My next build, any suggestions or changes?

[bamhm182]

It's about time that I get up and find the parts that I want for my next build. I'm thinking about getting an AMD build this time(Not quite sure what the differences are, but I heard they're better). Anyways, here are the parts tell me if you think I should change anything, I won't be able to go too much higher since I need 1 year of Xbox Live and want some games(have Joust right now, but that's IT.)

Motherboard:
BIOSTAR TForce TF570SLI Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce 570 SLI MCP ATX AMD

Video Card:
GIGABYTE GV-NX73T256P-RH GeForce 7300GT 256MB GDDR2 PCI Express x16

Power Supply:
Broadway Com Corp Okia-black-650 ATX 650W

I already have this PSU, should I still upgrade? I think I should since it's not a WHOLE lot more cash, and it adds 240 Watts.

RAM:
Transcend 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)

Processor:
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+ Windsor 2.8GHz Socket AM2 w/ added 2 year warranty because 30 day warranty is BS.

Fans:
ENERMAX UC-8EB 80mm Case Fan
&
Thermaltake A2329 120mm

All together it's $520.06 w/ shipping($613.14 with 1 Year XBL & 4000 Points). So I don't know how much further I'll be able to go, than again, I did get a 60 GB PS3 for Christmas, that's like $650.

[VAMP]

Looks pretty good. The only thing I'd change is the amount of RAM. I'd try to go with 2GB. If you wanna play newer, graphic intensive games you'll need it. I'm mostly talking outta my *ss, :lol: but this is what I read somewhere in an article about specs needed to run Crysis. Can anyone back me up on this?

[bamhm182]

This computer will work just fine, I'm not a SUPER game player, the biggest game I play is N, it almost runs on here. :lol: I might try out Oblivion a little.

Minimum Requirements

CPU: Athlon 64 3000+/Intel 2.8ghz
Graphics: Nvidia 6600/X800GTO (SM 2.0)
RAM: 768Mb/1Gb on Windows Vista
HDD: 6GB
Internet: 256k+
Optical Drive: DVD
Software: DX9.0c with Windows XP

Recommended Requirements

CPU: Dual-core CPU (Athlon X2/Pentium D)
Graphics: Nvidia 7800GTX/ATI X1800XT (SM 3.0) or DX10 equivalent
RAM: 1.5Gb
HDD: 6GB
Internet: 512k+ (128k+ upstream)
Optical Drive: DVD
Software: DX10 with Windows Vista

I might put 2 gigs on my list, but I don't know if i'll be able to afford it, my motherboard can have up to 4 gigs of RAM.

EDIT: I don't know how, but somehow I just noticed that the Graphics card I have was only a 256 MB, I was wanting one with at least 512 MB, so which of these do you think I should get?

BIOSTAR V7602GS51 GeForce 7600GS 512MB GDDR2 PCI Express x16
or
ASUS EAX1600PRO SILENT/TD/512M Radeon X1600PRO 512MB GDDR2 PCI Express x16

EDIT 2: After looking at them a little more, I think I'm going to go with the Biostar, I just hope it's not too expensive...

[Cabe]

Do not get a 650W PSU, its a waste of money, you will not use it.

To give you an idea, that system you have put together there should only draw about 250W max.
Therefore you only need around 300W (its best to have at least 50W headroom)

My system is drawing about 350W and I'm using a 350W PSU (need a new one >_< ) and it works fine most of the time but occationally in a game like oblivion the 8800 looses power and the game crashes. I'm going to try get a 400-450W.

Also, the graphics card. Spend the extra $13 and get an 8500GT. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814122023 Performance will be a much better and you will have DirectX 10. Only the GeForce 8 series cards have DirectX 10.

As for ram, you've chosen 800Mhz DDR2 RAM but you've got for a "cheepy" brand. If you are buying a high powered processor and m/board you don't want to slow the system down with ram with crappy timings and high latency.
Spend the extra and get something like Corsair. Also if you are getting 1Gb try get 2x512Mb sticks, allows better utilisation of memory interleaving. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145040

[bamhm182]

Thanks man, I was hoping you'd read my thread because you seem to know a lot about computers.

Okay, so I've got a 400 Watt PSU in my room, you think that's good? SPARKLE ATX-400PA ATX12V Ver2.01 400Watts That would shave a lot off of my cost and than I could afford to ask for upgrades to my other stuff.

As for the graphics card, I noticed it was only 256 MBs, which would be better, that or this? BIOSTAR V7602GS51 GeForce 7600GS 512MB GDDR2 PCI Express x16

Also, okay, I don't know how 2 sticks of RAM would work better, but I'll take your word on it. Also, I couldn't get that other stick anyways, it's out of stock.

One last thing, I pretty much won't ever need more than 2 GB of ram, right? Because if I get this and than another one of these for Christmas, that'll put me at 2 gigs and I'll be full.

EDIT: Okay, I was looking around Newegg for a little bit, how about this card? PNY VCG85512GXPB GeForce 8500GT 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 Which of the 3 would be the best?

[Cabe]

Out of those you picked I'd say this is the better card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814133197

Some people may look at that and say "but its cheeper, it can't be as good"
The 8500 is running on a completely different architecture and so can produce better results from less. So to speak.
Plus look at the stats;
A core clock at 450MHz and 32 stream processors in the 8500GT vs 400Mhz and 12 in the 7600GS.

In regards to the two sticks of ram. Think of it this way.
Would it be quicker for one person to find a pair of socks in a large suitcase or for two people to search two smaller suitcases at the same time.

Two sticks allows more simultaneous access. If you look at a RAM stick you'll see that on it there are 4 (usually, sometimes more but rarely) chips. Same idea, they are splitting the (for example on a 1Gb card) memory into 4x256Mb.

Ram suffers from latency in that the CPU is waaay faster so that when it asks the ram for some data it has to sit about waiting for a couple clock cycles as the memory chip fetches the data.

If you'll refrence my amazing paint drawn diagram



To avoid wasting time the CPU will request data block 1 then while the chip is processing it will ask for block 2, then 3 then 4. By the time it's done that it can return to the first chip and the data should be ready meaning it can pick up blocks 1 to 4 in 4 quick clock cycles.

Having two sticks of ram not giving you any extra physical memory but it does have a performance gain vs one stick due to the memory interleaving being two fold because the motherboard you have got is "dual channel"

It would be pointless doing this with more that 2 sticks as you don't get motherboards that are "triple" or "quad channel"

4x256Mb vs 2X512Mb will have no difference but 2x512Mb vs 1x1Gb will have a bit of a difference.

That PSU is fine, no need to upgrade it what-so-ever.

Also, one last rather important but always overlooked thing. That motherboard is SATA and I'm guessing your current m/board is IDE. Look inside your computer, if you have cables like these

inside then you are running on IDE.

This means with your new m/board which has only 1 IDE slot you will only be able to connect two IDE devices. I.e. a HD and a CD/DVD drive. If you have any more than 2 IDE devices your shafted. If thats the case then you'll need to pick up some SATA devices. My old PC used 2 IDE HD's and an IDE DVD-rw drive and now my new one has only one IDE slot so the DVD drive and one HD was kept and I bought a SATA HD to replace one of the old ones.

[Kernel Kev]

Damn your smart.



Kev
8)

[bamhm182]

Ahh, I get it, it's kinda like a dual core, compared to single cored processors. And I know I've only got one IDE slot, here's what I plan on doing, I've got all my important stuff on a 160 gig IDE HDD, I plan on taking back my PS3 and getting a new one, but taking out the HDD before I return it, than I'll put my current PS3 HDD in the new PS3 since it's got all my games and stuff on it, than using the new PS3 SATA HDD as a Master HDD.

So basically,

New PS3 HDD = Master HDD
Current Slave Hard Drive = Same function as it is now.

The only problem with my plan it that the PS3 has a 2.5" HDD, my current case doesn't have any 2.5" HDD Bays, I'll have to rig something, should be fine though.

As for the video card, that's the one I was thinking would be best, go me! :lol: Thanks for your help.

One last thing that pops into my mind is does my motherboard support using all 4 RAM slots at once, I know that some motherboards don't, I just want to make sure. I think that Dual Channel Supported or w/e it said means that it does support it.

All together, the rig is going to cost me $537.68, pretty damn good IMO, I just hope that I can get the Xbox Live and the Microsoft Points too, if not, I can probably afford to buy the XBL.

[Cabe]

Dual channel means it will be able to use two channels at the same time but you can still stick in 4 sticks. The first two slots are one dual channel and the second two are another.

[bamhm182]

So.... Yes? 2 RAM slots = 1 Channel, 2 Channels = Dual Channel, Dual Channel in specs = 4 sticks of RAM at one time. Is all that right?