Building Computer- Need some suggestions

[Poncherelli]

I'm building my computer for college and i need some suggestions on parts and opinions on the machine.
I already have:
WD800JB- 80 gig "special edition" HD
40x Lite-on CD-RW
Samsung 900NF monitor

Parts i need to order (and am concidering):
Case- Antec or Enlight (although i hear they are on the heavy side, i cant afford an aluminum) with 300W or 350W power supply
Mobo- (not really sure, Need P4, DDR, overclockability and locks on pci and agp, memory, onboard-lan, not sure what chipset though. I like Asus)
CPU- p4 1.8A
Sound Card- TBSC
DVD- Aopen(pioneer) slot-load 16x ?
Ram- 512 (2x 256) Samsung 2700 ddr
Speakers- Promedia 2.1s ?

Am i missing anything and can anyone make any comments on the parts i have. Also, i know i want locks on the pci and certain memory ratios, but could someone explain how these work when you overclock, i just know they're useful)

 

[Shooters]

Sorry, I've never built a P4 system, so I haven't researched mobos that much. Why not a 1.6A? It's cheaper and seem to overclock just as well as a 1.8A. As far as the case goes, I would definitely go with an Antec. Their cases do seem a bit heavier than cheaper ones, but they're very well constructed. More importantly, Antec power supplies are top notch.

 

[Poncherelli]

^^^ bump

 

[PHiuR]

1.8A is better... its only a few bucks more... and it overclocks just as good as the 1.6a or even better.... and for a few bucks you can run stock 200mhz more...

 

[tboneuls]

do you have anything against building with an athlon?

 

[Poncherelli]

nothing against athlon, built an 1800xp rig on an nforce mobo for my family, i would just prefer the quiet/coolness that a p4 has to offer. I like how intel's stock fan works well whereas you need to shell out $30+ for a HSF on an athlon and then its still kinda loud.

 

[CrazySaint]

Motherboard: You want the i845G chipset. If you like Asus, then that means you need the Asus P4B533-V motherboard, which is a bit hard to find, but you can find it on pricewatch.com. Just look through the listings until you find a online store you trust.
RAM: If you're going to overclock, you really don't want Samsung PC2700 anymore, as the highest clocking chips are now being diverted to either their own PC3200 RAM or to companies like Corsair for their XMS series. Either get Corsair XMS PC2700 CAS2 or Samsung Original PC3200 CAS3 (Yes, that's CAS3, however people say they're running it at DDR400 @ 2-2-2-6 timings.

 

[Poncherelli]

CrazySaint, thanks for your suggestions, could you elaborate on what the 845G chipset offers and why samsung 2700ddr isnt recommended. Why is XMS2700 better and what is the CAS thing thats different about the samsung 3200 (I dont really understand how ram timings work). Thanks.

 

[Yvo]

Case- Antec or Enlight (although i hear they are on the heavy side, i cant afford an aluminum) with 300W or 350W power supply
I have used Enermax cases... very spacious, not too heavy and it comes with an Enermax PS... but Antec or Enlight is good to... have to throw in a third
Mobo- (not really sure, Need P4, DDR, overclockability and locks on pci and agp, memory, onboard-lan, not sure what chipset though. I like Asus)
ASUS motherboard is always the best way to go, no matter what chipset.
CPU- p4 1.8A
Good choice... nice overclockability.. not to expensive either. (btw anyone notice that by just looking at MHz, not anything else the 1.8GHz from intel is $48 cheaper then the 2200+ aka 1.8Ghz from AMD)
Sound Card- TBSC
Whats wrong with the Audigy... not saying that Turtle Beach is bad
DVD- Aopen(pioneer) slot-load 16x ?
Best of the best when it comes to dvd-rom (Pioneer is) 😉
Ram- 512 (2x 256) Samsung 2700 ddr
If you are overclocking I would recommend maybe PC3000, or higher, memory. Just because you will have a nice comfort zone for overclocking.
Speakers- Promedia 2.1s ?
For a 2.1 speaker system I recommend the Altec Lansing 621 speakers... they are amazing

 

[Poncherelli]

Already picked the promedia 2.1's up for 80 bucks today at sam goody (got a nice 10% off the 89.99 price because i got the floor model). I want the TBSC over the audigy because i listen to music more than i play games and i've heard good things about the sound quality. As for the ram, i am so lost on this. I hope to run the chip at 1.8x133 for an effective 2.4ghz. pc2100 ddr=133fsb, pc2400=150, pc2700=166... no? Could someone fill me in on what going on with ram please?

 

[CrazySaint]

Originally posted by: Poncherelli
Already picked the promedia 2.1's up for 80 bucks today at sam goody (got a nice 10% off the 89.99 price because i got the floor model). I want the TBSC over the audigy because i listen to music more than i play games and i've heard good things about the sound quality. As for the ram, i am so lost on this. I hope to run the chip at 1.8x133 for an effective 2.4ghz. pc2100 ddr=133fsb, pc2400=150, pc2700=166... no? Could someone fill me in on what going on with ram please?

That's correct. The reason that Samsung PC2700 isn't recommended for overclocking anymore is that the new chips don't OC as high as the old ones. If you can find some Samsung chips on Samsung PCBs with a model # that ends in "CTL" get it, but those are hard to find. If you are only shooting for 133FSB, then Samsung PC2700 may be good enough, though I'm not sure you'll be able to run it at CAS2 or not. But the 1.8A should be able to go higher than that, and if you take higher, you'll need better RAM. CAS is just a latency measurement, the lower the CAS the sooner the RAM does stuff, there are other memory timings, but that's the primary one. An "average" set of timings would be 2.5-3-3-6, whereas really good timings would be 2-2-2-5.

 

[Poncherelli]

any last suggestions, i'm going away for a week and ordering when i get home.

 

[herbage11]

I love my p4 1.6a on an Asus P4s533 rock stable since day 1 at 2.2. Would not change a thing.

Edit forgot to add. I love my PC2700 True Samsung ram from Newegg I bought w/ system a few months ago and the Chieftec case is great.