AHHHH!! My first post ever just died!! All that typing...I'll do the short version

I've been browsign these forums for quite some time and am pumped to do some case modding. But first i need some nice innards for it. I'd like to start hittin the lan parties too

I'm building a new rig, almost specifically for half life 2. Money is a pretty big concern and my pricerange now is bout a athlon 2800. I really want to be able to run half life very well. Can anyone say counterstrike 2? This is what i have so far:

Asus mobo with athlon 2800 (http://www.partspc.com/store/product950.html)
9800 pro (ati or sapphire?)
Memory?

I want to get a gig of corsair memory but don't know exactly waht to get. What would be the best/cheapest speed memory to get with this board?

Thanks pimps for you help!

First thing is first, wait until the new PCI-Xpress is out and the new GFX cards are out, save's you some cash on the graphics card and longevity on the motherboard. What exactly is your price range? That is erally important before I start making any more suggestions.

Welcome to PimpRig

I would look at the Mobile CPU's, the 2500+ is 99$ and is a good overclocker.

If no overclocking is planned the regular 2500+ is a good deal too.

What are you planning on doing with it... gaming, surfing or what?

Dont ya hate writing a novel too see it go up in smoke trying to post it..I always copy paste it on notepad now just in case if they are fairly long

heh yeah you might want to get what he suggests cause he is my main guys for asking about the 2500's and the oc'ablity of them

im gonna included some pic this is what i'll be getting around the end of this year

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If price is a huge concern then check out www.dumpinggoods.com. Ive ordered a few things from them and have found their prices to be good. Alot of the stuff is refurbished but most manufacturers will still warranty the items. I purchased an Abit IC7-MAX3 from them 4 months ago for 80 bucks and havent had one problem with it.

They have an Abit NF7 mobo for $43 here.

If you are going to buy now, the 2500-M and NF7-S is an excellent combo that can overclock to or beyond 3200+ speeds. I can't stress enough how easy it is to run a 2500+ at 3200+ speeds, at or below stock core voltage. Overclocking to 3200+ speeds is just skimming the surface in terms of overclocking headroom.

Personally I would wait for PCI-Express and AMD64 939-Pin, buying current technology now will kick you in the @$$ later, after you start reading about the kind of performance it's pumping out when it arrives. At least wait for PCI-Express.

As for the GPU, Sapphire or Built By ATi are excellent, once again I suggest you wait, the ATi X800 is coming.

Don't skimp on power, a cheap power supply can bring a high end machine to its knees, or worse.
Enermax Noisetaker and Antec Truepower are excellent choices.

Mushkin memory is the best, get the best you can afford. 512~1024MB Dual Pack.

If it were me wanting to build a new rig right now, I would snap up what is considered "old" technology while the prices are dropping. Of course the next generation of hardware will be more powerful... that is a given. I am also waiting for the next gen of video cards and PCI express to come out (as well as BTX form factor and DDR2)...and then I'll wait a bit more for the insane prices to drop to reasonable levels, and for the bugs to be worked out and the truly good products to prove themselves...which will be when the generation AFTER that is coming out.
Keeping up with the latest and greatest is a vicious cycle, but I feel the best you can do is take a good hard look at your cost versus performance ratio, and look for deals on what was considered the top of the line last year. Typically, the "loss" in performance is 10% or so, but the cost is half. The suggestions along the lines of a Barton 2500+-2800+ are good ones. There is still a value sweetspot with those processors, and they are proven, which is why they are still suggested. For instance, if you believed that the next generation of Pentium 4's were going to deliver all that they promised a few months ago, you'd be trying to figure out how to cool a Prescott right about now...and a bit disappointed with the performance and power demand, instead of having a Northwood that OCs like mad on a stock heatsink. Has anyone noticed that a Prescott is actually less than a Northwood?
Since you're asking for opinions, about the only thing I can see waiting a bit for is for hard evaluations of the newest graphics processors to come out. There's a lot of hype flying about, but we're talking about cards that are in the neighborhood of $600....and next year will be half that or less. Right now, I'd be looking at a 9800 pro or XT, or an FX5900-5950 for the best value versus performance.

wow, you guys are awesome.

This will an almost strictly gaming rig that i'll be taking to college in a couple months. I really wanna be able to play HL2 well. As far as budget i really don't have one because i still live at home and have a part time job with minimal expenses. I have all the basic stuff like monitor, keyboard, etc. but i'll be getting a case, mobo, cpu, memory, and gfx card. I'd just like to spend enough to HL2 (notice a trend?).

a 2500-m huh? Why are they so good for OCing? I don't know very much about the OC scene and hadn't planned on it but you guys are pretty convincing. What would be an ideal fan to reach these "3200" or higher speeds?

I plan on getting a nice antec case from my local bb or cc, they have good quality power supplies right? How mamy watts are we talking here for the 2500-M and NF7-S combo you all talk of so highly?

thanks again pimps!

EDIT: PCI-Express? Where can i learn more about this?
EDIT: whoops. http://www.tomshardware.com/graphic/20040310/index.html forgot bout that great site.

UM..............

Quote: Originally Posted by DDButter EDIT: whoops. http://www.tomshardware.com/graphic/20040310/index.html forgot bout that great site

FYI most people around here dont like THG you can dig around in our forums and find out why.

damn...

ok, search here i come

i like em..why dont you guys? what would you sugest otherwise?

THG has been known to falsify OC's at the very least. (For those way too lazy to press the search button *cough Demon Made*cough*)

Quote: Originally Posted by DDButter wow, you guys are awesome. a 2500-m huh? Why are they so good for OCing? I don't know very much about the OC scene and hadn't planned on it but you guys are pretty convincing. What would be an ideal fan to reach these "3200" or higher speeds? EDIT: PCI-Express? Where can i learn more about this? EDIT: whoops. http://www.tomshardware.com/graphic/20040310/index.html forgot bout that great site.

I think my Mobile does pretty well...

For Info on what is coming down the road such as PCI Express, 939PIN AMD's, BTX, DDR2... Check out TheInquirer

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Reason we typically dont like THG: They're biased, and it shows its ugly head often.. they BS stuff, some of the stuff is so obviously tilted one way or the other that its not funny... etc etc...

You can buy a good review there...

Demon Made, why are you asking that in this thread? Be a man like me and do some searching. Back to my questions

EDIT: I still like em ever after reading what you guys say but i'll take stuff they say with a grain of salt now.

Quote: Originally Posted by DDButter Demon Made, why are you asking that in this thread? Be a man like me and do some searching. Back to my questions EDIT: I still like em ever after reading what you guys say but i'll take stuff they say with a grain of salt now.

There are probably a few Pimps around here who owe Tom's a debt of gratitiude..myself included

If I hadn't found Tom's when I was a Noob, I would have never found PimpRig.

He has very basic reviews that most people can read quickly, and his Graphs makes it easy to see who wins
( *Cough* Intel)

See...I picked up enough basics there to get started, and when I started surfing the web looking for information on how to overclock my new motherboard that had a 'Tom's Hardware" approved manufacturer award...I was in for a rude awakening.

The motherboard I had picked up, was good not good for Overclocking...Hell I couldn't even raise my V core

Sooo..I start surfing the net and remembered seeing a sight with wicked looking case mods...And signed up her at PR, asking "How do I Volt mod my POS Motherboard..it won't overclock fer Crap!"

Well..that was a year ago..And now when I read his reviews, I notice little things that are slightly "Off" in his reviews sometimes. How can Intel be losing at every other sight in most gaming benchmarks..but they almost always win at Tom's?

Then ya notice the hardware is set up slightly in favor Of Intel..he makes excuses like.."I couldn't get the ram to run at 2-2-2-5, so I the AMD ran at 2-3-3-6...Yeah..thats gonna be a fair comparison

Again..I thank Tom for getting me the basics.. I occasionally go back and look around..and then

Quote: Originally Posted by DDButter wow, you guys are awesome. This will an almost strictly gaming rig that i'll be taking to college in a couple months. I really wanna be able to play HL2 well. As far as budget i really don't have one because i still live at home and have a part time job with minimal expenses. I have all the basic stuff like monitor, keyboard, etc. but i'll be getting a case, mobo, cpu, memory, and gfx card. I'd just like to spend enough to HL2 (notice a trend?). a 2500-m huh? Why are they so good for OCing? I don't know very much about the OC scene and hadn't planned on it but you guys are pretty convincing. What would be an ideal fan to reach these "3200" or higher speeds? I plan on getting a nice antec case from my local bb or cc, they have good quality power supplies right? How mamy watts are we talking here for the 2500-M and NF7-S combo you all talk of so highly?

If you want a quiet HSF go with Zalman CNPS7000-AICu, if you don't mind the noise then go with a Thermalright "SLK900A. I use the zalman myself and it is sufficient for my xp2500 to 3200 speeds.

You probably need a 400 watt PSU for all this. I would also suggest the NF7-s rev2 if that is too much than people here would tell you to get a Shuttle an35 ultra.

EDIT: FYI I basically learned to Build my computer/OC from the help of PR forum members and reading many guides. This was the first computer I built and the first one that I OCed. Before this system I bought pre-built ones

yeh im agreeing to them ajority of the above or previous page (which ever this post lands on). The 2600 Mobile might give you a bit of leeway on overclocking (already set to 2.06ghz instead of 1.83). Shuttle motherboards are bang for buck aswell - you might want to browse around for some - i think new egg has them.

for £500 ($8/900 converted) I got an asus A7V600, athlon 2500, 512 2700 memory (now 1 gig), fx 5200 256mb, and specs following\/ \/ \/ my sig \/ \/ \/. All rapped up in an antec plus view and a 400wat qtec( which is being replaced rapidly) proves to be a sound little system.

Quote: Originally Posted by danbanger If you want a quiet HSF go with Zalman CNPS7000-AICu, if you don't mind the noise then go with a Thermalright "SLK900A. I use the zalman myself and it is sufficient for my xp2500 to 3200 speeds.

huh? heres the slk900...i may be wrong but that doesn't look too loud :

anyway, those are a little out of my price range right now what about somethin under $30? Would anything about that much still work ok?

Usually people get a fan that is really loud and moves a lot of air. I can't remember the name but someone will chime in with it.