i think im gonna be building a pc as well

[QuickStop]

after hours of looking on new egg..this is what ive come up with and should be purchasing within 6 weeks

POWMAX Black Mid Tower Case (with 450W PS which im switching out) - $30

Sony 52x cd-rw - $33

160 GB Seagate HD - $120

512 pc3200 Geil RAM - $81

ASUS A7N8X Deluxe Mobo - $115

400W POWMAX PS - $35

AMD Athlon XP 2500+ Barton - $80

Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro - $212

Now i plan on overclocking that barton 2500+ to a 3200+ which everyone seems to be doing with no problem whatsoever. for cooling im getting these:

CoolJag CPU Cooler - $20

and 2 of these:

Coller Master Blue LED case fans - $20

now all this plus mouse, speakers, keyboard, some thermal paste, an ethernet hub, and some other stuff, the total is:

$815 plus shipping.

whatchoo guys think?



Edited By QuickStop on 1077982965

[HedCold]

i'd try and get something with a faster fsb

[2 tired 2 give N F]

yea dude...400 should be bare minimum right now...I'd even shoot for a 533 or an 800 if I were you...granted the 800 will run you alot more than a 400 but it's worth it...

[GonzoStyle]

save some money and ask hedcold for a mouse.

[2 tired 2 give N F]

*rimshot*

[Keyser Soze]

whats an fsb?

[Goatweed]

I wouldn't swap the PS, I'd keep the 450W - more power means the more shit you can hook up to the PC (drives, etc.)

I'd spend a little more $$ and go for a DVD burner over a CDRW at this point - the Plextor 708 will run you <$200 but it's a sweet drive (there are others you can get for <$100).

The vid card looks good, but if you can try and find a 9700PRO board - those can be overclocked to 9800PRO speeds (and are much cheaper).

Otherwise, not too bad. Also hunt around for a 200GB drive, there was a huge deal at Office Max or something for a 200 gigger for $150 or something with a MIR. I think it's over now but the sales pop up at least once a month.

[HedCold]

whats an fsb?

Front-side bus
Don't let the funny name fool you. This important component is essential to speedy PC performance. In essence, the bus is a pathway over which data travels between various internal system components. The front-side bus (FSB) is the segment of the system bus that carries data between RAM and the CPU; it generally has the greatest effect on overall benchmark performance. A system with high-performance processors and other components should also have a fast front-side bus. The budget Athlon XP, for example, is paired with a 266MHz or 333MHz FSB, while the faster Pentium 4 uses either a 400MHz or 533MHz system bus. In practice, the FSB will be an issue with only hard-core applications, such as digital video.

[Keyser Soze]

Whats the FSB on a AMD Athlon 64 3400+ ?

[HedCold]

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Bus Speed 1600MHz

[Goatweed]

you can check Gotapex for Dell deals as well as store specials also. I bought a Dell 8300 for $3999 (after a $200 MIR) and just added to it - it was cheaper and I got a 2 year warranty on it. They just had a Dimension 8300 3 gig P4 800 FSB for $499 (I think) after a $200 MIR [without monitor]. It's another option to consider, mainly for the warranty.

[HedCold]

i didn't realize fsb was divided in amd and p4 like that. it probably wouldn't make that big of a deal to have a 333 mhz fsb, considering the other bottlenecks all over the system, but if you could afford it thats where i would spend more money. i view it that its always easier to upgrade the video card and ram and hard drive later on when the prices may get cheaper

[QuickStop]

ok with the bus speed...im OCing it to over 400 anyway, so i dont see what the problem is. and how dare you say bottlenecks. what are these bottlenecks you are speaking of specificlly?

and goat...im still getting the DVD burner. but im getting that hopefully i a few days and putting it in the current one then switching it to the other. what i might do is not buy another cd-r and throw the current one and the dvd burner in this machine leaving the old one with just a cd-r.

[HedCold]

and how dare you say bottlenecks. what are these bottlenecks you are speaking of specificlly

the hard drive mainly. thatst on any computer, its the slowest part

i guess saying "all over" was a bad choice of wording. sorry

[HedCold]

i don't think its as big a deal as you make think i do, just saying

[PlasticMan]

I thoroughly disagree with Goatweed on the power. You won't even get close to 400W unless you're going to have 4 or 5 drives in there, simultaneously running.

Mobo looks good, though I read a warning that you might have trouble squeezing a big heat-sink in there. P

retty sure you're getting reamed on that HD. I've never been a big fan of Seagate.

[QuickStop]

im probably gonna go to best buy for the HD cause they usually have good deals every so often on nice HDs

[HedCold]

i have 3 seagates and they work fine, but you should wait for a good rebate sale. every couple of weeks theres a good one

[Goatweed]

but you should wait for a good rebate sale. every couple of weeks theres a good one

GotApex

And the ATI card will require a power hookup, as well as the VD and cd/dvd drives. the 460 would be more than adequate. Better to have more than less, if you ask me.

[Kid Afrika]

Any $33 case with a power supply is guaranteed to have a shite power supply. You're right to replace it. Beyond that, when you buy a cheap case, you get a cheap case. The drive mounts are simple with no quick release mechanism. There's not enough fan mounts in the case, either.

Spend a little more, unless you're just trying to build a cheap machine.

Best Buy has been the best deal I've found (retail anyway) for hard drives. Yes, you have to mail in the rebate and wait for a check, but money is money and a 120GB or better driver for uner $100 is a good deal no matter how you slice it.

The fans you linked to may look cool, but they'll do fuck all for lowering noise in the case. $5 fans are $5 fans. Spring for some ball-bearing joints and skip the LED bullshit.

I've never had a problem with ASUS mainboards.

I love my Radeon 9000 Pro, so the 9800 should be great as well, even if it is a bit expensive.

The biggest thing I'd worry about with your proposed system is heat. Your case doesn't seem to have much ventilation (as I mentioned above), and you're talking about overclocking the system as well. I tried to click the link to the CPU cooler, but it's a link to more LED fans.

At the end of the day, you can always upgrade the small stuff as more money becomes available. But, I think the case is very important. Spend at least $100 on a decent case and you'll be happier in the end.

Good luck with it. Take some pics when you get it assembled. (I'm gonna upload pics of my system soon)