New Rig

[Schrup]

Hello all, I'm trying to educate myself a bit more so I don't have to keep buggin my IT guy at work. Last year I had him build me a cheapo Shuttle machine to get me by for a year of playing WoW, but knew I'd be getting a new rig this year just for gaming & retire the Shuttle to family use. I recently started to play EQII & the Shuttle isn't cutting it any longer & I can barely run the game.

So I went to my IT buddy at work & told him I wanted a new rig for under $2K & we went online & ordered everything up & hopefully he'll have it built next week. This is what we ordered:

DFI Lanparty UT NF4 SLI-DR Expert NVIDIA Socket 939 ATX Motherboard
Athlon 64 X2 4200 2.2Ghz 512KB 90NM
2X BFG GeForce 7900 GT / 256MB GDDR3 / SLI / PCI Express
2X OCZ EL Dual Channel 2048MB PC5400 DDR2 667MHz Gold Memory (2 x 1024MB)
2X Western Digital / Raptor / 74GB
Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS
Ultra Blue Aluminus ATX Mid-Tower Case
Ultra X2 550-Watt Power Supply

Now that I'm researching some of these components, the only thing I might have changed would have been to spend the extra $100 to upgrade to the AMD 4400 CPU for the added Cache. Do you guy's think I would notice a difference?

I've also read some conflicting info about the compatability with the 939 socket & the DDR2 ram, I spent a good chunk of money to get 4 gigs of ram, so I'm hoping & don't have to exchange it.

In some of the reviews of my Mobo, I see that some people have problems getting the tweeks just right & that it's a board for advanced users, my buddy says that he'll hook me up so I won't need to mess with it.

I'm trying to learn as much as I can so I can do my own research & upgrades in the future. I wanted to get some outside opinions on this rig, it will take a while for my Visa to cool down. Any opinions are appreciated, so did my buddy hook me up or not?

 

[Jakal]

4 sticks of ram is slower than 2. The timing goes from 1T to 2T resulting in performance loss. DDR2 ram is not compatible with that motherboard. The pins and voltages are completely different. The CPU isn't a bad choice, but an upgrade to the 4400 and a 2gb kit of PC3500 or 4000 would have been better. You might want to look into the Asus A8N32 if graphic performance is what you want. It has true dual 16x PCI-E slots for maximum bandwidth and performance from an SLi setup. 8 phase power, for reliablility, and a few more goodies. The Lanparty is more of a performance based board. Those who don't mind tweaking it now and then.

ASUS also has out an AM2 board, if you want to go that direction. The AM2's use DDR2 ram, but you'd have to swap your motherboard and cpu.
Newegg has an AM2 4200 for ~350 and the ASUS board is right around 200. AM2 is the latest from AMD and is a good bit better than socket 939. Or you could just swap your ram.

Other than that I think you've got a fine setup there. You'll love the SLi 7900's. Keep us posted and we'll help you as much as we can, so you can make the right decisions.

 

[Greg King]

Everything in that rig looks good except the RAM and the CPU socket. There aren't really any issues of DDR2 and s939 that I can think of aside from that it just will not work. If you are going to overclock, maybe get some decent RAM but if you are not going to OC, then "value" RAM (2GB) from OCZ or Corsair.....or any reputable RAM company should suffice.

As for the cache. You wont really notice the differance. The 4200 will do you well. Also, back to overclocking. Should you get decent RAM because you want to OC, that motherboard will give you wood. You can also get the SLI-DR as I have read, and talked with people that swear it's a better mobo than the expert overall.

That will be a nice rig once the RAM situation is straightened out.

 

[madmat]

If your IT guy is so unfamiliar with AMD that he didn't know off the bat that DDR2 and socket 939 don't mix I'd be a bit reticent about having him build my rig but that's just me. Of course I don't let anyone work on my PC or my car unless it's something that I cannot do and that's only in the case of my car.

I realize that you don't know how to build a PC yet but every one of us (staff) has had to build our first PC at one time or another and it's a great learning experience. There's nothing quite as satisfying as building a PC, loading the OS and drivers then installing that first game and playing it.

 

[Greg King]

If your IT guy is so unfamiliar with AMD that he didn't know off the bat that DDR2 and socket 939 don't mix I'd be a bit reticent about having him build my rig but that's just me.

IT has never 100% meant gamer there bro. The IT guys at my work come to me for advice on gaming hardware but they just so happen are some of the smartest, and most qualified IT techs in the state. I wouldn't be so quick to jump all over him before you realize that just because you are an IT guy, you don't, and should not be expected, to know every single detail about the entire PC industry.

+2 for using the word reticent.

 

[madmat]

IT has never 100% meant gamer there bro. The IT guys at my work come to me for advice on gaming hardware but they just so happen are some of the smartest, and most qualified IT techs in the state. I wouldn't be so quick to jump all over him before you realize that just because you are an IT guy, you don't, and should not be expected, to know every single detail about the entire PC industry.

+2 for using the word reticent.

The point is that the spec list on newegg states the ram type used by the mobo that the IT guy chose, it doesn't say DDR2 yet he told the OP to buy DDR2. That right there would be enough to make me think twice about trusting his skills in building my investment. I've met IT guys that made me feel inferior in my skills at building and maintaining PCs and I've met IT guys that made me wonder how the hell the people they worked for were able to stay afloat simply because they had no business behind a keyboard. I'd say it all boils down to guys that got where they were by education versus real world experience. Colleges are infamous for turning out educated idiots. I've met "Computer engineers" that didn't have the first clue on how to build a PC yet they had certifications out the wazoo. It's a crying shame.

 

[Greg King]

Perhaps you could build it for him.

 

[Jakal]

You guys going all nimbly bimbly like with your shinanigans.

 

[madmat]

Perhaps you could build it for him.

I'd be pleased to, lord knows Vince loved the one I built for him

 

[Baron]

I also noticed that your IT guy picked out DDR2 memory for skt939 system, and I probably know less about computers than everyone else here
So, if he has picked out a DFI board as well, then the installation should be fun
If this experienced guy who knows lots of stuff and is one of the smartest IT guys in the State can get the basics wrong, then I would not take everything he says as gospel truth.