First Post, First System..

[davidI]

Allright, I'm taking the plunge and buying a system. I don't have a ton of money lying around so I'm aiming at $900-$1000

I was thinking something like this

AMD Athlon XP2000+
MSI K7N2-L w/ Audio, LAN, USB 2.0
2 x Micron Original 256MB PC2700 DDR
Aspire X-Dreamer Case w/ fans and window
Enermax 350W Dual Fan PSU
Blue Neon
Maxtor 40GB 7200 RPM HD
Sapphire Radeon 900 128 MB DDR

I have an old floppy drive and DVD drive and CD-RW drive and hopefully I can scavenge most of the cabling from an old system?

Anyways, that system I listed will come to around $900 once I buy all the stuff. Is there anything I should change?

Also, do I need that Arctic Silver III thermal compound on the CPU? I'm not planning on over clocking or anything. I was also thinking about maybe buying one stick of 512 MB instead of the 2 sticks of 256 because it is cheaper and will allow me more room to upgrade in the future...but someone told me to always have 2 sticks incase one burns out?
I'm not a gamer but I do want to use Photoshop and maybe some 3D Studio Max so would anyone change anything for processer, MB or Video Card because of this?

 

[MichaelD]

Welcome to the forums!

That motherboard is an NForce2 board, correct? Good choice on chipsets! I believe that MSI is a new board, and I don't know how "proven" it is yet. The Asus NForce2 (87Nx???) is more expensive but a proven board, as is the Epox 8RDA+. Maybe someone else can shed some more light on that MSI board?

Glad to see you're not cheaping-out on the RAM or the powersupply; I've seen too many people do that and then wonder why they have problems.

Any kind of video editing requires lots of RAM. 512mb is a necessity IMO for video editing. I'd go with a single 512mb stick of Crucial (Micron) PC2700. If you're SURE you won't be overclocking, then PC2700 is great.

Arctic Silver III is not NECESSARY, but will get your CPU temps down a few degrees.

That HD will get "small" really quickly, especially with video editing. Maybe spend a few more dollars and get a 120GB drive? Preferably an 8mb cache model. Either Maxtor or WD. Both good choices.

I could live w/o the blue neon, but it's your case.

Nice system. Good luck.

 

[jackschmittusa]

You want 2 sticks of ram to take advantage of the nForce duel channel memory capability. The MSI board has been around for a while. Not the supreme ocers board, but respectable in all other respects. I would also recommend an 80gb hd with 8mb cache. These are often cheaper at the retail stores in the U.S. when offered w/rebates than you can find them on line. You will get new drive data cables with the mobo which I would use instead of the old ones. Other than that, you should be good to go. If you buy the cpu in a retail package, you get a 3yr warranty and a suitable hsf for stock speeds.

 

[davidI]

Originally posted by: MichaelD
Welcome to the forums!

That motherboard is an NForce2 board, correct?

I'm not sure if it is NForce2 or not. What would this mean?

Thanx for your help on the other questions though. My biggest concern is the video card I guess but will I really need a powerful video card unless I'm doing a lot of gaming? Is the 9000 enough or should I spend more on this?

And yea, the blue neon is sort of ricey but it is sorta cool in a way too! None of my friends are into computers so tey think I'm a big nerd for building one but they might like the neon!

 

[MichaelD]

Originally posted by: davidI

Originally posted by: MichaelD
Welcome to the forums!

That motherboard is an NForce2 board, correct?

I'm not sure if it is NForce2 or not. What would this mean?

Thanx for your help on the other questions though. My biggest concern is the video card I guess but will I really need a powerful video card unless I'm doing a lot of gaming? Is the 9000 enough or should I spend more on this?

And yea, the blue neon is sort of ricey but it is sorta cool in a way too! None of my friends are into computers so tey think I'm a big nerd for building one but they might like the neon!

About a year ago, NVidia came out w/their original NForce chipset. There were two flavors; the 420 and 440, IIRC. They weren't that great and got pretty much blown away by the Via chipsets of the time.

The NForce2 is about as perfect as it gets, IMHO.

AFA the dual-channel goes...I've done testing on my own rig and the performance gain was less than 4% gain in memory bandwith in tests like SANDRA and PCMark2002. I also overclock like mad, that might have something to do w/my small gains.

I second buying a Retail CPU. It comes with a HS guaranteed to be OK for your CPU and a three-year warranty.

 

[Novgrod]

System looks excellent. That motherboard is in fact the nforce-2 board, so way to go on that one, and at $87 it's a very good price.

Personally the windows and neon aren't my thing, but go for it if you want.

I've never bought a socket-a retail heatsink, so i don't know anything about their quality but the xp2000 overclocks _really_ well, particularly on the nforce-2, so were I you I'd pony up for a good heatsink (recommendations abound in the overclocking forum, but i usually just get an alpha). If you have zero desire to overclock, then go with the retail before you get a crap heatsink (the easy way to cut your fingers and screw up your cpu ) Though at the prices for an xp2000 (it freaks me out to pay more for my case than my cpu) you don't need to be too concerned with it going south.

I'm going to put together a system almost like this myself, and I'm going to get a single 512 meg stick of ram so i can bump it up to a gig when i have the scratch. As mentioned, the advantages of dual channel aren't that spectacular.

anyway, good luck with your build; if you have any problems fire away (and welcome to the boards)

 

[davidI]

Allright, I'm gonna lose the neon since so many people aren't for it!!! That will give me some extra bucks I guess.

I guess I do have a desire to overclock but I don't know anything about overclocking anything so I'll probably just get the retail xp2000+ for now. Are there any really good guides on the net I could read to learn more?
If/when I learn more about overclocking I'll add some more fans to my case and get a better fan for the CPU.

 

[davidI]

Allright, well...I spent all that time research the system and I was just offered a used one that looks like a good deal to me. I want advice from the people on this forum since everyone here knows so darn much!!!

The used system I was offered for $700 (Canadian so that's under $500 American) includes:
XP 1800+
Asus A7V333
512 of Crucial PC2100
Maxtor 60 gig HD
Asus 8420 GeForce 4 4200 128 meg c/w TV out & DVI
Creative Live! 5.1
LG 32X 10X 40X CDRW
Pioneer slotload DVD
Dlink 10/100 ethernet.
Silver Antec Case
Enermax 350 Dual fan PS with manual speed control.

so the other system I was looking at in my first post which I would build new would cost me $1000 in parts or so. Is this system a better deal for me?
I don't know much about the Asus motherboard or the video card so if someone on here can tell me that they are good then I'll probably buy this system! Thanx

 

[dmw16]

That isnt a bad system for $500, but an 1800+ is getting old as in the Ti4200. Esspecially if you are planning on playing doom]|[
I'm not sure if that $1000 was US or canadian. Whether it is american or canadian dollars you come in under $1000 in either one ($1000 canadian is about $735US, right?)

Chenming Model# 601AE-SL (Silver) w/ Side Panel Window Front USB 2.0 - Retail: $65
MAXTOR 60GB 7200RPM EIDE HARD DRIVE MODEL # 6Y060L0 - OEM, DRIVE ONLY: $79
2x SimpleTech (Simple Technologies) 256MB DDR PC2700 Major Brand Chip - OEM: $56
Epox Motherboard for AMD Athlon/Athlon XP/Duron Processors, Model# EP-8RDA+: $89
Antec P4 ATX12V 350 Watt Power Supply With 2 Fans - Retail: $46
AMD ATHLON XP 2500 "Barton" 333 FSB PROCESSOR CPU- RETAIL: $128
SAPPHIRE ATI OEM RADEON 9500 PRO 128MB DDR DVI BULK: $178
total: $641US

OR

ALL SAME AS ABOVE EXCEPT
Asus Motherboard for AMD Athlon/XP/Duron Processors, Model# A7N8X (New Version, now support AMD Barton 400Mhz) Retail: $116
FIC A97 RADEON 9700 128MB DDR 8X AGP OEM: $229 <---- this can be overclocked to perform as well as the pro
total: $719US

Both of the motherboards I suggested have onboard sound and lan as well as USB2.0 and firewire. The asus gives you a little more option for upgrading. The CPU is retail so it comes with a heatsink and fan and if you dont plan on overclocking it would do just fine. If you have any question feel free to email or PM me.
-doug

 

[ScrapSilicon]

Originally posted by: dmw16
That isnt a bad system for $500, but an 1800+ is getting old as in the Ti4200. Esspecially if you are planning on playing doom]|[
I'm not sure if that $1000 was US or canadian. Whether it is american or canadian dollars you come in under $1000 in either one ($1000 canadian is about $735US, right?)

Chenming Model# 601AE-SL (Silver) w/ Side Panel Window Front USB 2.0 - Retail: $65
MAXTOR 60GB 7200RPM EIDE HARD DRIVE MODEL # 6Y060L0 - OEM, DRIVE ONLY: $79
2x SimpleTech (Simple Technologies) 256MB DDR PC2700 Major Brand Chip - OEM: $56
Epox Motherboard for AMD Athlon/Athlon XP/Duron Processors, Model# EP-8RDA+: $89
Antec P4 ATX12V 350 Watt Power Supply With 2 Fans - Retail: $46
AMD ATHLON XP 2500 "Barton" 333 FSB PROCESSOR CPU- RETAIL: $128
SAPPHIRE ATI OEM RADEON 9500 PRO 128MB DDR DVI BULK: $178
total: $641US

OR

ALL SAME AS ABOVE EXCEPT
Asus Motherboard for AMD Athlon/XP/Duron Processors, Model# A7N8X (New Version, now support AMD Barton 400Mhz) Retail: $116
FIC A97 RADEON 9700 128MB DDR 8X AGP OEM: $229 <---- this can be overclocked to perform as well as the pro
total: $719US

Both of the motherboards I suggested have onboard sound and lan as well as USB2.0 and firewire. The asus gives you a little more option for upgrading. The CPU is retail so it comes with a heatsink and fan and if you dont plan on overclocking it would do just fine. If you have any question feel free to email or PM me.
-doug

I like this case setup w/fans and a 420w CWT psu for $103 shipped FedEx

 

[dmw16]

That is a cool case too. I just sort of picked a case because cases are a lot more of a personal decision. I have a chieftec that i like. I also like the aluminum ones, but I am too poor.
-doug