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my new system plan, please comment

T

trahma

Junior Member
I've been planning on rebuilding my system now for the past 2 years and I'm finally getting around to it. Here's my plan on what I'm ordering:

Motherboard: ASUS A7V266
Processor: AMD XP1900+
RAM: 512 Megabytes PC2100 DDR
Video: ATi Radeon 8500
Storage: 80.2GB 7200RPM hard drive

Existing equipment added:
Sound card: Creative Labs PCI128
CD-ROM: HP4110i 4x/2x/20x
DVD Drive: Generic DVD Drive

I'm planning on replacing my case as well, but don't really know of any good places to look. I'm more of a network guy so I'm not too familiar with newer hardware. Are there any pitfalls I should worry about? I recent assisted a friend in building a 1.4ghz TBird and we had major problems cooling. What would everyone recommend for cooling? My friend has a VANTEC CCK-6035D with Arctic Silver II for the compund and his processor runs in the upper 50's. I generally run my computer 24/7 so I don't know if this will have long term side effects if I run this hot. This is for the most part, my main concern. Should I look into a liquid cooling system?

As far as my motherboard is concerned, is it a sound choice or should I look elsewhere? I've heard the Athlon XP has a special diode not being used in most motherboards, do any support it?

My general plan for the system is to have a game where I can play games and get an awesome fps rate. I'm not too worried about the general applications functioning fine because they seem to work fine with my Celeron 433, not to mention the XP1900+ will as is cook through these.

Please comment, and if I've made any bad choices let me know. I'm hoping to start ordering parts this weekend and get a start on it the during the week.

Thanks in advance for any comments

--Justin
 
Looks like a nice system. If you want to cut any costs, go for an XP1600+. It has the best price/performance of the bunch. As for a case, I love my Antec case. Very big so you have plenty of room to work and nice cooling.
 
I'm actually considering the XP1600+ since it is the best price for performance. Part of me is saying go greedy and get the fastest since I don't upgrade often though.
 
The speed isn't a big difference. The 1900+ is twice the price and only 200mhz faster. How long do you think you'll wait before another upgrade?
 
At least a year.. probably more like 2 or 3. It all depends on my job situation. I have extra cash now, so I figure its good to spend it on my computer rather than eating out.
 
How do you like your PNY GeForce3? I'm a little split on the Geforce 3 and Radeon 8500. I've heard good things on both ends. I've always been an avid ATi supporter so thats whats leaning me there now. 5 of my 6 video cards have been ati =)
 
I couldn't be happier. I got it for $140 from CC (got some deals😉). The sole reason I wouldn't get the 8500 is the driver issue. It's just history that ATI doesn't make the best drivers. With the last release it looks like they got it right though, but you never know how future releases will be.
 
Otherwise the system looks nice, except for...

Motherboard: ASUS A7V266

Make sure you get an Asus A7V266-E and not A7V266. Latter is based around the VIA KT266 chipset which has less-than-impressive performance and bad reputation, whereas former is quite possibly the best performing and most solid Athlon motherboard in existence.
 
Thanks for the heads up. The 2 places I've been looking at ordering my parts from (Compbuzz.com and PCBoost.com) don't even list the A7V266-E. Looks like I'll have to check into some different places.

I think I'm going to try going with the Vantec CCK-6035D fan and I'm still not sure about my case. I'm thinking maybe the FrozenCPU Blizzard 360. Its a little pricey though, $119 for the case, plus an additional $30-$50 for the power supply. Maybe I'm wrong, is this price alright? I have access to tools where I can mod my case on my own at a professional level so that isn't so much an issue.
 
I would listen to everything that AMDPowered is telling you, he's right on the money with his suggestions.

I got an AMD 1600 o/c it to a 1900 very easily (it's only a 200Mhz difference), and have not noticed a big difference.
3DMark2001 showed about 700 points more, and CStrike maps load a bit faster.

As for the 3D card, the Radeon8500 is a great card with down-right horrible drivers. By the time they get their driver issues worked out NVidia is going to have a new card out that will kick it's ass.

Go with a GeForce3 Ti-200 (it's anand's recommendation too) - and the best part about NVidia are enhanced drivers that come out every couple of weeks. So you'll save over a 100 bucks that you can put towards a new NVidia card, and in the meantime your current one just keeps getting faster. How could you ask for anything better than that?

Anyways, also make sure that you get a board based on VIA's KT266A chipset, they're fast as hell, I know - I got one (Epox).
 
Definitely get the A7V266-E, you should be able to find one easily, check on pricewatch for the best prices.

For a heatsink go with a SK6 ($29) and a 30cfm Delta from crazypc , that combo provides good cooling and not too noisy. Make sure you pick up some Arctic Silver II thermal grease.

Not sure if you want to go with a Black system, if so I got the Fong Kai 320. It's an excellent case with great cooling properties. Pick one up here
go with a Enermax 365P-VE-FC (350 Watt).

They also have all of the black peripherals that you need.

I'd go with a Geforce 3 Ti200, a little cheaper than the 8500, and no bugs, works with all games.
 
i would get an nForce, and just use the onboard sound....wait for the asus board to come out...its kinda expensive and the performance doesnt really justify so...either way its all good...or u could get a xp1700...they not that bad in price...radeon 8500 is awesome from what i hear in reviews, just get the latest drivers...i think they can be found for around 200...try searching the hot deals forum if u wanna save some money
 
SK6's are nice and all. No offense to anyone who has one, but if you wanna get serious and put together a respectable rig then get an Alpha. They're 80mm, you can get a 4000RPM fan for it that can move 2x as much air and is hulleva-lot quieter. The only problem is, since it's so big you gotta check if your mobo has mounts for it around the socket. I know newegg's got a link to a compatibility page if your interested. Just go to the product page for Alpha heatsinks on newegg.

But the temp diff. between an SK6 and an Alpha can be upwards of 6 degrees, depending on airflow. 🙂
 
I've never really said anything about the quality of advice that people give out on the Anandtech forums, I kinda think that it's reader beware. But in this case it would be criminal not to make an exception. I warn you, disregard what warriorfan23 wrote. Almost everything he said was complete BS. The only thing I would agree with him on is that the ASUS board is completely over-priced and that the Epox board is probly just as fast.

Listen to AMDpwred, not warriorfan23
 
I was about to say the same exact thing Cryption.

Anyways, I just ordered an XP1600+ and the Alpha PAL8045. It's a lot cheaper than the 1900+ and the 1600+ will overclock easily with the alpha to 1900+ levels. Hope that helps ya some. Look around for some reviews etc on the web to pick out your hardware.
 
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