Looking at computers, again

[Mag-Mower]

I was at voodo today, making a system, it looks pretty good, its pretty cheap too, so i was wondering if some one could look at the specs and tell me if it is a good system
SPECS:

Voodoo Hexx Competitive Gamer PC

Voodoo Disaster Recovery System II

Voodoo Koeskin System Binder

Voodoo Performance and Stability Re-Engineering

Voodoo Renowned Cabling System

Voodoo Attack-Pad Mousing Surface

Free VoodooPC T-Shirt

IS09001:2000 Quality Control Standards

Voodoo BAJA Chassis

Voodoo Advanced Enermax "Noisetaker"

AMD Athlon 64 Processor 3400+

1 GiG Corsair DDR-400 Memory

Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Cooling Compound

ASUS K8V-SE Deluxe Athlon 64 Motherboard

AMD Quiet Active CPU Cooler

LiteOn 16-48 DVD & CD Reader

80 GiG HGST Sata 7200 RPM

19" NEC FE991SB CRT Monitor

ATI Radeon x800 Pro 256

Creative Megaworks THX 5.1

SoundBlaster Audigy2ZS

Windows XP Home

Free copy of FarCry on DVD

FUEL Software Essentials v1 ($395 US Value)

Canadian Air Insured

Logitech Elite Keyboard

Logitech MX-500 Optical

Standard Select Upgrade Assurance

Voodoo PlatinumCare 1 Year

[MattxMosh]

VooDoo makes nice systems, but Im not a fan of prebuilt rigs, but all in all, thats a sweet set-up..except the motherboard. Although stable, its not the best performer, and overclocking is a joke with that thing.

But may I ask.. how cheap is cheap?

[Corrosion]

Awesome comp, but how much?

[Mag-Mower]

only $3999 canadian... which i think is a good deal, especially considering that its voodo

[MattxMosh]

only $3999 canadian... which i think is a good deal, especially considering that its voodo


AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH are you mad?

[Mag-Mower]

uhh... I dont think so... its actually $3790 which would be $2500 american... im just sayingi made the same system on Alienware.com and Tigerdirect.ca, and this is still cheaper than both of those

[Daleon]

I know what the canadian/dollar conversion is, and I still think your mad lol.

Its not so much that all that junk doesn't add up to $2500 or so, its that most of it is junk. Good junk, but still oem/old name brand parts that are well out of date or second tier equipment and not top of the line.

For $2500, I'd build a pc that was seriously top of the line.

First, that cpu/mb combo. Bah, bad choice.
A AMD64/939 pin 3500 with a MSI K8N Neo2 nf3 mb = $650 or so
A gig of xms pc4000 = $300
250 gig maxtor sata 8 meg = $200
Dell fp2001 20" lcd/16 ms response = $750
NEC 8x Dual Layer DVD-RW = $80
SB Audigy2zs = $100
ATI X800 XT = $500
Logitech KB/Mouse = $70

Thats 2000. If you have to get a copy of XP, that will jump the price some. But all that other fancy crap is mostly marketing bs. A Lian-Li case with an enermax 550w psu, and a good water cooling system would still only put you around $2500 total.

So price comes out the same, except the above system would smoke what you spec'd out.

[Infernus]

/me wubs his new custom built... even tho he had to give a kidney and testical for it...

[Electrofreak]

no matter WHO you buy from it is almost ALWAYS cheaper to build it yourself. I was going to buy an Alienware a while back for $3200. Built the same system (below, in sig) for $1600. thats half the cost. sure thats a nice rig up there but I'm positive you could build your own for less. Not to mention, building a computer these days is like putting together a set of legos. Everything snaps together pretty easily. as long as you follow a basic set of computer-building istructions, you can't go wrong.

[Mag-Mower]

i have a question then, how do you install windows XP? i heard that imstalling it (other than a Recovery disc) is really hard, is it really hard to do that?

[MattxMosh]

i have a question then, how do you install windows XP? i heard that imstalling it (other than a Recovery disc) is really hard, is it really hard to do that?

D00d, its so easy, all teh instructions are righ ton the screen, just do what they say and you are good.

and if you are using sata drives, make sure you press F6 liek a mad man and install those drivers!

[Mag-Mower]

MBM-VNF3-3200 C :: Chaintech - VNF3-250 - Socket 754 Motherboard and AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Processor
In Stock $550.99 $550.99




T925-1066 :: Thermaltake A1838 Silent Boost K8 Cooling Fan for AMD Opteron & Athlon 64
In Stock $56.99 $56.99




E145-6800 :: eVGA GeForce 6800 Video Card / 128MB DDR / AGP 8X / TV Out & DVI
Available While Supplies Last $425.99 $425.99




M17-5600 :: Microsoft� Windows� XP Home Edition Upgrade
In Stock $141.99 $141.99




F13-1000 :: AudioTrak Maya 5.1 Channel Sound Card
In Stock $56.99 $56.99




L23-6184 :: Logitech Z640 Speaker 51 Watt 5.1 Surround Sound Speaker System
In Stock $78.99 $78.99




L23-6224 :: Logitech MX Duo Cordless Multimedia Combo
In Stock $105.99 $105.99




N27-1705 :: NEC AccuSync 700-BK 17".27mm Black CRT Monitor
In Stock $184.99 $184.99




N100-1464 P :: Netgear - RP614 - 4-Port Cable/DSL Web Safe Router
In Stock $63.99 $63.99




C184-22696 :: Cables To Go - 14' Traditional Cat5e Grey UTP
In Stock $8.99 $8.99




D700-1026 P :: D-Link - DFE-530TX+ - 10/100Mbps Ethernet LAN Adapter
In Stock $17.99 $17.99




U10-4901 :: Ultra 512MB PC3200 DDR 400MHz Memory
In Stock $141.99 $425.97




P452-2001 :: PMI EZ-Media G7 Black ATX Mid-Tower Case with Clear Side, Front USB & Audio Ports and 480Watt Power Supply
In Stock $85.99 $85.99




Q131-3004 :: Aerocool UV Led (Blue/Blue) 80MM Case Fan
In Stock $11.99 $23.98




A451-4200 :: Artec 16x DVD-ROM Drive / Black / OEM
In Stock $42.99 $42.99




THD-60EB :: WD Protege 60GB EIDE HD 5400/2MB/ATA-100
Usually Ships in 7 - 21 Days $89.99 $89.99




total= $2,994.53 CDN ,i saw this price and i went :eek: :eek: , could anyone tell me if there are any bad parts here, or if i am missing something, i know that the 6800 is 128 mb, is it still going to run well?

EDIT: This is what i got from tiger direct :)

[Fragmatic]

That's only the upgrade edition of windows XP, you don't want that.

[Daleon]

You're original setup was 10x better than that one. Ugh.

XP home edition upgrade - toss. Get a full version of Windows XP Professional.

WD Protege 60GB EIDE HD 5400/2MB/ATA-100 - OMG, wtf is this a notebook HD? Or is it like 6 years old with a ton of dust on it? Jizunk. HD prices are insanely cheap right now. Maxtor III line is about to come out with a 250 Gig SATA 16 Meg Cache drive for $180 US retail for crying out loud, thats INSANE. Got a few on pre-order heh.

The 3200/Chaintech mb combo - might be ok. Price wise I guess its about retail, defintely not a deal or anything. Chaintech is considered a mid-low end enthusiast board. Defintely won't have the bios options you would get with an Asus/Abit mb.

6800 - I would get atleat a GT/256. DM3 bench's with the GT board are rather nice, faster than XT currently.

The MB will have onboard network, or atleast should. So ditch nic.

The RAM I don't understand. In Stock $141.99 $425.97. Which is it? You want 2x512 sticks, period. Decent name brand to preferebly.

I do feel for ya being in Canada. You guys often get stuck with tigerdirect, and they are ripoffs for most part. I do think http://www.monarchcomputer.com will deliver to CA. Prices are decent, and better selection.

[MattxMosh]

You're original setup was 10x better than that one. Ugh.

XP home edition upgrade - toss. Get a full version of Windows XP Professional.


Agreed.


Maxtor III line is about to come out with a 250 Gig SATA 16 Meg Cache drive for $180 US retail for crying out loud, thats INSANE.


Agreed.


The 3200/Chaintech mb combo - might be ok.


Meh, Abit, shuttle or MSI.


6800 - I would get atleat a GT/256. DM3 bench's with the GT board are rather nice, faster than XT currently.


Not true at all, unless you mean the 9800xt. Go with teh x800 pro, mod it to a psuedo-xt, and you are flying and saves cash for soem GOOD ram.

.
So ditch nic.


Yup.


The RAM I don't understand. In Stock $141.99 $425.97. Which is it? You want 2x512 sticks, period.


2x512 = pointless for a64 754's, they arent dual channel.

Slap a stick of 1gig 3200 in there, theres no reason for anything else on teh a64 platform at teh moment, unless you are going uberlow multis with uber high fsbs

[Mag-Mower]

Roger that... i told you i suck at making cheap comps...

[Indecisive]

EDIT: This is what i got from tiger direct :)


AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Tiger direct burrnsss usssss


www.newegg.com = your new best friend. Now go get aquanted. Now, I command it.

[Daleon]

Mattx - You might wanna venture over to HardOCP for the "official" DM3 bench's released a few days ago. Hell its been all over the net. Yes the 6800 GT is well ahead of the the X800 XT. Now this is one game, but I did say DM3. I fully believe the XT will make some comebacks in DX games, but I think its clear the GF6 series has more than a little horsepower under their hood also.

[Corrosion]

MSI's K8N Neo Platinum nForce 3 250 for teh motherboard win.

[ICha0sI]

...Indeed, he is mad.

[MattxMosh]

Mattx - You might wanna venture over to HardOCP for the "official" DM3 bench's released a few days ago. Hell its been all over the net. Yes the 6800 GT is well ahead of the the X800 XT. Now this is one game, but I did say DM3. I fully believe the XT will make some comebacks in DX games, but I think its clear the GF6 series has more than a little horsepower under their hood also.

Thats one game like you said, Im not denying anything about that, Hes trying to build a good comp at a decent price, modding an x800 pro to an XT is a great money saver, and plus, on most games, @1600x1200, with aa/af maxed, the xt is a few frames ahead. BUT thats current games, the difference between these gen cards is so little, it doesn't matter which one you buy, until this plays out a little longer. Once pixel shader 3 is in full motion, nvidia will really shine again.

[Electrofreak]

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Tiger direct burrnsss usssss


www.newegg.com (http://www.newegg.com) = your new best friend. Now go get aquanted. Now, I command it. ^ Newegg 4 win. I've had so many awesome experiences and deals from the site I could spend 5 minutes making a list. Hell, I even got GOOD customer service from them OVER THE TELEPHONE. I couldn't fucking believe it. Anyhow, shop newegg, they kick ass.

edit- Oh and I agree with MattxMosh on all his tech tips. He went and said everything I was going to :p

[Daleon]

Mattx - So I take it your taking back your totally false "untrue" statement about what I said then? As I very clearly stated the first time "the GT is faster than the XT in DM3" and you boldly said I was wrong.

Also I wouldn't go pushing the whole haxor the Pro to XT bit. Not everyone will be into that, also only more than likely the first batch of production boards will have any kind of good success rate at doing this. Later batches of Pro's will have a much greater chance of being a board from a batch thats not stable with all pipelines enabled. Which would leave people would what I consider a Nudered board, the stock Pro.

And Electro, newegg doesn't care for Canada to much.

[MattxMosh]

Mattx - So I take it your taking back your totally false "untrue" statement about what I said then? As I very clearly stated the first time "the GT is faster than the XT in DM3" and you boldly said I was wrong.


You actually said: 6800 - I would get atleat a GT/256. DM3 bench's with the GT board are rather nice, faster than XT currently.

I just read it wrong, and hell, you made your point, quit being a fan boy of Doom 3 and nVidia.


:D

[Electrofreak]

how the hell am i supposed to know whos candadian and whos not?! Mag-Mower, move to the US. then you can get excellent newegg.com service. :p

[Daleon]

Fanboy of NV? Hello, read my sig. I've been ati since the 8500 Pro, thank you very much. If anyones on the fanboy wagon, its someone on the ATI one I do believe. I go by the cold hard facts.

But thats ok, I wasn't mad or anything. Just don't like being told I'm wrong about something I know I'm not on. Besides, I'll be doing dual 6800 Ultra's lol.

[MattxMosh]

I'll be doing dual 6800 Ultra's lol.


I heard ATI and nvidia are working on something just like alienwares dual card set-up, I also heard you can mix and match cards.. just imagine, TNT 2, and 6800u. THE POSSIBILITIES!