Hey everyone,
*clears throat, adjusts mic* "My name is Buzz, and I'm an ex-Mac user." Sigh... Resistance is futile; I have been assimilated.
So I've entered the realm of the "PC enthusiast in training" (politically correct term for "n00b"?)
My goal was to build a new system -my first- with a good price vs performance ratio that didn't sound like a leaf blower when running, and would allow me to try my hand at basic overclocking. I would appreciate any comments on how I could have done better, alternative hardware, etc.
Case (found on the anandtech hot deals forum thread) $33.65
Asus P4P800 Deluxe mobo $144
P4C 2.4 Retail $174
Crucial PC3200 2x512 Meg DIMMS $180
Zalman CNPS7000-Cu heatsink/fan $34 (great price...Best I could find. Link )
Arctic Silver Ceramique thermal grease 2.7g $5
3 Panaflo L1a 80mm case fans (found on the anandtech hot deals forum thread) $11.25
40 GB 7200RPM 2Meg cache Samsung HD $62
Plextor PlexWriter Premium CD-RW $113
Samsung Floppy Drive $8
Windows XP Home $90
Total: $854.90
I'm planning on using a PNY GeForce 4 Ti4400, keyboard, mouse, monitor I already have.
I must say that I'm amazed I was able to put together a relatively fast and quiet system for the same price I paid for my soon-to-be-stripped-with-malice Compaq 1.3 Celeron I bought just a year ago.
Why I bought what I did...
The Case- Found on the deals forum here at anandtech. Great price, with a power supply. I'm still wary of this decision. I'd love to hear your experience with this case/power supply.
P4P800 Deluxe- Researched mobos like crazy. Visited the usual haunts for mobo info. The final decision was based on anandtech's pick of this board as "best mid-range Pentium 4 motherboard currently on the market."
P4C 2.4 CPU- Supposedly a great overclocker. Fantastic price. Comments?
Crucial RAM- OMG, I must have spent five days researching memory for this board. What a nightmare. In the end, I took anandtech's recommendation of saving cash and buying Crucial. Despite hours of searching for overclocking results using the 512 meg PC3200 Crucial DIMMS on a P4P800 Deluxe, I have come up with zip. I'd LOVE to hear how successful you guys have been in overclocking this particular Crucial DIMM on a P4P800 Deluxe. Should I have ponied up the extra bucks for Kingston, OCZ, or Corsair? Many hours spent on this subject have only left me with more questions. One observation I have made that might be totally out in left field: It seems to me that the newer PC3500, PC3700, and PC4000 DIMMS are nothing more than PC3200 DIMMS that have had their timings relaxed to run at the higher bus speeds. Shouldn't I be able to just buy fast (low timings) PC3200 DIMMS, relax the timings, and accomplish the same thing?
Zalman CNPS7000-Cu- Really hard decision. I wanted maximum cooling, but minimum noise. According to this article at overclockers.com, the CNPS7000-Cu scored number 6 in air cooling efficiency, with a "very low noise" comment. This thing tops the scale at over 700 grams, which puts it way over the Intel recomendation of (I think this is right) 450 grams. Zalman even has a liability disclaimer on their website about this. Is it really a cause for concern?
Arctic Silver Ceramique- I read on a board somewhere that Arctic Silver 2 has some electrically conductive materials in it, and that there is a small risk of shorting out your CPU. Me being the n00b that I am, I chickened out, and got the non-conductive stuff instead. Real world experience comments with this new goop would be great.
Panaflo case fans- Many sites say this is the quietest, most efficient case fan you can get. Any better alternatives for the same noise?
Samsung HD- I really wanted the Western Digital 360GD Raptor, but ran out of money.
PlexWriter CD-RW- On Maximum PC's "Best of the Best" list in the July issue.
Floppy- LoL, call me sentimental (or just "mental"). I was going to go without a floppy, but I've read that Asus will sometimes issue BIOS revisions that can't use their Windows based BIOS updater; you gotta use a floppy.
Windows XP Home- Still a n00b at the windows OS; I'm still trying to find the Finder.
I'm still just absolutely amazed by how little I spent. If I was to add a low end DX9 vid card for 200 bucks, and a new keyboard/mouse for $35, I'd have a completely new and quite capable system for under $1,100. Guess I'm just used to Apple's prices.:disgust:
Anyway, thanks in advance for your thoughts, criticisms, suggestions.
*clears throat, adjusts mic* "My name is Buzz, and I'm an ex-Mac user." Sigh... Resistance is futile; I have been assimilated.
So I've entered the realm of the "PC enthusiast in training" (politically correct term for "n00b"?)
My goal was to build a new system -my first- with a good price vs performance ratio that didn't sound like a leaf blower when running, and would allow me to try my hand at basic overclocking. I would appreciate any comments on how I could have done better, alternative hardware, etc.
Case (found on the anandtech hot deals forum thread) $33.65
Asus P4P800 Deluxe mobo $144
P4C 2.4 Retail $174
Crucial PC3200 2x512 Meg DIMMS $180
Zalman CNPS7000-Cu heatsink/fan $34 (great price...Best I could find. Link )
Arctic Silver Ceramique thermal grease 2.7g $5
3 Panaflo L1a 80mm case fans (found on the anandtech hot deals forum thread) $11.25
40 GB 7200RPM 2Meg cache Samsung HD $62
Plextor PlexWriter Premium CD-RW $113
Samsung Floppy Drive $8
Windows XP Home $90
Total: $854.90
I'm planning on using a PNY GeForce 4 Ti4400, keyboard, mouse, monitor I already have.
I must say that I'm amazed I was able to put together a relatively fast and quiet system for the same price I paid for my soon-to-be-stripped-with-malice Compaq 1.3 Celeron I bought just a year ago.
Why I bought what I did...
The Case- Found on the deals forum here at anandtech. Great price, with a power supply. I'm still wary of this decision. I'd love to hear your experience with this case/power supply.
P4P800 Deluxe- Researched mobos like crazy. Visited the usual haunts for mobo info. The final decision was based on anandtech's pick of this board as "best mid-range Pentium 4 motherboard currently on the market."
P4C 2.4 CPU- Supposedly a great overclocker. Fantastic price. Comments?
Crucial RAM- OMG, I must have spent five days researching memory for this board. What a nightmare. In the end, I took anandtech's recommendation of saving cash and buying Crucial. Despite hours of searching for overclocking results using the 512 meg PC3200 Crucial DIMMS on a P4P800 Deluxe, I have come up with zip. I'd LOVE to hear how successful you guys have been in overclocking this particular Crucial DIMM on a P4P800 Deluxe. Should I have ponied up the extra bucks for Kingston, OCZ, or Corsair? Many hours spent on this subject have only left me with more questions. One observation I have made that might be totally out in left field: It seems to me that the newer PC3500, PC3700, and PC4000 DIMMS are nothing more than PC3200 DIMMS that have had their timings relaxed to run at the higher bus speeds. Shouldn't I be able to just buy fast (low timings) PC3200 DIMMS, relax the timings, and accomplish the same thing?
Zalman CNPS7000-Cu- Really hard decision. I wanted maximum cooling, but minimum noise. According to this article at overclockers.com, the CNPS7000-Cu scored number 6 in air cooling efficiency, with a "very low noise" comment. This thing tops the scale at over 700 grams, which puts it way over the Intel recomendation of (I think this is right) 450 grams. Zalman even has a liability disclaimer on their website about this. Is it really a cause for concern?
Arctic Silver Ceramique- I read on a board somewhere that Arctic Silver 2 has some electrically conductive materials in it, and that there is a small risk of shorting out your CPU. Me being the n00b that I am, I chickened out, and got the non-conductive stuff instead. Real world experience comments with this new goop would be great.
Panaflo case fans- Many sites say this is the quietest, most efficient case fan you can get. Any better alternatives for the same noise?
Samsung HD- I really wanted the Western Digital 360GD Raptor, but ran out of money.
PlexWriter CD-RW- On Maximum PC's "Best of the Best" list in the July issue.
Floppy- LoL, call me sentimental (or just "mental"). I was going to go without a floppy, but I've read that Asus will sometimes issue BIOS revisions that can't use their Windows based BIOS updater; you gotta use a floppy.
Windows XP Home- Still a n00b at the windows OS; I'm still trying to find the Finder.
I'm still just absolutely amazed by how little I spent. If I was to add a low end DX9 vid card for 200 bucks, and a new keyboard/mouse for $35, I'd have a completely new and quite capable system for under $1,100. Guess I'm just used to Apple's prices.:disgust:
Anyway, thanks in advance for your thoughts, criticisms, suggestions.
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