I bought my system, now what?

[mustard010]

Ok, I just purchased new parts from NewEgg.Com(should be arriving on Saturday)... need some help on some questions:

My new rig:

P4 2.4C GHz 800 FSB - Retail
512 DDRAM PC3200 Premier OCZ
Abit is7-G
ATI Radeon 9800 SE 128 MB 8x
WD Raptor 10K RPM, 36.7 GB
Antec case with 430 powers upply
Artec 52x24x52
Logitech Z-640 5.1 70 Watts Speaker

Now, what is the average temps, or what is the recommended temps suppose to be for the P4, and does the fan + heatsink included with the box cool the P4 enough? I don't know if they included it, but would thermal grease be important?(Had this in my AMD system)

Next, this setup looks alright correct?

Suppose I want to remove the onboard sound to buy a Sound Card, can I do this using the bios?
Would you recommend me purchasing a expensive sound card instead of the onboard video?

I don't even want to go to OC'ing(I might do something wrong, killing my machine =\)

Last but not least, the RAM, do I need to purchase another set of those OCZ ram? If so, is it required, or how will it improve performance with 2 sticks of the same RAM?(Not just by the #of ram =D)

Thanks for your help guys, and thanks for picking this system for me =D!

 

[Duvie]

Yes...you should have in whatever amount you decided on whether it be 512mb or 1gb of ram got it i 2 sticks....You are not taking adavantage of one of the benefits of the i865 platform and that is the dual channel ddr. The p4's 800fsb bandwidth is massive with 6.4gb/s of bandwidth and 1 stick of pc3200 is only going to deliver 3.2gb/s. You need 2 stick of pc3200 (2x3.2gb/s) to equal the 6.4gb/s of bandwdith the cpu can handle.

This is not like the scam of a dual channel ddr with the amd chips where the cpu is already bandwidth lmited and the second stick does little of anything other then benfiting onboard vid if you used it.

 

[lordtyranus2]

Duvie is right. Dual channel is a must. If you can't afford 1 GB, go 2x256.

I don't even want to go to OC'ing(I might do something wrong, killing my machine =\)

If you do it right, nothing will happen, other than you wasting a lot of time. I just built my first PC a month ago, Barton 2500+, and I was new to it too. But after I read up a lot on this site and others, it went without a problem. 25% overclock. Thermal grease will help with OC, but at stock its not needed. Make sure you apply it properly if you use it.

I hope you made sure that 9800 SE is softmoddable. Otherwise, its not worth it.

Suppose I want to remove the onboard sound to buy a Sound Card, can I do this using the bios?

Yup, you can disable it in BIOS. Obviously, you can't remove the physical part. But I'd reccomend trying out onboard sound first, then if you don't like it, order a sound card.

 

[mustard010]

Softmoddable? What ?

Yeah, I forgot about the dual channel... gonna order another stick next time then

I bought this video card, hope it's what you say it is:

SapphireTech Radeon 9800 SE AGP 8X 128MB DDR Video Card w TV-Out, DVI & CRT Powered by ATI

 

[DoobieOnline]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but the Sapphire 9800SE is going to drag your system down in gaming. Some people have been able to unlock the extra 4 pipelines on 9800SE cards and overclock them to 9800 non-pro or 9800 Pro speeds, but I'm pretty sure the Sapphire model is not able to do this because of its layout. If at all possible, you may want to consider returning the 9800SE and picking up a 9600XT when they become available later this month, possibly November, for under $199 retail. With the retail ATi 9600XT, you'll also receive a voucher for Half-Life 2, even though it's been delayed until April 04. The 9800SE gets kicked around pretty badly in benchmarks, losing to the 9600 Pro in many cases. Hope this helps!

Doobie

 

[mustard010]

It's alright

I am on budget wise.. this vid card is fine costed less then other video cards

Anyway, my point being, I just want this card to be better then a Geforce 4 MX 440 =D

 

[zodder]

Anyway, my point being, I just want this card to be better then a Geforce 4 MX 440 =D

Mission accomplished.