Critique New system

[alankool]

Well for Christmas I'm getting a new computer. I just picked some quick stuff off new-egg. I still have plenty of time to change it and what not so tell me what you think (this will be use for school/gaming/ whatever)

CPU: Intel P4 2.4 C Retail ($171.00)

Motherboard: Abit IS7 (109.00)

Ram: Crucial 2 sticks of 512MB 5NS CL3 (they also have a 6NS 2.5CL Which is better 5ns 3cl or 6ns 2.5 cl?) $190.00

CDRW: Lite-On 52x32x52x ($40.99)

DVD: Lite-On 16x ($32.99)

Artic silver thermal grease (not sure if i need this but i just got it) ($5.99)

Hard drive: WD Raptor 36gb ($129.00)

Keyboard: MS Natural Keyboard elite OEM ($17.00)

SoundCard: Santa Cruz retail (49.99)

Videocard: MSI Ti-4200 128MB 8x agp ($122.00)

Case and powersupply i'll just pick up at compusa (would a 350 watt psu be sufficient?)

Monitor: Im a bit iffy I picked NEC/MITSUBISHI
DP930SB-BK 19-inch Diamond Pro 930SB Black CRT Monitor
it's a diamondtron so i got it and its not too expensive ($275.00)

Total=$1142

any comments greatly appreciated

 

[Corporate Thug]

personally, i say wait til athlon 64


if u want to stick with this system, i would get a gig of pc3200 XMS for $40 more assuming you are gonna OC

 

[Excelsior]

Originally posted by: alankool
Well for Christmas I'm getting a new computer. I just picked some quick stuff off new-egg. I still have plenty of time to change it and what not so tell me what you think (this will be use for school/gaming/ whatever)

CPU: Intel P4 2.4 C Retail ($171.00)

Motherboard: Abit IS7 (109.00)

Ram: Crucial 2 sticks of 512MB 5NS CL3 (they also have a 6NS 2.5CL Which is better 5ns 3cl or 6ns 2.5 cl?) $190.00

CDRW: Lite-On 52x32x52x ($40.99)

DVD: Lite-On 16x ($32.99)

Artic silver thermal grease (not sure if i need this but i just got it) ($5.99)

Hard drive: WD Raptor 36gb ($129.00)

Keyboard: MS Natural Keyboard elite OEM ($17.00)

SoundCard: Santa Cruz retail (49.99)

Videocard: MSI Ti-4200 128MB 8x agp ($122.00)

Case and powersupply i'll just pick up at compusa (would a 350 watt psu be sufficient?)

Monitor: Im a bit iffy I picked NEC/MITSUBISHI
DP930SB-BK 19-inch Diamond Pro 930SB Black CRT Monitor
it's a diamondtron so i got it and its not too expensive ($275.00)

Total=$1142

any comments greatly appreciated

You did pretty damn good, my son.
CPU/Motherboard looks great.
On the RAM, well I guess you won't be overlocking, but Ill let someone else suggest other ram.
Great CD/RW and DVD drive choice.
ITs better than the stuff that comes with the retail heatsink.
IMO, I wouldnt get the harddrive, because Id fill it up too fast. Do you have another hard drive for storage? It is fast though.
Soundcard is good, video card isn't bad but If you can, Id try to get a DX9 ATI card of some sort, 9600Pro or 9500Pro, whatever. Otherwise, that card will still play any game out today and even future games OK.
At compusa Id get one of the antec cases (yes, 350W is sufficient).
EXCELLENT Monitor purchase. You couldn't have done any better.

 

[alankool]

Personally I've always had an intel and a 2.4c is more than enough for me. I will prolly overclock alittle bit (3.0 thats all) The ram I'm gonna get crucial cuz I've bought from them in the past and I can trust their ram but i'll look for that XMS ram and see how it looks. Yeah I got an external usb 2 80gb harddrive so all i need is one raptor. I'll look at some radeon 9500's

 

[alankool]

Well the radeon 9500pro is 200 bucks and the 9600pro is $175 alittle more than i'd like to spend. are these cards significantly better than the Ti-4200? what manufactures make the overclockable ram I should get?

 

[dmw16]

You cant totally base prices on what will be @ xmas time. Considering we should be seeing the Radeon 9900 by then. Also, the raptor is great, but get an extra hard drive for storage. 36gigs isnt enough storage.
-doug

 

[Excelsior]

Originally posted by: alankool
Well the radeon 9500pro is 200 bucks and the 9600pro is $175 alittle more than i'd like to spend. are these cards significantly better than the Ti-4200? what manufactures make the overclockable ram I should get?

Well you can get a Sapphire 9600pro from Newegg for $155 shipped. They arent necessarily for speed in todays games, but for overall compatability in the future, and especially HL2, etc, they are much better.

 

[alankool]

No they're gonna order everything now. for some reason. I already have an extra 80gig drive im going to use.