New computer YAY!

This weekend (Dec 18) I'm going out to my local Tiger Direct Store and buying myself a new computer for christmas! I just want to know how well this comp will stack up with the latest gaming computers and to brag . It's gonna be an AMD 64 3400 on an Asus A8V motherboard with a gig of DDR 400 ram (the motherboard controls the dual channel settings). A Radeon 9600XT 256mb graphics card. All this plus an LCD monitor, 60 gig hard drive, 5.1 surround sound speaker system, cdrw drive, mouse, keyboard, illuminated case with window, and 2200 joule surge protector for around a grand. I'm pretty damn happy.

 

I'll be interested to know how it performs against your old one, whatever that was ... Enjoy

 

Oh yeah. I forgot to mention my old computer. It's a Dell with a 1.8 ghz cpu running on a 400mhz fsb with only 128mb of ram. And (snicker) a geforce2 mx400. I'm suprised it runs Rainbow Six 3 like it does. The computer I'm building will have a 1600mhz fsb and will be MY computer and not the families' so I can finally have it set up the way I want. Glee!

 

1600MHz FSB? slow down tiger, lol!

 

Congradulations!!!!!! That's Great!!!!

God Bless "Santa Claus" !!!!!

 

Well I just got all the stuff I could from Tiger Direct; I live in NC about an hour away from one of their outlet stores. Now all I need to get is the case, graphics card, fans ,and speaker system. Then I'll be good to go. I don't know what I'm going to do for internet yet. Maybe I'll go wireless. I'll have pics up when I get everything together.

 

Hi,
Nice, one word of caution though if that psu comes with the case I would check its specs for required amps and before install check the volts on the 12,3 and 5 rails

Rick

 

I have only one suggestion. Depending on how much you are getting that video card for, you may want to step up to a Radeon 9800 Pro 128Mb (256-bit) for $209.

Here -> http://www.allstarshop.com/shop/pro...pid=7013&sid=WUQBQ02PXLMB8KQJMVFEMH2VGTDN6QLC

 

Sounds like a sweet system. I would go with the wireless. I went to wireless about a month ago (I was on satellite) and have no complaints whatsoever. My download speed is around 1.5M, burstable to 2.5M. There is no longer the latency I had with the satellite. My wife works from home on the internet and the latency was a big issue for her.

 

Well I bought my graphics card used (like 2 months) for 128 bucks total with shipping. It comes with all the stuff that there was originally in the box so it's not just the graphics card. And another thing. Doby, how would I go about doing that?

 

Oh and I made a mistake. My PSU in the case is a 450w not a 420.

 

If your gaming, you might want to consider a sound card for your 5.1 speakers. Audigy maybe?

 

I don't trust generic psu witch is what you get with a case. I just got a case with a 600w psu and thought I would give it a try, well I tested it first and the 12v rail read 11.8 within the accepted plus or minus 5%. I then pluged in 4 case fans and checked again and it read 11.1v, I hate to think what would have happened if I tried to power drives and everthing else with it.

You need a volt meter, digital is best. Short the green and any black wirer on the 20 pin connector that goes to the mobo with a paper clip, this will turn the psu on.
Place the red probe on the corresponding wire on the 20-pin ATX connector. Red is the 5v rail. Yellow is the 12V line. Orange is the 3.3V line. For a ground, use any of the black wires located on the 20-pin connector.
These lines are rated to run at thier specification and is usually somewhere around plus or minus 5%. Technically, if these lines stay within this margin, the system should run fine with no instabilities but if they do run out of specification a number of problems can arise.
Remember you are testing with no load but at least it will tell you if the psu is good. I usually do this test again when the system is first powered on by touching the probes on the back side of the 20 pin connector.

Rick