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Yet another "building a new comp" thread

H

Hadez026

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 9, 2003
Messages
149
Okay, I'm building a new computer for my friend soon. (waiting for the 7/4 sales @ frys and newegg)

So far this is what i have picked out:

Cheapy Artec 12x DVDRW
Sony DVDROM/CDRW Combo Drive
Floppy drive (i know i know....)
WD 160gb (got it from frys on the cheap)
Logitech MX Duo
Corsair Value Select Dual 512MBx2 CAS 3
Abit IC7-MAX3
Enermax Noisetaker 420W (EG420P-VE-SFMA)
Northwood 2.8 800FSB Retail
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro

He's got a budget of $1200. he can go a lil over, but it'd be nice to keep it within budget. He already has a moniter, so he doesnt need that. He mostly watches movies and plays some games (he WILL be playing HL2, Doom3, Farcry, etc). Sadly, he wants it to be Intel only. He's willing to OC so i was thinking about getting the 2.4C instead, but I'm afraid of the memory being a bottleneck (the next highest speed is like an extra $70). I have no clue what to get for the case (one with a sliding mobo tray would be nice, since this is the first comp he'll be building) and speakers. Thanks for ur opinions :)
 
Too bad he only wants Intel.

The computer you have at the moment looks pretty good. I'm not sure how much you already spent on those parts, but you may want to consider getting a WD Raptor drive to help increase performance.

$1200 is a nice amount to spend consider he won't need a monitor.

Since you have the Abit IC7-MAX3, I'd get the 2.4C. You can easily overclock to 2.8Ghz using stock cooling, but if you have extra money left over before you hit the $1200 cap, you might want to invest some in better cooling for a greater overclock. (Koolance EXOS maybe)?

For cases, I usually go to Newegg and look at the cases there first since they have such a large selection. Once I find a case to my taste, I then go hunting the internet for a better deal...although Newegg usually has the best deal anyways.
 
Thanks for the quick reply!

Yea the total price of those parts pretty much = $1200. I checked the cpu database at overclockers.com and the 2.8s and the 2.4s seem to be hitting pretty much the same speeds. The reason i went with 2.8 instead tho is because I dont know how far the memory will go and since intel's multipler's are locked, i'd probably hit a higher overclock with a 2.8, assuming the memory will limit me (correct or no?)
 
I'd go with the NEC-2510 instead of that Artec. That way he will have DL DVD burning capabilities.

The rest looks fine to me, except for the whole Intel only thing. ;)
 
Hadez026 said:
Thanks for the quick reply!

Yea the total price of those parts pretty much = $1200. I checked the cpu database at overclockers.com and the 2.8s and the 2.4s seem to be hitting pretty much the same speeds. The reason i went with 2.8 instead tho is because I dont know how far the memory will go and since intel's multipler's are locked, i'd probably hit a higher overclock with a 2.8, assuming the memory will limit me (correct or no?)
Click to expand...

Yea, better the memory, the higher the FSB that it can take.
 
memory is probably a limiting factor, yeah. my 2.4c goes to 3.0 or a hair over in single channel, but only 2.7 (at worse timings) in dual channel. why no prescott though? they're not much more, so unless you've got compatibility issues (or heat issues) i'd go for it.
 
Is prescott worth it? newegg has a 2.8E retail for $175 ($167 OEM). If it is, should i go for 533fsb or 800?
 
If you're looking for the better deal right now, stay with the 2.4C

The Prescott's are hot, so you'll need to buy much better (and expensive) cooling equipment if you wish to overclock.

The only real advantage to the Prescott is if you wait 6 months or so when the future Prescott's are released on the 775 socket. Currently the Prescott's don't offer too much more performance over the traditional P4's.
 
I thought the Prescotts had worse performance... I would definitely stay away from them.
 
DocSavage said:
I thought the Prescotts had worse performance... I would definitely stay away from them.
Click to expand...

Let me clarify.

As good if not worse performance ;)
 
Okay so change the memory to something better, and get the 2.4C instead. Newegg only has it retail, anyone know of a reputable store that would have it OEM and what hsf would be better, SP-94 + low speed fan (prolly around 30,40 cfm) or the 7000cu? If theres not a big diff, i'd prefer to go with the 7000cu since it'll be a good 20 bucks cheaper.

Edit: oops forgot, also changed the dvd burner to Nec 2500A (i'll flash it to a 2510)
 
Xrave said:
Too bad he only wants Intel.

The computer you have at the moment looks pretty good. I'm not sure how much you already spent on those parts, but you may want to consider getting a WD Raptor drive to help increase performance.

$1200 is a nice amount to spend consider he won't need a monitor.

Since you have the Abit IC7-MAX3, I'd get the 2.4C. You can easily overclock to 2.8Ghz using stock cooling, but if you have extra money left over before you hit the $1200 cap, you might want to invest some in better cooling for a greater overclock. (Koolance EXOS maybe)?

For cases, I usually go to Newegg and look at the cases there first since they have such a large selection. Once I find a case to my taste, I then go hunting the internet for a better deal...although Newegg usually has the best deal anyways.
Click to expand...

Im currently running a P4 1.8a 400 on Asus P4S533, overclocked to almost 2.6gig with a 592mhz bus speed and man does it fly! The cpu and board can be had for beans. If you dont want to o/c that much, the processor will do 2.4 gig all day long with temps less than 40c on stock cooling. I HIGHLY reccomend this setup for a cheaper system. As a matter of fact, I am finally looking to upgrade and my mobo and cpu will be sold pretty damn cheap (ie $100 for both).
 
the new prescotts aren't as terrible as the first batch was. the first batch had a manufacturing issue and ran really hot and gave the whole line a bad name. a zalman 7000cu or alcu will keep them reasonable and silent. true, the prescotts aren't much faster, but they're not much more $. it's really an either way kinda thing, but go for 800 fsb. p4s love fsb and memory bandwidth.
 
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