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D-Bone
Jan 27th '05, 05:45 PM
Ok guys. Its time to start thinking about replacing my current gaming rig. Between the tax return and my b-day I'm hoping I can pull this off. I wanted to run the specs past you guys to see what you think or if you have some suggestions. I know Kyraath is thinking about a new system too so maybe this will help him out as well.

Processor
AMD Athlon 64 3200+, 512KB L2 Cache, Socket 939 64-bit Processor - Retail (90nm Winchester Core)
The new Winchester core is supposed to be better than the 130nm core and the 3500+ is 100 dollars more expensive. So the 3200+ should be sufficient.

Motherboard
ASUS "A8N-SLI Deluxe" nForce4 SLI Chipset Motherboard For AMD Socket 939 CPU
PCI-Express, SATAII, Dual Channel DDR400, all kinds of onboard yummies, everything but the kitchen sink basically.
http://usa.asus.com/products/mb/socket939/a8nsli-d/overview.htm

Memory
CORSAIR XMS Xtreme Memory Speed Series, Xtra-Low Latency 184-Pin 1GB(512MBx2) DDR PC-3200 w/ Platinum Heat Spreader, Model TWINX1024-3200XLPT
2-2-2-5 CAS timings and 2 512's for dual channel. Should be smokin'.

Video Card
XFX nVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT Video Card, 256MB GDDR3, 256-Bit, Dual DVI/TV-Out, PCI-E, Model "PVT45GUD"
Go big or go home right? The extra 200 bucks vs the 6600GT seems to be worth it considering the performance benchmarks. Over 60fps at 1600x1200, 4xAA, 8xAF in HL2. Yummy.
http://www.xfxforce.com/product_view.php?sku=PVT45GUD

Hard Drive
Maxtor 300GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive, Model 6B300S0
9.3ms seek time, 16MB buffer, SATAII support and NCQ.
PDF Data Sheet: http://www.maxtor.com/_files/maxtor/en_us/documentation/data_sheets/diamondmax_10_data_sheet.pdf

Case
Antec P180 (not available yet)
This is supposed to be out by the end of February, perfect timing.
P180 Review: http://www.silentpcreview.com/news452.html

Power supply
Trying to decide between the Antec NeoPower480 and the TruePower480. The Neopower is 30 bucks more.
Neo480: http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=24480
True480: http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=20480

Optical Drives
Keeping what I currently have.

So, what do you guys think?

Dante
Jan 27th '05, 05:57 PM
Very very nice. That case is SWEEEEEET.

I'm scratching my head with the NeoPower480 with the statement about 'native support for top end PCI Express Graphics cards'. Do some PCI express cards draw more power than others besides using an additional 12 volt plug or is that what they're referring to?