another newbie seeking advice!

[squibbles]

Hey all,

I've been trolling this forum for a while now, and mainly thanks to the encouragement and friendly advice found here, I've decided to go ahead and try to build my own machine - for the first time! I'm pretty comfortable around pcs, but I've never actually tried to build one from scratch. So I'm looking to you folks for some help. I've got a decent budget, and here's what I'm thinking about putting in - again, any suggestions (from anything as simple as missing parts to components not working together!) are more than welcome. Oh right, plan to use primarily as a gaming rig but don't plan to overclock...I think that getting this thing up and running will be an achievement in itself!

Case: Lian-Li PC60 USB
PSU: Antec TruePower 380
Motherboard: ABIT BD7II-RAID 478 P4
CPU: Pentium 4 2.4b
RAM: 512MB Crucial 2100 DDR SDRAM
Video: Leadtek GeForce 4 Ti 4600 A250 Ultra
Sound: SoundBlaster Audigy OEM
Hard drive: Maxtor 80Gig ATA/133 7200 rpm
CD-RW: LiteOn 40x12x48 CDRW (Black)
Floppy: Teac 3.5 inch Floppy Drive (Black)

Already have a network card, speakers, mouse, keyboard and monitor. Sorry for the long post and thanks again.

Squibs

 

[DeviousTrap]

I think that for a newbie you have a very good start but i have several suggestions.
First off i would change the motherboard:
ASUS P4B533-VM Motherboard

Next your ram is 266mhz and i think that for a P4 to achieve its best performance you need at least 333mhz or PC2700

I think everything else is great except i think that you might want to get a quiter hard drive so i recommend seagate.

 

[Krk3561]

Welcome to the Anandtech Forums! Drop the Audigy and get a Santa Cruz. Also, are you getting a dvd-drive? If you are get a Lite-on 16x. Instead of that maxtor HD get a Western Digital 80GB with 8MB cache. Newegg.com has a blow-out special on it right now for $107 vs. $111 for the Maxtor. CompUSA also has the 120GB version of that HD (fastest HD availible now) for $150, after rebates. I got in on this deal about a month ago and just got my rebates back from it. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Kartajan]

How about this modificaton...

Motherboard Gigabyte 8IEXP
HDD Western Digital SE (8MB Cache) - 80 to 120 GB (whichever you like) (I think the SE's all have a model # ending in JB vice BB)
DVD/CD-RW Combo Drive Plextor PX-320A/SW 12x20x10x40

just in case you MIGHT overclock that rig , I would also consider some of that XMS3200 RAM and an outstanding HSF for the CPU

 

[Krk3561]

The Gigabyte 8IEXP is a nice board but its the 845E chipset, which doesnt support ddr333 or PC2700 like the 845G does (ASUS P4B533-VM). Actually, I would recommend the Gigabyte GA-8IGX (many more features than Asus mobo and less @ newegg.com) or the ASUS P4B533-V (no "M").

 

[Wolfsraider]

Motherboard: ABIT BD7II-RAID 478 P4

i got the abit th711 on a p-4 2.4 533 fsb

dude get a different motherboard

i put mine together and it maxes out the abit board lol fine but the bigger problem is it reads it as a 1604 an 1812 a 2312 and a 2514

oh yeah and twice it listed it at 2404 and once at 2412mhz lol

the thing is it changes at every boot edit>this is not dependant on raising the frontside.i rebooted this setup over and over and without resetting the fsb it still changed.

i don't think (computer is still in arkansas awaiting shipping to seattle) that given the chance to do it over i'd try that again

for example in the bios i'd set it to run a few mhz faster i then reboot and now xp reports i have a 2312 mhz processor running at 1604
in the system hardware gui

then id bump it up and id get an 1812mhz processor running at 2312?

anyway since i have this here willy processor on a non overclockable motherboard a simple swap will be in order when i buy the new motherboard fo9r my lil 2.4b northy

hope this helps

mike

 

[squibbles]

Thanks to those who replied. 3 more questions for y'all:

1) Is it worth it to pay the extra money for an i845G mobo and the PC2700 ram? ie. are the benefits worth the cost?

2) If then answer to the above question is no (or even yes for that matter)...any opinions on the MSI 845E Max2? I know it was included in the 845E roundup...but I didn't get a good sense of how good (or bad) it is.

3) Should I wait for the Radeon 9700 Pro???

Thanks again!

Squibs

 

[DeviousTrap]

1. It is deffinatly worth it you would probably notice a difference sinceyou want the memory speed as close to the bus speed as possible in order to get all the memory bandwidth. Thus you are getting more for what you pay for (the cpu, you get more speed.)

2. Since the answer is yes i would say the MSI board is good bt not the best for the mony that you pay for it.

3. If you have the patience sure wait for the 9700 pro, just when the 9700 pro comes you will want to wait for the NV 30 or 40. Remember you will never have the best technology for more than 1/2 a year without upgrading all the time. Also, unless you play games at very high resolutions don't wait.

 

[Krk3561]

1) If you have the money, go with a 845G mobo. P4's are bandwith hungry. The faster the memory, the higher the bandwith, the higher the performance.
2) Gigabyte and ASUS boards are nicer
3) Wait for the reviews to come out early next week, if they're positive i would get the 9700, otherwise just get the Ti 4600 and save some money. There arent going to be any games that support DirectX 9 for at least a year and a half if not more. Most people dont even have DirectX 8 cards.

 

[kd2777]

I went though this a few weeks ago. With the help of a couple of friends and the anandtech forums I put together a pretty fast and stable system. Here's what I did for what it is worth.

CASE: Lian-li pc65b (black w/side window)
MOBO: Asus p4B533
CPU: p4 2.2a
RAM: 512 Mushkin 2700 (purple heat sink)
VIDEO: Gainward Ti Golden Sample
AUDIO: Santa Cruz
HD: 2 Seagate Barracuda 40gig
CD/RW: Lite-on (black)
DVD: Lite-on (black)
3.5: Panasonic (black)
CABLES: Cooler Masters Round IDE (yellow)

So far they all have worked great together. With the Black Lian-li case the black Panasonic and Lite-on parts are a perfect match.

Best of luck