How Good Is This Combination (For Games)?

[Kaodi]

Round 2

Motherboard: DFI LanParty U-T nF4-D
CPU: Athlon 64 3800+
Video Card: Radeon X600 Pro 128 Mb OR All-In-Wonder X600 Pro Radeon 256 Mb
RAM: KingMax PC3200 DDR400 512 Mb 184-pin x2
Hard Drive: WD Caviar SATA 2 160 Gb 7200 RPM 8 Mb Buffer
Floppy: ?? (I will have one though.)
ROM: Lite-On DVD+/-RW 16x and Lite-On DVD-R (sp?) 16x
Case: Antec Sonata I
Sound Card: Creative Audigy 2 Value
Speakers: Creative Inspire P7800
Mouse: Logitech MX510
Keyboard: Logitech Internet Keyboard

 

[Rackhir]

Motherboard: DFI LanParty U-T nF4-D
CPU: Athlon 64 3800+
Video Card: Radeon X600 Pro 128 Mb OR All-In-Wonder X600 Pro Radeon 256 Mb
RAM: KingMax PC3200 DDR400 512 Mb 184-pin x2
Hard Drive: WD Caviar SATA 2 160 Gb 7200 RPM 8 Mb Buffer
Floppy: ?? (I will have one though.)
ROM: Lite-On DVD+/-RW 16x and Lite-On DVD-R (sp?) 16x
Case: Antec Sonata I
Sound Card: Creative Audigy 2 Value
Speakers: Creative Inspire P7800
Mouse: Logitech MX510
Keyboard: Logitech Internet Keyboard

The X600 Pro is going to have half the performance of an X700/pro, for $10-$20 dollars less. I'd spend the extra money. Don't bother with the all in wonder cards unless you really need to make your PC act like a TV.

One of the advantages of this motherboard from what I understand is that it is a great overclocker. For that you aren't going to want the fastest chips, so the 3800+ is probably a good choice. An advantage to the dual core chips from what I understand, is that you can be playing Doom3 while still having other stuff running in the background without a performance hit. The 4400+ is probably your most bang/buck choice if that sounds attractive.

*************Edit*************
The motherboard was convertable to being SLI, however they have made changes to it that prevent it from being converted. If you want to use SLI you will now have to spend an extra $60 to get the LANParty nF4 SLI-DR. However the DFI LanParty U-T nF4-D is still a very good overclocker.

*************Edit*************

The Thermaltake XP-90c isn't cheap, but it is by all acounts the best heatsink/fan out there. You will want a good heatsink for the processor if you have any overclocking ambitions.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835109122

Another advantage of the AMD chips is that they can benefit from low latency ram, since their memory controller is built into the chip. So you might want to consider Ram with 2-2-2-5 timings. It would be more expensive though.

 

[Kaodi]

Well...

I am shooting for an inflexible maximum amount of money I want to spend on my computer (after tax) of $1999.99 Cdn. That configuration I posted will fit in, with maybe a few more costs, like the better graphics card. I don't overclock my computers. If I can afford the lowest X2 at 2.2 Ghz, would I be that much better off than the 2.4 Ghz 3800, for the $200+ difference? In the long term, would I be better with an X2 than with a substantial better Video Card, which can be replaced much cheaper anyway?

 

[Rackhir]

I am shooting for an inflexible maximum amount of money I want to spend on my computer (after tax) of $1999.99 Cdn. That configuration I posted will fit in, with maybe a few more costs, like the better graphics card. I don't overclock my computers. If I can afford the lowest X2 at 2.2 Ghz, would I be that much better off than the 2.4 Ghz 3800, for the $200+ difference? In the long term, would I be better with an X2 than with a substantial better Video Card, which can be replaced much cheaper anyway?

The X2 chips will not be likely to make any difference in gaming performance for at least the next year. Basically no games take advantage of dual processors currently. That will change over time, but not soon.

The graphics card will have the greatest impact on your gaming performance.

See my edit above for more info on the MB.

 

[Kaodi]

More...

I'll definately switch motherboards, and I'll go with the X700 128 Mb, but I don't think I can afford to get a 4200 (let alone a 4400) rather than a 3800 in addition to that. Besides, 3800 has 1 Mb L2 Cache, whereas 4200 has just 512 Kb, and with what you're saying about games not taking advantage of the dual processors, from what I understand, the bigger L2 cache is definately desirable.

The highest specs game I expect to be playing is Black & White 2, which one of their guys said would be around Doom 3. The FPS don't appeal to me as much, at least for computer.

 

[Rackhir]

I'll definately switch motherboards, and I'll go with the X700 128 Mb, but I don't think I can afford to get a 4200 (let alone a 4400) rather than a 3800 in addition to that. Besides, 3800 has 1 Mb L2 Cache, whereas 4200 has just 512 Kb, and with what you're saying about games not taking advantage of the dual processors, from what I understand, the bigger L2 cache is definately desirable.

The highest specs game I expect to be playing is Black & White 2, which one of their guys said would be around Doom 3. The FPS don't appeal to me as much, at least for computer.

The 90nm Rev E4 athalon 64s have only 512kb cache. You definitely want the Rev E4 version chips, they are notably superior to the previous versions of the chips. The thing to look for is that it should say it has SSE3 support. I believe the AMD part number is ADA3800BPBOX. You would need to go to the 4000+ to get the 1mb L2 cache. The Rev E4 versions are also built on a 90nm process vs the 130nm process for the older chips.

One thing, the ATI cards will not work in SLI mode. They currently have no SLI options, you need an nVidia card to be able to use SLI. The comperable card to the X700 for nVidia is the 6600, the 6600GT would be about double the performance of the x700.

 

[Kaodi]

Price Creep

While your advice has been invaluable, we're starting to get into territory where I can't afford the better parts and still stay within the money I want to spend.

6600GT may be twice the performance, but it's also almost twice the price. Is there a different nVidia card that would be comparable performance and price to the Radeon X700, while still being SLI-capable?

Anyway, I am looking to commission my computer a week from today.

I should probably also note, whatever I get, will probably be a MASSIVE step up from what is currently the best computer in the house, my sisters 2-year old computer that she got before going to college.

 

[Rackhir]

The plain 6600 would actually be better than the X700 while being about the same price.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814135166&CMP=OTC-pr1c3watch&ATT=Video+Cards