After realizing how much computing power I was missing out on, I'm thinking about building a new PC. Of course being on a high school budget I had to do the best I can. Here's what I am thinking about:



ASPIRE X-CRUISE -AL Silver Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16811144152

ABIT AN8 SLI Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16813127207

XFX PVT43GNDF3 Geforce 6600GT 128MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card (Quantity = 2 for SLI)
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16814150098

AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice 1GHz HT Socket 939 Processor Model ADA3200BPBOX
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16819103535

WINTEC AMPO 1GB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16820161679

Western Digital Caviar SE WD2000JS 200GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16822144416

SAMSUNG Black ATA/ATAPI LightScribe DVD Burner With 5X DVD-RAM Write
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16827151118

Well what do you think?

i dunno, as PC Pro. :p

You should seriously look into at least a 6800GT instead of a 6600 GT. I don't know what the price difference is, but IMO you'll get more for your money in your 6800GT than its 6600 counterpart.

But then I'm a graphics and power whore and I'm crazy enough to change my 6800GT to an X1900XT :p

(JEP POST HERE. CONNECTED TO THE GF'S ACCOUNT AGAIN! BLOODY COOKIES!!)

SLI-ing two 6600GTs is a really bad idea. Get a 7800GT, (Actually wait a week for the 7900GT to come out). It'll be cheaper and faster, and later when you need to upgrade just pop another one in.

JEPPOST (too lazy to switch accounts) :

I HIGHLY doubt the 7900GT will be out next week. There were rumors it would be lauched somewhere between the 9-15th at that show, but also there are much rumors that they have not been about to get all the parts needed. There might be a paper launch, and then later a hard launch.

Still the 7900GT prices will be through the roof, I don't doubt it.

EDIT : IF I AM WRONG, THEN I WELCOME THE PROOF. Matter of fact, I would LIKE to be wrong on this.

EDIT 2 : Yea a quick googling tells me I might just be wrong if I believe the news. I'm still sceptical. Still, I look at the specs and the X1900 series still seems more powerful.

I don't know the actual release, but it will be very soon. Worth the wait in any case. There are rumors that the 7900GT will retail for 300$ at the launch, so it would be good to wait and see if that's true. Also, it will probably push 7800GT prices down a good bit.

The prices will only be high if it's a paper launch, but Nvidia is very good about avoiding those.

Jeppost :

If that is true, that would be nice. I was going to order my X1900XT from sapphire tonight, but I think'm gonna to some surfing first. HMMMMM.

7900 comes out next week? For $300?

Crikey. It seriously doesn't even seem that long ago that I got my 6800GT... for $600.

It's a rumor.

I'm me again!




Thats 300$ US :p It'll most likely be around 700 here. I'm getting my X1900XT for 588$ CAN.

Wait, so why is the price marked up so much? 300 US is like... 400 canadian.

Because of exportation and bloody canadian distributors put a lot of it in their pockets.

Jerkfaces

Yes.

I would also recommend against SLIing two 6600GTs. It just seems like a waste when you can get a single 7800GT for $265 after a mail in rebate and have a better performer.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130256

This is the same card I have right now (I paid $299 for it in January) and I have zero complaints about it.

Id say go for a better case. That thing looks like it would break if it got bumped into.

Heck, for $15.00, it doesn't really matter if it breaks. It looks sooooo cool.

If you don't pay at least 25 for a case w/ PSU, it's guaranteed crap. And if you don't pay 20 for a case, it's guaranteed crap. Even Aspire.

Don't get the SLi'd 6600GT's (waste), and get better RAM. Namebrand at least. Also, why don't you just spend like 35 on a DVD burner? Is it because of the DVD-RAM write speed? Let me give you a hint--nobody uses DVD-RAM.

Go buy a soldering torch and aluminum shears. Build a custom tower, like me.


What you could also do is buy static-free cases for every component of the computer, and make it completely external. I plan to do that, by turning a second blank case into mountings. The drives and cards will sprout from my wall like a tree

All very interesting, but I remember reading an article today, on how good 2 6600GTs worked together in games. Very interesting.

http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=930&page=1


Here's a quote from Newegg:

That's about what I get (with the same settings) on my 6800GT. Really, it's not worth it. A 7800 will do much better for you any which way you see it, and will cost about the same. 6600GTs are dated and useless for high-end gaming, especially if you're going all-new.

Why would I buy one of those when it only has a core clock of about 400 mhz? 2 660GTs SLI combined have about 1000 mhz (1 ghz).

Don't ever do comparisons like that.

They have different bandwiths, different cores, different pipelines, they're wholly incomparable in megahertz.

everyone see this. this is why you shouldn't buy his old computer.

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16814150108

Thanks guys. I've decided instead of 2 6600gts, I'm going to go with 1 XFX 7800gt. I've done a lot of research and discovered a 7800gt is off the clock compared to 2 SLI 6600gts. It's out of stock, so i'll have to wait on it, but I know it's a better choice. AND it's only a little bit more! Thanks again guys.