wamason Report post Posted April 22, 2005 Ok, here's the scoop. A while back I built a PC using an Antec Aria case, Chaintech 7NIF2 Mobo, AthlonXP 2500 Barton, 768MB DDR400 Ram, NEC ND-3500A Burner, and a Powercolor 9700 Pro. I also purchased (this was dumb) an Adaptec VideOh! Capture card, no HW encoding. I like the PC. Looks good, and my temps are reasonable. But Video recording sucks because of the lack of HW encoding, and I'd like something generally faster to run Doom 3, FC, and HL2 at high settings. Here is what I have in mind: Aspire X-QP ACK MATX case (doesn't look as good as the aria, but at only 1" longer, and 1" higher, it holds a ton more) - $90 Athlon 64 3200 s939 (Seems like the best bang for the buck) - $200 MSI RS480M2-IL Mobo (Most full featured mATX board I could find) - $100 GEIL Ultra 2x1GB PC3200 DDR RAM - $215 2x200GB 7200 RPM SATA HD's (RAID 0) - $250'ish Also looking at an X800XL video card - $300'ish Need a decent power supply, preferably one that is modular(with SATA power adapters) - Under $100 I will probably go with the Audigy 2ZS Video Editor for audio, and for video capture - $250 I would appreciate feedback on what I've chosen above. If there is anything better (for the price) I'd like to know. Also, I'd like recommendations on a PS, HD's, and video card, preferably an X800XL. I don't need the absolute latest components, I'd rather stay around midrange. Thanks for the help! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Flashstar Report post Posted April 22, 2005 Go for a gig of ram and save $100, also go with a MGE psu. I've read some reviews on mge psu's and they're extremely efficient, and extremly stable. Plus you can't beat their prices. Edit: The hard drive depends of how much you are willing to pay. If you don't need much space go with a Hitachi, but otherwise a seagate barracuda 7200.8 is currently one of the much cost efficient and powerful hdds available at the moment. Finally, the prices of 6800gts have decreased tramendously recently to the point where they are only $20 more than x800xls. I think that it just depends on what you do with your computer. If you play opengl games, a 6800gt is the best, but with dx9, you should got with either a x800xl, or for a little more, a x800xt. Personally, I prefer ATI graphics cards. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cchalogamer Report post Posted April 22, 2005 any reason your gooing micro ATX? I really dont see any reason too bc the boards tend to be underfeatured, and cast more for the quality you get.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wamason Report post Posted April 22, 2005 any reason your gooing micro ATX? I really dont see any reason too bc the boards tend to be underfeatured, and cast more for the quality you get.... 466783[/snapback] I want it to be semi-portable, and I like having a cube PC. But I don't like all of the proprietary stuff that shuttle and some others make. I'm sure they're great and all, but I want to be able to upgrade at any time and keep the same case. Plus this PC will spend some time in my living room for video capture. I picked the MSI board because of the features, and I know MSI to be a fairly good brand. hopefully nothing has changed there in the last year I play more DX9 games than OpenGL. As far as HD's go, I'd like something in the neighborhood of 200 gigs, with NCQ. I've Maxtors for as low as $111 OEM new. So, having 2 Gigs of RAM is not really worth it? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Flashstar Report post Posted April 22, 2005 Well, I have 1.5 gigs and I have never used more than 1 even when multitasking with 6 applications at once or playing farcry. The barracuda 7200.8s are $50 more expensive than maxtors for another 50 gbs, they run faster, and they have ncq. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
drewkivela Report post Posted April 22, 2005 the 200 gb hds are only $99 each now. the xconnect psu comes with sata cables now, but theyre a bit inflexible so keep that in mind -drew Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wamason Report post Posted April 24, 2005 I have an X-Connect and I love it--but it's in a Koolance tower with plenty of space. I wouldn't want to try one in a small case because of the cables. but that PSU has the best looking cables I've ever seen. I guess that's the trade off :-) Also, for what I'll be doing: Gaming and video recording/editing, would it be worth it to go with an A64, or just keep my Barton? I will be using a video recorder with hardware encoding if this helps. Thanks! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
crash Report post Posted April 24, 2005 Don't buy an x-connect, go with an OCZ modstream. They are way more stable and higher quality. Check out some reviews on it. NCIX reviews, mine on top Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
HoLoDreaM Report post Posted April 24, 2005 haha everything is worth going A64 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wamason Report post Posted April 26, 2005 I do have one more question.... I'm considering selling both my PC's to build one new one that's faster. I know that this isn't the marketplace forum, but I was wondering if you guys could tell me what some of my components are worth. Koolance PC3-410BK w/ series 3 CPU Block Antec Aria w/ 80mm fan modded into side panel. Some scratches here and there. 2x Seagate 7200.7 120 GB SATA drives w/o NCQ. Athlon XP-M 2600 AthlonXP 2500 Barton DFI LanParty NF2 Ultra (Have everything that came with it) Chaintech Summit 7NIF2 (w/ S-video out) Adaptec VideOh! PCI Capture Card (SW only) Logitech MX Duo Cordless (Not Bluetooth) Again, if this is in the wrong place, my apologies, but I didn't know if it was ok to post this in the marketplace forum. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
