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Critique My New Computer

AgaBoogaBoo

AgaBoogaBoo

Lifer
I'm going to order Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday and build the following week when all the parts come in.

Antec Sonata with 380W Power Supply
Vantec Stealth 92MM Fan 20DB
Samsung Black Floppy
Geil 512MB Cas2 (2x 256MB)
Asus P4P800 Deluxe
Intel Pentium 4 2.8C Retail
Radeon 9700 Pro
Antec Blue Mini Light LED Tubes

It comes to $970.79 after shipping.

Here is a link to the Wishlist for this

My dad wants it under $1000, is there anything else I'm forgetting because I have $30 more I can spend on it. Also, is there a place where I can get Black Bezels for a CDRW drive? Or will I just have to get a new CDRW with black paint. I'm going to use my CDRW, USB Hub, Mouse, Keyboard, Monitor, TV Tuner, and UPS from my current computer.

I'm either going to get the Sapphire 9700 Pro 128MB or I will buy it locally and get the retail one because I have a gift card I can use. I'd appreciate any comments.

EDIT: For those who would like to know, I'm getting the Sonata case because its quiet and looks elegant. Also, I will NOT be overclocking the slightest bit on anything so I don't need parts that can OC well.
 
Originally posted by: Atlantean
Are you planning on getting a soundcard or are you going to use onboard sound?
Click to expand...

I'm going to use onboard sound for now. I don't have the best speakers right now, just some Philips speakers with a subwoofer, so I plan to buy new 5.1 or 7.1 speakers with a new audio card maybe around Christmas or something. Until then, I'll be fine. I don't really have any complaints with onboard audio but once I try it, I'm sure I'll hear a difference. 🙂
 
Originally posted by: Schadenfroh
you can save alot of money going the a7n8x deluxe/athlon 2500 barton route
Click to expand...

That route gives me less performance. Also, not to start this into a flame war, but my dad prefers Intel and hes the one paying for this system. He says I can go AMD if I want, but its up to me. Also, with Hyper Threading, applications running at the same time will probably run smoother and video editing programs will really benefit which I'll be doing a lot of this summer.
 
I like the setup that your going with, the Sonata Case and the Sapphire VC should make a nice quiet combo. Personal I would drop the lights and floppy and pick up a Zalman HS to complete the Quiet setup.

Lights a such could always be added later.

rb56

Edit: If I was building today my setup would be almost the same as you are doing. 🙂
 
Originally posted by: rb56
I like the setup that your going with, the Sonata Case and the Sapphire VC should make a nice quiet combo. Personal I would drop the lights and floppy and pick up a Zalman HS to complete the Quiet setup.

Lights a such could always be added later.

rb56

Edit: If I was building today my setup would be almost the same as you are doing. 🙂
Click to expand...

Thanks. 🙂

I saw that HS and Fan but I like to stay with stock cooling because that has been very quiet for me on the Intel setups I've done. If it gets loud, I'll get the Zalman Pure Copper HS and Fan. How much quieter would it be? Because after a certain point of quietness, its hard to distinguish. Many people with the Sonata say that you wonder if you still have fans on there or not.
 
From what I understand it is silent in "silent mode" and should still cool better than the stock HS which is something to consider if your editing and encoding large video files. Everyone is different as to how much noise is too much I guess, but I think the combination of the Sonata, VC, and the Zalman would be hard to beat for a quiet setup.

rb56
 
Originally posted by: shady06
if you wanna save some $ you can go with 2.6 instead of 2.8 and GeIL has gotten mixed reviews from ATOTers. maybe hyperX or XMS?
Click to expand...

I really want to get the 2.8C but if the Geil doesn't work for me, then I'll order some XMS or hyperX. I'm trying trying to get away with cheap RAM that is rated for Cas 2, hehe. I hope it works with the mobo.
 
you gonna oc? Cause if you did go with a 2500+barton you could probably get 3200+ speeds... (I am pretty sure thats what most are oc'ing to) so then the performance would be better than the 2.8ghz p4...
 
Originally posted by: Atlantean
you gonna oc? Cause if you did go with a 2500+barton you could probably get 3200+ speeds... (I am pretty sure thats what most are oc'ing to) so then the performance would be better than the 2.8ghz p4...
Click to expand...

I'm not going to be overclocking anything. My dad is paying for this and he doesn't want me OC'ing with it.
 
Excellent choice on the Sonata, sir. I got mine a couple of weeks ago, and I am mighty happy. The only thing I can hear, is the soft sound of air comming out of the psu. There have been quite a number of Sonata threads recently in cases & cooling. I have a grey dvd/cdrw and floppy in mine, doesn't bother me at all. But then again, my system lives under the desk.

What are you going to use that Vantec Stealth for?

Maybe you should use the $30 for the Zalman HP80A (?) heatpipe, and then smack it on the R9700.

 
Originally posted by: AgaBooga
Originally posted by: Atlantean
you gonna oc? Cause if you did go with a 2500+barton you could probably get 3200+ speeds... (I am pretty sure thats what most are oc'ing to) so then the performance would be better than the 2.8ghz p4...
Click to expand...

I'm not going to be overclocking anything. My dad is paying for this and he doesn't want me OC'ing with it.
Click to expand...

overclocking doesnt hurt that bad, a7n8x deluxe has cpu overheating protection, if it gets too hot it will shut itself down before harm can come to it. plus its just a quick change of multilpyers, overvolting is usually what kills cpus.
 
Nice setup, but what about HDD, CDRW, and OS? Not on your wishlist, that should bring you way over the $1,000 your budget.
 
Originally posted by: SKORPI0
Nice setup, but what about HDD, CDRW, and OS? Not on your wishlist, that should bring you way over the $1,000 your budget.
Click to expand...

I'm going to use my current 120GB Western Digital 8MB cache drive, I have a CDRW, and I have Windows XP Pro to use.
 
Originally posted by: JZilla
Excellent choice on the Sonata, sir. I got mine a couple of weeks ago, and I am mighty happy. The only thing I can hear, is the soft sound of air comming out of the psu. There have been quite a number of Sonata threads recently in cases & cooling. I have a grey dvd/cdrw and floppy in mine, doesn't bother me at all. But then again, my system lives under the desk.

What are you going to use that Vantec Stealth for?

Maybe you should use the $30 for the Zalman HP80A (?) heatpipe, and then smack it on the R9700.
Click to expand...

Hmm, thats a good suggestion. Based on what people have said, I think I'm going to keep what I have now, and buy the Zalman HP80A and the Zalman All Copper HS and Fan after a few months, possibly after my next report card if I can pull off all A's and A-'s again. Otherwise, maybe I'll wait till Christmas. I think that the only thing people have said I can change is the cooling, so I can always do that later since its not as big of a cost as some of the other things.
 
Originally posted by: Schadenfroh
Originally posted by: AgaBooga
Originally posted by: Atlantean
you gonna oc? Cause if you did go with a 2500+barton you could probably get 3200+ speeds... (I am pretty sure thats what most are oc'ing to) so then the performance would be better than the 2.8ghz p4...
Click to expand...

I'm not going to be overclocking anything. My dad is paying for this and he doesn't want me OC'ing with it.
Click to expand...

overclocking doesnt hurt that bad, a7n8x deluxe has cpu overheating protection, if it gets too hot it will shut itself down before harm can come to it. plus its just a quick change of multilpyers, overvolting is usually what kills cpus.
Click to expand...

I don't want to argue about the overclocking choice, but I have chosen not to overclock and I am going to stick with my decision. I can see your point of view but overclocking will add RISK, and so its not safe. Also, overclocking voids the warranties on it and so if I ever run into a problem with it within the 3 year warranty, I have to buy a whole new cpu.
 
The only thing that I would look into is the Geil memory. Asus does not list them as a suitable vendor for the PC3200 memory in this board for dual channel. Here is the list on the Asus site:
Asus list
I am in the process of building a system with the P4P800 Deluxe board and a 2.4C chip and I went with the Apacer memory. Good luck.
 
Originally posted by: dw58
The only thing that I would look into is the Geil memory. Asus does not list them as a suitable vendor for the PC3200 memory in this board for dual channel. Here is the list on the Asus site:
Asus list
I am in the process of building a system with the P4P800 Deluxe board and a 2.4C chip and I went with the Apacer memory. Good luck.
Click to expand...

Hmm... I think I'm going to take my chances unless I can find a good deal on some other Cas 2 RAM. Thanks for pointing that page out to me. I'll look into other memory options.
 
Originally posted by: AgaBooga
Originally posted by: dw58
The only thing that I would look into is the Geil memory. Asus does not list them as a suitable vendor for the PC3200 memory in this board for dual channel. Here is the list on the Asus site:
Asus list
I am in the process of building a system with the P4P800 Deluxe board and a 2.4C chip and I went with the Apacer memory. Good luck.
Click to expand...

Hmm... I think I'm going to take my chances unless I can find a good deal on some other Cas 2 RAM. Thanks for pointing that page out to me. I'll look into other memory options.
Click to expand...

I changed the RAM to the OCZ El DDR PC3200 which is $135 for a pack of 2x 256MB sticks. You might also want to read Anandtech's review on the Memory and the 865 and 875P boards. The OCZ Ram seems to work and its only $35 more, bringing the total cost a little over $1000, but thats fine because it will work now, hopefully 🙂
 
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