Building a new computer, what motherboard?

M

menneger

Geek Trainee
Hey everybody! well i have built some really low end computers, but those are like 10 years old, like 233mhz processor old. Anyway i want to build a new computer and i don't know anything about motherboards, i know what they do and i know where to put the cards and all that stuff, but i want to know what one to get, so what would you all suggest with these specs

Case: $53
Motherboard: ???? (I heard about $140 for a pretty good one)
CPU: AMD Athlon XP 3200+ - 400MHz - w/ CPU Fan - AMD 3yrs Warranty - $198
Memory: Elixir or Kreton DDR 512MB 400MHz / 333MHz - PC3200 - Dual Channel Tested - $78 each
Video Card: eVGA Geforce FX 5700LE 256MB DDR, TV-Out & DVI (Dual View) - 4x8x AGP - $118
Hard Drive: SAMSUNG 80GB 7200RPM IDE Hard Drive, Model SP0802N, OEM Drive only - $63.50
CD-ROM Drive: ?????? about $40
Sound Card or Onboard Sound: SoundBlaster LIVE Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound PnP - OEM - PCI Slot - $26

TOTAL: about $759

I don't want to spend much more than $800 any comments or suggestions would be appreciated, like i said am pretty new to this.
 
I'm running the Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe myself. You'd get better sound than the SB Live and it has digital out. You can easily find it for under $100.

If you just want a CD-ROM drive, go with Samsung, and actually, you could find their 52x CD burner for around $30 online. Not necessary, but just a thought.

What are you going to be doing with this system? Most of it looks good, but if you're going to be doing some gaming, you might want invest in a little meatier video card. For the money your best bet right now would be the Radeon 9800 Pro, which runs for around $199. If you can't swing that, at least get a GeForce FX 5700 or 5700 Ultra or a Radeon 9600/9600Pro/9600XT (any 9600 but the SE). If you won't be doing gaming, the 5700LE is more than enough.
 
So the eVGA Geforce FX 5700LE 256MB DDR, TV-Out & DVI isn't good enough for doom 3, that is the hardest game for computers to run nowdays, its 256mb, thats alot better than the 128mb i know i can get the 6800 for like $300 but i think its only a 128mb, plus i don't have that kind of money, how much r the 5700 ultra and 5700 is the LE alot worse than those? i don't like ATI, and i really like nvidia geforce! its like $500 for a 6800 with 256mb! the motherboard looks good, thankx for the info!

I want this to be a good gaming system that can also be able to run Half-Life2 when it comes out, i donr know the specs for that game yet, but i know what i've got here could run at least medium settings on doom 3. neway ya i am stupid but i need all the help i can get, Thanx!
 
Bear in mind a 128Mb 9800PRO card is better than a 256Mb 9600XT card. Very few games use 256megs worth of memory for textures, etc and you won't see the benefits. Yet. The 9800PRO is a lot better than the 9600XT, even though it has half the memory, it's core and memory clocks are a lot higher, and so it can out perform the 9600XT.
 
The amount of memory, while important, shouldn't be the biggest thing you look at. Yes, extra memory can help with textures, but that will only help so much. The Radeon 9800 Pro isn't the new kid on the block, but for the money, it's probably the best bet at this point in time. Like I said, it is going to run around $199, but if you want to play D00M 3 with your eye candy turned up, that'll be an infinitely better buy. Going with my earlier suggestions, you can make it work in your rig.

If you're worried about ATi, in the past, their drivers have sucked, and unless you're running Linux, the Radeon's are a better card than their nVidia counterparts when it comes to Direct X 9. If you still can't go with ATi, then do yourself a big favor and look at the GeForce FX5900XT. Depending on who made the card, you can find them between $175-200 online. You'll get much better performance than the 5700LE for the money.
 
ok, so i found a couple cards that look pretty good,

e-GeForce FX5700U, 128MB DDR3 VGA+DVI+TV Out

e-GeForce FX 5900XT, 128MB DDR

e-GeForce 6800GT, 256MB DDR3 AGP8X

e-GeForce 6800,128MB DDR

what would you recommend out of these? i know the 6800 is better no matter what, but would the 128mb 6800 work for halflife 2? would alot of this stuff be able to run HL2 or will i need to upgrade when it comes out? right now with a $100 card im lookin at around $830 w/ out a monitor, but including keyboard and mouse, even though i probably wont need one, i dont need a modem, all i need is a network card which i can probably get for like 30 or 40 bucks.
 
If you ask me, the 16 pixel-pipe version of the 6800 smokes the 9800 so hard, it's actually worth the hefty price. But, I'm a Linux buff. As far as I'm concerned, you've never gamed until you've gamed on a true-64bit [Linux] system with a 6800! ...I'm getting all misty-eyed just thinking about it. :love:
 
Anti: Can you really argue that the 6800GT is the best value card ? I'm not sure.

A brand new one is $420, too expensive to be considered value imo.

EDIT: If you can afford it, grab the GT, it'll handle current and future games without any problems whatsoever.
 
harrack52 said:
Anti: Can you really argue that the 6800GT is the best value card ? I'm not sure.

A brand new one is $420, too expensive to be considered value imo.

EDIT: If you can afford it, grab the GT, it'll handle current and future games without any problems whatsoever.
Click to expand...
Hmm, $420 sounds like a lot in Canadian bucks. But for bang-for-buck, the 6800 is pretty decent for such a late model card. Especially one with twice the raw power of the 9800. I do agree unhesitantly that the 9800 is currently the best budget card for gaming, but the 6800 is pretty incredible, if you can afford any card in its price range.
 
harrack52 said:
Ok but isn't this a 12-pipe card ?
Click to expand...
Hmm, there should be 16-PP versions of the card in that link (above). Actually, strangely enough the 16-PP and 12-PP versions of the card seem to be the same price? Weird :p
harrack52 said:
Oh believe me, I'd get a 6800 if I could afford it :(
Click to expand...
You and me both, buddy. You and me both... :sad:
 
And me. My friend wants a 6800 soo bad. He wants to have it even tho he's using a k6 cpu with 5gb of hard disk space. I can't imagine life so hard.
 
i can get the 6800 gt for $379 us dollars,

e-GeForce FX 5900XT, 128MB DDR $180

e-GeForce FX5700U, 128MB DDR3 VGA+DVI+TV Out $180

i think ill probably go with the 5900xt its pretty cheap and it will run doom 3 pretty well i think, it is certified by id for use with it. i might just have to upgrade when HL2 comes out.
Thank you guys for all your help, the motherboard is sweet! i've always liked ASUS! the 6800 ultra is so sweet i could just jack off looking at it!
 
oh another question, what about ram, i know kingston and corsair are really good, i am gonna get 2 sticks of 512mb i just dont know about brands like elixer and kreton are they good? or ok? or just bad?
 
menneger said:
oh another question, what about ram, i know kingston and corsair are really good, i am gonna get 2 sticks of 512mb i just dont know about brands like elixer and kreton are they good? or ok? or just bad?
Click to expand...
If you're going to go for budget RAM, skip those brands and go for Mushkin or Geil RAM. That's my 2cents :)
 
Kingston ValuRAM is pretty good stuff too, but you may not get quite as tight of timings with that stuff like you would the HyperX series.
 
Whatever you do, don't get Elixir RAM. I bought a stick last year and it died after 3 months.

Then I bought 2 sticks of Kingston ValueRam PC3200 and was very suprised about how it performed. It could go past 220mhz easily. I can't say the same about Corsair Value Select though, mine doesn't oc much, but it's stable, no problem witht that.

I suggest you go with some Kingston ValueRam. Very good memory for the price.
 
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