going to build balanced, value AMD machine; need 2nd opinion

[oupei]

hey guys, i've been looking into building myself a comp for college. I want it to be balanced (by that i mean pretty good at about everything) and very good performance/price. I'm not very interested in overclocking but if it turns out to be convenient, I can see myself OCing a little bit. Anyways here's what I've got so far:

ECS L7VTA KT400 motherboard
Athlon XP 2400+ thoroughbred processor
PNY 512 MB PC2700 DDR RAM
Gainward Geforce4 Ti-4200 vid card
Western Digital 7200rpm 120GB HD 8mb cache
Buslink 52x24x52 CD-RW
Envision EN-775E 17" Flat Screen Moniter
Sound Blaster Live 5.1 sound card
Logitech Z-640 5.1 channel speaker system
Dynapower Metis Case and 300W Power Supply

The price for all this, except the SB Live which i'm taking off my old comp, including all taxes and shipping just under $620.
Ok, questions for you guys: is this best performance/dollar i can get for my budget? should i cut spending in some areas to redirect to others?

one of my main areas of concern is the motherboard because I'm still having trouble understanding how important the things that boards twice as expensive, such as ASUS A7N8X, can do are. I know the ASUS supports 333Mhz and 400 mhz FSB, which is not required for the XP2400, but does it affect mild overclocking? I'm confused in that the anandtech articles list this mobo as supporting 333mhz FSB and also list the 2600 thoroughbred as 266mhz FSB, but newegg's specs show the exact opposite. Also, how much would i get for shelling out the extra $30 for the 2500 Barton? I'm also wondering about the lack of serial ATA, ATA 133, and Raid 0+1. These connectors aren't important, are they? Also, specs say this mobo has 3.0V AGP, nothing to worry about is it?

the other area of concern for me is the case and PS. I know it's flimsy and such, but it's functional i don't plan on moving it around too much so there's not really much concern over dropping it or anything. And i like the look of it just fine. still, it seems to be of questionable build quality, especially the PS. Are there better choices available for a bottom line of $40?

As for the rest, I'm pretty satisfied, but of course any advice is welcome. well, thanks in advance.

 

[JZilla]

Mobo: Epox 8RDA+ $85
CPU: Barton 2500 $100 or XP1700 Tbred $44
Case: Antec SLK3700 with 350W SmartPower $65

Then sell the SB Live.

Your setup isn't bad. But I would much rather have a NForce2, and a decent quality case instead of a KT400 and a el-cheapo case. Plus you could need a better psu if you plan on overclocking. To me that would be well worth the extra money.

The XP2600 comes in both 266mhz fsb and 333mhz fsb.

I wouldn't worry too much about the lack of SATA, ATA133 and Raid. Would be nice to have, but if your not planning on running raid there really is no point. SATA, my bet is you will have changed your mobo by the time you cant get a PATA drive. ATA133, ATA100 is fine.

 

[Markfw]

Originally posted by: JZilla
Mobo: Epox 8RDA+ $85
CPU: Barton 2500 $100 or XP1700 Tbred $44
Case: Antec SLK3700 with 350W SmartPower $65

Then sell the SB Live.

Your setup isn't bad. But I would much rather have a NForce2, and a decent quality case instead of a KT400 and a el-cheapo case. Plus you could need a better psu if you plan on overclocking. To me that would be well worth the extra money.

The XP2600 comes in both 266mhz fsb and 333mhz fsb.

I wouldn't worry too much about the lack of SATA, ATA133 and Raid. Would be nice to have, but if your not planning on running raid there really is no point. SATA, my bet is you will have changed your mobo by the time you cant get a PATA drive. ATA133, ATA100 is fine.

Ditto what he said (or an ASUS A7N8X deluxe, same chipset, more money)

 

[nebula]

My opinion, that's a decent all around system. I've never subscribed to the "super expensive mobo" school of thought. I think those boards do offer more stability when it comes to pushing the OC'ing of your machine, but for mild OC'ing, you don't need to spend that much. I'm not familiar with that board, but if you want to tinker, make sure it has multiplier/FSB/vcore adjustments in the BIOS. I have the MSI KT4 Ultra and I have my XP1800+ running at 2GHz right now, without even trying.

I think the Serial ATA drives are too expensive right now. So don't worry about the connectors on the mobo at this point. In say, a year or so if you want to go that route, you can always get a seperate SATA controller card. You might want to bump the RAM up to PC3200, it will "future proof" you a little and give you some headroom for OC'ing. The stuff I just bought for a system I'm building was barely more expensive that PC2700. OR get a better brand of PC2700, Micron, Corsair, etc...

Don't cheap out on the case or PS. You can have a case for many years, get something nice, with good cooling. I really like the Fong Kai FK-603 from Directron. This case won't break the bank and the reviews say it's airflow is nice. The PS that comes with this case will probably be decent, but you can also order it without a PS and get something else. If you go this route, I found that my temps went down a little and it was quieter if I removed the exhaust fan duct. Go figure? Cavitation I'm thinking...

Again, this is just my opinion.

EDIT: Also the Antec SLK3700 from Newegg looks like a nice case too. CompUSA had it and I was checking it out, the PS in it is adequate too. Of course it is a dark metallic greyish vs. the beige of the Fong Kai, whatever works for you!

 

[oupei]

Originally posted by: JZilla
Mobo: Epox 8RDA+ $85
CPU: Barton 2500 $100 or XP1700 Tbred $44
Case: Antec SLK3700 with 350W SmartPower $65

Then sell the SB Live.

Your setup isn't bad. But I would much rather have a NForce2, and a decent quality case instead of a KT400 and a el-cheapo case. Plus you could need a better psu if you plan on overclocking. To me that would be well worth the extra money.

Well, looks to me like you're saying i should skimp out on my processor in favor of upgrading my mobo. from the anandtech articles it looks like the 10-15% performance differences cancel each other out, though that is total guesswork on my part, as there is no test comparing the two configs. coincidentally my setup is ECS L7VTA $57, XP 2400+ $85, and yours is Epox 8RDA $85, XP 1800+ $57. I guess your mobo would add more OC functionality, but does anyone know how 2400+ OC ability compares to that of the 1800+? well, nebula, if your 1800+ runs at 2400+ speeds (is that with extra cooling and thermal paste and stuff or just stock?), then i guess it would take intense OCing on the 2400+'s part to match that...

as for the case, i'm going to look around to see if the B&M stores have any good deals, as $15 shipping for a $25 case and PS is ridiculous.

btw, what the heck is agoga stepping? some xp's in the 2000 range have it and some don't.

 

[nebula]

If you have a CompUSA, look for the Antec case there, I think they had it for $70, again this is worth it, good case, good PSU.

Newegg was selling the DLT3C version of the 1800+ a few weeks ago, this is a lower default vcore so they OC nice, the 1700+s were like this too, but they are getting scarce b/c they are being discontinued. The 1800+ at Newegg is a Palomino core now. If you can find a 1700+ or a 1800+ DLT3C or DUT3C, with a TBred B core, they should OC nicely! This will be the most bang for the buck.

I'm only using this Tasiol heatsink, with silicone based grease. Note, this heatsink is the same as the Taisol CGK760172, only difference, they put a different thermal pad on it for the bigger CPUs. But since I take mine off occasionally, I saved $3 and bought the cheaper one, didn't even use the pad. Then I have a Panaflo L1A intake and exhaust fan, and the two fans in the Thermaltake Silent PurePower 420W, in that Fong Kai case. That's it! I increased my FSB to 166, multiplier to 12 and had to bump up vcore to 1.550 to get Prime95 to run stable, default is 1.500 This was very easy, and believe me, I'm not done yet. My load temp is 49C

You don't want AGOGA stepping anymore, the A at the end means TBred A core, B cores OC better. You want JIUHB or others?? Maybe someone else can tell you where to get a decent chip. I know there are places that guarantee high OC chips but they ask a premium for them.

 

[JZilla]

I suggested the XP1700 as a value processor. People seem to have good luck with them, but you would have to get the TbredB. I am not into overclocking myself, but people have reported that these run at 2ghz. Details in the hotdeals forum

But if we look at the core of the system: The price difference is only $43 (this is with the Barton 2500). $43. Again, $43 for getting a Barton 2500 and a NForce2 instead of XP2400 and a VIA KT400. This seems like a no brainer to me. The Barton should be a pretty good overclocker as well. The Barton may be the better option if you are not an overclocking guru, in the sense that at least you are guaranteed XP2500 speeds instead of XP1700, and thus closer to your XP2400.

I believe agoga is some sort of code identifying when the cpu was built, and something about stepping. This information can be used to determine whether or not it overclocks well based on other users info about their stepping. Please correct me if I am wrong.

But my recommendation is still the Barton 2500 and Epox. $43. 43 dollars!!!

Edit:
Another hotdeal thread about xp1700, this time with a different steping. Should hit above 2ghz. Costs more.

 

[nebula]

I agree about the value CPU and the slight price increase. Especially, now you may not be guaranteed to get a "good" 1700+ or 1800+, it seemed like there was a short spurt of them. I'm only a mild overclocker, but with the chip I got, it was extremely easy, but never guaranteed! The only problem that I have seen when building systems over the years is this, you keep saying to yourself, it's only $10 more, it's only $15 more... when do you stop? So if it's within your budget, JZilla's recommendation is probably the way to go.

Just remember, you can cheap out on the case, just don't cheap out on the PS. From what I've read, inadequate PS problems can be annoying!!

EDIT: Of course, you can always get a 1700+ or 1800+ now and upgrade later when the Bartons are cheaper...

 

[oupei]

okay, i'm going with the xp 2500+ and the Epox 8RDA for the extra $43. only thing left is the case and ps. I've looked at the solutions from lian li and antec, and they just don't look good. Well, maybe i could put an antec ps into an el cheapo case. is 300W Antec PS good for what i've got here? Are there any other recommended manufacturers? I'm trying to stay in the $60 range.

 

[JZilla]

Antec 300W should be enough. But I'm not sure it its if you will overclock.

 

[Insane3D]

Make sure you get the 8RDA+ not the 8RDA.

 

[nebula]

That would be a good way to go, cheap case, nice PS. I sorted the cases by price at Newegg. Those 3 Raidmax units for $19-$20 look decent, and they have good feedback too. The Raidmax for $20.99 has lower shipping and it's black, The Superpower for $23 has an interesting look and has front USB ports, shipping is low.

That cheapest Raidmax looks like a Dell or something I've seen before. Just from looking at the pics, that's the one I'd go with b/c I can see that it has nice openings in the front for air intake. The others I can't tell, maybe someone else can comment. None of those I mention have a PS, which is fine b/c the cheap cases usually come with an inadequate PS. Take a look at this thread, there are some good recommendations on a <$40 PS. I'd look at the Fortron units. The P300XF or for $2 more the P300XFPN, it has a 120mm fan so it will move more air and be quieter, They are only rated as 300W units, but that is at 70% output.

When you decide on a case/PS, let us know, I'll be happy to comment. After shipping, that will be slightly more than you were thinking, but you will probably be able to use the PS on the next system.

 

[sniperruff]

don't get cheap on the case. look at the antec SLK series with smartpower (which is quiet and takes quite a load), or the chieftec aluminum cases. i would definitely go with an aluminum case any day to sacrifice a faster CPU. spend $44 on a 1700 OEM and spend the money you saved on an aluminum case.

if you must get a fast CPU, get the 2500 barton, not the 2400.

just like everyone said, go with a nforce2 board, avoid ECS.

buslink cdrw... if ur buying from newegg then get a lite-on instead

i say keep the sound card. most on-board sound is crappy, except the asus A7N8X deluxe, which is an excellent board with integrated everything LAN and SATA and all the goodies. make sure it supports 400mhz FSB (revision 2) the board is $130 new...


in conclusion:
1) don't skim on the mobo, it is THE most important part of a system
2) CPU are quite disposible. i don't see a reason why a 3200 barton won't drop under $100 in a year or two.
3) no generic RAM, PNY and kingston are good brands, with lifetime warranty and are good for moderate OC. you may get lucky and get good chips (my bro has WINBOND chips on his kingston and i've seen samsung chips on PNY)
4) don't skim on the case either. it is pretty much the only thing that will not outdate in 5 years.
5) no generic power supply unless you want the whole system to turn into junk. antec, sprakle and enermax are some good brands.
6) buy an OEM CPU. the retail fans and little heatsink will stop you from REAL overclocking.

those are all from my past experience.

also consider a 15 inch LCD for around $200 now. unless you can get that envision for $70 or less get a better moniter

 

[mboy]

Originally posted by: JZilla
Mobo: Epox 8RDA+ $85
CPU: Barton 2500 $100 or XP1700 Tbred $44
Case: Antec SLK3700 with 350W SmartPower $65

Then sell the SB Live.

Your setup isn't bad. But I would much rather have a NForce2, and a decent quality case instead of a KT400 and a el-cheapo case. Plus you could need a better psu if you plan on overclocking. To me that would be well worth the extra money.

The XP2600 comes in both 266mhz fsb and 333mhz fsb.

I wouldn't worry too much about the lack of SATA, ATA133 and Raid. Would be nice to have, but if your not planning on running raid there really is no point. SATA, my bet is you will have changed your mobo by the time you cant get a PATA drive. ATA133, ATA100 is fine.

Yesy, yes, GOOD ADVICE!!!!

 

[JZilla]

Originally posted by: sniperruff
don't get cheap on the case. look at the antec SLK series with smartpower (which is quiet and takes quite a load), or the chieftec aluminum cases. i would definitely go with an aluminum case any day to sacrifice a faster CPU. spend $44 on a 1700 OEM and spend the money you saved on an aluminum case.

if you must get a fast CPU, get the 2500 barton, not the 2400.

just like everyone said, go with a nforce2 board, avoid ECS.

buslink cdrw... if ur buying from newegg then get a lite-on instead

i say keep the sound card. most on-board sound is crappy, except the asus A7N8X deluxe, which is an excellent board with integrated everything LAN and SATA and all the goodies. make sure it supports 400mhz FSB (revision 2) the board is $130 new...


in conclusion:
1) don't skim on the mobo, it is THE most important part of a system
2) CPU are quite disposible. i don't see a reason why a 3200 barton won't drop under $100 in a year or two.
3) no generic RAM, PNY and kingston are good brands, with lifetime warranty and are good for moderate OC. you may get lucky and get good chips (my bro has WINBOND chips on his kingston and i've seen samsung chips on PNY)
4) don't skim on the case either. it is pretty much the only thing that will not outdate in 5 years.
5) no generic power supply unless you want the whole system to turn into junk. antec, sprakle and enermax are some good brands.
6) buy an OEM CPU. the retail fans and little heatsink will stop you from REAL overclocking.

those are all from my past experience.

also consider a 15 inch LCD for around $200 now. unless you can get that envision for $70 or less get a better moniter

Wrong. The Epox has the same "NForce2" sound as the Asus A7N8X. Sound quality is the same. It is not "soundstorm" certified, but the reason to this is that it is missing a sp/dif bracket. The bracket can be ordered from Epox. So unless you need this feature (or any of the Asus other features, like 2 NICs) there is no reason to spend $30 more on the A7N8X.

Agreed on the rest. Except I would buy a retail cpu if the extra price is reasonable.

 

[sniperruff]

Originally posted by: JZilla

Originally posted by: sniperruff
don't get cheap on the case. look at the antec SLK series with smartpower (which is quiet and takes quite a load), or the chieftec aluminum cases. i would definitely go with an aluminum case any day to sacrifice a faster CPU. spend $44 on a 1700 OEM and spend the money you saved on an aluminum case.

if you must get a fast CPU, get the 2500 barton, not the 2400.

just like everyone said, go with a nforce2 board, avoid ECS.

buslink cdrw... if ur buying from newegg then get a lite-on instead

i say keep the sound card. most on-board sound is crappy, except the asus A7N8X deluxe, which is an excellent board with integrated everything LAN and SATA and all the goodies. make sure it supports 400mhz FSB (revision 2) the board is $130 new...


in conclusion:
1) don't skim on the mobo, it is THE most important part of a system
2) CPU are quite disposible. i don't see a reason why a 3200 barton won't drop under $100 in a year or two.
3) no generic RAM, PNY and kingston are good brands, with lifetime warranty and are good for moderate OC. you may get lucky and get good chips (my bro has WINBOND chips on his kingston and i've seen samsung chips on PNY)
4) don't skim on the case either. it is pretty much the only thing that will not outdate in 5 years.
5) no generic power supply unless you want the whole system to turn into junk. antec, sprakle and enermax are some good brands.
6) buy an OEM CPU. the retail fans and little heatsink will stop you from REAL overclocking.

those are all from my past experience.

also consider a 15 inch LCD for around $200 now. unless you can get that envision for $70 or less get a better moniter

Wrong. The Epox has the same "NForce2" sound as the Asus A7N8X. Sound quality is the same. It is not "soundstorm" certified, but the reason to this is that it is missing a sp/dif bracket. The bracket can be ordered from Epox. So unless you need this feature (or any of the Asus other features, like 2 NICs) there is no reason to spend $30 more on the A7N8X.

Agreed on the rest. Except I would buy a retail cpu if the extra price is reasonable.

emphasize on "most"... hmm ur comments make me consider checking out the epox board too, though from what i've heard in the past epox is not known for its stability...

retail HSF is ok for mild OCing. there is this $8 HSF that received excellent reviews on newegg tho. get a tube of artic silver and it should be much better than a retail HSF.

 

[piasabird]

When you buy an Athlon Processor, Googlegear gives you free shipping 2nd Day Air.

 

[JZilla]

Originally posted by: Insane3D
Make sure you get the 8RDA+ not the 8RDA.

Just a heads up. Make sure to get the + version. The plain 8RDA does not have the mcp-t southbridge.


8RDA FAQ. I'm sure it will answer your questions about the Epox 8RDA+. The mobo forum has some good stickies about NForce2 mobos. NForcersHQ is another site/forum to get wisdom. AMDMB also has a good forum.

 

[oupei]

Thanks everybody for the advice you've given so far.
here's a revised list of what I'm going to get:

Epox 8RDA+ $84
xp1700+ $44 or XP2500+ $88/$94
PNY 512 MB PC2700 DDR RAM $40
Gainward Geforce4 Ti-4200 vid card $127
Western Digital 7200rpm 120GB HD 8mb cache $80
Buslink 52x24x52 CD-RW $25
Envision EN-775E 17" Flat Screen Moniter $100
Sound Blaster Live 5.1 sound card *reusing maybe*
Logitech Z-640 5.1 channel speaker system $65
Fortron FSP350-60BN 350W P4/AMD Ready Power Supply $32 + $5s&h
Raidmax Model 208B(Black) 10-bay Case $21 + $10s&h

As for the processor, does anyone know whether thisxp1700+ is the T-bred B or what? well, that link to the other thread says luck of the draw, so i guess you already answered my question.

well, now that I'm going with OEM CPU, i just need thermal grease, heatsink, and fan, right? also, i'll need a floppy drive. Do I need any extra cables? I can't think of anything that wouldn't already be included, but this is my first build, so... keyboard and mouse too... hmmm...well i'm at $632, and i'll factor in like $8 for floppy, and $15 for mouse and $15 for keyboard and $15 for cooling and i'm at $685.

 

[Ilmater]

Get the 8RDA+. I've had two and both were stable as a rock. Sound is great.

Get the 2500+ OEM. If you're overclocking, you'll be voiding your warranty anyway (don't concern yourself with this) and you'll want a better HSF. Get the Thermalright SK-7. It's cheap and it cools good enough for a mild overclock. Most people are getting 2500+ up to 2.4GHz on air, so you should be able to get 2.1 - 2.2 easy on mild OC'ing (with a quieter fan).

Definitely go with Lite-On. No question. Anything else for a budget computer is ridiculous.

When OC'ing, set the FSB, RAM, and the multiplier to their defaults. Increase the multiplier to 11.5x and restart. Run (my recommendation) Prime95's torture test for a few hours and assuming it's stable, then run 3DMark01 while Prime 95's running in the background and leave it running for at least 8 hours (I leave mine on overnight and then the next day at work). If it's stable the whole time (doesn't crash out of 3DMark or stop Prime95), then bump the multi up another .5x. When it becomes unstable, bump the CPU up .25V and try again. Stop going when your load temps get to at or near 50C. If you're really conservative, only let your load temps get to 47 or 48C. You'll be fine with those temps.

Finally, I'd get this video card instead. It's the best price/performance card on the market IMO. It runs at 260/550 stock whereas most Ti4200's run at 250/500. If you want, you can overclock this to 300/600 EASILY (with no extra cooling neccessary). That's almost as fast as a Ti4600. Mine got up to 320/690 with stock cooling.

My 5 cents... (it's clearly more than 2)

 

[sniperruff]

Originally posted by: oupei
Thanks everybody for the advice you've given so far.
here's a revised list of what I'm going to get:

Epox 8RDA+ $84
xp1700+ $44 or XP2500+ $88/$94
PNY 512 MB PC2700 DDR RAM $40
Gainward Geforce4 Ti-4200 vid card $127
Western Digital 7200rpm 120GB HD 8mb cache $80
Buslink 52x24x52 CD-RW $25
Envision EN-775E 17" Flat Screen Moniter $100
Sound Blaster Live 5.1 sound card *reusing maybe*
Logitech Z-640 5.1 channel speaker system $65
Fortron FSP350-60BN 350W P4/AMD Ready Power Supply $32 + $5s&h
Raidmax Model 208B(Black) 10-bay Case $21 + $10s&h

As for the processor, does anyone know whether thisxp1700+ is the T-bred B or what? well, that link to the other thread says luck of the draw, so i guess you already answered my question.

well, now that I'm going with OEM CPU, i just need thermal grease, heatsink, and fan, right? also, i'll need a floppy drive. Do I need any extra cables? I can't think of anything that wouldn't already be included, but this is my first build, so... keyboard and mouse too... hmmm...well i'm at $632, and i'll factor in like $8 for floppy, and $15 for mouse and $15 for keyboard and $15 for cooling and i'm at $685.

1) get 2 sticks of 256 RAM instead to optimize the dual channel DDR function
2) video card seems a little pricy for a 4200
3) get the Z640 from amazon.com for $60!
4) that is a good PSU
5) my guess is that the BUSLINK is on sale at staples and ur going with it? i guess $25 AR can't go wrong

go look up HSF on newegg and look look up as "most reviewed". i think there is one that is pretty good for $8 but can't remember the name. also get a tube of artic silver and ur set

yes, there is no guarantee with the 1700OEM. some people pay more for a guaranteed TB-B but i don't see why pay $20 more on a $44 CPU!

overall this comp should serve you right. have fun building it

 

[Shmorq]

...also, i'll need a floppy drive. Do I need any extra cables?

The floppy cables should come with the motherboard.

-Shmorq

 

[nebula]

Standard Keyboard/Mouse Combo $18
In a previous post of mine, I linked to a Taisol heatsink at KDComputers for $9.95 + $5 S/H, it's decent and not very expensive. You can use the thermal pad on it if you don't want to use grease right now. You can always change that later.

 

[oupei]

all my stuff came in the mail today, i'm so excited. but first, is my tbred a or b? it says on it:
AXDA1700DUT3C 9489767270858
JUIHC 0312WPMW copyright1999 AMD
i know i should probably search the forums but I'm too excited now...

 

[TronX]

Originally posted by: oupei

ECS L7VTA KT400 motherboard
Athlon XP 2400+ thoroughbred processor
PNY 512 MB PC2700 DDR RAM
Gainward Geforce4 Ti-4200 vid card
Western Digital 7200rpm 120GB HD 8mb cache
Buslink 52x24x52 CD-RW
Envision EN-775E 17" Flat Screen Moniter
Sound Blaster Live 5.1 sound card
Logitech Z-640 5.1 channel speaker system
Dynapower Metis Case and 300W Power Supply

+3.3V +5V +12V Device (AMPS)
3 - 2 - 0.3 Motherboard w/ onboard devices
0 - 0 - 0.29 High Performance CPU FAN
0 - 0 - 0.26 (power supply fans)
0 - 5 - 0 Memory 1 PNY 512 MB PC2700 DDR RAM
0 - 0 - 6.4 Case Fans 4
6 - 0 - 0 Gainward Geforce4 Ti-4200 vid card
0.5 - 0.5 - 0 Sound Blaster Live 5.1 sound card
0.4 - 0.4 - 0 PCI Network Card
0 - 0.8 - 2 Western Digital 7200rpm 120GB HD 8mb cache
0 - 1.2 - 0.8 Buslink 52x24x52 CD-RW
0 - 0.8 - 0 Floppy
0 - 0.5 - 0 USB devices
0 - 0.25 - 0 Keyboard
0 - 0.25 - 0 Mouse
0 - 0.5 - 0 PCI Modem
0 - 1.6 - 0 FireWire
0 - 0 - 7.12 Thoroughbred 2400+

9.9A on 3.3V =32.67
13.8 on 5V =69
17.17 on 12V =206.04
=>307.71Watts

Safe to be at 85% of Max Load..
380x0.85={323}=85% Better
350x0.85={297.5}=85% Bad

The ~$50 Antec 350W (SL350) power supply has
28A on +3.3V good
35A on +5V good
16A on +12V Bad =>17.17

Enermax 350:
EG365P-VE FC
+3.3V 28A good
+5V 30A good
+12V 22A good
Not enough Watts.. Bad
[307.71Watts] (350Watts x 0.85={297.5}=85% Bad)

I think you should get an Enermax or Antec above 380Watts.
The 12Volt AMP overload would only matter if your using the 4 case fans.
I know most people will only use 2, But this matters because it's an
AMD XP that runs hot..

Also some systems have parts that use more
Watts to speed up the fans when parts get warm.. So you might be
okay and then later it crashes from the lack of power, but it looks like a
heat issue, when it really is not..

So your answer to the 300watt Antec question is.... No.