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2nd Computer

O

Outbreak

n00b
Joined
Oct 13, 2003
Messages
8
Hey guys, long time since I've ever posted on HardOCP I just knew I had made an account. Well it has been a year since I built my last pc, and I think it is time for a new one. Heres what I've thrown together so far. I have a stick of Corsair XMS 3200 RAM so I'm looking to buy just another stick of the same stuff and run it in dual channel. I'm a P4 guys so I need advice on a good motherboard. I read the last Maximum PC and saw that the chaintech is rated the best p4 motherboard right now which is the reason I put it down. I like the Super LAN Boy even though it might be a bit bright because I have a full size tower right now and am looking for a downsize. I need a good SATA hard drive since this the new standard. I also have just bought a BFG 5700Ultra and am very happy with it and would like an 8x agp slot to utilize it in all its glory. So I need some good advice on memory, if what I said above isnt good enough or if I should get a new kit. Maybe a lower range processor for more of an overclock to make it better, its just NewEgg has it all on such great deals right now. I am on a sort of a budget, saving for a car, and wanting to buy a computer. I have 4 grand in all and need a good amount for my car. So im thinking of spending less that a thousand on this new upgrade maybe a lot less. Help me out here, I've priced these few things at newegg, just looking to buy tonight and build it over my spring break if possible.

Antec Super Lan Boy - Looks like a cool case, and i LAN
Need SATA Hard Drive...
Chaintech 9CJS - Maybe better?
Intel P4 3.0C 800FSB - Maybe lower?
Need some good memory, or what I said above.

Thanks for your help, hope to see some responses.
 
I think for an overclocking mobo, an Abit IC7-G would be better (I use one, it's nice) but I personally have not used a Chaintech 9CJS Zenith. It looks like an awesome mobo though.

For a SATA drive, I'd probably go with one of the new Hitachi Deskstars. They are Storagereview.com's top performers right now. I also like the Seagate SATA drives.

The proc is nice, you can probably get a good overclock out of it, depending on the silicon you get. The low end C Northwood, the 2.4C, is probably still the best Intel overclocker, but I think it's nice just to have 3.0 stock and go from there.
 
I'm going to second getting an ABit motherboard. That, or an ASUS. They're really the only two names in overclocking motherboards. I wouldn't imagine the chaintech overclocking very far. And the 3.0c will give you a good start, you should get a nice overclock out of it. :)
 
I'm looking at an Asus P4C800, or and IC7-G now instead of that chaintech, I'm looking to buy tonight so help me out. What do you think I should get in place of RAM or other suggestions on Hard Drives. Any other ideas???
 
Ok, this is what I have come down to...

Antec Super Lanboy - Fits my needs for a case...

Antec True430 PSU, have on my current PC, removing and placing in new one.

2 Hitachi 80GB SATA Hard Drives (RAID0 I'm guessing)

DFI PRO875B - I'm really into looks and with a case window...I overclocked my last PC and am in for overclocking, but not as much as I was before. If its that bad talk me out of it.

Intel P4 3.0C Retail - Heatsink included, use that, no real need for OC

RAM - Still undecided, right now a Corsair XMS Twin 3200 Set 512MB. I have to utilize this dual channel but I'm still real iffy on RAM and need good suggetions on it, dont want to spend a fortune though.

BFG Asylum 5700Ultra 128MB - Bought in place of my Radeon9000, works great, no need here.

This comes out to approx. 800 with shipping. Tell me what you think what changes again blah blah blah...I'm really looking to make a purchase tonight so I can build it over this week.
 
Looks great. DFI makes nice boards, you should be happy with it.

The only thing I'm questioning are the Hitachi hard drives. I know someone suggested them, but I've always heared bad things about Hitachis... I dunno, maybe they have improved, but I'd personally stick with something that more people use, like western digital or seagate.

Either way, looks like a killer system! :)
 
If you're RAID-0'ing it, add a PATA drive as well (in this case 160 GB or larger) and ghost it with something like CasperXP to keep your data backed up. RAID-0 doubles your risk of HD failure since if one drive goes, ALL your data goes.

BB
 
Antec Super Lanboy - Fits my needs for a case...

Antec True430 PSU, have on my current PC, removing and placing in new one.
Click to expand...
Both great choices.

2 Hitachi 80GB SATA Hard Drives (RAID0 I'm guessing)
Click to expand...
RAID 0 isn't very benifical for a gaming machine. Although I agree with your choice of hard drives, I'd run them by themselves or in RAID 1.

DFI PRO875B - I'm really into looks and with a case window...I overclocked my last PC and am in for overclocking, but not as much as I was before. If its that bad talk me out of it.
Click to expand...
I don't know much about DFI, but I don't know of any reason NOT to get an Abit board. AI7, IC7, look and see what features you need.

Intel P4 3.0C Retail - Heatsink included, use that, no real need for OC
Click to expand...
Cool

RAM - Still undecided, right now a Corsair XMS Twin 3200 Set 512MB. I have to utilize this dual channel but I'm still real iffy on RAM and need good suggetions on it, dont want to spend a fortune though.
Click to expand...
Corsair makes good RAM.

BFG Asylum 5700Ultra 128MB - Bought in place of my Radeon9000, works great, no need here.
Click to expand...
Not sure how much this card is, but you can get a 9800 Pro for around $200, so keep that in mind.
 
So RAID 0 wont benefit me much in any performance? Well then how bout I just get one 80GB Maxtor SATA drive, has good reviews at newegg, cant go wrong with maxtor. Anyways, I dont have the money to shell out another 200 bucks for another grafx card so ill stick with what i got. I have 512MB right now just one stick and now im getting this Corsair Twin Pack thats 2x256. Will I notice a performance increase with this? Or should I get double 512's and get a gig, or will that be even noticable. RAM seems to be my only issue and im looking to buy tonight so help!! :)
 
you could always go with a 120gb maxtor or larger, then partition it

i'd get a gig of ram, just for longevity. look at corsair, but the mushkin level 2 is performing better
 
I'm looking at some kits that are 1GB, I guess by not spending money on 2 hard drives, which I still hope is the right decision not to run in RAID 0, I can spend more on RAM. The dual channel rams im looking at is the OCZ PC-3500 which is surprisingly only $215 and the Kingston HyperX PC-3000. The OCZ looks like the better choice in this battle, so OCZ for RAM what do you think?
 
I've heard that dual channel 2 x 256 MB kits perform slightly better than 2 x 512 MB kits, although I don't know how validated that statement can be.

Regarding RAID-0 and gaming, as Ender said, it's not beneficial necessarily because it will increase your access times, but during data transfer, the process is definitely quicker.

I'd personally stick with higher frequency RAM, since Intel chips are optimized for it. Tighter timings don't really mean as much to Intel CPU's as they do to AMD CPU's. I'd personally vouch for a couple of sticks of Kingston HyperX PC3500 or PC4000. The benchmarks that I've seen definitely rate it in a very tight competition with Corsair's identical sticks and it's certainly cheaper.

For hard drives, I'd suggest Seagate. I hear nothing but good things from them whether it be on reliability to noise levels to their respectable access times.

If you are going to go RAID, I'd also suggest purchasing a nice IDE hard drive for storage. Good ghosting abilities are crucial.

Dark Assassin
 
Dunno if you're still looking for advice, but it's not like you could've ordered yesterday at those hours and have it processed by now anyways.

Super Lanboy case - really not my style, but everyone has their own tastes.

Antec True430 - excellent choice

GeforceFX 5700 - since you already have it, that's good

RAM - you already have one stick of corsair cas 2 PC3200, just get another stick. You don't need one of those "matched pair/dual channel" packs to run in dual channel; you just need matching speeds, size, and preferably brand.

Since you're not overclocking that much, I'd say PC3200 would be find, and you could always loosen up the timings or use a divider if you're really pushing the FSB.

mobo - Abits haven't let me down, but I hear good things about the DFIs.

Hard drives - the new Hitachi 7K series are good drives (look over at www.storagereview.com); they're made by the ex-IBM Deskstar hard drive division.

I agree with everyone else though, I really wouldn't run RAID 0; it nets higher throughput, but seek times are the same anyways, and if a drive goes out, the entire array is dead. It'd help with things like game levels loading a few seconds faster, but you really don't need it.

CompUSA has a 160 gig Seagate SATA drive for $100 after a $50 rebate this week if you can get there; that's not a bad price, and the Seagate drives, as far as I know, use a real SATA connection. I think most of the Western Digital SATA drives use a PATA -> SATA bridge (except for the Raptors and maybe the newest high capacity SATA drives). I don't know about Maxtors though.
 
Gets my vote

In fact build a rig to my sig specs and you wont be dissappointed ...........ever
 
Originally posted by Outbreak
So RAID 0 wont benefit me much in any performance?
Click to expand...
Not for what you're going to be doing

Personally I would get a single 40GB or 80GB Hitachi 7K250 and use that as your boot drive, then get a larger slower drive on one of those MIR offers you see every week for storage.

Having two hard drives is very convenient. With a seperate storage drive, anytime you need to reformat, you can just move any files you have on the boot drive, over to your storage drive, without having to burn CDs.

The Hitachi 7K250 is within 5-10% of the 1st generation Raptor in most of the single user benchmarks and it actually beats it in the gaming benchmark.

http://www.storagereview.com/articles/200310/20031007HDS722525VLSA80_3.html
 
I went ahead and ordered early this morning. I got the Hitachi drive after those great reviews, and the ram I just got one corsair 3200 512MB stick to coincide with my other stick which I have on my other computer. The only drawback I think I have is that my old stick has been used alot and such and my computer has gone through some virusus like most so im afraid if there is remnants of a virus on it will infect my new computer which i dont want to happen. Am i just overracting and being to nervous?? I dont know what to think, as far as i know this dual channel RAM will be a humongous performance increase from what I have heard...anyways I'm venting and am having withdrawl on my memory buy, but I think ill be ok
 
You're afraid your RAM has remnant viruses on it? That's poppycock!

RAM is volatile. It loses its information when the power's cut off.
 
Don't worry, the RAM will not have viruses on it since it loses its data when the power's off.

Panda probably detected a virus that was currently in a running program in memory that it could fix, but when the computer is shut off, the virus wouldn't be in RAM anymore anyways.
 
would the ram be hindered at all, i overclocked it by like 13mhz so I dont think it should be that used. I just hope it runs well in dual channel :)
 
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