Advice on new system?

[algae]

Hi all,
I'm going to put a new system together between now and Christmas, to eventually replace my current Athlon XP 1600+ system.
Based on price / performance point I'm considering the following:

Asus A7N8X-Deluxe Motherboard.
ATI Radeon 9600 (don't really want to spend the higher $$ on a 9800 pro).I've decided to move away from Nvidia this time.
AMD Athlon XP 2800+ (seems like the "sweet spot" to me)
1024 MB Crucial PC3200 Dual DDR
Antec Mini Tower SX635B-II

I'm going to hang on to my current soundcard (Turtle Beach Santa Cruz) and speakers (Klipsch).
I haven't decided on a hard drive yet.

I'm open to any opinions on the components I'm considering.

Fire away....
Tia

Gary

 

[dirtrat]

Your Motherboard choice looks good. I would consider spending maybe just a little more and possibly getting a 9800 Non Pro video card. I would also get a Barton 2500 CPU instead of the 2800+. The 2800+ cost twice as much as the 2500+ and it gets you very little performance gain over the 2500+. On the memory I would look at other brands besides Crucial. Crucial memory is average at best, look at some Corsair XMS or may some buffalo. Whatever you do don't skimp on the Memory and Power Supply. These are the most common items people try and save money on and they can cause many headaches, BSOD, reboots, etc. Antec makes nice cases and good power supplies. Enermax also makes good Power supplies. Make sure you buy a big enough Power supply (350+ watts) and you may want to look at something bigger than a mini tower. I like the Western Digital special Edition drives but the Maxtor Special Edition drives are nice also. Get one of these so you have a 7200 RPM drive with an 8 Meg Cache memory onboard. I hope these suggestions help!

Originally posted by: algae
Hi all,
I'm going to put a new system together between now and Christmas, to eventually replace my current Athlon XP 1600+ system.
Based on price / performance point I'm considering the following:

Asus A7N8X-Deluxe Motherboard.
ATI Radeon 9600 (don't really want to spend the higher $$ on a 9800 pro).I've decided to move away from Nvidia this time.
AMD Athlon XP 2800+ (seems like the "sweet spot" to me)
1024 MB Crucial PC3200 Dual DDR
Antec Mini Tower SX635B-II

I'm going to hang on to my current soundcard (Turtle Beach Santa Cruz) and speakers (Klipsch).
I haven't decided on a hard drive yet.

I'm open to any opinions on the components I'm considering.

Fire away....
Tia

Gary

 

[Bonesdad]

Are you a gamer? If so, upgrade the video card to 9800.

Also, I agree, get the 2500+, you can OC it just by bumping the FSB to 200. It will easily OC to a 3200+.

Otherwise, nice system!

 

[jd103]

For a harddrive suggestion CompUSA has the Seagate 120 GB, 7200 rpm, 8 MB cache on sale this week for $60 after rebate.

I agree with the above posters that you should switch to the XP2500+. Also, if your keeping your soundcard are the other options on that MB worth the price? (Serial ATA, Firewire, ect) Newegg has a very nice deal on a Shuttle Nforce2 MB for like $61, you should check it out. Considering the price of the MB &CPU you wanted is about $305 consider these 3 options that you could get for that price:

Asus Motherboard for AMD Athlon XP/Duron Processors, Model# A7N8X Deluxe Retail
AMD ATHLON XP 2800 "Barton" 333 FSB PROCESSOR CPU- RETAIL

or

Asus Motherboard for AMD Athlon XP/Duron Processors, Model# A7N8X Deluxe Retail
AMD ATHLON XP 2500+ "Barton" 333 FSB PROCESSOR CPU- RETAIL
Seagate harddrive from CompUSA

or

Shuttle Motherboard for AMD processors Model AN35N-Ultra Retail
AMD ATHLON XP 2500+ "Barton" 333 FSB PROCESSOR CPU- RETAIL
Seagate harddrive from CompUSA
1x CRUCIAL MICRON 512MB 64x64 PC 3200 DDR RAM - OEM

 

[algae]

Thanks for the info, especially the tip on the 2500+ .
I'll let ya know how it goes!
Thx
Gary