College Computer

[Mik3y]

my friend has $1800-1900 to spend on a new computer for college. he's also an OCer so wut do u guys think of this? He'll use the comp for both games and a lot of video editing and etc. also, he's gonna leave it on all the time in his dorm during the week, so it's gonna be his whole entertainment system.

? AMD Mobile Athlon XP 2600+, 266 MHz FSB, 512K L2 Cache Processor $104
? Abit nForce2 Chipset Motherboard, Model "NF7-S" $100
? AeroCool Copper CPU Cooler for Socket A/ 478, Model "HT-101" $51
? Western Digital Raptor 74GB 10,000RPM SATA Hard Drive $227
? Western Digital 250GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive $215
? Sapphire ATI ?All-In-Wonder? Radeon 9800 Pro Video Card, 128MB DDR $332
? Antec "LanBoy" Aluminum Super Mini Tower Case with 350W Power Supply $84
? 3 AeroCool UV L.E.D. Case fans $20
? Lite-On 52X32X52X16 Combo Drives (Beige) $54
? Lite-On White DVD+/-RW Drive, Model SOHW-812S $125
? 2 Cooler Master Cooldrive 4 Aluminum Hard Disk Drive Cooler $90
? Sony Black 1.44MB 3.5Inch Floppy Disk Drive $12
? Multi-Slot Card Pro-9, 9 in 1 R/W with IEEE 1394 FireWire $46
? Logitech Cordless MX Duo USB/PS2 104keys $72
? Klipsch Promedia GMX A-2.1 Personal Audio System $130
? Samsung DynaFlat 19? CRT Monitor $185

Total = $1851

 

[AWhackWhiteBoy]

he'd probably be happier with different speakers.

 

[Mik3y]

from wut i heard, those are really good speakers. otherwise, wut would u guys recomend?

 

[AWhackWhiteBoy]

i've personally never heard them but i've heard a few bad things. thats a steep price for 2.1 sound.

 

[Markfw]

That's a fine system, but I am curious, with a budget like that, why not go Athlon64 3000+ for about $100 more ?

 

[Special1Sauce]

What do people love about this mobile chip? whats so special about it?

 

[bluewall21]

I don't think that PSU will be able to drive all that.

 

[RickH]

Don't forget the earplugs. All those fans in a small room!!!

 

[Corporate Thug]

AeroCool Copper CPU Cooler for Socket A/ 478, Model "HT-101" $51 -> get a slk800/900

 

[Gagabiji]

Originally posted by: AWhackWhiteBoy
i've personally never heard them but i've heard a few bad things. thats a steep price for 2.1 sound.

You've NEVER heard of Klipsh? OH yeah, get like a 450 watt PS.

 

[Ionizer86]

He's spending so much, but the specs don't reflect that very much.

Suggestions:
Downgrade to XP-M 2400+. Same thing, just a lower base multiplier. $77 Either that or upgrade to A64 3000+. He should easily be able to do so with this budget.
Switch heatsink to something more price efficient ALX-800. $25
Take out WD2500JD for something cheaper, like a ~$100 sale 200GB drive.
Get ATi 9800P AIW on sale this week locally. $250
Get DVD +/- burner on sale instead of combo drive. $70
Hard disk coolers: don't look needed. $0
Floppy: Newegg should have cheaper ones. $6
There's other cheaper media readers for sale. Cusa has a 7 in 1 this week. $20 Floppy included -$6. Find case with existing front 1394.
Kbrd/mouse: there's less costly solutions out there.
Speakers: last I saw the 4.1's were refurb for $119 at some place.
Monitor: 19" Envision tube for $100. See Hot Deals. My bro has the 17" Envision tube. Very nice for the price.

Total = much less.

 

[jdogg707]

You are spending almost 2K on a computer with an Athlon XP chip? For that money you might as well go Athlon64, as it will be more upgradeable than the XP, which is dead technology. If you aren't buying now, you'll be changing that list a lot in the next few months with Socket 939/Socket 775, PCI Express, BTX, etc. I would organize that a little better, drop off those crappy speakers, for that much you could grab a pair of Klipsch Promedia 2.1's, which will be much better than the GMX series (They have issues with static and hissing). Also, you might want to rethink the 74GB Raptor and possibly replace it with a 36GB Raptor, also, you can grab a 200GB HD for about $50 less than the 250GB, which will still be fine for video editing. As far as the video card, go with the 9800 Pro and a Leadtek card, that way you can upgrade the video card without having to take away your TV/PVR capabilities. Get the Zalman CNPS7000A-Cu Heatsink/Fan combo, it will be quiet and provide excellent results.

 

[charloscarlies]

With that kind of budget I would definitely go for an Athlon 64 3000. There is a pretty large difference in performance...especially for gaming. Don't bother with the 3200 because from the benchmarks I've seen the added cache does barely anything.

I also think those hard drives look like overkill, but I can't say what his needs are. The 74 gb Raptor is a VERY expensive drive. Why not consider (2)100-200 gb 7200 rpm sata drives in raid 0? Would be much cheaper and he would end up with more space. If he is pretty set on the Raptor (which is a great drive I might add)...try getting the 36gb version to save some money. Just load the os and all his most frequently used apps onto the Raptor and use a large 7200 rpm drive for storage. Either of those options would likely be more than adequate for any user...let alone a college student.

I would also have to second the Thermalright heatsink recommendation. If you go the AMD 64 route...the stock cooler is more than adequate, but the Thermalright is just an amazing heatsink if he wants to overclock. I'm currently using the Thermaltake Silent Boost and it works great...but better performance can be had if he's willing to give up complete silence.

 

[screw3d]

Originally posted by: shady06
AeroCool Copper CPU Cooler for Socket A/ 478, Model "HT-101" $51 -> get a slk800/900

I second this.

 

[LtPage1]

he wont need over 300gigs of space, thats rediculous unless hes a packrat who never deletes anything. id get the 36gb drive for his games and video stuff that need to be loaded quickly, and then get a massive 7200 drive. klipsch kicks ass, and you wont be able to use any surround sound speakers in a dorm room for sure. i dont see any RAM in there- he should have like a gig if hes doing a lot of video editing (make sure its 2x512 for that mobo). personally, id try to step up to the a64 3000+, or at least the athlon xp 3000+ for the higher fsb.

 

[AWhackWhiteBoy]

Originally posted by: SirDude

Originally posted by: AWhackWhiteBoy
i've personally never heard them but i've heard a few bad things. thats a steep price for 2.1 sound.

You've NEVER heard of Klipsh? OH yeah, get like a 450 watt PS.

i own 5.1 ultras, i said i never HEARD those speakers before

 

[ponyo]

He's going to be using Linux?

 

[nick1985]

Originally posted by: bluewall21
I don't think that PSU will be able to drive all that.

thats a load of crap. a 350 antec will run any system within reason...people are WAY to PSU crazy these days...

 

[AWhackWhiteBoy]

Originally posted by: LtPage1
he wont need over 300gigs of space, thats rediculous unless hes a packrat who never deletes anything. id get the 36gb drive for his games and video stuff that need to be loaded quickly, and then get a massive 7200 drive. klipsch kicks ass, and you wont be able to use any surround sound speakers in a dorm room for sure. i dont see any RAM in there- he should have like a gig if hes doing a lot of video editing (make sure its 2x512 for that mobo). personally, id try to step up to the a64 3000+, or at least the athlon xp 3000+ for the higher fsb.

if your on a college lan hard drive space can be filled very quickly

plus Klipsch aren't all that great, not for the money at least. Logitech offers a great bang for the buck. and if you want you'd be surprised how one could setup 5.1 in a dorm.