First desktop, need advice

V

vape

Geek Trainee
:hi: hi everyone, i'm looking to build my first desktop computer, i've been using laptops for a while, now i just want a proper desktop, here's what i've come up with so far:

Case:
Thermaltake Xaser III Super Tower: 2 types to this, all steel, or aluminum. the steel one weighs about 19 kgs(42 lbs) when empty :ohah: , the aluminum one weighs about half that but the steel case is all i can get my hands on in short notice so i think i'll go with that. i won't be moving it or anything so i don't think it will make a difference, i'd like to hear any suggestions/experiences with this case or similarly heavy cases(if there is such a thing ;) )

Motherboard:
very undecided on this one. all suggestions will be very welcome.
if any of you could tell me the difference between
MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum and MSI K8N Neo4-FI that will help me.
Also, i might go with an ASUS A8N-SLI Premium or a Gigabyte GA-K8N Pro-SLI.
i'm not much of an overclocker, and i don't plan to buy a second graphics card and set up an SLI system so how smart would it be for me to buy an SLI-ready mobo? can you suggest a relatively high-performance mobo without SLI?

Processor:
AMD Athlon64 3800+ s939

Graphics Card:
HIS ATI Radeon X800XL IceQ II Turbo 256MB PCIe: good value as far as i know, any suggestions for an alternative are welcome.

Memory:
Corsair VS1GB400C3 PC3200 400MHz (Value Select) x 2 = 2GB

HDD
Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 SATA NCQ x 2: i'm thinking of RAID0 with these two

PSU:
Thermaltake Silent PurePower 680W: i guess this might be overdoing it a little bit since i'm not even thinking of SLI, i might pick a 550W one. i don't think i'll ever need this much power.

CPU Fan:
Zalman CNPS7700-AlCU. the all copper one weighs about 1kg which freaks me out for some reason. :spin2:

so basically, i need help with the mobo :confused: . i want a high performance one but i don't want to pay extra for an SLI capability which i probably will never use.

thanks in advance :ff:
 
Hi, for £187 (which is less thyan what the x800xl costs, you can get an ASUS X800XT PE from www.overclockers.co.uk, the cooler is not as good and the one on the HIS X800XL but you will get better performance in game with the ASUS X800XT PE.

also, for dual ati cards, its crossfire, so i think that on sli motherboard only nvidia cards can be used, so dont get an sli motherboard, i could be mistaken with that though.

EDIT: oh the x800xt pe is now £223, it is also AGP.
the HIS x800xl is £211 (pci-e) at overclockers.co.uk too

at overclockers.co.uk there is an pci-express SAPPHIRE X800XL for £187

but are you in the uk?

if not, then look at newegg, your better off buying an x800xt
 
willhub said:
also, for dual ati cards, its crossfire, so i think that on sli motherboard only nvidia cards can be used, so dont get an sli motherboard, i could be mistaken with that though.
Click to expand...

oh yeah, i forgot that SLI was for nvidia cards only, thanks :D . so what i basically need is a high performance s939 mobo with some bells and whistles except SLI. which is the main reason i posted in this forum, i'm in desperate need for advice on some decent mainboard. i don't even care that much about the price, as long as it's good.
 
i think crossfire can be done on a nf4 chipset, i'm not 100% certain on this though, if you want a decent PSU go for one like mine Tagan TG480-U01 Black-Edition Silent PSU.
http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/product.aspx?code=PST-TG480-U01
its quiet, provides good clean power and has all the connectors you're going to need (4 SATA, 8 Molex, 2 FDD, 2 PCIe, 20/24pin Motherboard, 4/8pin CPU)
also what is your budget, because if we know that then people may be able to make more suggestions, because for a little more money than that 3800+ you can get a 3800+ X2 dual core CPU...
 
well, if the nf4 chipset says it supports crossfire, then it supports crossfire :D
 
Excellent setup there mate. You can pop in an PCI-Express ATI card you want with no problems, just because it's nVidia based doesn't mean they aren't compatable. But only one ATI card at a time of course. The X800XL is the best bang for the bunk in highend cards, if you want all out performance obviously you could spend $360 or 190quid or whatever on a 7800GT but you do what you can.
For the motherboard If I were you I'd go with an ASUS SLI Deluxe, just because it's SLI doesn't mean you have to use that second slot, for most high performance boards you're going to pay almost a 100quid anyway so you might as well go with something trusted and stable. It's been around a long time so the bugs are pretty much all sorted out. Good performance to stability ratio.
 
yeah good point there Ex, i remember about ATI Crossfire and nf4, i think you can use ATI cards in a nf4 based PCIe board, but you cant crossfire them, you need an ATI Radeon Xpress 200 CrossFire chipset board.
Yeah i'd get an SLI board, you dont have to use it but its there if you need it.
just look out for these things
*AMD64 Bit CPU (i'd recommend the X2 3800+ if your already looking to get a 3800+, for only like $50 extra you can get the dual core one)
*Decent Trusted PCIe Motherboard, one that has been out a while and had a chance to get bugs fixed like Exfoliate said
*Good quality, stable RAM, 1GB minimum,
*You've got it pretty much spot on with graphics
*Decent Trusted PSU, see this thread for advice on that
*Decent reliable Hard drives Seagate or Western Digital.
*Decent Cooling, trust me its essential.
 
For cooling Zalman, Arctic Cooling, and Thermaltake are probably the best brands out there. And pick up some acrtic Silver 5 thermal compound while you're at it.
 
:D FREEZER SERIES!!!! heh, yeah Zalman make some good coolers, but they're very wide, although the Freezer series are quite tall, struggled to get it in my case, had to take PSU out. But read reviews, thats how you'll find out how things did, the manufacturer wont tell you about faults or bad design, they just want to sell it to you, and you know you've always got HWF for some good advice...
 
Exfoliate said:
Excellent setup there mate. You can pop in an PCI-Express ATI card you want with no problems, just because it's nVidia based doesn't mean they aren't compatable. But only one ATI card at a time of course. The X800XL is the best bang for the bunk in highend cards, if you want all out performance obviously you could spend $360 or 190quid or whatever on a 7800GT but you do what you can.
For the motherboard If I were you I'd go with an ASUS SLI Deluxe, just because it's SLI doesn't mean you have to use that second slot, for most high performance boards you're going to pay almost a 100quid anyway so you might as well go with something trusted and stable. It's been around a long time so the bugs are pretty much all sorted out. Good performance to stability ratio.
Click to expand...

thanks a lot, i think i'll go with the SLI Deluxe. i'm hoping this setup will be useful for a long time for me, i'm only thinking of possibly upgrading the cpu to a athlon64 x2 when their prices fall a little bit.
 
i was thinking of getting that a while back but wasnt sure if it would be okay to put on one sided ram, also i didnt know if you got the heatspreaders fo dual channel (2 sticks of RAM) so any info would help me as well.
 
Unless you have something that's going to pump more than 3V through your RAM, you're going to find that type of RAM cooling a waste of money. In otherwords, if you're not overclocking like mad, then save your money.

The A8N-SLI is the most mature SLI motherboard out there at this point in time, so it's certainly a safe bet.

As for the RAM:
-What are you doing that you need 2GB of RAM for? Seriously. For most people right now, going past 1GB is looking into dimishing returns. Other than bragging rights, at the present time, 2GB is still more than what you will really use. If you find you're lacking in the RAM department, you can always upgrade later. Secondly, if this is a power rig, why are you getting value-designated RAM? If you stick with Corsair, you can get a 1GB dual-channel kit of their XMS (high performance RAM) for about $140-160. If you decide to overclock, that stuff will serve you better than the value stuff. Other good brands would be OCZ, Patriot (particularly the +XBL stuff), and Crucial. The higher grade RAM can run tigher memory timings and tends to have heatspreaders, can be beneficial. The way I see it with putting heat spreaders on value memory is like putting a cherry bomb muffler and a huge spoiler on a Civic hybrid.

I don't know how much you're looking to spend for the PSU, but the Enermax EG-565P-VE is around $80 online and is on the SLI approved list. Personally, I've been very pleased with mine. If you find a power supply that looks good and you have a question about, show us what it is, and we can give you an answer of if it's worth your cash or not. Another good value contender is the Fortron Blue Storm 500W, and it's in the same price range as the Enermax I mentioned.
 
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