Building a new computer

[Vextor]

Ok, so I am getting a new computer in 2-3 weeks.
But I was wondering if there is some other hardware I should buy instead of the ones I have selected?
What do you think, price may not exceed 1650$.

Chieftec Case Midi ATX Tower Black 360W W / Door Scorpio, TX-10B-D

Original Memory 512MB PC-400 DDR PC3200 Orginal, 512MB PC-400 (x2)

AMD CPU Athlon XP 3000 2.167MHz Socket A 333FSB 640kb Cache 13clk Barton, AXDA3000DKV4D (Cooling further down)

Microstar DVD-ROM 16X / 48X ATAPI Internal Black Retail, MS8216BL

Aopen CD-RW 52X / 24X / 52X ATAPI Internal Retail Tray With Grey / Silver / Black Bezzel, CRW5224 CHAMELEON

Wd Harddisk 120.0GB IDE 7200RPM UDMA-100 3.5" 8MB, WD1200JB

Hercules 3D Prophet 9800 128MB DDR - AGP, ATI 9800, TV-Out/DVI, Retail.

116806 EPoX EP-8RGA Moderboard for Socket A DDR - nForce2-IGP/MCP, ATX, VGA, ATA133

CPU-Cooling:

SLK-900U, P4 Socket 478 and A
Power Cooler 92mm fan, 37.32dBa 53 CFM

Chassi-fans not represented since I do not know the size of the holes yet.

Total price: 1517.55 $

 

[JZilla]

Why buy a mobo with onboard video and a Radeon. You should look at the Epox 8RDA+. And get the new Thermalright SLK-900A (fits more boards, might be useful in the future). And only buy brand memory.

 

[ImprezaWRX48]

1) Get brand name memory IE: Kingston, Geil, Corsair, Crucial
2) Don't get a mobo with integrated graphics when yur using a Radeon 9800, doesn't make n e sense... get an abit NF7-s or asus a7n8x mobo they much faster and better, abit is sick for ocing
3) Besides that it looks good.... damn I wish I had $1650 to spend on a computer

 

[Vextor]

Ok, looking that up, pictures will come in 2 weeks or something, is it worth overclocking that processor btw?
And in that case, how much can you oc it? I am TOTALLY new on this.

 

[Dufrane]

Overclocking is very easy, however you need to get name brand memory in order to overclock. If you drop down and get a barton 2500, they are very overclockable. I believe that most people can get them to 2200 Ghz without much trouble. I can get mine to 2050 but then my memory holds me back.

 

[Blain]

I'd say drop down on CPU speed and add another 512mb stick of DDR... 2 @ 512mb

 

[Georgeisdead]

I like the look of the specs on your computer. Obviously, I do not think there are any 2 people in the world that could agree on every system component. Thus, I have a few suggestions for you that might help your gaming dollar go a little further, and your experience be a little richer.

First of all, at this point, if you are new to overclocking, it probably isn't worth overclocking that processor right off the bat. You can wait, and read up on OC and get comfortable with it before taking that step. The 3000+ is so new that you really don't need to eek that extra performance out of it unless you are a real performance junkie.

I am not a big fan of Aopen. A lot of people would argue with me, but for my money I would find it difficult to pass up one of the new Asus burners. Lite-on is good as well. These particular brands are more widely used in burning communities that need to get past the latest and greatest copy protection for "backing up" those shiny new games. But honestly the quality of the asus drives are tough to beat. If you are on a budget and really cannot justify those few extra dollars, then it wouldn't be a terrible thing to skimp on. However, one thing you shouldn't skimp on is the RAM. Definately go with Corsair, crucial or kingston since they are tried and true top performers. You should always justify that extra cost for going with the better quality RAM.

One final note, I have not checked up on air coolers for a while and I might just be out of my element here, but are you sure it is wise to buy a P4 cooler for an AMD CPU? It might work, I have never tried it but I would be worried about inconsistencies with the clamping mechanism screwing me up. Like I said I might be wrong, but its one of those things you should check out just in case. The last thing you want when you are building your righteous rig is to have to wait another week for one little part.

I hope this helps you out.

 

[Vextor]

Originally posted by: Georgeisdead
I am not a big fan of Aopen.

That burner was chosen out of price, I didn't really pay attention to the brand there since I was more worried about the price of my Motherboard. Gotta check that out.

Originally posted by: Georgeisdead

Definately go with Corsair, crucial or kingston since they are tried and true top performers. You should always justify that extra cost for going with the better quality RAM.

Ok, extra RAM it is, what brand of the above depends on price and availability here in Sweden

Originally posted by: Georgeisdead

One final note, I have not checked up on air coolers for a while and I might just be out of my element here, but are you sure it is wise to buy a P4 cooler for an AMD CPU? It might work, I have never tried it but I would be worried about inconsistencies with the clamping mechanism screwing me up. Like I said I might be wrong, but its one of those things you should check out just in case. The last thing you want when you are building your righteous rig is to have to wait another week for one little part.

SLK-900U, P4 Socket 478 and A
Easy to miss.....

 

[Loobusk]

Yes, we're serious when we say you can get better than Aopen for your money. I too bought an Aopen, CD-rom and dvd drive from newegg about 2 months ago... first they both were very noisy . After 2 weeks, the cdrom drive stopped reading any of my disks even though all my discs were perfectly clean. Although I still ahve the dvd drive on my old computer, it is still extremely loud and i dont trust it. I'd rather get a Lite-on brand than an aopen

 

[gf4200isdabest]

Why would you buy a 3000+ if you're planning on overclocking?

Let me explain something to you; overclocking makes the system less reliable. If the CPU could run 99.9% stable at that speed; it would be advertised+sold at that speed. If you have a CPU that runs everything fine and doesn't gain anything by overclocking, it's INCREDIBLY STUPID to overclock it. I could respect overclocking back in the day of turning a 200MHZ into a 400MHZ and being able to run software that you previously couldn't run but when people start talking about overclocking near top of the line CPU's I can't help but shake my head and wonder if people on AT are out of their minds. Congrats, you get a unstable system that doesn't do anything it couldn't do un overclocked. I'm really proud of you!

Once you realize that it isn't worth it to overclock new CPU's you can then save money on not needing to buy RAM specifically for overclocking. This saves you quite a bit of money which you can then use to get 1GB of RAM instead of 512MB.

 

[Vextor]

That makes sense too, but I never SAID that I was going to overclock, but it is nice having a discussion about though.
However, that discussion should be held in the forum for that specific topic.

I have almost completed the new line-up, a few changes - but it will be interesting when the actual bulding starts.

 

[tweeve]

though i dont know much about the Aopen drives. I have read alot about lie-on drive and even have one. I have a Lite-on DVD Drive and it works great it is was just a few buckes more that the Aopen, if that.

 

[Macro2]

RE:"That burner was chosen out of price"

If you can, avoid that AOpen burner.
Or I could just cut you a deal on the 'ole buzzer Aopen I have. POS.

Try a Liteon or a TDK or a Plextor.

The guys here are right on...on the RAM, the mobo, the chip etc. although I do dissagree about the overclock rant. Not all chips are sold at their rated speed. There is what you call the segmentation strategy, set forth by Intel years ago. OTOH, overclocking can lead to troubles but a nice HSF will help.