Buying my new PC, what do you think ?

[thatsright]

Okay the below is what I?ll be putting together in the next few days. Please give me your comments or suggestions. If you notice anything that might be a problem, or somewhere I could improve upon, please let me know

I will mostly use the PC for 1. Web browsing; 2. Internet File sharing; 3. Music editing/ CD burning; 4. Picture Editing; 5. Some gaming with newer games like UT2003 or Enter the Matrix.



My new Rig:

-Antec Performance Plus 1080 AMG Tower Case with 430W True Power Supply
-Abit IC7 MB Canterwood
-P4c 2.4Ghz Retail version. Will Definitely try to Overclock it with supplied Intel HSF combo.
-512MB OR 1GB of DDR Ram suitable for stable Overclocking (Depends on budget as to how much I?ll finally get. Haven?t decided on what brand to get yet.)
-ATI Radeon 9500 Pro Retail ? Non-overclocked
-WD 120G ATA100 w/ 8MB Cache Caviar ED
-16X DVD-Rom Black (Sony or Lite On?)
-52X TDK VeloCD-RW Drive
-Panasonic or Samsung Black 1.44MB Floppy Drive OEM

What I already Have:

-Maxtor 60G ATA 100 w/ 2Mb Cache
-Seagate 6.4G ATA 66(?) w 2Mb Cache (ready to die any day now. Right ;-)
-SoundBlaster Live Original w/ Digital riser card
-D-Link 10/100 NIC w/ WOL
-Samsung Syncmaster 955DF 19? Monitor
-Windows XP Pro
-Canon S800 Printer
-Verizon DSL 1600/200K

Please tell me what you think.

 

[Conor026]

It`s a great well rounded machine.
Sony are better at CD and DVD drives.
If you were getting PC3200 Ram one dimm should be
enough but with that FSB at 800mhz, you might need
two dimms of PC3200.
But with the 800mhz FSB you will have to get the PC3200

 

[BeauJangles]

looks good, although AT really liked the MSI Neo board over the Abit.

As for memory, make sure to get 2x 256 mb or 2x 512 mb to take advantage of dual channel

Other than that, have fun

 

[MegaCharger]

I would avoid DDR400 for now. Since most i875 chips have problem with DDR400 in dual channel mode. The Corsair guy recommended to get the PC433 RAMs.

 

[thatsright]

Thanks for the Tips/suggestions

BUT: Trying to pick out which RAM to get, my head is getting ready to EXPLODE here; LITTERALLY. Well of course I want to utilize the Dual channel feature of the 875 chipset, so it will either be 2x 256MB or 2x512MB.

Can anyone suggest any DDR modules that would allow me to O'C my 2.4c P4 to at LEAST 3Ghz with the supplied Intel HSF combo? I was thinking about maybe getting some of the Buffalo Tech DDR466 Ram, but I haven?t read enough reviews. Or would using DDR433 also let me O?C my P4 system to around 3Ghz+, or does it definitely have to be DDR466?

And One last thing, do you think I would notice more performance if I go with a 1Gig of Ram over 512Mb?

Thanks again

 

[Slammy1]

LOL. Similar to what I have in mind. What I was planning on was 2X256 MB Kingston PC3500 HyperX. And I could be wrong, but you'll need something more than stock for 3 GHz. What I usually do run CPUs stock (after burn-in) until I'm ready to upgrade, then I run them hot. Really, consider the 2.6c for just a bit more. What do you really need from a 3 GHz that a 2.4 won't give you? At least with the state of software.

 

[Daovonnaex]

Avoid the ABIT board. It's a poor performer and isn't as fantastically configurable as ABIT boards usually are. I'd go with the Asus board, personally, but the Intel board is another solid option if you're not overclocking and you want the Gbit CSA LAN.

 

[thatsright]

A few things:

If you asked me 5 weeks ago what I was going to get, it would of been a Athlon/Barton XP CPU and the Asus A7n8x Deluxe. Then I heard about the new lower end models of the P4 coming out and I decided to wait. The CLINCHER was the HT and 800Mhz FSB, and Honestly I really think that the Athlon XP has reached the end of the line, and can't compare to what Intel can field today. So if you asked me 4 weeks ago, my mind was made up, and good things really do come to those who wait, and I'm a bit surprised that Intel isn't charging premium prices for thee 2.4c CPU, like they definitely would of in the past few years.

Slammy: Yeah your right about any software I have now, probably not even coming close to putting a sweat on a P4c 2.4, let alone if its O'C to 3Ghz. But I?ve read I think about 3 reviews with a Abit IC7 and P4c 2.4 that they were easily able to get it to at least 3Ghz on just the supplied Intel HSF combo. I'll see how far I can take it with just Stock cooling, and if I fall short, maybe I'll spring for the likely $40-50 it will cost for a specialized HSF combo. Here's one of the reviews I read:
Link

Daovonnaex:About the Abit board. I've heard so many positive experiences of the IC7, I'm not sure why you say its "a poor performer/poor configuration." At least with the latest BIOS rev 1.1, I heard you can tweak this thing 6 ways to Sunday if your on a O'C hunt.


I have no real need for Gigabit LAN as I'm not running a server here or anything. And while the CSA function is nice, with my DSL line, at its MAX Burst capabilities, it could probably only push maybe a full 2MB across the PCI Bus, so that doesn?t really eat up much bandwidth.


And Thats my $0.02