Hey,
I am a student that currently has an old 2600+ barton. I am wanting to play games such as Doom 3, Half life 2, CS:S with reasonable quality. I am also in need of running CS2 and Dreamweaver 8 at the same time which my current pc cant handle. I may also be using 3D rendering programs.

I am looking to spend no more than $750 Australian dollars on my cpu, motherboard, ram and hard drive. I already have a monitor, keyboard, mous, dvd-writer and cd-writer to use. I'm also looking at a good graphics card but I will pay for that. My parents will most probably pay for the essentials as a christmas present.

Remember all prices here are australian dollars, if you know a better product that I should use that is cheaper than the mentioned product (as in cheaper than it is in america) then please post a link form like newegg or something.

So this is what I am currently looking at -
AMD 64 3500+' ">http://computeralliance.com.au/parts.aspx?qryPart=3911 - $299
DFI NF4 SLI-Infinity - $209
Corsair 1GB (2x 512MB) Value Select - $130
SAMSUNG 120GB 8MB SATA/ 150 7200RPM - $119
Total = $718

XpertVision Nvidia Geforce 6600GT 128MB PCI-Express' ">http://www.nintek.com.au/x/Scr...iew.asp?idproduct=2432 - $198
Raidmax Scorpio 868W
Thermaltake TR2 430W PSU - $50

Think that will do, I would like to spend a little less on a motherboard but its a good one from what I heard, but I dont know if I need sli as I might not be getting a second chip. I was thinking maybe I should just get the ASRock 939Dual SATA2' ">http://umart.net/au/product_in...cc2d3c78203edc50691681 as its only $116, almost $100 less than the DFI. The great thing about this would be I would be able to use my 9250 for a while and save up a bit more for maybe a 6800GT as it has both AGP and PCI-e. I may overclock my pc a little but not much so should I go with the ASRock as I have heard good things about it.

Thanks
.DeFuZioN

Please can I have some opions.

The setup you have there would be a solid system. Just make sure you are not ever going to want SLI if you skip that feature on the MoBo. What is the Aussie to US currency conversion? I can recommend alot of stuff but don't know how much its gonna cost you.

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-Proud owner of a DFI because chicks dig "Big" OCs
Repsgaminglounge

I've had a bad experience with a Samsung hdd... well, not a terrible experience (they replaced the drive no charge since it was still under warranty), but my Hitachi drive has performed much better than my previous Samsung drive. I would recommend the Hitachi Deskstar instead. Besides, the Deskstar is currently the king as far as 7200rpm drives go for reliability, quality, and speed.

Hitachi does not offer 120gb drives that i know of... but I didn't look very hard. Anyhow here's my recommendation, it's a 160GB drive:

Hitachi Deskstar 2K250 160GB 3.5" SATA150 HDD $81 us dollars' ">http://www.newegg.com/Product/...p?Item=N82E16822145051

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-The Desktop: Abit NF7-S V2 w/ the old AXP-M 2500+ (OC'd) and TT Volcano 12, 1 gig RAM, 37GB WD Raptor, 80Gb Hitachi, XFX NVidia GEForce FX 5700LE (OC'd), Enermax Aluminum Case and XClio 450watt psu, DL DVD-R/RW, DVD-ROM (+ floppy)
SB Audigy 2 ZS
-Everyday:HP Laptop 15.4WS w/Turion64x2 TL-56, 2gig, 160gb, Lightscribe DVD-R/RW, NVidia graphics, Vista

QUOTE(stealth13777 @ Oct 17 2005, 07:39 PM)I've had a bad experience with a Samsung hdd... well, not a terrible experience (they replaced the drive no charge since it was still under warranty), but my Hitachi drive has performed much better than my previous Samsung drive. I would recommend the Hitachi Deskstar instead.  Besides, the Deskstar is currently the king as far as 7200rpm drives go for reliability, quality, and speed.

Hitachi does not offer 120gb drives that i know of... but I didn't look very hard.  Anyhow here's my recommendation, it's a 160GB drive:

Hitachi Deskstar 2K250 160GB 3.5" SATA150 HDD $81 us dollars' ">http://www.newegg.com/Product/...p?Item=N82E16822145051
[right][snapback]525570[/snapback][/right]


I would rather go with a Western Digital HDD. They have 7200 rpm HDD's as well as cheaper 5400 rpm ones. Check it out:

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/index.asp?cat=3' ">http://www.wdc.com/en/products/index.asp?cat=3

A lot of their drives use the new SATA interface; their highest end ones use transfer rates of up to 300 megs per sec.
They are a bit expensive, but if you search on sites like http://www.tigerdirect.com/' ">http://www.tigerdirect.com/ or http://www.newegg.com/' ">http://www.newegg.com/, you should find a reasonable price on these awesome HDDs. /cool.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='cool.gif' />

QUOTE(bp1019 @ Oct 18 2005, 08:50 AM)The setup you have there would be a solid system.  Just make sure you are not ever going to want SLI if you skip that feature on the MoBo.  What is the Aussie to US currency conversion?  I can recommend alot of stuff but don't know how much its gonna cost you.
[right][snapback]525533[/snapback][/right]

AUS$1 = US$0.75

Yeah I would go SLI as I wont have the money. But is the Asrock a solid board, because I like the idea of both agp and pci-e as I can use my agp card for a little longer and save up more money for a 6800GT.

yeah that asrock mobo is pretty good from what ive herd so far /biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' />

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Join a real forum - http://www.compsupportforums.com/

Would this psu run the setup? http://www.techbuy.com.au/prod...19/P...._BLUE_LEDs.asp' ">http://www.techbuy.com.au/prod...upply_w._BLUE_LEDs.asp

QUOTE(.DeFuZioN @ Oct 18 2005, 03:18 AM)Would this psu run the setup? http://www.techbuy.com.au/prod...19/P...._BLUE_LEDs.asp' ">http://www.techbuy.com.au/prod...upply_w._BLUE_LEDs.asp
[right][snapback]525819[/snapback][/right]



It probably will but I would suggested getting more watts, like 400W or more to keep from having to buy another PSU if you decide to add any other hardware. Also, if you decide to get a 6800GT they eat power for breakfast so you'll need a tough PSU to keep everything running. Make sure whatever PSU you get that it has at least 17A on the 12V rail, more is better though. Antec makes one of the best PSUs so they would be a good choice.

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-Proud owner of a DFI because chicks dig "Big" OCs
Repsgaminglounge

Definatly get the ASRock mobo and use your 9250, get something a little better than value ram if you can. Get something with lower latencies and save more for a different graphics card. I dont know your availability to parts and whatnot so I cant help more than that.


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New Site!! Team Effex WoW, US Auchindoun Alliance IGN: Fearaga

Ok thanks for the help, I am going to get the asrock and stick to the 9250 as long as I can to get a better gfx card. I ended up buying the thermaltake TR2 430watt psu which should do the job. should get parts in the next few weeks.