My first new build in many years

[Albie]

I am trying to build a super game machine for the first time, and building a computer for the first time in many years. I am looking for feedback on my planned rig. Here it is:

Case Lian Li V1000 B W
Case lights & Misc Case Lights, rounded cable, & Arctic Silver 5
Power Supply Antec 550 Watt Modular True Control
I have not verified that it fits.
CPU Socket 939 Athalon 64 FX-55
Motherboard ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe
Memory Corsair TWINX1024-3200XL - 2GB
Heat Sink Zalman CNPS7700-Cu
Hard Drives - System Western Digital 74 GB Raptor Serial ATA
WD740GD KIT (2)
CD-ROM/DVD - 1 Sony DRU-710A
CD-ROM/DVD - 2 Sony DRU-710A
Graphics ASUS V9999 Ultra Deluxe (1 only)
Sound Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro
Mouse LogitechMX1000 Laser Cordless Mouse
Joy Stick Saitek X52 Digital Flight Control System
Keyboard Saitek PC Gamer's Keyboard PZ08AU
Speakers Creative Labs GigaWorks S750
Price (GULP) $3,917
What do you all think? :?: Have I missed something? :oops:
Big Al :D

[Kurtis]

well, for the speakers, i would personally go with logitech's Z-5500 Digital or Klipsch's ProMedia 5.1 system over a Creative system, but aside from that sounds pretty good

though you did forget about the floppy drive... ;)

Also, personally I would go with bang-for-the-buck items, rather than just getting the top of the line everything. reason being that with some things, such as the FX-55, you could get something that is slightly less capable in the performance department but at a much lower price.

And for getting good deals on all of those things, may I recommend to you our Dealtime page: http://thetechlounge.dealtime.com
- You can usually find the best prices on the internet here

[Rich]

2 GB of RAM does seem a bit excessive. One GB would proablay do you unless you really need that much or you are just dying to spend that much money. If so, more power to you!

[Albie]

Great advise. I did forget the floppy! I would like to forget the floppy! :lol:

I was not sure about the 2 GIG; I should follow the line that I took with the graphics card; if I need a second, I can buy it later. Good idea.

I would save a lot by getting other speakers, so I will look into that.

I am hoping that this will be my last computer (or at least my last for awhile, my current one is 7 years old), that is why I am trying to get state of the current art. Therefore, the FX-55.

I did not look at dealtime yet. I am trying to gather as much intellegence as I can prior to actually purchasing in the next week or so, but I will definately will check it out.

Thank you so much for the feedback :!:
Albert

[Kurtis]

I was not sure about the 2 GIG; I should follow the line that I took with the graphics card; if I need a second, I can buy it later. Good idea.

I would save a lot by getting other speakers, so I will look into that.

I am hoping that this will be my last computer (or at least my last for awhile, my current one is 7 years old), that is why I am trying to get state of the current art. Therefore, the FX-55.

For the memory, 1GB would be plenty for most things including gaming, but if you're dying to spend the money having 2GB couldn't hurt.

As for the speakers, I mentioned Logitech and Klipsch because of their quality. I personally own Logitech's Z-680s and I am extremely please with them. Hell, I even reviewed (http://www.thetechlounge.com/review.php?directory=logitech_z-680&page=5) them and they got an Editor's Choice award (which is rare). The Z-5500 are the updated version of the Z-680s and will run you about $350 i think.

Now, for the processor, I really think an FX-55 would be overkill. The only reason to buy that thing is to increase the size of your 'e-penis. ' The FX-55 will run you about $900 whereas a 3500+ will run you about $300. There is really no reason for a normal person to purchase the FX-55 for $600 more than the 3500+. However, if you absolutely must have something on the higher end of the spectrum, the 4000+ is about $720. So you can still save over $150 by going with something else other than the FX-55. If you're curious to see the performance difference (it is a very small one) between the Athlon 64 CPUs, check out the following review:

http://anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2249&p=9

[EmoMakesMeCry]

i agree with kurtis. the 3500+ should be more than sufficiant for gaming, but if you must, then you can go with the 4000+.

once again, the 2GB of ram is a bit excessive. 1GB will suit you fine. since your motherboard has 4 DIMM slots then i'd suggest filling two of them with a matching 512mb pair for now and then adding another 512mb pair later on if needed.

i'm a bit confused about what you're saying about your hard drives though. are you talking about having two 74GB raptors set up on a RAID 0 configuration? if so then that's the best way to go. since you'll just be using the computer for gaming a RAID 0 will be better than a RAID 1 set-up. especially since the drives are so small. (but they move like a bat outta hell :D )

as far as the speakers go, i'd also suggest going with some logitechs.

for the video card i'd suggest going with ATI. though partly because i'm just an ATI-whore 8) i'd go with an ATI Radeon x800 XT. they'll run you somewhere between $400 and $700. check www.newegg.com for the best prices.

you didn't say anything about the cooling. now with a computer like this and with as much heat at it'll be producing i'd suggest a watercooling system. you can keep it cool enough with fans, but it would take a LOT of fans running at high speeds and your computer would be louder than a Hoover.

[Kurtis]

for the video card i'd suggest going with ATI. though partly because i'm just an ATI-whore 8) i'd go with an ATI Radeon x800 XT. they'll run you somewhere between $400 and $700. check www.newegg.com for the best prices.

you didn't say anything about the cooling. now with a computer like this and with as much heat at it'll be producing i'd suggest a watercooling system. you can keep it cool enough with fans, but it would take a LOT of fans running at high speeds and your computer would be louder than a Hoover.

if he goes with ATI he'll have to forego the opportunity to go with SLI mode later on, so I'd suggest he stick with NVIDIA for a NF4 SLI board. Plus, at least in the mid-range area, NVIDIA's cards are outperforming ATI's. I'm not sure about the 6800 GTs and Ultras though, since they have been largely unavailable :P They are starting to show up in some places like NewEgg though... I found a few 6800 GTs and Ultras there the other day

as for water cooling, i am all for extreme cooling, but not at the expense of convenience. For my own personal preferences, I absolutely hate being inconvenienced with extra crap I don't need when I am tinkering with my system. Using water cooling means you have to rip off the stock cooler from your GPU and then tinkering in your system becomes a real pain in the ass. And if you install a GPU block you probably need to install some RAMsinks on a higher-end card, and depending on how you do it those may be permanent. Long story short, I really suggest sticking with air cooling unless you just LOVE water cooling. If you get some high quality panaflo fans you can set them at low-medium speeds and you will be set.

[Kurtis]

I just realized the video card you want is not compatible with your system. The 6800 Ultra AGP is what the V9999 Ultra Deluxe is. You need to use PCI-Express video cards with the motherboard you are using. Here are some PCIE 6800 cards from newegg:

Leadtek nVIDIA GeForce 6800 Video Card, 256MB DDR, 256-Bit, TV-Out/DVI, PCI-Express, Model "PX6800TD-256M" -RETAIL
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-122-207&depa=0

ASUS nVIDIA GeForce 6800 Video Card, 256MB DDR, 256-Bit, TV-Out/DVI, PCI-Express, Model "EN6800/TD/256" -RETAIL
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-121-190&depa=0

ASUS nVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra Video Card, 256MB GDDR3, 256-Bit, TV-Out/Dual DVI, PCI-E, Model "EN6800Ultra/2DT/256MB" -RETAIL
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-121-191&depa=0

XFX nVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT Video Card, 256MB GDDR3, 256-Bit, Dual DVI/TV-Out, PCI-E, Model "PVT45GUD" -RETAIL
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-150-081&depa=0

eVGA nVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra Video Card, 256MB GDDR3, 256-Bit, TV-Out/Dual DVI, PCI-E, Model "256-P2-N377-AX" -RETAIL
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-130-222&depa=0

(not in stock) MSI nVIDIA GeForce 6800 Video Card, 256MB DDR, 256-Bit, TV-Out/DVI, PCI-Express, Model "NX6800-TD256E" -RETAIL
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-127-149&depa=0

(not in stock) eVGA nVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra Video Card, 256MB GDDR3, 256-Bit, TV-Out/Dual DVI, PCI-E, Model "256-P2-N377-BX" -RETAIL
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-130-209&depa=0

(not in stock) eVGA nVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT Video Card, 256MB GDDR3, 256-Bit, Dual DVI/TV-Out, PCI-Express, Model "256-P2-N376-BX" -RETAIL
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-130-215&depa=0

[Albie]

WOW! Am I ever getting great feedback. Thank you again.

I have looked at the reviews of the speakers, and the 5500 Digital does seem to satisfy my gaming needs, listening needs, and pocketbook. Extreme Tech, however, included the Creative 7.5 as part of their Dream Machine. The price differential is $50, but I am not sure about quality differences. I am going to continue my research on that subject.

The Case seems to have plenty of cooling and the HUGE CPU fan of the Zalman CNPS7700-Cu should be enough, no? There are two 120 mm fans on the Aluminum Lian Li V1000. If quiet is a problem, then I could go with the V1100 that has added sound dampening material. The thought of water cooling scares me for two reasons: 1) the difficulty of setting it up correctly per the many reviews I have read over the last year and 2) the pain of constantly maintaining it. If I screw this up, my money goes down the drain (and my wife would cut my wagamcaulit off!)

With regard to the ATI, I would normally have considered that first, but there have been reports that it does not work super well in an SLI nVidia 4 board; at least not as well as the nVidia. I am also conviced that nVidia is committed to making the SLI technology work. BUT, I missed the "slight" technicality of getting an AGP board instead of a PCI-Express. It is so amazing how important it is to check, and then re-check. Thank you Kurtis :oops:

Hmmm epenis; great term and I probably am doing some of this just for ego. The best price I found so far for the FX-55 is $880, so it is a whopper. I will look at the alternatives, but my ego is getting in the way of rationality.

Yes I plan to use the Raptor 74BG in Raid 0. I have other hard disks that I will also install as data drives, but I did not include this in my spec because there is no monitary outlay. Ditto for a SCSI backup, a hardware firewall, two monitors to choose from (LCD and analog), and 2 UPS systems (1 for modem firewall and 1 for the computer).

Anyone have any idea how to verify that the power supply will fit correctly in Lian Li V1000? The Lian Li has an inverted mother board setup and a separate area just fo the power supply, so it should fit. I will call JCL in CA if no one has direct knowledge. :mrgreen:
Albert

[Kurtis]

I have looked at the reviews of the speakers, and the 5500 Digital does seem to satisfy my gaming needs, listening needs, and pocketbook. Extreme Tech, however, included the Creative 7.5 as part of their Dream Machine. The price differential is $50, but I am not sure about quality differences. I am going to continue my research on that subject.

And in our high-end buyer's guide we recommend the Z-5500 digital :P Generally speaking, Creative does not make the highest-quality speakers. I haven't tried their top-of-the-line stuff though, so I can't say that with -absolute- certainty
http://www.thetechlounge.com/article.php?directory=high-end_buyers_guide




I am also conviced that nVidia is committed to making the SLI technology work. BUT, I missed the "slight" technicality of getting an AGP board instead of a PCI-Express. It is so amazing how important it is to check, and then re-check. Thank you Kurtis

Stick with the PCI-Express board, AGP may still be more popular right now, but PCI-Express is the future, and getting an AGP board at this point (for a system you plan to have for a long time to come especially), wouldn't be a good move.




Hmmm epenis; great term and I probably am doing some of this just for ego. The best price I found so far for the FX-55 is $880, so it is a whopper. I will look at the alternatives, but my ego is getting in the way of rationality.

Seriously, you should check out the Anandtech CPU Roundup review i linked to above, a FX-55 is quite literally a waste of money. You will get maybe a 15fps boost (from 85-100 fps for example) and that just isn't worth the extra $600 to go from a 3500+ to a FX-55. There really is no way to justify that cost, but anyways I'll shutup about that now, if you really want to enlarge your epenis be my guest :lol:

As for the power supply, I can't imagine the Lian-Li isn't compatible with any standard PSU.

[handrail]

in regards to your power supply question:

i would say you shouldn't have a problem with the fit. most PSU's are the size and should fit right in there.

that lian li case is pretty nifty, looks like a G5 case in a way and the castors are slick too. the newer cases with a the repositioned PSUs usually have no problem with fitment.

i have an antec true 330 and it is that same dimensions as the 550. i wouldn't say that mine is at all different from the other PSU's i have, dimension-wise.

go forth and build.

[EmoMakesMeCry]

go forth and build.

and when you've built be sure to post pics :)

[Albie]

I have gone forth and begun the build.
:twisted:

[Kurtis]

awesome, let us know how its coming along :)

[Albie]

I have decided to step down from the FX-55 to 4000 to save money and to PROVE that I am not in this ONLY to show how large my epins is! Now I am faced with about $164 lower price for OEM version, which comes without heatsink, without fan, and only a 30 day warrantee and no tech support. Since I am using the Zalman CNPS7700 CU fan, I proabably do not need that part of the Retail package. However, is there a significant risk for not having the 3 year warranty and tech support that comes with the Retail package :?:

The buying part is fun actually.

Albert

[Rich]

I buy OEM CPU's all the time. Tech support is over rated sometimes. How often would you ACTUALLY call AMD or Intel for support? Besides, if your chip broke in 2 years, you would probably replace it anyway.

[Kurtis]

I have decided to step down from the FX-55 to 4000 to save money and to PROVE that I am not in this ONLY to show how large my epins is! Now I am faced with about $164 lower price for OEM version, which comes without heatsink, without fan, and only a 30 day warrantee and no tech support. Since I am using the Zalman CNPS7700 CU fan, I proabably do not need that part of the Retail package. However, is there a significant risk for not having the 3 year warranty and tech support that comes with the Retail package :?:

The buying part is fun actually.

Albert

retail package is worthless because when you use anything other than their provided thermal compound, and anything besides their stock heatsink, you void the warranty anyways. OEM is good way to go if you are going for a performance cooler anyways

[Brian]

I think it would be a bit hard for AMD to prove that you used a different heatsink ;-)

But yeah, the same goes for thermal paste too.

http://www.xtremetek.com/info/index.php?id=14&page=1

[Albie]

Well, the motherboard arrived and it is really a thing of beauty. The last motherboard I installed was over 10 years ago and WOW have they changed in quality!

I also received the Zlaman CNPS7700-Cu Cooler and WOW oh WOW was it ever huge. There is a message on the back of the box in VERY small print as follows pertaining to AMD Sempron/AMD64 (Socket 754/939/940):

"No components higher than 39mm (1.53in) should be present within a 68mm (2.68in) radius from the center of the CPU."

Well, I had deviated from my original purchase and ordered the Corsair TwinX1024-3200 XLPro (for the LED coolness) and lo and behold it is about .25" too tall. I spoke with Corsair Technical support and confirmed that the XL or XLPT will fit the measurement requirements. Now I have to send the memory back for an exchange for the XL or XLPT.

It just shows that I need more practice in determining what is cool.

More will come. Two pictures are attached to clarify.

[Kurtis]

ah, so you went with Asus' SLI board, nice. I just put together a system over the last couple days (yes, days... lol. had to do my wire management and everything :lol:) and I went with Gigabyte's K8NXP-SLI board. It already seems like this system is going to meet my expectations in the performance department. What an improvement for my old crap XP 2100+ system!

let us know when you get the new memory so we can see some more pics. did you see our zalman 7000 and 7700 reviews recently on our site?

[Albie]

Yes, I saw it on this site. That is why I bought it. The fine print about the height of the surrounding chips is what did me in. However, I am determined to take my time and patiently put together the best, nicest, reasonably valued, system I can. I expect that I will come accross more "I gothcha's" but I am infinately patient. After all, I waited for two years to do this. I decided to do it after I received a no interest credit card through 3/2005.

Your help and that of others on this site have been so very valuable. When I did this for a living, there was none of this help available. Once it took me 1 year to diagnose a problem that caused a network card to disconnect periodically at my largest customer's site because of an undcoumented jumper setting on the graphics card (I am dating myself)! That effort brought me $500,000 additional revenue from my then largest customer for sticking with his problem until I found an answer.

Today I read notes from frustrated builders who spend only several weeks trying to solve a problem. They should be thankful that there are sites like yours where help is available.

I will send more pictures when they are avaiable.
Al

[Albie]

Most of the parts have arrived. I still await the grahics card, sound and joystick. The graphics is coming in about a week, the rest maybe today. This is what it will now contain:

Performance-PC modified Lian Lia 1200B with Window
Antec True Control 500 modded into purple acrylic case
Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe
AMD Athalon 64 4000+
Corsair Twinx1024 2-2-2-5 latencies
Zalman 7700 Cu Heatsink and Fan
2 Raptor 74GB drives in Raid 0
Mitsumi 7 in 1 Floppy and flash card reader
2 Plextor Dual layer 716ASA DVD in Serial ATA form
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro
Logitech Z-5500 Digital Speakers
Asus Nvidia 6800 Ultra PC-Express graphics (SLI capable)
Logitech LX1000 Laser mouse
Saitek PC Gamer's keyboard
Saitek X52 Digitial Joy Stick
Lots of lights, lots of prayers, and $3,866!

[J2T]

Wow, talk about sparing no expense. :shock: lol, nice system man. Let us know how the build goes. ;-)

[Kurtis]

good grief, almost $4,000... where'd you buy everything from?