Please help review my Custom Comp plan. ~!~[!New Stuff!]~!~

[Kinslayer777]

Ok, i know have two setups...First is quoted, second is after it. Thanks for looking!

 

 

 

 

 

Ok, can you review any parts? i have 200-300 spare monies (in us dollars, http://www.newegg.com) could you recommend any alterations? Maybe too much ram for proccesor, too good graphics for procceser, bad motherboard, i dont know, please help me tweak for performance and give reasons why =-)

 

(This is the set-up for a custom-build - some things i didnt include)

 

 

 

500 watt supply (Just to say)

 

 

 

1AMD AthlonÃÆââââ¬Ã¾Ãââ64 X2 4200+ Dual-Core CPU w/ HyperTransport Technology

 

 

 

liquid cooling (Not naming what kind, but i like the less noise + better cooling)

 

 

 

2 ATI Crossfire 3200 Chipset w/7.1 Audio , Dual Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, IEEE-1394 Dual PCI-E MB

 

 

 

 

 

3 1gig DDR2-800 corsair select (512x2), i'm worried about upgrade capabilities meh :\ Can i end up adding it so its 512*4 in about a year?

 

 

 

4 2x ATI Radeon X1900XTX 512 PCI-Express x16 running crossfire mode. This is where i think i might have screwed up! Perhaps a too good of a card if i plan on upgrading in two years. I might just want a 200-300ish range card for now until two years. That'd be the X1900XT 256 or 512 i believe...I need some help here :\

 

 

 

4 300 gig harddrive, 7200, 16 mb cache, series ata II, not sure yet but going for a decent brand.

 

 

 

CD/dvd drive, cd-rw/dvd-rw drive

 

 

 

5 a cheap soundcard or onboard...I'm not particular to high quality, unfortunetly i'm tone-deaf mildly.

 

 

 

Also looking at a monitor, CRT 19" if i can get a good deal or 19" LCD. please dont spazz out for LCD without reasoning. I have the space and CRT are still better then LCD in performance aspects...

 

 

 

Ok, i have a decent amount of monies left, Could anyone recommend anything, tell me what's good, what's bad?

 

 

 

Oh, and you'll notice i have a crossfire motherboard and just a (one) radeon 1900XT 512. Is there a downside to haveing a crossfire motherboard if you're not utilizing it? I thought it'd be good because then i can 'upgrade' the gpu later without replacing the whole card, just get another 1900XT (at the same time i realized that i'd probably need to upgrade to a D10 card :\. Are ati motherboards anygood or would a different type be better?)

 

 

 

I might not have listed everything, but i have the main things bolded.

 

 

 

~Nice looking case, blue window, might not be silent Case

 

~500 Watt Power Supply

 

~CoolerMaster Liquid CPU Cooling Fan System Kit

 

~300 gig hardrive, 7200, cache: 16mb

 

~Dvd rom drive

 

~Dvd-rw drive/cd-rw

 

~Onboard sound

 

~Mitsumi floppy drive (they're useful...)

 

 

 

~!~[socket-AM2] AMD AthlonÃÆââââ¬Ã¾Ãââ64 X2 4600+

 

 

 

~!~ATI Crossfire 3200 Chipset w/7.1 Audio , Dual Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, IEEE-1394 Dual PCI-E MB

 

 

 

~!~ 2 gigs of corsair select DDR-800 memory

 

 

 

~!~ Radeon X1900XT 512 mb

 

 

 

~!~ 19" viewsonic LCD monitor (for portability. I have room for crt)

 

 

 

 

 

I'm wondering about whats too powerful/weak compared to rest. What's made from peices that aren't good for their price (maybe a little step up or down is better value). Basically, what i did wrong =-) =D!

 

 

 

Aren't i demanding? Feel free to add any small bit, i'm asking for alot but its your help and time...I'm not demanding however it seems, i'm, er, requesting, no, clarifying my needs =D.

 

 

 

Oh...And this computer is for websurfing, entertainment, and gameing (Unreal and WoW particularly)

[Albosky]

As for the memory upgrade , it would just depend on how many memory slots the motherboard you purchase has . If it only has 2 and you fill them , no you cant add 2 more , you would have to buy bigger chips, if it has 4 , then ok :)

 

 

 

 

 

The sound , the chipset you described (Im guessing you already chose a motherboard) has 7.1 compatible sound onboard , why bother buying another card , I highly doubt you'd notice a difference , tone deaf or not.

 

 

 

Personally , I dont believe in buying a scaled down video card , and then buying another scaled down card later on. If you can afford the best of the best now , then buy it , video chipsets may change every 6 months , but seriously , they dont become "obsolete" for a lot longer. My secondary system has a radeon 9500 pro agp8x 128mb and it STILL playes games just fine.

[Kinslayer777]

Well, then there's DX10...

 

 

 

Thanks. But what about this not being proportionate? The graphics card seems very powerful...Or at least expensive. The idea of getting two scaled down cards is also similar to most components...Good enough for now performance, and the accelerating Price down/better performance might be enough in two years.

[compfreak847]

Just one thing: a system like that will cost you 2-3 thousand, not hundred... did you forget a zero? Also, I would recomend Nvadia over ATI and you really do not need that good of a graphics card. Pick up a mid to high range one for 200 bucks. SLI or CrossFire only help at high resolultions (1600 X 1200) and in fact sometimes perform slightly worse at lower resolultions.

 

Anyway, that's just my 2 cents.

[Kinslayer777]

Just one thing: a system like that will cost you 2-3 thousand, not hundred... did you forget a zero? Also, I would recomend Nvadia over ATI and you really do not need that good of a graphics card. Pick up a mid to high range one for 200 bucks. SLI or CrossFire only help at high resolultions (1600 X 1200) and in fact sometimes perform slightly worse at lower resolultions.

 

Anyway, that's just my 2 cents.

 

 

 

 

 

I have 200-300 SPARE =-) =D. The actuall system with windows media is only 1800 actually. (as opposed to 2-3k) Well. my graphics card might not to be so good, but the Nvadia 7900 GS (200-300 range) is worse then the ATI 1900XT (230) so i'll be getting ATI even if i downgrade graphics (which i think i wil...1900XT will be enough for a little futureproofing and WoW right?)

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for all the feedback though!

[zonda]

yea the card will be more then enough. My fx5700 ran WoW and BF2 fine, 70+ frame rates. Now I have a 7800 (best I could get with a AGP slot) and it runs pretty much anything ATM on high with a decent resolution (though I prefere 800x600 for gaming), and the games coming out havn't really advanced graphically lately, of course they will, and then it will still run them fine on medium to low...

 

 

 

Voodoo and GeForce cards still easilly run popular games that people play today like CS, Quake III, Sims, and so on, and at decent FPS.

 

 

 

Basically when you build a comp you want to put a lot of money into the video card, because you want it to last a while... unless your going to be one of those rich kids who upgrade every 3 months for $500 so they can run games like CS at 400 FPS instead of 300....

[Kinslayer777]

 

Basically when you build a comp you want to put a lot of money into the video card, because you want it to last a while... unless your going to be one of those rich kids who upgrade every 3 months for $500 so they can run games like CS at 400 FPS instead of 300....

 

 

 

I wish...I'm looking at a cheaper card though. The radeon 1900XT 256 or 512...Because i do plan on upgrading if possible in two years. Of course...I forgot to see if i had upgradeability <.< Could anyone tell me how :) ?

 

(The amazing extents that people are clueless)

 

 

 

I might be setting up a better config soon. Once i find some time :(

[Kinslayer777]

If i just got an ati motherboard and radeon 1900XT 256 would i be set to upgrade it to x2 in the future? Or do you need to buy it as a set to be crossfire-able?