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Final System Critique Please

P

Playmaker

Golden Member
Here is the final system I'll be ordering tonite with prices. Let me know if you think I can do better anywhere else or different parts you think I should go with...

Newegg (shipping not included)
Abit IS7-E - $98
P4 2.4C Retail - $172
Powercolor Radeon 9700 np - $215
Mitsumi Floppy - $6.50
LG DVD/CDRW 16x/52x24x52x combo drive - $66
Antec 120mm Case Fan - $15
Generic 2x Rounded IDE 1x Rounded Floppy cables - ~$20
MS Multimedia Keyboard - $19
MS Intellimouse Explorer 3.0a - $29

AccuPC
Antec SLK3700AMD w/ 350W Smart Power - $68 shipped

Best Buy
Kingston HyperX 2x256mb PC3500 - $100 after MIR

I will be using a WD 80GB SE from my old comp. Total comes to $808.50 + shipping from the Newegg order. How does it look?
 
I assume you'll be overclocking? So where's the heatsink/fan?

Also, I hate combo drives. Why not just get a burner and a dvd drive?

Also you can get the 9800np for about $40 more.
 
That looks like a decent budget system. I see PC3500 ram, does that mean overclocking? The 9700Non pro is not very fast, I would look for a Pro version at least.
 
I'm going to attempt with retail HSF first. Have seen plenty of posts with people getting 3.0ghz out of a 2.4C on retail HSF with decent temps. Might as well try first.

Combo drive is ~$25 cheaper then an average dvd and cdrw. Uses less power (only have a 350W in this rig, don't want to push it) and it's one less optical drive to crap out, which happens to me often it seems. I don't burn on the fly that much if at all lately. If DAE speed is the same, which I am wondering, then why spend the extra money on 2 drives?

I had planned on going 9600 pro but moved up to a 9700 np because it's only $65 more, if I keep doing that I'll end up with the most expensive card heh. How much faster is the 9800 then the 9700?
 
Well the 9800 and the 9800PRO are both good cards as well as the 9700PRO. The 9700 is the runt of the bunch.
 
Generic 2x Rounded IDE 1x Rounded Floppy cables - ~$20 -> you can get this a lot cheaper at SVC

btw, 9700 NP is a great card. prolly the best performance/$$$ ratio video card
 
Any thought of getting a ALL-IN-WONDER, or ALL-IN-WONDER DV? I recently built a friend a computer that had VIVO, I going to buy my own! They aren't that much more expensive ($5 upgrade for his ASUS GeForce FX5600 Video Card to include V9560 Video Suite DUAL DVI VIVO and Video Editing Software Model). It's a free Video recorder, and Realtime video encoder for video editing and the like. Pause live TV, record your favorite TV shows, watch TV, ETC.
 
By the way, by the time you start pushing the Radeon 9700, Direct X 10, or maybe even 11 will be out and you will want a new card anyway, so unless you have mega loot, not much reason to splurge on the 9800 PRO, unless you like to brag. Video games are sooo far behind the card industry.
 
GameVE has the 9800 np for $244 shipped. How does that sound?

Thanks for the tip on SVC. I dropped $15 getting fan and cables from them.

In regards to OCing. I plan to try for 225FSB (edit: should be 250FSB I believe) and the 5:4 divider to run the CPU at 3.0ghz and the RAM at PC3200 still. If I can get the 1:1 ratio to work and the RAM to run at PC3700 (which I've heard is doable with this RAM by upping the voltage) then I'll take it, but if not I'm satisfied with PC3200. That RAM is also on sale from Best Buy with a MIR making it cheaper then regular PC3200 I can find anywhere else.
 
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