My gaming rig...

[Anal Kaboom]

Alright im gonna start buying the parts soon...but i got them all picked out so here goes: (im just writing it as it shoes up on newegg...i barely know what i'm talking about.)

(Case)

Sunbeam Transformer Black Steel ATX Full Tower
$86.99

(CPU)

AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Venice 2000 Mhz HT 512 kb L2 Cache E4 Socket 939
$192.99

(MOBO)

ASUS A8N-SLI Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce 4 SLI ATX AMD
$106.99

(Video Card)

BFG Tech Geforce 6800 256 mb 256-bit DDR PCI Express x16
$250.99

(RAM)

CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB (2 x 512mb) 184 pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 PC 3200
$89.00

(Hard Drive)

Seagate NL35 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 150
$89.00

(Power Supply)

Sunbeam NUUO ATX 12v/EPS 12v 550 watts
$83.50

...alright so what should i add take out switch help me out here fellas.

[Diff-chan]

1. Dont get an SLI board. The "buy one now buy another later" doesnt make sense nowadays because its so common to see new cards that run 2x fast as old cards. SLI only makes sense if you're willing to buy two very fast cards at the same time, and even then it gets outdated fairly fast.

2. Are you sure thats a 6800 for $250? because that seems way too expensive.

[GohanX]

Buy a 360.

I'm kidding, buy a Wii.

Don't mind me, I'm jealous because I have a crap PC by comparison.

[Burky]

Diffx is right on the mark in both his comments:
1)I bought my SLI board along with a 7800GT with the intention of buying another. I bought another one two months later for a small price, and the performance increase was pathetic.
In my system, the graphics card was the bottleneck (2.6ghz dual core, AMD cpu, 2gb ram), and it only raised fps from 30 to 40, which is totally pathetic.

So I just sold both my 7800GTs, and bought a top end x1900xtx instead, which according to official benchmarks should outperform both the cards together. The 7800GTs cost more btw, and I made money by doing the swap. It also reduces heat and power consumption by switching to one card, which is a big plus. The other thing to note is that the x1900xtx is only 60% faster in terms of clock speed, so I wouldn't have thought that it would outperform 2x7800GTs and yet it does.

Summary: Only get SLI if you cannot buy a better quality single graphics card.
2x7800GT < 1x X1900XTX

However, generally the SLI edition boards tend to be better quality,and for $100 you can't go wrong, so I'd totally get that board.

2) You are being scammed on that video card. For $50 more you can buy a 7900GT which will outperform it by miles. The 7900GT is the best value mid range card right now, so totally get that, even if it means having to wait a week or two to get the extra $$.

New points that I'm raising:

3)A 3500+ is a 2.2ghz cpu, Newegg screwed up. They did the same for the 3700+, both cpus run at 2.2ghz. I'd recommend a 3700+ San Diego at 2.2ghz instead, as it has a 1mb L2 cache instead of just 512kb like the 3500+. The greater cache is a big improvement. They don't cost a whole lot more either
Are you buying OEM or box. I'd recommend that you buy OEM, and then get an aftermarket cooler like a thermaltake big typhoon (I just sold my watercooling to buy one of these, costs ~$35), or something a little cheaper. A good HS can be had for around $20 normally.

4) That PSU is generally good; all the ampage on the various rails are fine BUT Asus and DFI (top motherboard manufacturors) recommend that you use a PSU with a native 24 pin adapter, not just a 20 pin one with 4 more pins clipped on. I don't think it will make a difference, but here is one I would recommend more. The brand is reputable, it has all the right ampage on the rails, it has 24-pins and has a 5-star review:
Sparkle 550W

5) For a gaming rig, 2x512mb will not be sufficient. I'd recommend the Gskill kit which both Diffx and I have, if you can afford the extra $$. Note that this kit is a quality ram kit, not a value kit, and it kicks ass.

On a side note; Diffx, with your PC4000, do you know how to run it at PC4000, because unless you change your BIOS settings it will only run PC3200. For a 3200+, drop your cpu multi to 8x, and raise the htt to 250. This gives you the same clock frequency, but will raise your ram to 250mhz (PC4000) from 200mhz (PC3200) = performance boost.

[Dyne]

a $200 athlon cpu is hard to swallow when the entry level conroes will be about that much.

[Burky]

Get this ram instead, it's cheaper and better:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...ice=&maxPrice=

[raystorm]

I agree about the Gskill ram. Picked up that same exact 2gig pack and it works great though I got it when they had it on sale for $150.

Get a quality PSU. I have a Seasonic PSU and its done the job.

I don't know how you got $250 for that 6800 card. I bought my 6800GS for $190 when it first came out. You can't really find the card these days as it was replaced with the 7600GT in the "best bang for the buck" category.

If you are gonna spend that much on a vidcard then go for this Radeon X1800XT for $299. It competes VERY well with the more expensive cards and it has 512mb of videoram which helps with some games (though most wont use it at all..but I assume you'll keep the card for 2 years minimum..maybe more).

If you want the 7600GT try any of these 7600GT cards. They are reasonably priced and perform better than the 6800 series for less cost.

[Anal Kaboom]

@ Burky

Thanks for all the suggestions i switched to the San Diego, but whats the big difference between my sunbeam and the sparkle...besides the price? I'll get the ram a little later down the line cause i'm trying to keep the price down. (nobody tell my mom i'm about to drop a stack on a new pc )

@raystorm

I swithed to the X1800XT nice suggestion.


thanx alot guys you've been a lot of help so far the only experiance i have with building PCs is my last one (POS budget), and study the PC Building Bible from PC Gamer lol if anybody else has any suggestions keep posting.

[raystorm]

I'm strongly thinking about that Radeon myself. I have some extra dough and can sell my 6800GS to my pal who is buying parts for a pc for himself. I even have some ram to sell to make some extra change and an old 19in monitor to dump (its gotta land me at least 20 bucks..yeesh).


Just a bit of a warning on that radeon..its big and some say its loud. I couldn't care less about the noise as I'll be too busy gaming with my speakers pumped up. The size is a concern..I think..probably not.

[Anal Kaboom]

Meh i listen to music loud