mid-range system build - critique me!

[tjpark1111]

AMD 3000+ Single-Core Socket 939 Venice E3 1.8 Ghz 512KB 90nm MicroProcessor - $111 shipped @ NewEgg

EPoX 9NPA+ Ultra nForce4 Ultra ATX Motherboard - $98 shipped @ ZipZoomFly

OCZ Value Series 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR400 PC3200 2x512MB 2.5-4-4-8 Memory - $79 shipped @ ZipZoomFly

ATI R520 Sapphire X1800XT 512MB GDDR3 PCI-E 16x Video Card - $285/$255AR shipped @ NewEgg

Zalman USA VF-900 Cu VGA Cooler w/80mm Fan and 2 Heatpipes - $40 shipped @ NewEgg

Western Digital Caviar SE16 320GB 16MB Cache SATAII 3.0/Gbps 7200RPM Hard Drive - $126 shipped @ ZipZoomFly

Antec Lifestyle Series Sonata II Black Silent ATX Mid-Tower Case w/SP-450 ATX12V PSU - $101 shipped @ ClubIT

ViewSonic VA1912wb 19? 8ms Widescreen (1440x900) 500:1 LCD Monitor - $258 shipped @ Buy.com

Logitech X-530 Black 5.1 Surround Sound Speakers - $60 shipped @ ZipZoomFly

Components from Various Vendors - $1158/$1128AR shipped

Thermalright SI-120 Aluminum CPU Heatsink w/5 Copper Heatpipes

2 120mm Low Speed Black Yate Loon D12SL-12(1350rpm, 47cfm, 28dba) Case Fans

3.5g of Arctic Silver 5 All-Silver Thermal Compound

30ml Articlean 1 and Articlean 2 Thermal Compound Remover

Zalman ZM-NB47J Blue Aluminum Passive Northbridge Heatsink

Thermalright XP-120 Heatsink 120mm Fan Replacement Clips

Components from Jab-Tech - $75 shipped

Total System - $1233/$1203AR shipped

Comments:
I'm following the mid-range anandtech budget of around $1250, what do you guys think?
I've been researching for quite some time now, reading up on articles all over the net, and that's why I only have around a hundred posts. For my uses, single-core and 1gb of ram should serve me fine for gaming and other just basic tasks. The route to ATI is partly because of the price, better image quality(HDR+AA), equal to better performance, and ATI's Avivo being very efficient at video encoding and decoding, MUCH more so than NVIDIA's PureVideo technology. I know about the voltmod on the 7900GT but I am a newb and I just have a bad feeling about messing things up even with everything stock. When I feel a bit more confident about computers maybe on my next build, I'll go for v-mods. About $55 would go into a conductive pen, a digital multimeter, and an nv silencer, so by then I would rather get an X1900XT. For some more experienced users, I understand how the 7900GT's are selling like hotcakes, running almost as fast as an X1900XT after the v-mod, much cooler running cores, smaller profiles, and better warranties. I think I'll be satisfied with the X-530 speakers and the onboard sound since I'm not really disappointed with some cheap headphones on the crappiest onboard sound ever on some laptop. Every other component seems self-explanatory, with the epox board a good overclocker to bring the 3000+ up, the value ram(i dont care about dividers), a large hard drive for all the media, an expensive but excellent zalman cooler that'll last me quite a bit of time, one of the few quality cases that include a good power supply and with a very reasonable price tag, and a widescreen monitor that has excellent reviews and the same or cheaper price than a 4:3 monitor. I just isolated most of the accesories to jab-tech since they had pretty good prices, and the reason for the SI-120 and not the ninja is because the SI-120 gives much more airflow to motherboard components(VRM, MOSFETs), directly relating to stability on higher OCs and longer life. I'm not sure if the passive zalman on the northbridge will sustain overclocking, anyone have any comments? A 120mm fan will be near it as an intake. Thanks for all of your expert help guys.

UPDATE: looks like a $30 rebate just popped up on the sapphire x1800xt, more $ saved for me!

 

[tjpark1111]

bump

 

[Figure]

looks ok i guess...u will need to get that 3000+ to atleast 2.4ghz to get the most out of that card...

if this is a budget rig,u may want to consider the 7600GT ?

 

[LOUISSSSS]

agreed. the amd 3000+ is quite slow compared to its AMD brothers, i'd opt for AT LEAST the 3200+. if not the 3500 or 3700. and i have a ninja and there is no overheating on any parts of my motherboard. i'd also go with the asus a8n5x motherboard instead of that epox motherbaord. asus has better reliability in general and whoever says otherwise should look up why asus sells more motherboards than any other manufacturer alone

 

[Ultralight]

tjpark111, you will absolutely love the motherboard. I just built a new rig this past Tuesday using this very board and it went beautifully. I am so glad I purchased it and I got it from ZZF just as you will. Yes ASUS makes some great motherboards and many are very reliable but their customer support is absolutely some of the worst out there. I and many others speak from experience (of course I'm expecting flamming on this one). EPoX listens to their customers. How do I know? The latest BIOS for the 9NPA mainboards from mid-April was a direct result of people calling and writing. Personally they answered my tech question in less than 24 hours.

I think you should at least consider the 3200+ Venice and if you have the money and want to stick with single core the 3700+ is the hottest AMD single core going. I wish I had the money to purchase it when I bought my build or even more so the dual core 3800+ Manchester.

The wisdom is that when buying a case that comes with a power supply ditch the power supply because they are not well made. I am not sure if this holds true with Antec though.

For a few $$ you can get a better video card.

You obviously did your homework. I think you'll have a very nice rig.

 

[tjpark1111]

Originally posted by: Ultralight
tjpark111, you will absolutely love the motherboard. I just built a new rig this past Tuesday using this very board and it went beautifully. I am so glad I purchased it and I got it from ZZF just as you will. Yes ASUS makes some great motherboards and many are very reliable but their customer support is absolutely some of the worst out there. I and many others speak from experience (of course I'm expecting flamming on this one). EPoX listens to their customers. How do I know? The latest BIOS for the 9NPA mainboards from mid-April was a direct result of people calling and writing. Personally they answered my tech question in less than 24 hours.

I think you should at least consider the 3200+ Venice and if you have the money and want to stick with single core the 3700+ is the hottest AMD single core going. I wish I had the money to purchase it when I bought my build or even more so the dual core 3800+ Manchester.

The wisdom is that when buying a case that comes with a power supply ditch the power supply because they are not well made. I am not sure if this holds true with Antec though.

For a few $$ you can get a better video card.

You obviously did your homework. I think you'll have a very nice rig.

thanks for actually reading my post, unlike the other person above you. I considered the 3200 and the 3700, but it seems that OCing the 3000+ is my best bet, since I am satisfied with my current machine which has a 2.6ghz celeron, so dual-core doesn't even need to be mentioned. I recently posted a question regarding which was to be recommended, and in what terms does OC'ing differ, and the .2~.3ghz differences ain't worth it in my opinion, especially when the 3000+=$111 and the 3700+=$235 and over. Over double the price just for a little more OC and double the cache? I think not. For the person that recommended ASUS, I don't think that board OCs all that well, and hottest selling does not mean better, i.e. iPods. You are right that the wisdom is that you ditch the power supply, but the one that comes with the Sonata II is decent to say the least, with 32A on the 12V rail combined, and even getting a pretty good rating @ silentpcreview and others. I agree with you though, that this is more of an exception than the rule. I think I've already gone far enough to spend more money on the video card, since even a 7600GT would have served me well, and the X1800XT is about as far as I need, looking at the numbers. If you would still suggest the higher speed processors(I understand the higher multipliers, and would result on less stress on the VRM, NB, etc.), I will drop the VF900 and get the Accelero for $30 saving me like $5 lol(hey, every penny counts!), and drop to a 250GB samsung spinpoint(saving me around $36)=step up to the 3200+.

 

[Bobthelost]

A very nice build, the Antec PSU isn't bad in terms of rating and delivering it, but the TPII range does not age well and it may need replacing in a few years time.

Only thing is that you have the XP 120 not the SI 120 that you refer to, typo probably.

 

[Ultralight]

Originally posted by: tjpark1111

Originally posted by: Ultralight
tjpark111, you will absolutely love the motherboard. I just built a new rig this past Tuesday using this very board and it went beautifully. I am so glad I purchased it and I got it from ZZF just as you will. Yes ASUS makes some great motherboards and many are very reliable but their customer support is absolutely some of the worst out there. I and many others speak from experience (of course I'm expecting flamming on this one). EPoX listens to their customers. How do I know? The latest BIOS for the 9NPA mainboards from mid-April was a direct result of people calling and writing. Personally they answered my tech question in less than 24 hours.

I think you should at least consider the 3200+ Venice and if you have the money and want to stick with single core the 3700+ is the hottest AMD single core going. I wish I had the money to purchase it when I bought my build or even more so the dual core 3800+ Manchester.

The wisdom is that when buying a case that comes with a power supply ditch the power supply because they are not well made. I am not sure if this holds true with Antec though.

For a few $$ you can get a better video card.

You obviously did your homework. I think you'll have a very nice rig.

thanks for actually reading my post, unlike the other person above you. I considered the 3200 and the 3700, but it seems that OCing the 3000+ is my best bet, since I am satisfied with my current machine which has a 2.6ghz celeron, so dual-core doesn't even need to be mentioned. I recently posted a question regarding which was to be recommended, and in what terms does OC'ing differ, and the .2~.3ghz differences ain't worth it in my opinion, especially when the 3000+=$111 and the 3700+=$235 and over. Over double the price just for a little more OC and double the cache? I think not. For the person that recommended ASUS, I don't think that board OCs all that well, and hottest selling does not mean better, i.e. iPods. You are right that the wisdom is that you ditch the power supply, but the one that comes with the Sonata II is decent to say the least, with 32A on the 12V rail combined, and even getting a pretty good rating @ silentpcreview and others. I agree with you though, that this is more of an exception than the rule. I think I've already gone far enough to spend more money on the video card, since even a 7600GT would have served me well, and the X1800XT is about as far as I need, looking at the numbers. If you would still suggest the higher speed processors(I understand the higher multipliers, and would result on less stress on the VRM, NB, etc.), I will drop the VF900 and get the Accelero for $30 saving me like $5 lol(hey, every penny counts!), and drop to a 250GB samsung spinpoint(saving me around $36)=step up to the 3200+.

Sounds good! And it truly sounds like you know what you are doing when ocing which means you'll get a good deal more out of your 3000+ so I think you are spending your money well. The thing about that EPoX board is that it is rock solid at stock settings and a good overclocker, too. It doesn't reach the levels of a DFI but I also wouldn't want to deal with the issues they can have.

Glad to hear that the Antec power supply has 32v on the 12 rail. If wasn't an Antec psu combined with the case I'd say ditch it, but in this case you don't need to. And speaking of Antec I called them yesterday on their 800 number -- 800 number!!! How many companies offer that?! -- and it rang twice and I was connected to someone who spoke English! It 2 minutes he dealt with a build issue that was my fault -- connecting the case fans to the wrong molex connectors. Great customer service there for me.

Good luck there, tjpark1111. You'll love the motherboard and if you do have issues there are many people on the thread that runs here that can help with sound, sold advice.

 

[tjpark1111]

Originally posted by: Bobthelost
A very nice build, the Antec PSU isn't bad in terms of rating and delivering it, but the TPII range does not age well and it may need replacing in a few years time.

Only thing is that you have the XP 120 not the SI 120 that you refer to, typo probably.

LOL I think you actually got confused. Look, it says XP-120 replacement fan clips, and it says SI-120 above it. I got the replacement fan clips since the yate loons have closed type corners, and the clips that come with the SI-120 only works with open-cornered fans. Thanks for all the support.

 

[tjpark1111]

Originally posted by: LOUISSSSS
agreed. the amd 3000+ is quite slow compared to its AMD brothers, i'd opt for AT LEAST the 3200+. if not the 3500 or 3700. and i have a ninja and there is no overheating on any parts of my motherboard. i'd also go with the asus a8n5x motherboard instead of that epox motherbaord. asus has better reliability in general and whoever says otherwise should look up why asus sells more motherboards than any other manufacturer alone

I didn't mean the installing the ninja causes overheating, then every owner of the ninja should obviously be having problems. I meant that the SI-120 is a lot better at cooling the motherboard components than the ninja, I've read many things about this issue @ silentpcreview.

 

[tjpark1111]

Originally posted by: Ultralight
tjpark111, you will absolutely love the motherboard. I just built a new rig this past Tuesday using this very board and it went beautifully. I am so glad I purchased it and I got it from ZZF just as you will. Yes ASUS makes some great motherboards and many are very reliable but their customer support is absolutely some of the worst out there. I and many others speak from experience (of course I'm expecting flamming on this one). EPoX listens to their customers. How do I know? The latest BIOS for the 9NPA mainboards from mid-April was a direct result of people calling and writing. Personally they answered my tech question in less than 24 hours.

I think you should at least consider the 3200+ Venice and if you have the money and want to stick with single core the 3700+ is the hottest AMD single core going. I wish I had the money to purchase it when I bought my build or even more so the dual core 3800+ Manchester.

The wisdom is that when buying a case that comes with a power supply ditch the power supply because they are not well made. I am not sure if this holds true with Antec though.

For a few $$ you can get a better video card.

You obviously did your homework. I think you'll have a very nice rig.

I'm quite surprised to hear that the epox support is good! The last time I was hanging around at the EPoX owners sticky thread I saw many complain about horrible support. I guess because they cried and whined EPoX actually listened! BTW, I was considering a fan controller for my yate loons but it seems that they are already quiet on 12v, and if needed, there are 3 headers on the mobo so I can hook them up and control it in software. One thing that I just remembered is that the EPoX board, for the first time, used high-quality Sanyo caps, good to know also. Sorry for the triple post, just bumping.