First time builder looking for advice!

[Cawchy87]

This will be the first time i will be building a computer by myself, and before i buy the parts i figured i should run it by you guys first. I have a budget of around 1000-1200 (canadian) and cannot buy online (no credit card). I am looking for advice on where i can save some money or mabye do cheap upgrade to make it run a lot better. Well... here it goes:
MotherBoard: Nforce 2 Ultra 400 - Looking to possiblely get dual harddrives when i get more money. - $161.95
Processor: Athlon XP 3200+ 400 fsb - Can i get by with a 3000 XP+ without loss of too much proformance? - $316.95
Video Card : ATI Radeon 9800 Pro - $299.99
Memory: Pc-3200 DDR 400Mhz 512Mb - $125.95
Case/Power Supply: Generic Case, 400w powersupply - $59.95
Hard Drive: Barracuda 7200.7 120GB - $141.95
CD burner: Goldstar 52X / 32X / 52X Int. / IDE CDRW - $62.95
3.5 inch floppy: Panasonic 1.44Mb 3.5 Floppy Drive - $15.95

Total Cost: 1185.64 + tax

OS and monitor are already taken care of. Please give me your thoughts on this computer and what i can do to make it better, or save my self some money!

 

[nick1985]

Originally posted by: Cawchy87
This will be the first time i will be building a computer by myself, and before i buy the parts i figured i should run it by you guys first. I have a budget of around 1000-1200 (canadian) and cannot buy online (no credit card). I am looking for advice on where i can save some money or mabye do cheap upgrade to make it run a lot better. Well... here it goes:
MotherBoard: Nforce 2 Ultra 400 - Looking to possiblely get dual harddrives when i get more money. - $161.95
Processor: Athlon XP 3200+ 400 fsb - Can i get by with a 3000 XP+ without loss of too much proformance? - $316.95
Video Card : ATI Radeon 9800 Pro - $299.99
Memory: Pc-3200 DDR 400Mhz 512Mb - $125.95
Case/Power Supply: Generic Case, 400w powersupply - $59.95
Hard Drive: Barracuda 7200.7 120GB - $141.95
CD burner: Goldstar 52X / 32X / 52X Int. / IDE CDRW - $62.95
3.5 inch floppy: Panasonic 1.44Mb 3.5 Floppy Drive - $15.95

Total Cost: 1185.64 + tax

OS and monitor are already taken care of. Please give me your thoughts on this computer and what i can do to make it better, or save my self some money!

FIRST off...those prices are god awful.

mobo-get a DFI infinity/abit nf7 for 90ish
get a MOBILE athlon 2500 for about 90ish
9800pros can be had for around 200 not 300....
2*256 3200 is about 90ish....
generic case and PSU for 60?:Q get an antec case with a NICE psu for that price....
120 gigs are about 100, not 140....
and cdrw's are half that listed price
$16 floppy?:Q try $5.....


canadian.....now i get it. that sucks

 

[Boonesmi]

looks nice, but the 3200+ isnt cheap. you can get a slower clocked cpu for a lot less $$ and still have great performance

personally i would get an xp2500+ and overclock it to 3200+ speed

 

[Boonesmi]

Originally posted by: nick1985

Originally posted by: Cawchy87
This will be the first time i will be building a computer by myself, and before i buy the parts i figured i should run it by you guys first. I have a budget of around 1000-1200 (canadian) and cannot buy online (no credit card). I am looking for advice on where i can save some money or mabye do cheap upgrade to make it run a lot better. Well... here it goes:
MotherBoard: Nforce 2 Ultra 400 - Looking to possiblely get dual harddrives when i get more money. - $161.95
Processor: Athlon XP 3200+ 400 fsb - Can i get by with a 3000 XP+ without loss of too much proformance? - $316.95
Video Card : ATI Radeon 9800 Pro - $299.99
Memory: Pc-3200 DDR 400Mhz 512Mb - $125.95
Case/Power Supply: Generic Case, 400w powersupply - $59.95
Hard Drive: Barracuda 7200.7 120GB - $141.95
CD burner: Goldstar 52X / 32X / 52X Int. / IDE CDRW - $62.95
3.5 inch floppy: Panasonic 1.44Mb 3.5 Floppy Drive - $15.95

Total Cost: 1185.64 + tax

OS and monitor are already taken care of. Please give me your thoughts on this computer and what i can do to make it better, or save my self some money!

FIRST off...those prices are god awful.

mobo-get a DFI infinity/abit nf7 for 90ish
get a MOBILE athlon 2500 for about 90ish
9800pros can be had for around 200 not 300....
2*256 3200 is about 90ish....
generic case and PSU for 60?:Q get an antec case with a NICE psu for that price....
120 gigs are about 100, not 140....
and cdrw's are half that listed price
$16 floppy?:Q try $5.....


newegg = your friend

hehe read the post... he cant use a credit card, he has to buy locally, prices are canadian

 

[Cawchy87]

I know the prices are bad. Thats because i can't buy off the internet. Newegg doesn't ship to canada anyway. These are all from a local shop. I am shopping around more, but don't anticipate things being a lot cheaper.

 

[nick1985]

Originally posted by: Boonesmi

Originally posted by: nick1985

Originally posted by: Cawchy87
This will be the first time i will be building a computer by myself, and before i buy the parts i figured i should run it by you guys first. I have a budget of around 1000-1200 (canadian) and cannot buy online (no credit card). I am looking for advice on where i can save some money or mabye do cheap upgrade to make it run a lot better. Well... here it goes:
MotherBoard: Nforce 2 Ultra 400 - Looking to possiblely get dual harddrives when i get more money. - $161.95
Processor: Athlon XP 3200+ 400 fsb - Can i get by with a 3000 XP+ without loss of too much proformance? - $316.95
Video Card : ATI Radeon 9800 Pro - $299.99
Memory: Pc-3200 DDR 400Mhz 512Mb - $125.95
Case/Power Supply: Generic Case, 400w powersupply - $59.95
Hard Drive: Barracuda 7200.7 120GB - $141.95
CD burner: Goldstar 52X / 32X / 52X Int. / IDE CDRW - $62.95
3.5 inch floppy: Panasonic 1.44Mb 3.5 Floppy Drive - $15.95

Total Cost: 1185.64 + tax

OS and monitor are already taken care of. Please give me your thoughts on this computer and what i can do to make it better, or save my self some money!

FIRST off...those prices are god awful.

mobo-get a DFI infinity/abit nf7 for 90ish
get a MOBILE athlon 2500 for about 90ish
9800pros can be had for around 200 not 300....
2*256 3200 is about 90ish....
generic case and PSU for 60?:Q get an antec case with a NICE psu for that price....
120 gigs are about 100, not 140....
and cdrw's are half that listed price
$16 floppy?:Q try $5.....


newegg = your friend

hehe read the post... he cant use a credit card, he has to buy locally, prices are canadian

i edited before you posted this

 

[Cawchy87]

Originally posted by: Boonesmi
looks nice, but the 3200+ isnt cheap. you can get a slower clocked cpu for a lot less $$ and still have great performance

personally i would get an xp2500+ and overclock it to 3200+ speed

Thanks for the advice. However i don't have experiance overclocking processors (i currently have a dell). I am sure there are websites out there that tell me how to do it, but is it easy enough so that anyone can?

 

[Atlantean]

ncix.com or atic.ca or anitec.ca or a-power.com or ntcw.com are your friends... those are all canadina, not sure what part of Canada you are from, but those are all in BC... why not get a friend with a cc to order the stuff for you and pay him or her back?

 

[Atlantean]

Originally posted by: Cawchy87

Originally posted by: Boonesmi
looks nice, but the 3200+ isnt cheap. you can get a slower clocked cpu for a lot less $$ and still have great performance

personally i would get an xp2500+ and overclock it to 3200+ speed

Thanks for the advice. However i don't have experiance overclocking processors (i currently have a dell). I am sure there are websites out there that tell me how to do it, but is it easy enough so that anyone can?

aah sorry didnt see this post... yes it is so easy anyone can do it all you have to do is go into your mobo bios (I would recommend buying the abit nf7-s) and increase the fsb. At ncix right now they have the 2500+mobile processor which you can get up to 2.5 ghz supposedly. Buy overclocking is your friend.

 

[RussianSensation]

If you can get a credit card you might want to checkout:

PCCanada
NCIX
eGlobalOnline

They might have cheaper prices than what you have mentioned. Maybe it isn't worth it for you since you'll still have to pay taxes and shipping so might as well buy from your local shop.

From PCCanada (my favourite since they have the cheapest prices in Canada out of everything i've ever looked at):

But if you are spending $300 on a processor get A64 3000 and Asus K8V-SE Deluxe $185

If you want lower end, I'd recommend Barton XP-Mobile 2500 for $140 and Abit NF7 for $105
Depends of course if you are into overclocking or not.

As for videocard get 9800Pro for $299 at futureshop.

 

[Cawchy87]

I am from central Canada. I guess i will see how much cheaper everything is on there and then see if it is worth to pay all the shipping etc. Thanks for the websites and i will check it out!

 

[Boonesmi]

depending on the how/what you overclock it can range from very easy to very difficult

but overclocking an xp2500+ to 3200+ is very very easy (assuming you get a decent xp2500+ that is overclockable, which most are)
the xp2500+ and 3200+ are identical. its just that one is designed to run on a 200mhz fsb and the other on a 166mhz fsb. so if you buy the 2500+ and set the motherboard to run 200mhz fsb its all done you now have turned it into a 3200+

 

[Cawchy87]

Hell, if all i have to do is change the bios, then overclocking is my friend. I'll check out that abit mobo and post an updated computer by the end of the night. Thanks guys.

 

[Cawchy87]

Ok, looks like i am going to stay with the prices. And here is the updated rig:

Processor: AMD Athlon XP 2500+ Socket A - 333Mhz
MotherBoard: Abit - NF7-S NVIDIA (NForce 2C I8D) Socket A / 400Mhz FSB / SATA 150 Raid 0/1
Vid Card: ATI Radeon 9800 Pro
Memory: Pc-3200 DDR 400Mhz 512Mb
Case/Power Supply: Generic Case, 400w powersupply
Harddrive: Seagate - Barracuda 7200.7 120GB
CD burner: Goldstar 52X / 32X / 52X Int. / IDE CDRW
3.5 inch floppy: Panasonic 1.44Mb 3.5 Floppy Drive

Ok, thanks to you guys i have been able to knock this down to $1009.64 from $1198.64 and have got some great suggestions on my mobo and overclocking the processer. Thanks guys.

And this one, please rate /10 and give some feed back about how it can be improved, or save money.
Thanks guys! i love this forum!!!!

 

[labrat25]

do you ever use floppies anymore?!

if not, get a USB drive for 'bout the same price and lots more storage

 

[Cawchy87]

i only use floppies for school, it is an easy method to carry word documents.
Also, another question. Is that mother board and processer O/C ready?

 

[Tango57]

the Abit NF7-S is a very popular board for overclocking. the desktop 2500+ barton is also a good chip for overclocking and can easily achieve 3200+ speeds (2.2 ghz) but if you really get into overclocking and want to achieve higher clock speeds then you should try looking for a mobile 2500+ which are unlocked chips and can overclock to 2.4-2.6 ghz range.

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: Tango57
the Abit NF7-S is a very popular board for overclocking. the desktop 2500+ barton is also a good chip for overclocking and can easily achieve 3200+ speeds (2.2 ghz) but if you really get into overclocking and want to achieve higher clock speeds then you should try looking for a mobile 2500+ which are unlocked chips and can overclock to 2.4-2.6 ghz range.

That was months ago. Now, very few people are able to get a desktop Barton XP2500 that they just bought to hit 200mhz fsb. Spend the tiny bit of extra money for a mobile 2500 or mobile 2600, and you'll be glad for the next year or two that you did, since 2.4-2.5ghz Prime95-stable overclocks are extremely common with both chips, but more so with the XP-M 2600 than the 2500.

 

[Tango57]

Originally posted by: Tango57
the Abit NF7-S is a very popular board for overclocking. the desktop 2500+ barton is also a good chip for overclocking and can easily achieve 3200+ speeds (2.2 ghz) but if you really get into overclocking and want to achieve higher clock speeds then you should try looking for a mobile 2500+ which are unlocked chips and can overclock to 2.4-2.6 ghz range.

Edit

the Abit NF7-S is a very popular board for overclocking. the desktop 2500+ barton is also a fairly decent chip for overclocking and can sometimes achieve 3200+ speeds (2.2 ghz) but if you really get into overclocking and want to achieve higher clock speeds then you should try looking for a mobile 2500+ which are unlocked chips and can overclock to 2.4-2.6 ghz range.

yeah go for the mobile instead

 

[Cawchy87]

I am buying this all from retail stores close to me, if they don't have the mobile barton 2500XP in then i will be forced to go with the normal one. Is this one still able to overclock? What kind of speeds will i be able to get it up to?

 

[Boonesmi]

Originally posted by: Cawchy87
I am buying this all from retail stores close to me, if they don't have the mobile barton 2500XP in then i will be forced to go with the normal one. Is this one still able to overclock? What kind of speeds will i be able to get it up to?

it just depends on if your lucky or not

some will overclock to speeds well above 3200+ speeds, and some wont

most of the "normal" xp2500+ chips ive used (about 15 or 20) have been able to run at 3200+ speeds.. but from what i understand the newer ones are not as overclockable.

to bad you dont live in the states, or i could sell you an xp2500+ that is known to easily hit 3200+ speeds

 

[Cawchy87]

Ya, i really hope that it works out! If not the processor will really hold my computer back. Thanks for all of the help guys. I am going on saturday to buy it and mabye i'll get them to order me in a mobile (it better not cost extra money!) I guess when i get it i will be posting back on here to tell you guys how it went and what it ended up overclocking to.

 

[ciwell]

I have been following this conversation and wondered something.

I am also new to the builder's market, and have been looking around researching for the past month at different get-ups. You are all saying the XPM2500+ gets to the 64 3200+ speeds, and I get the gist that the 2500+ is a better buy. Is this accurate though? If one has the resources to get a 3200+, would it be better? I guess what I am trying to say is this: Is the 3200+ not worth the price?

<---confuzzled

 

[Boonesmi]

Originally posted by: ciwell
I have been following this conversation and wondered something.

I am also new to the builder's market, and have been looking around researching for the past month at different get-ups. You are all saying the XPM2500+ gets to the 64 3200+ speeds, and I get the gist that the 2500+ is a better buy. Is this accurate though? If one has the resources to get a 3200+, would it be better? I guess what I am trying to say is this: Is the 3200+ not worth the price?

<---confuzzled

the 2500+ and the 3200+ are identical cpu's (both with the exact same specs) the only difference is the 3200+ is running at a higher clock speed and is running on a faster fsb

the nice thing about the 2500+ and the 3200+ is that they both use the same 11x multiplier (ie. the 2500+ is designed to run 11x166mhz fsb... the 3200+ runs 11x200mhz fsb)

so this means if you run a 2500+ on a motherboard with a 200mhz fsb setting, that you have effectivly turned it into a 3200+

and yes the performace will be identical

 

[ciwell]

So, what you are saying is that the AMD64 3200+ is a waste of money?