complain about it at least. It may not break the benchmarks like the XFX but it is cheaper...

Also keep in mind if you are "future proofing", then PCI-EXPRESS / DDR2 are two things you will have to get, two things that right now, don\'t offer a real world advantage. It all comes down to, how often do you upgrade and do you want to be prepared for something that you amy not see an advantage of for another year or two.