New Computer Build

[poncherelli2]

Im in the process of piecing together a new system and need some help in a few areas. I already have keyboard/mouse/speakers/lcd and an 80gb 8mb cache maxtor HD i'm going to use as a seconday drive in the new system and a turtle beach santa cruz sound card as well. I'd like to OC this system to something like 2.4-2.5ghz if possible.

The parts im looking at are as follows:

Case: Antec p160--------- 105$

PSU: Seasonic S12 430W---------94$

CPU: Venice 3200+ ---------- 190$

Motherboard: Chaintech VNF4/Ultra -------------88$

HSF: Zalman CNPS7700 AlCu------------- 34$

HD: Maxtor DiamondMax10 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache Serial ATA150 Hard Drive ---- $122

DVD-RW: NEC 3540A --------- 42$


The parts that I am undecided on and need help choosing:
Ram- I want 1gb for now but may upgrade to 2gb in a little while, so I dont know if i should get 1x1gb stick or 2x512 gb sticks now (if i do this, will 4x512=2gb be ok later or should I opt for the 1gb sticks?)

Case Fans- Im think 2 120mm panaflo's to keep it cool and quiet

Video- heres the big confusion. I'm thinking about that 260$ pci-e x800xl from compusa as its a good deal. The x850xt for 350 from tigerdirect is also tempting. I've thought about the 6800gt but the price for its performance compared to the ATI cards. The only hangup is the lack of sm 3.0 in the ATI cards. I dont know if this is a big deal, but it bothers me a little bit with games like age of empires 3 coming out later this year and saying sm 3.0 will make a difference.

Does anyone have any suggestions or comments about this? Also let me know if i left something important out. Thanks.

 

[imported_Kensai]

Don't get the 7700AlCu, it's a waste of extra money. There is no performance increase from the Zalman 7000AlCu. You're better off with the 7000Cu.

Everything looks pretty good. Get two sticks of 1GB value ram. I believe Blain figured a way to do it for ~182$. Pretty cheap, but you'll need to run a divider if you're overclocking.

Video card-wise, you're probably best off with an x800XL PCI-E.

 

[poncherelli2]

the 7700Cu is 8 bucks more. The 7000cu is 5 bucks less, but is 92mm fan. I want the 120mm fan of the 7700 for quiet. The AlCu is also a few hundred grams lighter.

 

[Ricemarine]

enermax 535w! or enermax noisetaker 485w

P160 tends to vibrate a lot, so get he p180 or downgrade to the slk3000b

 

[poncherelli2]

the problem I had with the p180 was people complaining about the bottom seated PSU and having trouble running the wires. Plus it costs a bit more. I wanted the seasonic cause I heard it was very very quiet, but I dont know much about PSUs

 

[BOLt]

Looks alright.

 

[jthg]

I would get a Lian Li aluminum case. (It's what real nerds use...)

As for HD, Hitachis are awsome. They seem to fail a lot less than any other brand (from looking at reviews for various hard disks) and they are DEAD silent. I mean Maxtors to Hitachis are like jet engines to the inside of a sound proof room. I have 4 Hitachis in my comp in a 4xRaid0 array. I can't hear the array at all when it's reading/writing, while my single Maxtor sounds like a drum whenever it does anything.

 

[suicidalpigeon]

a tagan u22 would be good for that price. its very quiet, too.

 

[Dystien]

OEM 3000+ Venice, 119, Ewiz.com .

 

[dsa1971]

looks like a pretty good setup to me. people will complain about the maxtor drive but go with what has worked for you in the past. I've had had many maxtor including new ones and had zero problems with them. I don't like spending that much on a case but that's just personal preference.

 

[poncherelli2]

I want the maxtor for the 16mb cache, I hope it isnt too loud. I think I am switching to the 3000+ from ewiz to save 70 bucks and just hope to get to 2.4 on an OC.

Also, can anyone comment on the ram or video card seletions?