building new system, input would be appreciated

[montuow]

tryin to make a complete system under 1200, currently i'm over that so any advice on reducing the cost will be appreciated

Case: Enermax FS-710B
HD: Western Digital 120 gb SE
Monitor: NEC 1760V
DVD Player: LITE-ON XJ-HD166S 16X DVD ROM Drive
CDRW: Lite On 52x24x52 LTR-52246S Retail
Speakers: Altec Lansing 251
Processor: AMD Athlon XP 1700+ Thoroughbred
Motherboard: ep-8rda+
Memory: CORSAIR MEMORY XMS 512MB 3500C2 With Platinum - Silver Heat Spreader
Video Card: SAPPHIRE ATI OEM RADEON 9500 PRO
Fan: Speeze CPU Fan Model 5F263B1M3

 

[jspeicher]

how much was the monitor?

 

[montuow]

the monitor itself was 445

 

[Markfw]

Cheaper monitor maybe ? Cheaper memory ? Do you need 120 gig ? There are some great deals on 80 gig, like the Frys special (after $30 rebate) on the new Maxtor 808 gig 8 meg cache for $69.

 

[montuow]

i was looking into a cheaper monitor but i do want it to be good for gaming without any ghosting. the 1760v has gotten very good reviews all around so that was my reasoning for getting it. if there are other cheaper monitors with around teh same level of performance, i'm open to it.

I plan on doin some overclockin so that i can keep this system for a while. I believe that when overclockin a comp, the motherboard can only go as far as the memory? i could be wrong and if i am, any recommendations?

My reasons for getting the 120 gig hd instead of an 80 is because i download a lot of movies and everyone knows that those take up a lot of space. Rather than opt to buy another hard drive sooner, i rather put it off until later to buy it so i have the maximum space possible while at an acceptable performance.

 

[casio3476]

with the xp1700 id go with pc2100 memory or maybe 2700, i think 3500 is just to expensive especially if you are trying to stay under 1200. With the money you save you could always upgrade to a gig of ram or more.

 

[jspeicher]

I have something similar going for myself:

Athlon XP 1700+ TBred
Epox 8RDA+ nForce 2 mobo
Vantex Aeroflow Cooler
Kingston 512 MB DDR PC2700
WD 80GB 7200 8MBCache HD
ATI OEM Radeon 8500LE 128MB DDR
LiteOn CDRW 52x24x52 and LiteOn DVD 16x

+chassis running me about 600something, but after some cables/fans I'll be aroun $700

Good thing i have an extra monitor to use...can't afford a new one yet :brokenheart:

 

[montuow]

think i'll take ur advice and switch over to
memory: CORSAIR MEMORY XMS Extreme Memory Speed Series 512MB 32MX8 PC-2700C2PT With Platinum - Silver Heat Spreader

however, is it worth it for me to get a single stick of memory or should i get two sticks of 256 to take advantage of the dual channel capability of the 8rda+? is the performance increase worth it in price?

 

[5LiterMustang]

I would say go for the dual channel ddr. You should be able to get 2 256 sticks and if you order at the same time they should work fine. You don't really have to pay for "matched" sets from what I understand. It provides anywhere from 10-30 percent increase in bandwidth from what I've read, hopefully someone will provide some more info on that cause i'd liket o know to.

 

[montuow]

neone know if either the corsair xms series or the kingston hyperx series proves to be better than the other?

besides me deciding on which memory i am going to buy, are there any other components which nebody thinks could be worth changing?

 

[snik]

Originally posted by: montuow
think i'll take ur advice and switch over to
memory: CORSAIR MEMORY XMS Extreme Memory Speed Series 512MB 32MX8 PC-2700C2PT With Platinum - Silver Heat Spreader

however, is it worth it for me to get a single stick of memory or should i get two sticks of 256 to take advantage of the dual channel capability of the 8rda+? is the performance increase worth it in price?

If you think that you'll be adding more memory in the future get one stick of 512 now. If you plan on running 512mb for a while, get 2 sticks of 256 to take advantage of dual channel on the 8RDA+.

 

[J5im8yo]

Smaller harddrive maybe I doubt you need 120gb

 

[montuow]

frys? where's the site to that?

 

[Markfw]

Fry's is an electronics superstore in the US (I don't know where you are). They have a website outpost.com, but I don't know if the same deals hold. Check it out. Also, since the rebate is from Maxtor, maybe everyone will soon have it, I don't know how they run those things.

 

[montuow]

i've decided to change my memory to two sticks of 256mbs of KINGSTON HyperX Series PC2700 since it seems like it will be cheaper than the corsair xms low latency stuff while also remaining at around the same timing? is this a good decision?