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Going to order this system Today - thoughts/suggestions please!

spartacuskzm

Senior member
Here is what I've got in my cart so far at Newegg.com (except for my $99 VisionTek GF3 Ti 200 which I already bought). Any thoughts/recommendations?

Case ENLIGHT EN-7237AZ MEDIUM TOWER P4 CASE - OEM with 340Watts $60.00
Cooling Fan Enermax Adjustable 12CM cooling fan. $16.00
Processor AMD 1600+/266 FSB Athlon XP PROCESSOR CPU - OEM $126.00
Mboard EPOX EP-8KHA+ VIA Apollo KT266A (VT8366A) $105.00
Memory CRUCIAL MICRON 256MB 32x64 PC 2100 DDR RAM - OEM $53.00
Hard Drive WESTERN DIGITAL 40GB 7200RPM WD400BB CAVIAR Hard Drive -OEM $87.00
Video Card VisionTek GF3 Ti 200 (BestBuy) $99.00
Sound Card CREATIVE LABS SOUND BLASTER AUDIGY WITH 1390 4 - OEM $62.00
CD RW AOPEN CRW2440 24x10x40 CDRW - RETAIL $85.00
CPU Fan Thermal Int Dr.Thermal TI-V77L Socket 462/370 Athlon XP 1900+ $22.00
3.5 Floppy Teac 1.44MB 3.5 Inch Floppy Drive $9.00
NIC LINKSYS LNE100TX ETHERFAST 10/100 LAN CARD V.4.1 W/ WAKEUP $15.00
OS Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition $100.00

Total $839.00

I already have a mouse, keyboard and monitor, but nothing else. Things I'm not sure I need to buy include:
1.) SCSI/IDE Controller
2.) CPU Thermal Paste/Grease
3.) Video Card Fan/Cooler

Please, any suggestions would be very much appreciated. This is my first time building my computer and I don't want to fry it on the first day. Also, if there are any little things I might have omitted please let me know.


Also, sorry for the poor formatting. On my screen the list is nice, but the preview looks terrible.

Thanks!!!



 
The closer I get to ordering the more questions I have. I realized that yes, I do need the thermal paste. Now about the case cooling. The FAQ says you need one in and one out. Can somebody tell me if that means that I need to order 2 of whatever Fan I want and have them pointing in diff directions.

Anybody else have suggestions for the system? I'd like to order in the next few hours - and I'm thinking I'll add the DVD Rom.

Thanks!
 


<< dump the westerrn digital!!!!!!! go maxtor or ibm! >>



oups....no ibm (shudder)..get the dx740 maxtor 40gig

besides of that it looks good

oh...and btw. you really think you can still get a gf3 ti 200 for $99 at BB ? Ehrm...i wouldnt count on that 🙂


 
Yea dump the WD, go with IBM! I would change your mobo to the Abit KR7a-RAID or the KG7-RAID. I have the KG7-RAID and the raid is soooooooooooo fast! Def get 512mb of ram also. Oh yea, get the retail cpu, its better in the long run.
 
This is one of the first systems I have seen that I actually like the choices....

OUch 256mb crucial is up to 53.00??? I got mine about 1 month ago for 29.00 dollars...definitely get the 512mb, especially with winxp...

Screw all those guys telling you to dump WD...just a buch of ppl rehashing what they heard, most have no knowledge or facts to back it up. Reminds me of most of the plextor fanboys around here...If you got 3 year warranty go with it. I have benched both the wd and the maxtor 40gig drives on same system and the wd benched faster in 3 different programs plus scored a bit higher in 3dmark2001. I have always been a maxtor fan but I have not been as happy late with performance of this higher drives. So I got a 40gig wd at fyres for 99.00 bucks. (don't kow if that is still good). I tested IBM and it benched well, but it generally cost a bit more, and the difference doesn't equate to performance.
 
Case Fans, have the front bottom sucking into the case and the rear fan blowing out to create airflow.
Looks like a nice system - I switched from a SB sound card to the TurtleBeach Santa Cruz, you can get a retail box for $59 at Comp Usa this week.
🙂
 
FLEXY - Thanks.....I already bought the Video Card and got the rebate ;-)...just a matter of getting it back.

Piranha - 512MB it is ;-)

Duvie - thanks for the compliment - too bad it was just the "monkey throwing darts at a board" that configured it...guess I just got lucky.

Mainlander - thanks for the explanation. Does that mean that the one fan I bought is enough?

Gotta order it soon...festering over this darn thing is cutting into my work performance...too much of that and I won't be able to afford anything :-(

So I'm not missing anything else??? Whoppeeee



 
WAIT WAIT OH MY GOD YOU'RE MISSING SOMETHING CRITICAL!!!

No I'm just kidding it looks like a great system 🙂 Oh do you have speakers? I couldn't tell if the sound card comes with some cheapies, if not I didn't see them in your list.

You should have 2 case fans at a minimum. One goes in the front of the case to suck air in, one goes in the back to push air out. I have 4 because I'm paranoid and I enjoy the sound of windtunnels.
 
get more ram, 512mb will be much better for WinXP... I would also suggest going with an IBM drive, all of my computers have IBM drives and none of them have failed yet
 
PipBoy (or anybody else) - how do you install in both the front and back? I know there are bays on the front, but what about the back. Sorry I'm so dense, but eh, what can I do?
 
1.) Get an AMD approved power supply. Preferrably 400W for future upgrades. Check out Antec, they work awesome with the 8KHA+.

2.) Are you going to overclock? If so, get the Thermalright SK-6, but make sure you follow all the instructions and mount it right.

3.) Buy some good thermal paste and follow the instructions, put a VERY SMALL amount on, otherwise you will damage the CPU.

4.) Follow all the instructions, period.

5.) Checkout. 🙂
 
If the case doesn't have any place on the back to mount a fan there isn't much you can do about it. I looked at the manual for that case at Enlight's website, and it looks like that is the deal. I wouldn't worry about it, just make sure you have some ventilation around the case and you'll be ok.
 
The enlight should come with a fan in the front......I bought like 10 of those 7237 cases and the recent ones...and thats like 1999 model and up has a place for an 80mm fan under the psu. Just buy and extra case fan and make sure you get screws for it...thats all you need
 
yeah, the 7237 is a nice case, sadly i didnt know what i was doing when i bought the case, so i went with the stock 300 watt psu 🙁
 
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