Buying a new setup...need advise

[on1yalad]

Below is what im planing on Buying

 

Mainboard

DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 Ultra-D Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16813136152

 

CPU

AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice 1GHz HT Socket 939 Processor Model ADA3200BWBOX - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16819103572

 

***i saw that there is another 3200 model number ADA3200BPBOX is this one better?

 

Video Card

eVGA 256-P2-N389-AX Geforce 6800GS CO SE 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16814130271

 

***I really jsut want to play BF2 with full AA AF on and at 1280+ and maybe play some games like F.E.E.A.R, is this overboard?

 

Ram

Already have 1gig of Mushkin PC3200 i dont know what type but they are twin sticks and i think i remember it saying 2-2-2, in my case now. is the MB easy going with ram?

 

i read that i can mod this MB to make it SLI compatable is this true?

[dragoonmanx]

Overboard??? you're kidding right?? Your cpu choice is fine for any game, games nowadays are mostly more gpu dependant anyways...well, at least until games like Oblivion come out, which will finally make more use of dual core cpus.

 

Yeah, I've heard of people modding the Ultra-D to do SLi, but I wouldn't suggest it since it wasn't meant for it in the first place, but hey people got it to work. If you can shell out a few more bucks, you can provide yourself that option by getting at least an SLI-D. At least the option will be there for you if you decide to bite the bullet.

 

You video card choice is certainly an acceptable card to run battlefield 2 on med-high settings, but F.E.A.R. will laugh at it if you try to run those settings on it. If anything, you should try to spend a little more money in this department and get a better gpu. I have a 7800 gtx 256mb and running FEAR at 1600X1200 with 2x AA and 8x AF brings my card to its knees. Frames hover between 30-45, which is quite playable to me, but you certainly can see the demand of the game. COD2 is not much different either. My suggestion, wait til the 7900s launches in couple days and see what happens to the prices for the other cards. If you can wait, give it a week or two after the launch before buying your card. For the games you want to play, I wouldn't suggest anything less than a 7800 gt if you want to run decent settings. BF2 will flow like butter on the 7800 gt.

[KimTjik]

I really jsut want to play BF2 with full AA AF

BF2 needs a lot of memory, at least according to your demands above, so unfortunately even with a super video-card the game might still stutter. If you want to avoid this there's no other shortcut than to upgrade to a 2x1Gb memory kit.

 

Maybe your budget is limited at the moment, but it's usefull to know, since stuttering sometimes is caused by paging from the harddrive.

 

Welcome to DFI-Street!

[WakeUpDead]

As for the Mod to SLI It is very easy and Most everyone that has done it has no problems with it at all. I have a NF4-D that I modded to SLI and SATAII and have no issues what so ever. You will find that it is a very common mod here and most do have it done. In the long run it saves you a few bucks that you could use for more ram.

 

Memory that you have will work in that board but yes you may want to jump to the 2x1024 2GB timmings may be a bit looser but in the long run you will keep up with about any game. Sell those off and buy a good set of 2x1024. Look for some OCZ Gold or Plat. they have very good timmings for 2GB.

 

As for the video card I have never owned a nVidia card so I cant say for sure on that one. Im a ATI fan. I do know that the new x1800 and x1900 are going to drop in price soon, due to the 7900 nVidia comming out, so you may be able to get a really good card at a cheaper price. But I dont want to start any card wars here so do what you are use to when it comes to video cards. Both brands have there + and -!

 

CPU, that is a good one but if you could squeez just a few more bucks into a CPU the better. You want to get something that will get you thru a few years unless you want to upgrade in the near future. Operon's are hot now and I see people having great results. But also anything like I said that could get you a few years is how I ook at it. I can't upgrade every 6 months so I look at long lfe span when it comes to that!

 

The more I look at that card you could throw a few bucks more and jum to a 7800 used you should look around people sell off there 7800gt's fairly cheap to upgrade to GTX or SLI. you could get a good deal at 200 or so. just a thought, plus I dont want anyone to think I am only telling you to go ATI, HEHE

 

One more thing dont forget a good PSU most people will just get a cheapo one and not think its that big of deal. PSU's are very important and should be the first thing you throw some money at! Hope this helps? Good Luck!!

[on1yalad]

Yea i can wait a couple weeks on a video card maybe the 7800's will drop a bit but i cant see them dropping below 170's.

I just thought that a 6800GS OC was priced great at 169 and really that is my limit. i actually was planing on getting a MSI 6600GT for 115, i still dotn know if i should get this or go for the 6800GS.

 

as far as PSU/Case i didnt know what to get, if the stock PSU in this case is not up to par then ill just get a antec/CM PSU from PCClub.

 

ENERMAX Pandora CA3030-BS

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16811124113

 

Let me know what you all think about the vidoe card and the PSU/Case.

[red930]

The 6800GS is far superior to the 6600, you might as well get one now since it'll be a decent card for a year at least.

[on1yalad]

oh and another question about the videocard will it be supported by Vista?

[on1yalad]

i read about modding this board to a SLI, i also read that ther eis no SATA2 onthis board... but it can be enabled. where can i find mroe information on this topic?