Building a new computer: 64 Bit Goodness

[NiX]

I think it's time to build a new computer. Mainly because my younger brothers box died due to his neglect and I'm being bugged to build him a new computer. I figure I'll capitalize on the situation and get myself a new computer and just hand down my computer. I'm just wondering what the good->best parts are. Is it really worth it to upgrade to PCI-E? I have a X800 PRO 256 AGP right now and so far its held up really well. I'm mainly constrained by my faulty RAM. Anywho, I'm pretty much building just a new box. I don't need a monitor, speakers or mouse/keyboard. Also, don't price it from Newegg. Unfortunately I live in a land so far north Newegg doesn't know I exist. My budget is about $1500, but I'd really like to hit for under that.

[Strazos]

Newegg won't ship to Canada? That sucks.

Personally, the brands I trust are:

RAM: Corsair (HiPo) or Crucial

Video card: I don't go with any special producer, I just get straight ATI.

HDD: I personally use WD and haven't had any problems with the drives.

Mobo: Asus

Case: LianLi. Sexy cases, plenty of space, and great quality.

I use Thermaltake for heatsinks and fans. I think my PSU is Thermaltake also. For optical drives I just use whatever seems to have a sensible price, a brand I recognize, and the features I am looking for. I'm currently using a Pioneer slot-loading DVD drive, and a Samsung CD-RW drive.

[Trippy]

Anywho, I'm pretty much building just a new box. I don't need a monitor, speakers or mouse/keyboard. Also, don't price it from Newegg. Unfortunately I live in a land so far north Newegg doesn't know I exist. My budget is about $1500, but I'd really like to hit for under that.

Is that $1500 US or Canadian? How long do you normally keep your computers for?

Edit: trimmed quote

[NiX]

Canadian. Which is enough, so far as I know. If i have to skip out on SATA and stick with my current drives, so be it, as long as I can upgrade later I'm fine. Also, is DDR2 worth the extra money? I don't want to fork over more money for something that gives a minimal upgrade. Is it worth it to go with the AMD X2 processors?

I've had this current setup for about 4 years now? Somewhere around there. Its been awhile. I got this current one for REALLY cheap (2500+, 256 MB DDR 3200, some nForce2 mobo, case and 400W PSU for $250.) I'm not too worried about giving up on it.

Edit: If you can find the parts you're suggesting on this site that'd be awesome.

[schild]

Sooooooo, time for me to start shopping also. Dell has 30% off. Keke.

[Trippy]

Crap, Firefox ate my reply. Oh well here we go again...

Your X800 Pro is a good card but sticking with AGP is going to limit your upgrade options in the future and the X800 Pro doesn't support the latest DirectX Pixel Shader spec so you are potentially missing out on some "eye candy" with that card. My recommendation is switch over to PCI-e. One compromise solution is to go with a motherboard that uses the ULi M1695 chipset that supports both AGP and PCI-e.

Dual core computing does not increase gaming performance except for a handful of games right now (CoH/CoV, Quake 4 with beta patch, CoD 2 with upcoming patch) and on the Athlon 64 X2 there are compatibility issues with that processor and games. You can read more about that here. Dual core CPUs can help in a lot of other ways but it depends on how you use your computer.

The term DDR2 is a bit misleading since many people think of it as "DDRx2" when in fact it really means "DDR v2.0" or "DDR II" -- i.e. the next version of the DDR spec. DDR2 offers the potential for greater bandwidth in the future at the expense of greater latencies. So depending on the type of memory access you may actually see slower performance with DDR2 compared to DDR. Also at the moment DDR2 means going with an Intel CPU/motherboard chipset and I would recommend an Athlon 64 instead because of its better performance/price ratio.

Here are some recommended components available from Canada Computers:

Motherboard: Asus A8N-SLI Premium Socket 939 $209.99 (Deluxe is $15 cheaper but Premium has passively cooled chipset meaning less noise (though Dexlue chipset fan likely to be drowned out by video card fan anyway) plus Premium has software switchable SLI. DFI makes excellent NVIDIA 4/SLI motherboards as well.)

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3500+ 2.2GHz Socket 939 512k L2 Cache (Retail Box) $244.99

Memory: OCZ PC-3200 DDR400 Platinum Edition 2GB(2X1024MB) Dual Channel $329.99 (2 GB strongly recommended, matched dual channel kits makes things easier, these are low latency chips so they are a little more pricey)

Hard drive: $100 - $150 (whatever you like)

Case: Antec SLK3000B Black Super Mid Tower w/o P.S. $63.00 (really whatever you like but I would recommend something without a bundled power supply and something that uses 120mm case fans)

Power Supply: Enermax EG-565P-VE FMA V2.0 (24P) 535W SLi Ready $98.00 (you can get something with less wattage (and cheaper) but if you plan on going to SLI in the near future you might as well get a power supply that supports it now)

Video Card: MSI nVidia GeForce 7800GT NX7800GT-VT2D256E SLI Ready 256MB DDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI/VIVO+HDTV PCI Express Video Card $419.00 (I don't like their video card selection)

DVD Drive: BenQ DW1655 DVD+R 16x8x16 DVD-R 16x6x16 DL 8x/4x Lightscribe IDE DVD Writer OEM $69.99 (not sure if this has a black faceplate)

Software: Microsoft Windows XP Professional (OEM) $159.00

TOTAL (without taxes): $1693.96 (You can get it closer to $1500 if you are willing to skimp on the video card and go with something like the 6800 GT for $299. A single 7800 GT is roughly comparable to dual 6800 GTs, though, so you aren't really saving any money in the long run by going with the 6800 GT if you plan on upgrading/going to SLI in the near future).


Optional Stuff:

CPU Cooler: Zalman CNPS9500-Cu-LED Heatsink with 70mm Ultra Quiet Fan $79.99 (stock cooler works fine if you don't overclock but if you want to OC or if noise is an issue, get this thing, its an awesome cooler and quiet as well)

GPU Cooler: Zalman VF700-Cu Copper VGA Cooler $34.99 (same with your video card cooler, need to be willing to take apart your video card cooler though, (requires small screwdrivers))

Floppy drive (if you need to load drivers on install or you can borrow one you already have temporarily)

120 mm case fan (above case comes with one in back but there's a bracket for another in front by the hard drive cage)

Arctic Silver (if you don't already have)

[Strazos]

I'd still say go with Corsair or Crucial. I've seen/heard of a lot of problems with OCZ sticks. I just now may be having one of my Corsair sticks crap out, after heavy use for more than 3 years.

[Trippy]

I'd still say go with Corsair or Crucial. I've seen/heard of a lot of problems with OCZ sticks. I just now may be having one of my Corsair sticks crap out, after heavy use for more than 3 years.

Canada Computers doesn't have a good selection of 2 x 1 GB dual channel memory kits so unless he wanted to go 4 x 512 MB his options are more limited.

[NiX]

I'll try to come up with some other places. TigerDirect is up here, but I don't trust them. They harbor a lot of shitty brands and the store is so shady it hurts. Another place to look is NCIX.com. They ship out of Vancouver so there's no secondary tax (as far as I remember.)

[Strazos]

Canada Computers doesn't have a good selection of 2 x 1 GB dual channel memory kits so unless he wanted to go 4 x 512 MB his options are more limited.

In a way, if he doesn't need more than 2gb of Ram, and has space for 4 sticks, couldn't the 4 sticks be faster than 2 higher-capactity sticks?

[Trippy]

Canada Computers doesn't have a good selection of 2 x 1 GB dual channel memory kits so unless he wanted to go 4 x 512 MB his options are more limited.

In a way, if he doesn't need more than 2gb of Ram, and has space for 4 sticks, couldn't the 4 sticks be faster than 2 higher-capactity sticks?

It used to be there were no "low latency" 1 GB sticks so you did have make that decision (fill up all the slots with LL 512 MB sticks or go with 2 1 GB higher latency sticks). These days, though, you can get 2-3-2-5 1 GB sticks which is pretty close to the fastest 2-2-2-5 512 MB sticks. Given the way Vista is looking I wouldn't recommend filling up all your memory slots to 2 GB in a brand new computer unless you don't mind possibly "throwing away" some sticks in the future.

[Lanei]

One compromise solution is to go with a motherboard that uses the ULi M1695 chipset that supports both AGP and PCI-e.

Practically everything I might have said has been covered, but I wanted to point out that Alkiera has one of the above linked boards, and apprently is reasonably happy with it. 

[Shockeye]

You could buy it at Newegg and have it shipped to someone in the US you know and they can then ship it to you.

[NiX]

You could buy it at Newegg and have it shipped to someone in the US you know and they can then ship it to you.

I think you just volunteered..wait.. would I see my parts again?

[Shockeye]

You could buy it at Newegg and have it shipped to someone in the US you know and they can then ship it to you.

I think you just volunteered..wait.. would I see my parts again?

Let me amend my previous statement.

You could buy it at Newegg and have it shipped to someone in the US you know AND TRUST and they can then ship it to you.

[Alkiera]

One compromise solution is to go with a motherboard that uses the ULi M1695 chipset that supports both AGP and PCI-e.

Practically everything I might have said has been covered, but I wanted to point out that Alkiera has one of the above linked boards, and apprently is reasonably happy with it. 

I do, the Dual939-Sata2, or some such like that... made by ASRock.

I've currently just got my 9600 Pro in it, but I'm probably going to be glad of the PCIe slot here in a year or so, when it's no longer enough.

I've been pretty happy with the board.

Alkiera

[SurfD]

If you arent particularly adverse to shopping around (depending on where you live) and buying peacemeal to then assemble it yourself, I would reccomend you make a list of exactly what parts you are looking for (namebrand, product number, etc, etc), and plugging them into the Best Buy Finder.

Great website that does a comparative price search through a very wide selection of canadian PC parts retailers.  You can find some surprisingly good deals there (you can also see just how much the big box places will rip you off for).

[Viin]

I also use www.pricewatch.com to find good deals - but you do need to know what you are looking for already.

Newegg is a good place, so is mwave.com. Feel free to ship stuff to me, I'll even put it all together for a minimal fee.  :mrgreen:

[NiX]

I found with BBF.ca it ended up being one of three places with the best price: NCIX, Canada Computers or some other place that's in Brampton. I'd probably only buy from CC or NCIX.