My on-going PC project Status: PICS!

[penguinrusty]

Well, I just ordered another of my favorite case (the ultra ms blue dragon) and my favorite power supply (ultra 500 watt x-connect). Every once in a while, instead of buying a whole system at once, I'll buy a one or two top-of-the line parts. When I'm finished, I think i'll have myself a nice little gaming PC. Here's what I'm starting out with:

Update 3: Just ordered motherboard and processor.

update 2: I just chose all new parts, Take a look at this:

DFI LANPARTY nF4 SLI-DR Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813136151)

AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego 1GHz FSB 1MB L2 Cache Socket 939 Processor (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103539)

Hitatchi S-ATA 7200 RPM 8mb cache 160gb (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822145051)

Rosewill 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820223030)

MSI NX6600GT-TD128E Geforce 6600GT 128MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814127147)

SONY Black IDE DVD Burner (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827131256)

COOLER MASTER LLC-U03 (BLACK) Black Musketeer2 Controller Panel (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813999155)

LOGISYS Computer CLK15UV UV Deluxe Sound Activated Cold Cathode Kit 15" (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16800888070)

LOGISYS Computer CLK15BL 15" Blue Deluxe Sound Activated Cold Cathode Kit (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16800888073)

All powered by an Ultra 500 watt power supply in a full-tower Ultra case. Total: $1035

[hoov100]

nice. what brand of memory are you going to use? kingston?

[penguinrusty]

Well, I'm still debating that. I'm gonna get the gfx card next, then ram. I was thinking 3 sticks of ultra 512 mb, pc 3200 @ 400 mhz.

[hoov100]

that might work rather well to. instead of spending about $100 per stick you can spend about $130 for all 3.

[penguinrusty]

See first post for update. What really sold me on that mobo is that my friend got it (except he used an Intel extreme edition dual-core) and I was surprised at how cool it looked, how well it performed, and all the stuff it came with (case carrying strap, yellow cables, etc)

[bubba069]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820144160

cost more but all that nice hardware why skimp out on the memory...

as for the SLI card, if you have the $ get twin GF7800's but at 500+ each might want to drop back on the twin 6800's

ATI still getting the kinks out of there SLI setup.

[penguinrusty]

lol ya $1,000 a little too much to spend on a gfx card

[WESTOZ racer]

The cpu, a San-Diego cored atlon 64, will own about anything on the market except for FX57's of course.

Good choice on motherboard, although if you're not one to have a key knowledge of ram timings and overclocking, dont buy it. It was designed for hardcore o/cers/enthusiasts and in the wrong hands it can kill hardware.

Anyways, all ur hardware looks damn good. I think u'll like this....I couldnt believe the speed of my new compy.

[penguinrusty]

What else would you reccomend? I know someone who built a computer w/ that same exact board, so if worse comes to worse i'll just ask him. But I'm open to suggestions. Oh, and BTW, thanks for the help Westoz. My friend who had this board had an all-in-wonder x850, and frankly, I've seen better cards that cost less. I'll go ahead and get the 6600 duals, just because a. having two video cards is awesome and b. geek bragging rights. Edit 3: here's the gfx card i was planning on using: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1428487&CatId=0

[penguinrusty]

Check first post for update 2.

[WESTOZ racer]

The SLI-DR will be great, but if u dont "play" with all the settings to get them optimal then you could probably have poorer performance than another brand right off the bat.

DFI sets its defaults to slack latencies and timings on most everything from my experience with 2 of their lanparty boards. If you want to research, go right ahead....I recommend it ;)

[penguinrusty]

Sweet. Thanks for the input. I happen to have a friend whose dad got a degree in computer engineering. He is mostly an Intel guy, but i'm sure if I do some research, him and I can get some good work done.

[penguinrusty]

I just ordered the mobo and processor...can't wait for them to come!

[penguinrusty]

You gotta love ZipZoomFly's free 2nd day air shiipping...Anyway, here are some pics.

Side of case (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v67/penguinrusty/Side.jpg)

All of the boxes (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v67/penguinrusty/Boxes.jpg)

AMD/DFI= Rock your freakin socks off. (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v67/penguinrusty/Logos.jpg)

DFI's FrontX (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v67/penguinrusty/FrontX.jpg)

Inside without UV light (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v67/penguinrusty/Inside.jpg)

Inside WITH UV light. (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v67/penguinrusty/InsideUV.jpg)

I am never buying anything but AMD and DFI anymore. Here's what came with the DFI mobo:
High-quality jumper removing tool
5inch drive bay thing that had ports for SATA, two high-speed connector things, firewire, and status LEDs (really, really cool.) that show you what drives, etc. are working
Sweet case carrying system (again, really high quality)
UV-reactive cable sleeving
UV reative SATA, FDD, and IDE cables.
Sticker
Case badge
And lots of other stuff, including thermal paste.

The AMD proc also included a really nice CPU cooler, but I think that if I want to overclock it all so that my processor won't be a bottleneck to the system, I need to buy an aftermarket cooler.

[cornelje]

Im building an athlon 64/6600gt here pretty soon. Im going with the asus a8n mobo though. Never seen the 6600gt in action yet, any opinions on it? Or the a8n mobo either?

[penguinrusty]

I would go with a 6800 instead. Much better than the 6600.

[cornelje]

Thats what a buddy of mine said, for the price vs. performance its well worth it.

[WESTOZ racer]

Hi ho!

FINALLY, got some pictures of MY rig up now.
Take a look: imagestore.ugbox.net/image/a2e40d5246c76dc11dda663be6e0c948.jpg
imagestore.ugbox.net/image/949336d5348da36f0d90d1db469f6e86.jpg
imagestore.ugbox.net/image/b1dc8774cb70a5932397bb2872ddab67.jpg
imagestore.ugbox.net/image/213e92d7b3a98cfc9840a95ccabc9676.jpg

(If they dont work, copy+paste into location bar)

[penguinrusty]

Awesome. That looks like a sweet rig you got yourself there. Only one problem: Your computer seems to be growing a tumor. Is that big lump on the top in the front a cancerous mass or a fan? :lol:

[bubba069]

nice setup, folding is adictive isn't it. your a little higher than me in the ranks (I'm 29,706 overall) I fold for team 38296. a guy (infinitevalence) on the team is ranked 922 over all and is cranking out 46,000 points a month... its crazy.