New System Purchase.. would like advice.

[jam3]

Decided to post this in CPU since I've been following this forum quite regularly for the past couple months and compared to the others seems to have a better technical base.

From PCProgress

CMTWINX1024-3200LL Ships Same-1 Day DOUBLE DATA RATE (DDR) MEMORY 1024MB XMS3200 (400MHZ BUS) CONSISTS OF (2) MATCHED C $309.00

INP4-800-260BOX Ships Same-1 Day Intel PENTIUM 4 SOCKET 478 2600MHZ 800MHZ BUS 512K BOXED VERSION C $263.00

MIC875PNEO-FIS2R Ships Same-1 Day Microstar MBOARD 1700-3000+(5)PCI(1)8XAGP UDMA 133 / SERIAL ATA RAID S $205.00

ST3120023AS Ships Same-1 Day Seagate HDRIVE 120GB SEAGATE 7200 RPM SERIAL ATA $188.00 $188.00

Need some help here. I think I'm finally at the purchase point. I have some questions. A little about me.. I am a DBA/Programmer and have worked in the field for a little over 10 years. I worked in a small shop a long time ago so I am familiar with hardware. I have pretty much stayed outta the scene because; I am not a complete "enthusiast", I have been happy with my last rig for a long while now. The time I think is finally right to upgrade.

I basically want a system that I can run very stably under default settings I also might want to do a little overclocking, say get the 2.6 to 3.0-3.2 and maybe up the fsb and memory bus up to 233-266.

Here are the questions. Price is not a huge consideration but it is one nevertheless.

1) The memory is a HUGE step above the corsair value CAS 2.5 which would come in around $166 do I really need this ram?

2) Im getting the HDD because i really need more space anyways from the 36 gig I currently have is Seagate the right choice for these serial ATA's? Max and WD look good but the warranty looks pretty disheartening.

3) I probably don't need the 875 but the top of the line 865 neo is like $179 (PC Progress is listing them right now as in-stock and there not even on the msi site). Not much difference in price IMHO for the 875. Though since I am going SATA I could get a cheap 865 especially if I go ahead and forget about gig Lan for awhile for like $110.

4) Has anyone done business with PCProgress? Are they good?

Thanks.

 

[jam3]

Almost forgot I am getting a new PS for this rig and am wondering how much juice I should get was thinking 380 or 430 (I already have my 9800 pro). I am not a big accessory guy so how much do you think would be enough?

 

[cow123]

you dont need a great psu really, as long as its a good quality one, i think 350w is more than enough, unless you planned on using some kind of fancy cooler that ran off the power supply. hell even those little shuttle pcs only have 200w psu's and they can power barton 3000xp/9700 pro

 

[Jeff7181]

In my opinion, you don't need matched pairs of RAM... but you should get quality stuff like Corsair XMS PC3200.

If you're looking for speed, you might consider the Western Digital Raptor drive, then another larger drive for storage.

Questions 3 & 4 I have no input on.

 

[jam3]

its 120 a stick for 512 3200XMS and 156 for 3200XMS LL so the paired is actually a little cheaper. Just wondering if the Low latency is really worth it.

Where I can really save some money is if I go with the

512MB MEMORY PC3200 (400MHZ BUS) 512MB DDR 64X64 (184PIN) UNBUFFERED CAS 2.5 CORSAIR VALUE SELECT

for $88 a stick has anyone used this ram?

Also the one area I am TRULY ignorant is overclocking RAM and getting the timings right/ as well as knowing how much performance you really get from having good timings.

A little education from anyone about people listing #/#/#/# CAS # ( I do understand that lower typically = better would be awesome.

A side question would be if I just run this thing at default speed am I getting much from the XMS ram since I can run it at lower timings?

Ok and one more, yeah I am a knowledge vampire, do you think I need a better than retail HSF to get the 2.6 to 3.0(and run it stably for a long time)?

 

[Jeff7181]

P4's like lots of memory bandwidth... but timings make a big difference as well... with AMD processors, fast timing makes more of a difference than a higher memory clock speed. I don't know if the same applies to Intel processors because I don't own one.

do you think I need a better than retail HSF to get the 2.6 to 3.0(and run it stably for a long time)?

No... a lot of Intel fans brag that their stock heatsinks do a great job of cooling their overclocked processors.

 

[Shimmishim]

Originally posted by: cow123
you dont need a great psu really, as long as its a good quality one, i think 350w is more than enough, unless you planned on using some kind of fancy cooler that ran off the power supply. hell even those little shuttle pcs only have 200w psu's and they can power barton 3000xp/9700 pro

OKAY...

LISTEN UP CAREFULLY

your PSU is VERY important...

you need to find one that has very low fluctuations in the 3.3v/5.0v rails... the standard for most decent/good PSU's are 5% fluctuation

never take quantity over quality... for example... there have been tests where psu's have been rated for 450W.. so they tested the thing at 450W and BAM.. PSU burns up and dies!

two of the best PSU's on the market right now are relatively cheap and have a 1% fluctuation in the 3.3 and 5.0 volt rails.. they also provide about 230W combined for these rails which should be good enough for the P4

the allied true 450W from newegg is about 43 i believe

and the fortron 350W from directron.com is about 38 i believe

both of these are excellent psu's and good for what you need

hope that helps!