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First build - thoughts please

S

scfdefinit

n00b
Joined
Feb 26, 2004
Messages
3
I'm going to be building my first comp. very soon and I'm ordering my parts from newegg. Any feedback would help a lot!


-ANTEC Performance Plus Series Mini Tower Case with 330W Power Supply, Model "Plus660AMG" -RETAIL $95.99

-VANTEC Round Floppy drive cable, Booted, 2-connector, 10-Inch ( CLEAR/SILVER ), Model "CBL-FDD10-CS*2" -RETAIL $2.99

-ASUS 865PE Chipset Motherboard for Intel Socket 478 CPU, Model "P4P800" -RETAIL $106.99


-SAPPHIRE ATI RADEON 9600 Video Card, 128MB DDR, 128-bit, DVI/TV-Out, 8X AGP, Model "ATLANTIS RADEON 9600" -RETAIL $95.00


-Intel Pentium 4/ 2.8C GHz 800MHz FSB, 512K Cache, Hyper Threading Technology - Retail $185.00


-Kingston Value Series 184 Pin 512MB DDR PC-3200 $91.00


-SAMSUNG SFD321B/LBL1 Black 1.44MB 3.5inch Floppy Disk Drive, OEM Drive Only $10.99


-Seagate 120GB 7200RPM IDE Hard Drive, Model ST3120026A, OEM $100.00


-SAMSUNG 753DF-T/T 17" DynaFlat CRT Monitor –RETAIL $99.00

Logitech MX300 Optical Mouse USB/PS2 -RETAIL $29.00


-Samsung Black 52X32X52 CD-RW Drive, Model SW-252FENB, OEM Bulk
$36.00


-Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy 2 PCI Sound Card, Model "SB0244" -OEM $74.00

-Symantec Norton SystemWorks Professional 2003 with 1 Year of Live Update - OEM Full Version
$23.00

-ZALMAN 80mm Case fan with Quiet Mode Adapter, Model "ZM-F1" -RETAIL $9.98



Subtotal » $ 958.94


Pretty mid-range system I guess. Although I'm not trying to break the bank. I'm gonna get some Logitech Z-640 Speakers, Win XP Home, and MS Office at a local store because they sell them pretty cheap over there. Some things I have questions about though are being about:
1. Think the Antec True330 power supply will be enough to power my system? I have barely know anything about power supplies so.. Any help here will be appreciated.
2. Should I dish out some extra cash for my Video Card? I'm on a budget and I'm not trying to spend too much. I play a few games - RTS games, MMORPGs, and a few FP shooters. I don't know maybe I cash dish out $20-30 extra. I was originally thinking about OCing the card I'm thinking about, but then now that I think about it buying extra cooling would cost me about $20-30 extra anyway.
3. My OS, should I spend a little more for WinXP Pro? I'm just a normal user, I'm not doing anything that would be needed for business stuff or anything.. What's the difference?

That's about it for now.. I plan to buy another optical drive and another stick of ram after awhile maybe even a new video card after a year or so but I think this should serve me well for now. Any suggestions on my system-to-be is much obliged.
 
1. Think the Antec True330 power supply will be enough to power my system? I have barely know anything about power supplies so.. Any help here will be appreciated.
Click to expand...

Yes it will be enough. The thing with PSU's is you just wanna make sure you always buy a name brand and remember the fact that wattage rating is only marketing and doesn't equate to how good the PSU is.

3. My OS, should I spend a little more for WinXP Pro? I'm just a normal user, I'm not doing anything that would be needed for business stuff or anything.. What's the difference?
Click to expand...

Does anyone have XP Home and have Hyperthreading that works? I've read quite a few articles that XP Home only supports 1 processor so Hyperthreading which emulates 2 cpu's wont work. XP Pro will allow 2 CPU's. I also saw the XP Home can only support 1 physical but 2 logical. Anyone got some feedback on it?
 
I would get XP pro just because of some of the tinyest little things that I now take for granted (so small that I can't really think of any off the top of my head) but they are there. Just go with pro, its only what... 130 bucks now?
 
I would get the mx500 or the mx510, It will be the best extra 30 bucks you spend. Especially for the fact that you play games. YOu can't beat that 800DPI!
 
Get new RAM if your planning on overclocking.

XP Home supports Hyperthreading. Hyperthreading is not a dual processor...it's a virtual processor. According to the HAL, that is a big difference. I prefer XP Pro, because I use the security features and the remote desktop. Microsoft has a nice grid comparing the two, so you can make the right choice.
 
Thanks a lot. I don't plan on overclocking 2.8ghz is a lot than I need. So, value ram will have to do. I'll consider getting XP Pro as well.
 
-VANTEC Round Floppy drive cable, Booted, 2-connector, 10-Inch ( CLEAR/SILVER ), Model "CBL-FDD10-CS*2" -RETAIL $2.99

My case is smaller than yours and I had a tough time making a 10' floppy cable reach from the mobo to the floppy drive...

Just a thought.
 
I'd suggest you go with the Antec SLK3700 series over the Antec Plus660AMG, it's cheaper, has a better power supply and uses 120mm fans. Other than that seems like a good system.
 
Since you're not overclocking anyway, I'd take a look at the Antec Sonata. Whisper quiet, nice looking case, and it has a slightly beefier PSU in case you ever want to add more stuff. Only about twenty bucks more I believe. And factor in that you don't need to spend another ten bucks on that quiet case fan.

I'm personally a big supporter of the Samsung 955DF 19" CRT. You can usually find it for around $175 - $195 now, maybe less. But if a 17" suits you, more power to ya.

Of more importance - you'll want two sticks of RAM to run dual channel. I'd probably plunk down the extra cash for another stick of 512, but you could go with 2x256 on a midrange system and still be doing fine.

Looks very good! I just checked Newegg... you can find the Abit IS7-E for only $85.
 
id suggest going with an amd setup to save money so you can get a much better video card. its really not that hard to overclock and you could buy better stuff by spending less money, i really suggest you learn how if you dont know already. if your on a budget id be better to drop the sound blaster and save the $74 for some good cooling, the mb has good audio. maybe take that $74 in combo with the samsung cd burners $36 and save seven bucks to get an 8x dvd/32x cd write speed drive...

$103 shipped - NEC 8X Black DVD+RW/-RW Drive
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=27-152-012&catalog=5&depa=1

$93 shipped - DFI NFII ULTRA INFINITY
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProdu...-136-137&catalog=22&manufactory=BROWSE&depa=1

$77 shipped - AMD Mobile Athlon XP 2400+
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-103-400&catalog=343&depa=1

$212 shipped - SAPPHIRE ATI RADEON 9800PRO Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-102-268&depa=1

$79 shipped - Mushkin 512MB DDR PC-3200
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-146-219&catalog=147&depa=0

$110 shipped - ANTEC Model "SONATA", With 380W Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=11-129-127&depa=1

$41 shipped - ZALMAN CNPS7000A-AlCu CPU Cooler
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProdu...-118-108&catalog=62&manufactory=BROWSE&depa=1
____

total = $715 shipped

total before = $699

difference = $16. depends what you think though, powerful intel system with lacking video or a potential powerful amd system with top end graphics. personally i would go with the amd system i listed. by the way, the power supply included with the case will be more then enough and the cpu cooler i suggested is very good, and very quiet.
 
Originally posted by BB Gun
Ummmm, why mobile XP 2400 instead of Barton2500?

BB
Click to expand...
you must be out of the "loop". stock low low voltage yields high overclocks. same results as the mobile 2500+ for $22 less. just look around in all the computer hardware forums, youll see what im talking about.

by the way scfdefinit, welcome to the [H]ard|Forum and good luck on your first build. :)
 
17" sucks. Every time you use your computer, you WILL be staring at your monitor. get at least a 19". and spend at LEAST $250 on it. get one with very low dot pitch. ~0.22mm is great.

if you're going to stick with a 17" monitor, remember that the maximum resolution you're going to be running is 1024x768. At that resolution, the 9600XT video card is great. pre-doom3/HL2, of course. ;) also, if you're going to get a 9800 video card or whatnot, you will be absolutely HATE running the games at 1024x768 because that's the highest your 17" monitor will go.

One last point, go with SATA. the low seek times are noticeable. Get a motherboard with SATA and grab a 36GB raptor and use it for your boot drive. use a 120gb or 80gb drive for storage.

I really don't care if you go AMD - intel. My last system was a 1.6A northwood overclocked to 2.4ghz. Now, I'm running the 2500+ @ 3200+
So, I'm not made of cash, but I will extract the value out of my hardware. 2.8ghz for ~$180 seems kinda expensive when you can have the overclocked amd at 3200+ for $80. yes, I know you can OC the 2.8c well, but a resonable OC will be about 3.3ghz.
go amd and use the difference in $$$ to go with SATA and a bigger monitor. or 20" LCD. :D love these badboy 2001fp lcds !!!
 
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