New Computer build: opinions?

[XavierFrost]

Im going to be building a new computer for one of my friends, and he asked me to build him a pretty good one for under 2000 bucks... id appreciate any feedback on sme of the hardware as I have worked with some of these products but not all...

ASPIRE X-Navigator Black Aluminum ATX Mid-Tower Case with side window and 500W Power Supply, Model"ATXA8NW-BK/500" -RETAIL

ABIT "AI7" i865PE Chipset Motherboard for Intel Socket 478 CPU - Retail

ATI AIW RADEON 9800PRO Video Card, 128MB DDR, 256-bit, DVI/CATV/VIVO, 8X AGP, Model "ALL-IN-WONDER 9800 PRO" -RETAIL

Intel Pentium 4 3.40E GHz 800MHz FSB, 1MB L2 Cache w/ Hyper Threading Technology - Retail

CORSAIR XMS Xtreme Memory Speed Series, Xtra-Low Latency 184-Pin 1GB(512MBx2) DDR PC-3200 w/ Platinum Heat Spreader, Model TWINX1024-3200XLPT - Retail

2x Western Digital Raptor 74GB 10,000RPM SATA Hard Drive, Model WD740GD, OEM Drive Only (RAID 0)

Plextor 16X Double Layer DVD±RW Burner with s/w and Black and Beige Bezels, Model PX-716A/SW, Retail

Creative Labs Sound Blaster Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Value Sound Card, Model "SB0400" -OEM

NEC floppy drive

WinXP Pro OEM

no monitor, keyboard, mouse, or speakers are needed as he already has good ones.

 

[acetic]

Looks pretty good to me, but for about $20 more (And correct me if I'm wrong...) You could get a 6600GT AGP, which delivers better performance than the 9800XT(Which gives better performance than the 9800Pro). I believe the performance in games was around 10FPS more with the 6600GT AGP...

Edit: Heres a Review by AnandTech that shows how the 9800Pro compares against the 6600GT. Link

Edit2: Oops, I just saw it was an AIW card. Omit the above.

 

[Stoopid Guy]

You don't say what he wants it for... If multimedia, then I'd say it's OK, but if either gaming or multimedia, I still wouldn't be too sure about that PSU. That manufacturer on the black-list of [H]ardForums. Also, I'm not too big on the Intel side of things, but I think you may want to get faster RAM, and go easier on the DVD burner/hard drive.

If it's for gaming, then I'd definitely go A64.

 

[XavierFrost]

I got the 9800 Pro because its an all in wonder card, as he wats to be able to watch/record tv and play xbox on his comp. Its more of an all around computer that he wants to take to college for multimedia/games (mostly cs source) any info on why the pw supply is on the black list?

 

[mulpsmebeauty]

Ditch the RAID 0 for those Raptors. I know it sounds good, but the real world performance increases have been shown time and again to be marginal (<5%), especially considering the halved time to failure. Get one 74Gb Raptor and a 250Gb disk for storage purposes alone. This is just my opinion.

 

[Othersider]

Ditch the RAID 0 for those Raptors. I know it sounds good, but the real world performance increases have been shown time and again to be marginal (<5%), especially considering the halved time to failure. Get one 74Gb Raptor and a 250Gb disk for storage purposes alone. This is just my opinion.

Amen on the no RAID0. And yeah, that PSU is a bit suspect but he can probably use it for now; worth upgrading later though.

There are a lot of fans on that case; don't know if they're any good though. You'll want to check them out and maybe replace them (not to mention how hideously gaudy all those gratuitous LEDs are).

With a Socket478, I take it he's never looking to upgrade the processor?

Also, going to use stock cooling on that?