$1500 for speed system -- critique

[VTJoeK]

Ignoring the AMD line of thought, I decided to build a Pentium machine. I have $1500 that can only be used for building a machine. It has been a while since my last build so I am a little out of date with technology, but it seems that $1500 gives me some room to get past that. My machine is below.

Processor Pentium 4 2.4 GHz 800 MHz FSB overclocked to 1000 MHz 169
Motherboard Asus P4C800-E 180
CPU Cooler Thermalright SLK-900U 120mm adjustable-speed Vantec Tornado 65
RAM GeIL Platinum 1GB 1024MB Kit ( 2x512MB ) PC-4000 DDR 500MHz CAS 2.5 retail Model 330
Hard Drive Maxtor ATA133 60 GB Drive from home computer 0
Video Card ATI RADEON 9800 Pro 128MB DDR DUAL HEAD TV OUT/DVI AGP 295
DVD Burner DRU510A, CD-ROM/CD-R(W)/DVR-ROM/DVD±R(W) 190
Floppy Disk From home Computer 0
Key board From home Computer
Mouse From home Computer
Sound Card Integrated 0
Case Antec SX630II 72
Power Supply Included with case
Speakers From home Computer 0


Total before monitor is 1301 I believe. This is without a monitor though. We have a 21" CRT that does fine, but it is old and is not very crisp. My wife is all about style and cares nothing about performance only whether it is LCD or not. Is there a 17" LCD monitor that will be suitable for some FPS without breaking my bank? I have been looking at the NEC LCD7V, ViewSonic VA720, and the Hitachi CML174 - 440. Ranging in price and performance it seems. Does anyone have any experience with these displays? Also, please critique my system in places where I am lacking power or I have too much power. What is my limiting reagent? Is it a balanced machine?



Thanks for your input.



Joe

 

[egale]

I would be very surprised if you will be able to overclock this system that much. The 875 chipset will fail long before your memory does.

 

[VTJoeK]

Check out http://www.anandtech.com/memory/showdoc.html?i=1849

I believe they got past 1000Mhz FSB in the article. Do you think cooling is an issue?

Joe

 

[boshuter]

That looks like a nice system........ you should have no problems at all reaching 1000fsb (250X4). That is actually a fairly conservative oc.

As far as cooling, that is an excellent heatsink, but it only accepts up to a 92mm fan without some kind of mod. At the level you are planning to oc, any good 92mm fan will suffice. The Tornado fans are excellent, but unless you run some kind of fan controller to limit the speed, that fan will drive you nuts with the noise..
Consider trying a Panaflo L1A or H1A, they will work great and not drown out everything in the room.

You should have an awesome system.... good luck, and let us know how it works out..

 

[Aganack1]

My personal opinion is that if you build a system now you are just plain reckless. In a week the Athlon 64 comes out... and with it price corrections. If you really want an Intel go for the Prescott to show up on the market. If you buy a system now, you are confining yourself to stagnation or worse paying way too much. Wait a few week or a month it wont kill you and after a few reviews of the Athlon 64 you may change your mind about AMD.

I have also heard that the Geil memory isn't always what the reviews say it is. I have heard that they ship out different memory to the review sites that work like a charm, but questionable ones to the customers.
check this out.

 

[pelikan]

I agree. Wait until the 23rd and get an amd 64 or take advantage of cheaper intel prices after prescott. After seeing the amd 64 gaming benchmarks I was pretty blown away. We're talking up to 40% faster.