Building a computer, anything else needed?

[openheimer]

A decent PSU 500w Ultra twin fan is about $50

DEFINATELY get a socket 939 so you can upgrade to dual core.

On the Audio if you use onboard in BF2 you will probally get crackle form the Direct X side.


Other than that More ram.

[spyro415]

Will I need a HDD cooling fan if i'm not using a SATA HDD?

[NoSoup4You]

Yes Sound will effect in-game performance. It can actually cause an FPS drop. If you're going to build a nice system, why would you not add a sound card? It makes no sense to me.

[spyro415]

Yes Sound will effect in-game performance. It can actually cause an FPS drop. If you're going to build a nice system, why would you not add a sound card? It makes no sense to me.

Well, as you probably know, im on a tight budget, and im trying to cut every corner i can. Sound has never really been a big thing to me, and i've never had a sound card other than on-board, and i've always been fine with it. That audigy is definitely a 71 bucks that i don't wanna spend.

And what about refurbed mobos? It has several cables pictured, will those come with it, or only the mobo? If it doesn't come with the cables, i have an old P4 mobo, would i be able to use the cables from that?

[ChopperKill]

Well, as you probably know, im on a tight budget, and im trying to cut every corner i can. Sound has never really been a big thing to me, and i've never had a sound card other than on-board, and i've always been fine with it. That audigy is definitely a 71 bucks that i don't wanna spend.

And what about refurbed mobos? It has several cables pictured, will those come with it, or only the mobo? If it doesn't come with the cables, i have an old P4 mobo, would i be able to use the cables from that?

The thing with sound is if you don't have the speakers to match the quality of the soundcard then it's wasted. So it's neverending. Most onboard sound cards nowadays are pretty good quality anyway but an Audigy 2 with a good set of speakers is definately quite a bit better especially with EAX. It all depends on how important sound is to you. Remeber though onboard sound will use more of your CPU than a dedicated sound card making game performance drop. Probably not by much though.

Refurbished mobos are ok if you buy from a reputable dealer who will give you an exchange or your money back if something goes wrong. Don't buy one without a warranty. Looks like you're getting a SATA drive so if you have a SATA drive already those cables should work. If you have IDE you will need new cables. They are cheap to buy seperately though anyway.

If you really want to save money buy an Athlon 64 3000+ socket 939 and overclock it. You can get them to 3800+ speeds easily and very stable. They're as good as the old Barton 2500+ for overclocking. I've had a 2500+ running as a 3200+ for 18 months without a single glitch. There are articles all over the net about how good the 3000+ are for the money. Read here http://www.hexus.net/content/reviews/review.php?dXJsX3Jldmlld19JRD05MzM==
Use the money you save to buy more RAM or get the 6800GT instead of the 6600GT.

[spyro415]

The thing with sound is if you don't have the speakers to match the quality of the soundcard then it's wasted. So it's neverending. Most onboard sound cards nowadays are pretty good quality anyway but an Audigy 2 with a good set of speakers is definately quite a bit better especially with EAX. It all depends on how important sound is to you. Remeber though onboard sound will use more of your CPU than a dedicated sound card making game performance drop. Probably not by much though.

Refurbished mobos are ok if you buy from a reputable dealer who will give you an exchange or your money back if something goes wrong. Don't buy one without a warranty. Looks like you're getting a SATA drive so if you have a SATA drive already those cables should work. If you have IDE you will need new cables. They are cheap to buy seperately though anyway.

If you really want to save money buy an Athlon 64 3000+ socket 939 and overclock it. You can get them to 3800+ speeds easily and very stable. They're as good as the old Barton 2500+ for overclocking. I've had a 2500+ running as a 3200+ for 18 months without a single glitch. There are articles all over the net about how good the 3000+ are for the money. Read here http://www.hexus.net/content/reviews/review.php?dXJsX3Jldmlld19JRD05MzM==
Use the money you save to buy more RAM or get the 6800GT instead of the 6600GT.

Since the nForce 4 is a one of the latest mobo's, i'll guess the onboard sound is decent enough?

Ah, I think i'll just shell out a little bit more and get it brand new.

That is awesome. So i can overclock it using just a windows program? That will definitely save me some money. If i decide to go with the 3000+, would i have to specifically get the 3000+ Winchester? Because i can't seem to find that on Newegg, all i can find it the 3000+ Venice. This post was extremely helpful, as is everyone elses, thanks alot!

EDIT: I found the 3000+ Winchester, but its refurbished. Does that mean it won't come with the heatsink?

[ttopi]

So I can overclock it using just a windows program? That will definitely save me some money.

You can overclock processor from BIOS on almost every mobo available

If i decide to go with the 3000+, would i have to specifically get the 3000+ Winchester? Because i can't seem to find that on Newegg, all i can find it the 3000+ Venice.

That article is from last year, back then the Winchester was the weapon of choise. Venice is newer core and has better specs than Winchester. Altogether, you can very easily overclock A64 3000+ to higher speeds.

[spyro415]

You can overclock processor from BIOS on almost every mobo available



That article is from last year, back then the Winchester was the weapon of choise. Venice is newer core and has better specs than Winchester. Altogether, you can very easily overclock A64 3000+ to higher speeds.

Thank you!

So i overclock it using a program, correct? I didn't catch what program though, except for CPU-Z. Googling it turned up that it just gives you your CPU info. Could anyone tell me what proggy to use to overclock? Thanks, you've all been a huge help.

Oh wait, you just answered my question, haha. I wouldn't know what i was doing though, any guides off the top of your head? I'll go google it in the meantime.

[Ev0]

Is the GPU overclocking programe that comes with the 5.6 Omega drivers any good.. I helped my friend set up his PC and I'd never use Omega drivers so I was surprised when it came with a GPU OC'er..?
btw. It's called ATI 3D or something and also Thanks to all for the help but I'm a sound whore so I'm gonna save the money, get a +3500 and get a good sound card to match the speakers..

[spyro415]

So after reading a guide, it says that i have to find the jumper that puts everything back into default settings before anything else. The manual that comes with the mobo should tell me this, right?

Also, how do i find out my computers temperature?

[lcplsickoll]

F.L.C. Sounds to me like you've pretty much nailed down a great rig that'll play this game very well and last you a while.

[ChopperKill]

So after reading a guide, it says that i have to find the jumper that puts everything back into default settings before anything else. The manual that comes with the mobo should tell me this, right?

Also, how do i find out my computers temperature?

Firstly the Nforce 4 should have very good sound and if you only have an average pair of speakers and are not all that bothered about your sound then it will be more than fine.

If you decide to get a 3000+ and overclock it get the venice chip. This is newer technology has a higher clock potential and SSE3 etc. Anyway just get the venice.

As for overclocking this is not done in Windows or any program or software. It is done through your computers BIOS. If you're not sure what BIOS is then you're going to have to really brush up on it before you start overclocking. It's not that difficult but you have to know what you are doing. The BIOS is what boots your computer into Windows and in part it's what you see when you turn your computer on. If you press delete repeatedly on your keyboard after you first turn it on it will take you to the BIOS configuration screen. It's in here that you make the changes for your overclock. You can also alter AGP aperture size, fast writes for your graphics card, turn onboard sound on/off etc all through here.

CPU-Z is just a program that detects your settings it doesn't change them as far as I am aware.

Here's some more info and articles on overclocking these chips.

http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=NjI5

http://www.techimo.com/forum/t147014.html

This is an overview of overclocking and what it's all about.

http://compreviews.about.com/od/cpus/l/aaOverclock.htm

And this is an essential read. Basically they pushed a 3000+ venice beyond an FX55 clock speed with stock cooling and it ran perfectly. Nearly a 1Ghz overclock.

http://www.hexus.net/content/reviews/review.php?dXJsX3Jldmlld19JRD0xMjU1

When it comes to coolers stock ones usually aren't up to much even though they did ok with the one in the article above. You're always better spending a small amount a better 3rd party fan and heatsink.

Anyway theres plenty more on the net about this kind of thing. It's fairly easy but be careful you can fry your CPU if you don't know what you are doing.

[spyro415]

Thanks alot for those links, Chopperkill, they answered alot of my questions.

Since i'm getting an nForce4, are those not compatible with IDE hard drives?

[ChopperKill]

Nforce does support both but it's up to the motherboard manufacturer which features they put on the board itself. I might be wrong buy I don't think there are any SATA only boards. I think pretty much all boards still support IDE and SATA. Mobo makers would be crazy not to support both as there are way more IDE drives out there than SATA so you won't have a problem.

[spyro415]

Ok, thats good, i'll stay with my IDE for a while then.

After reading tons, and tons of mobo reviews, every one is either a budget mobo, or a gaming mobo. Is there such thing as a budget gaming mobo that i don't know about? None of the budget motherboards seem to be good for overclocking, and all of the gaming motherboards will take me over my budget. Had my eye on an MSI and an Epox, but found out that MSI has a bug, and the epox is a budget board. I can probably spend around 125 on the mobo.