I'm currently getting ready to buy a brand spankin new computer after such a long and painful wait... my computer now is P3 440mhz so you must all feel my pain

Anyways I'm right now searching and looking for a very good gaming computer thats $1,500 or less, so if anyone has any advice or where to look please leave a link for me.

So far this is what I've seen this is gonna come from newegg which I hear from some friends is a very good site.

This is what I plan to get tell me if this will work out or not and if I need to maybe change things up a bit-
Asus K8V K8T800
AMD 64 3000+
Sapp. ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128mb 8xagp
Corsair Value Select (Dual Pack) 1g(2x512) DDR PC-3200
Samsung 170N 17" LCD
Maxtor 80GB 7200rpm SATA HD Model 6Y080M0
2 Vantec "Tornado" 80mm
Vantec "Iceberg" CCB-A1A
Thermaltake Venus 12 Model "A1744"
Vantec "Tornado" Double Ball Bearing Cooling fan Model "TD9238H"

And the case is this http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProd [...] 133&depa=1

I need to know will all those items fit in that case and work fine? And is 420W good enough to run all those? Im completely ignorant when it comes to these things all I want is a good Gaming computer than can run games like DAOC and Counter-Strike. Also is getting this Artic Silver paste thing worth it? I hear it makes ur CPU and stuff cooler but I have no clue how it works. I really need help with this one guys! Thanks!

I have only a few comments. Remember that you asked for my opinion.

First off, I'd go for the Corsair XMS memory. It's only $50 more and could make a serious difference in keeping up with that Athlon64 CPU. Secondly, for stability's sake, I'd go with an nVidia 5900XT video card. It's about the same speed as your ATI choice, but it's $50 cheaper, which makes up the difference on the better RAM. Then I'd check out that monitor using the reviews of Samsung stuff on Tom's Hardware. There are major differences between manufacturers in how many bad pixels a screen needs to have in order to be eligible for replacement.

As for the case, I don't know. I have the same one sitting beside me, here, waiting on the CPU to put the system together. I picked a GigaByte motherboard, though, for the extra features. We'll see how the power supply holds up. I see that you don't mention a sound card, though...

Ya sound isn't real important to me as long as I can hear it then im good hehe. I've read alot of bad reviews on asus for they're customer service and I noticed its bad in this this forum also. I was just wondering what would be an alternate choice other than asus? and which model should it be?
Also I hear alot about this overclocking thing, could anyone explain to me what excatly it is/does, what you need to do it, and how is it done?

1more thing is nVidia 5900xt better or just cheaper than the 9800 Pro? And which company should I buy the 5900xt? Gigabyte, XFX, CHAINTECH or what?
<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Crowman1234 on 07/22/04 06:20 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

Personally, I picked GigaByte for the motherboard. I liked the dual BIOS. It takes all the stress out of Flashing the BIOS. I read all the reviews and found that GigaByte gave me lots more features overall at a good price. I chose the nForce3 250-powered K8NS Pro.

Overclocking is the practice of running the CPU faster than its rated speed. You do by boosting the timing and voltage of the chip, so if you're not very careful about cooling and if you push it a little too far, you have a cute little lump of toast instead of a CPU. Not to mention a large hole in your bank account. It can give you a certain percentage boost in performance, but you have to balance the risk. Usually it's a lot safer to just buy a faster CPU.

As for the video cards, I believe that the two cards are about even on performance, but the nVidia-powered card is a little cheaper at the moment. As for a brand on the nVidia, I really don't know. My old one is by eVga.

Ok that sounds pretty good, I got one more question whats BIOS? Im really incompetent when it comes to these things so bare with me. Also do you think 400W can handle those specs? Or should I just get a case and buy a 500W power supply? Also are the fan selections I made good choices, again sound doesn't bother me it might bother the people I live with though but ohwell, but with the fans did I cover everything?

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Crowman1234 on 07/22/04 07:02 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

Well, BIOS is what is called an acronym. It means it's intials of a group of words, like IBM=International Business Machines. BIOS means 'basic input/output system'. It's the program that handles the initial bootup of your computer and interactions between WIndows and the actual hardware. It's updatable, but if you mess up loading the new code into the memory chip on the motherboard, all you have is a dead system and a bill of about $50 for a new chip from the board manufacturer. Unless, of course, there's a backup on the board, as there is with GigaByte.

What you have planned is a case with a 420 watt power supply. I have no direct experience with RaidMax, so I can't say how good the supply is. Poor ones won't deliver anywhere near the rated power at actual operating temperatures. Good ones could handle the load without a hiccup. I bought the very same case a couple of weeks ago, so we'll both find out.

I can't give you any info about the fans. If you go to the overclocking forum, they should be the ones to ask about fans and cooling. The tests on Tom's say that the stock cooler that comes with the retail versions of AMD CPU's handle the load fine, but if you want to overclock, that goes out the window.

Ok how does this sound now?
2x512MB Corsair XMS PC3200
Gigabyte nVidia GeForce FX5900XT 128mb
AOpen "AK86-L" K8T800 Chipset Motherboard
AMD 64 3000+
Maxtor 80GB 7200RPM SATA HD
Same case as above
90mm and 80mm Vantec Tornados
Thermaltake Venus12 CPU Cooler
And probably some Artic Silver just to be more secure

Just to double check are those things compatible with each other?



<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Crowman1234 on 07/22/04 10:20 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

I'll take this point by point.

On the motherboard, in comparison with a GigaByte GA-K8NS-Pro like the one I bought-

AOpen- 6 drives max (4 ATA133 - 2 SATA), IDE RAID
GigaByte- 12 drives max (8 ATA133 - 4 SATA), IDE and SATA RAID

AOpen- AGP 8x
GigaByte- AGP 4x/6x

AOpen- USB ports- 4, IEEE1394-0
GigaByte- USB ports- 8, IEEE1394-3

And, of course, the dual BIOS, plus the nVidia chipset. All the reviews show the nVidia chipset to be the best for the Athlon 64. Not sure why you're so set on the VIA chipset, but that's your choice. Also, if you intend to use this system for anything other than game playing, you're going to run out of space in about a year (I'd guess). I'd spend the extra $30 and get a 160 gig drive.

The Arctic Silver is good and the coolers should do the job.

And that's my opinion. If you're really stuck on the AOpen motherboards, then I'd at least get the AK89-L with the nVidia chipset.

I really don't have a clue as to whats those things are hehe but I'll go with your advice with gettin a Gigabyte... since for some reason even though it cost more my price went down on newegg... must be because im getting a vid card from Gigabyte also.

Thanks for the help though I really appreciate it, I have 1 more question. It's about the monitors, what excatly does dot pitch do for monitors? And would having a hiver # be better or should it be lower? I mean which would be better .20 or .26

Well, your question this time is pretty easy to answer. You can actually show yourself the difference with a marker and a ruler. Dot pitch, in a monitor, is simply the distance between the dots of color that make up the picture. Take the marker and use the ruler to make some dots on a piece of paper. On one piece, make dots an inch apart. on the next, make the dots only 1/8 of an inch apart. as the dots get closer, you could make a recognizable picture in a smaller space. You've made patterns with a 1.0 inch dot pitch and a dot pitch of .125 inches. Now you can start to imagine the effect of putting 1280 dots by 1024 dots in about the same space as two sheets of paper next to each other.

That answers the question: the more dots, the better the picture. The actual term 'dot pitch' simply tells you how far apart each dot is from their neighbors.

.... I feel somewhat retarded now haha thanks very much about that even though that was actually pretty easy the term just didnt make sense to me. Anyways I'll be ordering those items by monday so I'll just see how it goes.

I'll prolly end up having to ask for you help again hehe just because this will be the first time I build a computer, but anyways THANK YOU!!!!!

Just adding one thing...how did you get that MoBo to fit in the case? I looked at the pictures and I noticed how the plug in slots aren't the same for the case to the motherboard... so would I like have to cut out my own or what?

The motherboard should come with its own. Just swap em.

<A HREF="http://www.newegg.com/app/Showimage.asp?image=13-131-491-04.JPG/13-131-491-07.JPG/13-131-491-08.JPG/13-131-491-01.JPG" target="_new">Picture</A>

<font color=blue>War</font color=blue> <font color=orange>Eagle</font color=orange>
"I am not a role model." - Charles Barkley
{FTM}

Ahhh man i feel like a ratard haha thanks for pointing that out man!

No worries, man. Nobody's ever been born having done everything.

<font color=blue>War</font color=blue> <font color=orange>Eagle</font color=orange>
"I am not a role model." - Charles Barkley
{FTM}