Does this look good?

[Gerbil333]

$1534.94 Total -- Shipping included on all items (everything from Newegg)
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Antec Sonata with 380W PSU: $104.99
Vantec Stealth 120mm case fan for intake, model SF12025L: $15.99
Antec 430W Power Supply, Model True430: $75.00
MSI K8T Neo-FIS2: $118.00
Athlon 64 3000+ Retail: $223.00
Kingston 1gb HyperX PC3200 @ 2-3-2-6 Dual Pack (512MBx2): $282.00
Sapphire ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB DDR, 256-bit - OEM: $209.00
Black Sony 3.5" Floppy Disk Drive: $10.99
Seagate 120GB 7200RPM; 8mb cache, model ST3120026A - OEM: $94.00
Lite-On Black 52x32x52 CD-RW Drive, model LTR-52327S - OEM: $33.99
NEC ND-2500A 8X Black DVD+RW/-RW drive - OEM: $72.99
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS - Retail: $88.00
Logitech Z640 5.1 Speakers: $64.00
Logitech Elite Keyboard: $38.00
Logitech RED MX510 Mouse: $49.00
Canon i350 Printer: $49.50
10ft Black USB 2.0 cable for printer: $6.49
(Windows XP Pro already bought)


First of all, I picked the True 430W PSU instead of the included True 380 because I'm going to be rebuilding a a different computer for the same person at the same time I build this computer, and that machine will get the 380W. It'll need it...it's going to get a a new mobo with a 2500+ and a 9800 Pro, so I doubt that generic PSU will hold up very long.

Use: He'll keep this computer for several years and will be taking it to college after the 2005 school year...it'll be in use for probably 3-5 years. He'll do a bit of gaming, likely Everquest 2, that fairly new Final Fantasy game, and whatever else interests him in the next few years. This will require some strong 3D performance. He's going to want top-notch audio. Stability and reliability are the highest priorities! So, it's gotta pack some power and last for up to half a decade. He needs everything new except for the monitor. He has a new copy of Windows XP Pro ready to go. He really needed a new printer too. I told him about $1500-$1600 would be a good budget to work with and he said alright. I'm not going to charge anything extra. He's a good friend.

The stock hsf for the CPU should be fine. No OC'ing will be done. I have plenty of AS3 (haven't used up the tube yet!) and Ceramique on hand. I decided to include a front fan for the caase in order to get as much airflow as possible. It should still run at about 30dBA. Also, he wants to keep his floppy drive just in case he'll need one sometime. I have plenty of cables, and the mobo will come with enough so that I'll only need one for the hd.

Would you change anything? As far as I can tell, it's going to be fast, quiet, and reliable, which is exactly what I'm looking for.

 

[calam63]

highly doubt the stock hsf will bring your comp under 30 db 🙂

if you want a computer under 30db - try going to www.silentpcreview.com

 

[ROJAS]

Looks okay to me, but I'm an Intel P4 cpu builder.

 

[ath50]

Looks pretty good to me, but you may also want to consider a motherboard with one of the newer chipset versions (nForce3 250 or K8T800 Pro)

AT did a review on them here

 

[Gerbil333]

Originally posted by: calam63
highly doubt the stock hsf will bring your comp under 30 db 🙂

if you want a computer under 30db - try going to www.silentpcreview.com

Ehh, 30db isn't really necessary. I forgot to factor that in. My point was that the machine should be fairly quiet. He already told me he doesn't care how loud it is...and he's heard my computers when they used to have 7000rpm Deltas! I went ahead and selected mostly quiet parts though. It's always better that way 🙂

Looks pretty good to me, but you may also want to consider a motherboard with one of the newer chipset versions (nForce3 250 or K8T800 Pro)

I'm open to any suggestions about this. I've had mixed results with MSI boards. I have one that has been great, and I had another of the same model that was faulty. The Neo-FIS2 seemed to be one of the most popular A64 boards, so I picked it.

 

[Corporate Thug]

the 380w truepower that comes with the sonata is more than sufficent, no need to waster another $75

 

[Gerbil333]

Originally posted by: shady06
the 380w truepower that comes with the sonata is more than sufficent, no need to waster another $75

But I DO need another PSU (see first post). I'm building two computers within the same week for this family, and the other computer will need a new PSU. I'll put the 380W in the other machine and the A64 rig will get the 430W.

 

[Illissius]

Looks good for the most part. Only real issue is you're wasting serious money on the RAM. The tight timings will make a 1-2% difference at best (not to mention socket 754 is single channel so you don't need a dual channel pack), and you're not overclocking either, so two of these, these, these or these should be perfectly adequate. That'll save you $100 right there.
Dunno about the motherboard. If you're not overclocking or doing anything serious, something like an ASRock K8S8X, ECS 755-A(2), or AOpen MK89-L should be plenty enough. Alternately, the Albatron K8X800 ProII costs about the same as the MSI you have there and has some pretty killer onboard sound.

 

[Gerbil333]

I don't consider it a waste of money. I've used cheap RAM many times, and in my opinion, high quality memory is fully worth the premium. I know what the effect of memory timings are. You may not believe this, but I can see the difference between 2.5-3-3-7 and 2-2-2-5 in certain games. The A64 depends on low latency, so I'd like to supply it with the best timings possible. Yes, I know that this is a single channel system. However, I've been hearing reports of problems when using single 1gb DIMMS with this chipset. In order to maintain stability, I went with two 512mb DIMMS. Next, I know there's no need for a dual pack, but the price is no different than two sticks of the same memory, so what the heck...there's no difference really, and the memory is gauranteed to cooperate.

If you're not overclocking or doing anything serious, something like an ASRock K8S8X, ECS 755-A(2), or AOpen MK89-L should be plenty enough.

I've developed a theory since I've been building systems. Motherboards that excel at overclocking tend to be the most stable. Motherboards that are just average will usually work fine, but may not always be 100% stable. This probably has a very simple explanation: Boards used by OC'ers usually have higher quality components (caps, resistors, etc.). My friend is already using an ECS mobo, and it gets him by. However, it's very picky, and I've found several ways to crash it. So, I only use the best motherboards I can get when building computers for anyone; usually Asus or Abit. This time MSI happened to have the most popular board for the build, so I picked it.

Alternately, the Albatron K8X800 ProII costs about the same as the MSI you have there and has some pretty killer onboard sound.

I highly doubt it can match the analog output of the Audigy 2 ZS, with a 108dB SNR. My Audigy 2 ZS has been a significant improvement over SoundStorm, my old vanilla Audigy, and my Live! 5.1's. This guy is a musician, and although he won't need to do any recording, I'm positive he'll appreciate the amazing output the Audigy 2 ZS provides.

I'd like to thank you for your comments, but it looks like we really don't agree on the definition of a stable, quality build.