Neversummer 4 Forum Archive

Preparing to build a comp, and would appreciate any advice. I am shooting for about a $500-$600 range, all thru newegg.

• Mobo : Boistar NF520-A2, AM2, FSB 1000MHz HT, N.Bridge NVIDIAnForce520, DDR2 800
• Video Card : Sapphire 100195L, ATI, Radeon X1650, Core clock 500MHz, Pipelines 12, Memory-800MHz clock-512MB size-128bit interface-GDDR2, DirectX 9 OpenGL 2.0
• CPU : AMD2-Athlon 62X2 ADO4000DDBOX, 2.1 GHz, HT 2000MHz, L1 128k+128k, L2 2 x 512k
• Memory : A-DATA ADQVE1A16K, DDR2 800 (PC2 6400), 2 x 1GB
• Power : Thermaltake W0100RU, 500W
• Hard Drive : Western Digital, WD800JD, SATA 3.0Gb/s, 80 GB, 7200 RPM

With a low price dvd/combo, keyboard & mouse and flat screen monitor I am in within my range. Thanks in advance for any of your input.

p.s. I have heard about conflicts with certain video cards running NWN2, so I am willing to throw some money on that if need be.

what OS you gonna throw on that?

vid cards vs nwn2 aren't so much problematic as they don't get the performance ppl think they should...its in the shadows.

Amoenotep wrote:what OS you gonna throw on that?

vid cards vs nwn2 aren't so much problematic as they don't get the performance ppl think they should...its in the shadows.

Thats kinda funny coming from you, so what your really saying is, its your fault NWN2 doesn't run smoothly. How'd ya manage to nerf that?

I'll give the motherboard a grudging pass. That's the one part that is the biggest pain to change. Probably wouldn't trust the sound, but you can grab a $25 Audigy2 line PCI card easily enough.

Memory: make sure it's memory timings and power needs are cool with the mobo. Cannot stress that enough.

Video: I've read more Sapphire horror stories than any other 5 manufacturers put together. x1650 (check carefully that it is the best of that series too, there's versions that are real dogs of that chipset)...dunno. I'd put some thought into something like http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814134039 or see if there's something in the nVidia 7 series (7950 new rev) or an x19xxXXX ATI card you like. For gaming...something with like at least 20 dedicated pixel pipelines or 30odd pixel/texture used as needed doohickies. (I tend toward BFG, evga and XFX for vid cards. I think evga runs the best warranties of the bunch.)

Amoenotep : Going to put XP pro OS on this one, and there's a chance I might go Vista later. Not likely, but a chance.

Lokey : The mobo and chip are set up for 800 speed memory sticks, but I am not sure what you refer to when you asked about the power needs? I will definitely take another look at the Vid card, and step it up to more reliable brand as you suggest. 20 pipelines will put me in another price category though, but I am feeling that the Sapphire card was a little on the cheap side anyway. ($49)

Thanks for the input, and anyone else who may read this thread feel free to tell me how wrong I am with any part of this build.

p.s. What's more important on the Vid card? More pipelines or Size (256MB versus 512MB)?

Dalan wrote:Lokey : The mobo and chip are set up for 800 speed memory sticks, but I am not sure what you refer to when you asked about the power needs? I will definitely take another look at the Vid card, and step it up to more reliable brand as you suggest. 20 pipelines will put me in another price category though, but I am feeling that the Sapphire card was a little on the cheap side anyway. ($49)

Thanks for the input, and anyone else who may read this thread feel free to tell me how wrong I am with any part of this build.

p.s. What's more important on the Vid card? More pipelines or Size (256MB versus 512MB)?

Memory: http://www.adata.com.tw/adata_en/produc ... No=AD2800U looks like 1.8V which should auto-configure (at least I know it would on my board while I had to set the voltage and timings on my memory by hand). Check the mobo info or see what they recommend or have on a compatibility list.

There's not a direct easy answer to what vid card you should be looking for. What do you want to do with it besides say NWN2 (and with what settings for that)? I run a nVid 7950gt 256MB that pretty much rocks NWN2 or UT3 at 1024x768 windowed, but struggles at higher resolutions with other settings I like. Can max everything except shadows in NWN2, but don't have to entirely disable those for example. Probably anything up to a lower range 8800 isn't going to overshadow your CPU...so you have options. See about a used geforce 6600 or 6800 or radeon x19blah for example too.

heh I can always take a pic too...



Mobo, cpu, memory should be fine for running something similar or better. You won't get anywhere near that with an x1650 though And when did I turn on AAx2? Doesn't do much in windowed mode anyway.

Thanks for the help, Lokey.

Here's the vid card I changed to, EVGA 512-P2-N738-LR GeForce 8400GS 512MB 64-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready Video Card - Retail : Core clock 459MHz, Memory clock 800 MHz, DirectX 10, OpenGL 2.0, RAMDAC 400MHz, Max Resolution 2048 x 1536

evga is good about having the optimun settings already there and no need to overclock at all...my 8800gts is evga and runs great.....even when windows isn't

Thanks, Tep, that's good to here.

I just did some more research on the mobo I choose, and alot of people are extremely unhappy with it. DOA, crashes, quits working after a month, difficult to configure, problems with bios, damn, I am definitely not getting that Biostar mobo.

Going to do some research on a similarly priced mobo ($50). I don't need anything fancy, as I won't be SLI, only need 2 to 4 SATA slots and USB is not an issue. It's looking like I need to stick with a proven brand, what mobo's do you guys like?

ASUS mobos ftw!

The only thing that caught my eye on that vid card was the DDR2 RAM, which is inferior to DDR3 RAM that some cards have. But it's all about pricepoint... you may have considered this already.

Edit: This would be my alternate choice for a vid card, for an extra $80 (but there's also a $30 rebate!):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814130290

MSI is a good brand most times too....but, building computers is more subjective than just whats the best.

I have an Asus M2Nsomething that's been a trooper, but only bought that since it was one of the few nforce5+ boards around with IDE connections. $50 might be looking to get away too cheaply on the mobo. Agree with Tep that MSI products are generally good.

Forgot: I know Thermaltake isn't an utter cheapo power supply, but I would check into that as well. Like a mobo, a faulty power supply is up there in causes for concern, as it can blow up everything else. I tend towards if it's not Fortrann, it's crap these days.

In general, the second number of a video card should be 6 or higher for gaming purposes (at least that's been the general convention), they're designed for longer periods of stress than lower numbered cards (i.e. doesn't look like the 8400 has heat sinks on the memory, which is a bit scary). I'd go for a used 6600 or 6800 now and upgrade later if cash is a problem.

I'll always say you don't need to spend ~$1500 for a decent gaming comp like the idiots like Dell say, but I think you're trying to skimp a bit too much here--NWN2 is pretty demanding after all, even though it isn't Crysis.

PS. Do not depend on a rebate as part of a decision. Think of it as something nice if you can actually get them to redeem it and wait 2 months or so for the check to come.

nvidia 7800 and 7900's do pretty well also...and if you sli them you'll good there too.....i've got an ati 9800 on my old rig. it works good, but there is so not enough power going through it to really matter.

Lots of good info, guys. Thanks.

I am going to try looking up vid cards and Fortran power supplies right now, and see if there is something in my price range.

Video cards with the second number 6 or higher are for gaming purposes? I never noticed that, being the nub that I am. Now, that's good stuff to know.

You can get an 8800GT or a 9600GT for 200 or under these days, depending on budget. I'm looking into getting two MSI GT 8800's with a custom copper cooling on em from Newegg for pretty cheap.