[Schnauzer]

Originally Posted by fcgriz My CPU is supposed to be coming today (AMD Athlon 64 X2 4000+)

I have the AMD X2 4200+ in my custom pc. It is alright, but I really should have went Intel.

[Wyatt]

Originally Posted by Schnauzer I have the AMD X2 4200+ in my custom pc. It is alright, but I really should have went Intel.

I had a strict budget to stick to ($500), so the 4000+ was really my best option.

Besides, I have a crummy CRT monitor that maxes out at 1280x1024, so I'm not going to be pushing the system super hard, anyway. I'm really expecting to get good performance at that resolution from just about any game, even with effects cranked up to max (or near max).

My build was inspired by this article. I'm using nearly all the same components, so I expect similar numbers. I went with a cheaper motherboard, though, so that I could pick up a new hard drive. I'm re-using the PSU and optical drive from my previous system, and I still came in just over $500.

[edit] My CPU is here! The rest should be here tomorrow (except the GPU, which is still sold out). I'll post benchmarks as soon as I get a chance.

[Wyatt]

Just a quick update for everyone.

I've got the PC assembled, other than the graphics card. The 8800GT is still sold out everywhere, but the rumor is that online retailers will have them available sometime this afternoon. I'll be hitting Zipzoomfly as often as possible so I can order mine as soon as it is available.

Even without the 8800, it performs admirably in older games. I played UT2004 on it last night, and it did pretty well with everything turned way down. Not bad for old, crappy onboard graphics from SiS. I'm confident that I'll get pretty impressive performance once I install the new card.

[Schnauzer]

Well yes, the 8800 will own....... What games you going to play? CS:S?

Oh, and I hate onboard graphics

[Wyatt]

I've got Unreal Tournament 3 on pre-order, and I'll be getting Gears of War pretty soon, and probably Call of Duty 4. That's probably it for a while, other than Age of Empires (1, 2 and 3). I pretty much play FPS and RTS on the PC and everything else on my consoles (PS2, Wii).

I've never played Counter Strike, but I may have to check it out, as much as you talk about it on here. If I ever get it, I'll get in touch with you for a game.

[Schnauzer]

Originally Posted by fcgriz I've never played Counter Strike, but I may have to check it out, as much as you talk about it on here. If I ever get it, I'll get in touch with you for a game.

Haha alright, it is a really fun game

CoD 4 is really bad-ass you will like it, and the MP side of that game is great as well, with the ranks and unlocks. If you ever wanta play, write me a PM or check out xfire for all your online gaming friend needs.

Oh and for UT3 my clan should have some severs for that when it rollz out, should be fun.

[Wyatt]

I finally got my card ordered. Hopefully it will ship soon so I can try this bad boy out. I'm getting tired of waiting (especially since I'm picking up my UT3 preorder this afternoon).

[Wyatt]

Okay, I ended up settling for an 8600 GT, since you can't really get the cheapest 8800 GT anywhere. Plus, I decided to add a DVD burner and wireless card to my system, so I had to step down the graphics card to fit the other stuff in under budget.

Here are my final specs:
2.1 GHz Athlon 64 X2 4000+
2 GB DDR2-800
200 GB hard drive
512 MB GeForce 8600 GT (overclocked)

Despite having to step down with the graphics card, I'm getting really impressive performance. I'm really excited about my results.

I don't have any real benchmarks yet, but here are some things I've been able to do:

-- Play Oblivion fully maxed out for the first time ever, at 1280x1024 (my monitor's max. res.); this includes having all the view distance sliders at their maximum settings. I haven't tried forcing AA on the card with HDR turned on (Oblivion settings won't let you enable both), but I don't really feel like I need to. The game looks great.

-- Play Crisis (SP Demo) at 1024x768 with everything on high and 4x AA. It looks unbelievable, but I found the game kind of boring after a few minutes. I'll probably go back to the demo a couple more times, but it's just not that exciting for me, gameplay-wise.

-- Play UT3 with full everything at 1280x1024. It looks every bit as good as I had hoped.

-- Play Call of Duty 4 (SP Demo) with full effects and 2x AA at 1024x768. My performance with that demo was good enough that I'm thinking about stepping it up a little (either higher res. or higher AA -- maybe both).

Everything I listed played flawlessly, even with my slower CPU. I'm really pleased. I've never had a PC that handled games this well. I can tell I'm going to love having this.

[Koodari]

Congrats! Looks like a very balanced build.

Which Windows do you run? To me it's looking messier all the time, with

XP lacking DX10
Vista remaining slower in DX9
memory caps in all versions (but 32-bit worse than 64-bit somehow)
driver trouble in 64-bit anything
driver trouble in Vista

[Schnauzer]

Originally Posted by fcgriz 2.1 GHz Athlon 64 X2 4000+ 2 GB DDR2-800 200 GB hard drive 512 MB GeForce 8600 GT (overclocked)

Nice rig for that price!

Yeah what windows you running XP? Home or Pro?

My system is:
AMD X2 4200+
2 GB dual channel ram
320 GB HDD
(2 Cards) SLi Config: 7600 GS
Fatality sound card

[Wyatt]

Thanks. I'm running XP Pro. I had a license I wasn't using, so the OS didn't cost me anything. I re-used a DVD-ROM, TV tuner and power supply from my previous system (I had just upgraded the PSU this past summer).

The only thing I don't like is using onboard sound, but I've filled both PCI slots (TV Tuner and wireless card), so I'd have to buy a USB wireless adapter as well as a sound card to do anything about that.

This is the card I ended up buying:

http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16814143116

[Schnauzer]

What mobo did you buy? Two PCI slots seems kind of weak

And wow that card looks sweet

[Wyatt]

Originally Posted by Schnauzer What mobo did you buy? Two PCI slots seems kind of weak And wow that card looks sweet

The motherboard is pretty shitty:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813185105

The review titled "major pain" was me. I really wish I'd gone with a different board, and I would have, if I'd had an extra $20-30 to spend. Of course, I would have liked to have spent $20-30 extra on every part in the build.

Here's my case, too:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811119115

It came out looking great. I just need to take some time to clean up the wiring inside and add an intake fan to the front.

[Eugene]

Too late now, but on a budget I would have had a slightly different build. The very cheap Intel Conroe-L and Allendale processors come close in price to the Athlon X2 4000+, but they also overclock like mad. The Radeon 3850 is cheaper than an 8800 GT, but beats an 8600 GT handily...

I also probably would have gone with an ECS board rather than a PC Chips, but that's sorta like nitpicking between the hypoallergenic qualities of dove poop vs. pigeon poop.

[Eugene]

Two NewEgg wishlists I'll probably update from time to time.

$700 build

$1500 build

The current $1500 build is a bit extreme, with a 2.4 GHz Core 2 Quad and two Radeon 3850s (640 stream processors for scientific computing). A more conventional and cheaper set-up would have a 2.66 GHz C2D and a single Geforce 8800 GT.

[Wyatt]

Apparently you're not sharing those wish lists. I couldn't view the first one.

[Luca]

Dude you bought a PC CHIPS motherboard? Why the f would you do something like that?

I'd take a solid Socket 939 + Sempron 64 setup over newer technology with lower quality components.

[Wyatt]

I did what I had to do in order to get it in under budget. I'm not thrilled with the motherboard (and I'll probably replace it in a year or so), but it's what I had to work with for now.

If you're spending that little money, though, it doesn't really matter what you buy. You're not going to end up with great quality, IMO.

Like I said before, if I had another $20-30 to spend, I would have. I could say the same thing about all my components.

[Luca]

I'm dumb.

Looked on NewEgg and it seems that you don't really save any money by going for anything older than socket AM2. There's hardly any selection there anyway. I was just making an assumption because it used to be that when Socket 939 was new, Socket 754 boards were still abundant for much lower prices. But that's not the case anymore.

For the record, my brother's girlfriend has a computer with a PC Chips motherboard in it, and it's been stable and problem-free for four years. But it was a headache to set up.

[Eugene]

Fixed the other two links and added a $500 build. The ECS motherboard is guaranteed to piss you off at some point down the road though.

All these builds are *cough* BYODKM.

Out of all the enthusiast websites, the best system guide is Brian Won's on Ars Technica. He does a good job of not stooping too low on the Budget Box and not going overboard on the Hot Rod.

[Wyatt]

Originally Posted by Luca I'm dumb. Looked on NewEgg and it seems that you don't really save any money by going for anything older than socket AM2. There's hardly any selection there anyway. I was just making an assumption because it used to be that when Socket 939 was new, Socket 754 boards were still abundant for much lower prices. But that's not the case anymore.

Right. The older stuff is just as much, if not more than the new stuff. It's worse with RAM. Look at PC-3200 and compare it to DDR2-800 some time. The 3200, despite being older, is usually much more expensive.

For the record, my brother's girlfriend has a computer with a PC Chips motherboard in it, and it's been stable and problem-free for four years. But it was a headache to set up.

Mine has worked flawlessly, but it was definitely a pain to set up. If you didn't read my review of the board on Newegg, I actually had to increase the RAM voltage to get it to boot. Of course, the documentation that comes with the board doesn't bother to mention that. It took me damn near a week to get it booting consistently. Now I can swap components in and out trouble-free, though.

[Eugene]

New build started...

Already own:Sound Blaster X-Fi ExtremeMusicCorsair HX520W modular PSULite-on 20A1H DVD-RWPurchased:Antec NSK4480 case w/380W PSU    $14.99 ($44.99 - $30 MIR) @Fry'sPatriot 2x2GB DDR2-800 CL4 RAM   $99.99 @frys.com store pick-upVisionTek Radeon HD3870 512MB   $193.49 @bestbuy.comAbit IP35 Pro motherboard       $134.99 @clubit.com ($167.99 - $33 MIR)Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 CPU     $254.99 @clubit.com------------------------------------------------------------                                $698.45

EDIT:
I found this funny...
EVGA GeForce 8800GT SSC 512MB - $329.99 @NewEgg
BFG Tech GeForce 8800GTS (G92) 512MB - $329.99 @NewEgg
?????????????????????
Supply and demand is a funny beast.

The EVGA 8800GT is clocked at 700MHz, has a single slot cooler, and has 112 shaders.
The BFG 8800GTS is clocked at 675MHz, has a double slot cooler, and has 128 shaders.

Retarded overlap at work.

[Schnauzer]

I am looking into getting a new video card soon as well Eugene, it can get kind of confusing I have been checking out all the BFG stuff though.

[Schnauzer]

Well I installed my 8800 GTS yesterday, and man it is rocking! I got the BFG 8800 GTS OC, so far it is pretty sweet.

[Koodari]

Bump!

Local availability problem dissolved and I'm bracing myself for a final availability check and to pull the trigger after the weekend.

The build should be a good bit more powerful than the noise level lets on, so a "sleeper" of sorts, but is not expensive so can't be either silent or a real monster. Details to follow. I don't want to be one of those kids who go on and on about triple SLI and then months later they let it slip that they actually picked up a single Hypermemory/TurboCache part since the allowance only stretches so far.

The biggest question remaining is, how many points does my geek cred suffer if I have the components assembled for me? I'll handle all software either way. I'm concerned about avoiding painful troubleshooting with no spare parts if something in there is DOA. If I could magically know none of the parts are broken I'd prefer building in person (for fun - I trust the vendor to do a good job and the service is not very expensive). I'm gonna have to ask them if they'll fix a box that is their parts only and properly assembled, only not by them.

[Schnauzer]

If you don't build it yourself thats -10 geek points. Thats the law buddy

[Koodari]

Originally Posted by Schnauzer If you don't build it yourself thats -10 geek points.

Ouch. That's a lot of points.

[Eugene]

Originally Posted by Koodari Ouch. That's a lot of points.

Snapping the pieces together isn't really difficult. The hardest part mentally is wondering if you applied the thermal goop in just the right amount, and if you mounted your heatsink incorrectly. With the stock Intel and AMD heatsinks, they've made it novice-proof. The case connectors can be annoying because the +/- leads aren't always clear. Reversing them usually doesn't matter, the worst that happens is the lights don't light up, or you don't get the annoying system speaker working. The real hardest part is routing all the cables neatly. You have to plan that carefully with a PSU with good length cables (modular for reduced clutter), a mobo with an intelligent connector layout, and a case that gives you a place to hide the extra slack.

Most DIY PCs don't look as neat as this:
http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~ceugene/darkquad.jpg

Almost none you see will look like this:
http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~ceugene/tobinquad.jpg

If you want a silent PC, get a motherboard that has voltage control on every single fan header. My motherboard has 6 headers and I use 5. It's nice because you can buy faster/cheaper/louder fans, and have them spin between ~6-10V instead of at 12V all the time. My PC is crunching folding@home 24/7, so it is barely audible, but if it were idle you wouldn't really be able to hear the fans at all.

[Koodari]

Originally Posted by Eugene Most DIY PCs don't look as neat as this: http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~ceugene/darkquad.jpg Almost none you see will look like this: http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~ceugene/tobinquad.jpg

Dang.. that's nearly the setup I was thinking of except I was going to go with 450VX, and stick with all factory fans (CPU, graphics card and the single case fan) for now.

You have a 520HX in there. Is the modularity nice? I'm inclined to the VX because it's slightly better on noise according to Corsair, and costs a wee bit less. I researched that the cables are supposed to be long enough for this mobo.

If you want a silent PC, get a motherboard that has voltage control on every single fan header. My motherboard has 6 headers and I use 5. It's nice because you can buy faster/cheaper/louder fans, and have them spin between ~6-10V instead of at 12V all the time. My PC is crunching folding@home 24/7, so it is barely audible, but if it were idle you wouldn't really be able to hear the fans at all.

I'm seeing mention of 3 fan headers on the motherboard, but won't P182' manual settings for two fans and/or low voltage adapters handle the rest?

I might do more DIY silencing work later if I have the time and inclination. I really have no problem snapping stuff together, only with the possibility that something is broken at which point I have no spare parts to test properly. (Horrific memories of my last build years ago with the graphics card and three subsequent hard drives all physically broken/DOA...)

[Eugene]

Originally Posted by Koodari Dang.. that's nearly the setup I was thinking of except I was going to go with 450VX, and stick with all factory fans (CPU, graphics card and the single case fan) for now. You have a 520HX in there. Is the modularity nice? I'm inclined to the VX because it's slightly better on noise according to Corsair, and costs a wee bit less. I researched that the cables are supposed to be long enough for this mobo.

I went with the HX520 because I wanted as little clutter as possible. I'm only using 2 SATA power cables and one PCIe cable, so it's nice not having to find a corner to stick all the extra cables (floppy power, molex, PCIe, etc.)

I'm seeing mention of 3 fan headers on the motherboard, but won't P182' manual settings for two fans and/or low voltage adapters handle the rest?

I'd probably find the Antec Tri-Cool fans acceptably quiet on the low setting. I don't have a good source for pre-built inline fan speed adapters, though I guess you could just stick a resistor on it.