New System

[Imager]

This is my new system I'm thinking of buying any day now. Any suggestions on trading something for another LMK. A few of my concerns were cooling and quietness....

Antec P-160 $130
Antec TP2 550w power supply $89
Abit AN8 SLI for $164
Athlon64 3500+ Venice core retail for $269
2x512MB Corsare DDR400 cas 2.5 $79
Maxtor 250GB 16MB cache SATA driver for $151
Plextor SATA DL DVD recorder for $63
Creative Lab Audigy2 ZX for $71
HIS Hightech Radeon X800XL 256MB PCIe for $279
Seagate Barracuda 300GB 8MB SATA for $165
HYUNDAI L90D+ Silver 19" 8ms for $346

I think that basically sums it up for a good complete system. My budget was $1800 and this comes to $1806, not bad! hehe

I'll take any suggestions too if anyone has something better to repalce something else with...

 

[Valkerie]

Abit sucks.
Get a 3200 and OC it.
if I were you, I'd make sure my HD's have NCQ
SATA DVD-RW drives are nice
Did you mean Audigy ZS? because I've never heard of a ZX
that x800XL is a rip off, you can find one for cheaper
don't believe all the garbage about LCD monitors, 8ms is wonderful, but I think for a monitor being 19" and for that kind of price, there must be a drawback? otherwise I think it's a good deal. make sure it's DVI, analog sucks now-days. no new computer build should be analog for any reason
you also forgot a floppy drive unless u already have a spare one 'cuz you need one usually to install SATA drives 'n RAIDing

 

[Imager]

so why does Abit suck? From what I've read they are good for the price after ASUS. Nice to know it sux without a reason though, hehe

Not into OC'ing so I'll stick with the 3500 in that case
Yes meants ZS sorry....
This LCD monitor was rated #3 when compared to others based on price, features, ms, viewing - especially with gaming, etc.
Didn't see you showing a cheaper x800xl, but this one is $1.00 less than the popular ASUS one, and this one comes with a better cooling fan by the manufacturer which won't void the warranty as opposed to if you replace the fan yourself...

Floppies arn't outdated, so why have something outdated on a new system. I'll use an OLD one just to install the sta drivers, etc.

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: Valkerie
Abit sucks.
Get a 3200 and OC it.
if I were you, I'd make sure my HD's have NCQ
SATA DVD-RW drives are nice
Did you mean Audigy ZS? because I've never heard of a ZX
that x800XL is a rip off, you can find one for cheaper
don't believe all the garbage about LCD monitors, 8ms is wonderful, but I think for a monitor being 19" and for that kind of price, there must be a drawback? otherwise I think it's a good deal. make sure it's DVI, analog sucks now-days. no new computer build should be analog for any reason
you also forgot a floppy drive unless u already have a spare one 'cuz you need one usually to install SATA drives 'n RAIDing

Valerie - you sure go around talking a lot of sh@t with nothing to back it up. you are ignorant and it shows, everybody that reads your post know that you know nothing and you just talk sh%t to get your post count up.

to the op - abit is a good m/b manf, but what are you main uses?

personally i wouldn't make to much of a big deal about the sata optical drive, or any drive for that matter unless you like the cables, the performance will be basically the same with the exception of the raptor.

 

[Imager]

I'm going to be gaming, and dvd burning alot!
I've noticed performance increases on the sata HDD's. Opitcal not so much on, but for $63 what the heck! The IDE Plextor dvd burner ain't all cheaper in theory.

Actually some of those prices are cheaper on Newegg now too that I just checked. I noticed the MB (135 with 20rebate), CPU(244), HDD(121), and Video card (279) are all cheaper. PS though is now at 105 WTF!! haha

 

[Bona Fide]

That P160 is overpriced. Look around, you can get it for ~$100.

 

[Imager]

with the Window? I don't even see it on Antec's site anymore....

 

[Bucks]

I would try for an AMD x2 (3800) Perhaps get a cheaper case to save the money for it. Or scrap the sound card. Go for the DFI NForce 4 instead of the Abit, although Abit doesn't suck

 

[Imager]

and what would you recommend for a case thats less money and just as quiet and good with the cooling? That x2 3800 ain't cheap. Trying to stay within the budget at least, haha. The DFi lanParty is a NICE MB, but again a lot more money. The Real nice one I was looking at was $199 - OUCH!

 

[bob4432]

i have never seen any real difference in a 7200rpm sata hdd vs a pata, but that is what i have experienced. but i would also look into a x2 3800 if you want to game and burn/encode dvds at the same time.

maybe look into one of the enermax quiet series ps for a decent psu.

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: Imager
and what would you recommend for a case thats less money and just as quiet and good with the cooling? That x2 3800 ain't cheap. Trying to stay within the budget at least, haha. The DFi lanParty is a NICE MB, but again a lot more money. The Real nice one I was looking at was $199 - OUCH!

i think the 3800s are ~$385msrp,

the antec sonata is suppose to be a quiet case and comes with a decent psu, and are you going to go sli? getting a sli m/b and a ati card doesn't make any sense, you may want to go a 6800gt so atleast you would have that option in the future, if you are stuck on the sli board. also, you could get rid of the sound card.

 

[suicidalpigeon]

seasonic has the quiet pus's. the HIS x800xl isnt a bad choice at all, you're just paying a few extra bucks for an artic cooling-like vga sink so you wont have to worry about ruining something and voiding the warranty if you were to install a third party cooler yourself. they're a great manufacturer, they just lack in the advertising department. theres no point in going sli, and to add to that, you're going with an ATI card, which doesnt work with sli. might as well go with the 3000venice,3200venice, or 3700 sandy for future oc'ing purposes.

edit: and you can get seagate harddrive (better warranty and overall performance), and get a chaintech av-710, its a decent sound card.

 

[Imager]

Originally posted by: bob4432

Originally posted by: Imager
and what would you recommend for a case thats less money and just as quiet and good with the cooling? That x2 3800 ain't cheap. Trying to stay within the budget at least, haha. The DFi lanParty is a NICE MB, but again a lot more money. The Real nice one I was looking at was $199 - OUCH!

i think the 3800s are ~$385msrp,

the antec sonata is suppose to be a quiet case and comes with a decent psu, and are you going to go sli? getting a sli m/b and a ati card doesn't make any sense, you may want to go a 6800gt so atleast you would have that option in the future, if you are stuck on the sli board. also, you could get rid of the sound card.

I may or may not go SLi, but with crossfire I can supposdly still use that ati. Either way the SLi still gives me the upgrade ability later. I'm not the one that upgrades every year. My last PC was a shuttle MB with a 1700+.

As for the case, I'll look into the Sonata, but the 6800 is a lot more! The Sli was just rated a little better then their non SLi board and it gave me the upgrade options later.

So I guess any onboad sound is just fine?

Originally posted by: wafflesandsyrup
edit: and you can get seagate harddrive (better warranty and overall performance), and get a chaintech av-710, its a decent sound card.

I choose a Seagate as my 2nd drive. Maxtor for the 16mb

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: Imager

Originally posted by: bob4432

Originally posted by: Imager
and what would you recommend for a case thats less money and just as quiet and good with the cooling? That x2 3800 ain't cheap. Trying to stay within the budget at least, haha. The DFi lanParty is a NICE MB, but again a lot more money. The Real nice one I was looking at was $199 - OUCH!

i think the 3800s are ~$385msrp,

the antec sonata is suppose to be a quiet case and comes with a decent psu, and are you going to go sli? getting a sli m/b and a ati card doesn't make any sense, you may want to go a 6800gt so atleast you would have that option in the future, if you are stuck on the sli board. also, you could get rid of the sound card.

I may or may not go SLi, but with crossfire I can supposdly still use that ati. Either way the SLi still gives me the upgrade ability later. I'm not the one that upgrades every year. My last PC was a shuttle MB with a 1700+.

As for the case, I'll look into the Sonata, but the 6800 is a lot more! The Sli was just rated a little better then their non SLi board and it gave me the upgrade options later.

So I guess any onboad sound is just fine?

Originally posted by: wafflesandsyrup
edit: and you can get seagate harddrive (better warranty and overall performance), and get a chaintech av-710, its a decent sound card.

I choose a Seagate as my 2nd drive. Maxtor for the 16mb

this is total personal preference and depends on the speakers you are going to be putting on it. personally since about '96 all i have used is onboard sound, if it came with the board, but i only have a 2.1 speaker setup and don't have the room or desire to use a 5.1 system on a computer, for ht that is something different. even though consider my ht to be nice with denon and mirage components, i am still using 6yr old computer speakers that sound good. when i game it is not up loud as i am usually gaming with a friend or on teamspeak via a headset, when i play music they sound more than adequate. imo. personally i would give it a try and see if you like the onboard sound, and if not add one later, the onbaord stuff doesn't take that many cpu cycels.

 

[Imager]

to stay within budget I think I might scratch the sound card then and go towards a x2 CPU. But that than will put me over my budget.
Case is a big thing since I want a the best cooling/and quietness for my $$$, which is why I went with the P-160. I havn't updated a case in many years, so I don't have the "hands on" with whats good/quiet out there now.
If I do choose to go non SLi should I go with the non SLi Abit, or lean towards the ASUS. I might be wrong, but I didn't think either one of those were passively cooled, and as stated earlier the Abit Non SLi wasn't rated as good.
To go with the 6800 instead of the x800xl would be do-able if I dropped then sound card I think, but then that leaves the x2 cpu out - I will be gaming and doing DVD burning alot.......Oh the choices, hahaha

Any specific suggestions I'll look into.

 

[Avi44]

Newegg has the Antec Sonata case for $89.00. That is one of the quietest, if not the quietest case for mainstream computing. I'd highly recommend it. I got the Sonata II, a bit more expensive, but my version comes with a 450W PSU. I see you will be replacing the PSU anyhow, so you might as well get the original Sonata for a bit less $.
From Newegg:
# Back to School Special
# Antec Life Style SONATA Piano Black 0.8mm SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case TruePower 380Watt ATX12V Power Supply - Retail - $89.00

You can probably find a better deal on it somewhere else if you search, im just not familiar with US stores since I'm from Canada.

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: Avi44
Newegg has the Antec Sonata case for $89.00. That is one of the quietest, if not the quietest case for mainstream computing. I'd highly recommend it. I got the Sonata II, a bit more expensive, but my version comes with a 450W PSU. I see you will be replacing the PSU anyhow, so you might as well get the original Sonata for a bit less $.
From Newegg:
# Back to School Special
# Antec Life Style SONATA Piano Black 0.8mm SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case TruePower 380Watt ATX12V Power Supply - Retail - $89.00

You can probably find a better deal on it somewhere else if you search, im just not familiar with US stores since I'm from Canada.

you could go the sonata II and keep its ps - the rails look good and antec makes a good ps. that would cost you $105+shipping for case and psu instead of $220, which save you an extra $115, plus go a decent nf4 ultra m/b and get rid of the sound card.

so the changes i made -
Antec Sonata II w/ 450W ps (dual 12v) - $105
2x512MB Value Ram - ~$80
Maxtor 250GB 16MB caceh - $151
Seagate Barracuda 300GB 8MB Sata - $165
Hyundai L90D - $349
Plextor DVD-RW Sata - $63
Gigabyte NF4 Ultra m/b w/ passive cooling - $126
AMD X2 3800 - $420
this comes to ~$1459, then you have ~$341 for a video card of your desire and also shipping to keep you @ $1800

do you think you are going to burn/encode and play a game at the same time? if not you could drop another ~$200 on a 3200-3500venice but that is up to you

 

[CARunner]

Ditch the sound card, use onboard sound until X-Fi comes out

Save money on other stuff and get a 3800+ and a GeForce 7800... dont get SLi and you can get by with not spending more than 120 or less on a mobo

Ditch the Maxtor and the seagate you listed and get two of these
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications...Details.asp?EdpNo=1265028&sku=THD-250A
it has a 5 year warranty and is pretty much just as fast

Make sure you buy from someplace with no tax and free shipping if possible

bob4432 had a good rec but that power supply might be too weak for dual core and a 7800, but maybe not who knows

dont forget an OS

 

[theMan]

Originally posted by: bob4432

Originally posted by: Avi44
Newegg has the Antec Sonata case for $89.00. That is one of the quietest, if not the quietest case for mainstream computing. I'd highly recommend it. I got the Sonata II, a bit more expensive, but my version comes with a 450W PSU. I see you will be replacing the PSU anyhow, so you might as well get the original Sonata for a bit less $.
From Newegg:
# Back to School Special
# Antec Life Style SONATA Piano Black 0.8mm SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case TruePower 380Watt ATX12V Power Supply - Retail - $89.00

You can probably find a better deal on it somewhere else if you search, im just not familiar with US stores since I'm from Canada.

you could go the sonata II and keep its ps - the rails look good and antec makes a good ps. that would cost you $105+shipping for case and psu instead of $220, which save you an extra $115, plus go a decent nf4 ultra m/b and get rid of the sound card.

so the changes i made -
Antec Sonata II w/ 450W ps (dual 12v) - $105
2x512MB Value Ram - ~$80
Maxtor 250GB 16MB caceh - $151
Seagate Barracuda 300GB 8MB Sata - $165
Hyundai L90D - $349
Plextor DVD-RW Sata - $63
Gigabyte NF4 Ultra m/b w/ passive cooling - $126
AMD X2 3800 - $420
this comes to ~$1459, then you have ~$341 for a video card of your desire and also shipping to keep you @ $1800

do you think you are going to burn/encode and play a game at the same time? if not you could drop another ~$200 on a 3200-3500venice but that is up to you

yeah, this looks like a really good plan for you. if you need more money on the video card, i recommend lowering it to a single core cpu, like the the 3700+ SD. then, learn how to overclock, its extrememely easy, and it only takes a day or so to get a very good overclock. todays cpu's can do very sweet overclock with no voltage increase so there is absoluteley no risk of cpu damage. trust me, its well worth it. then, you can get a 6800U. and have the equivelent of a 4000+ or fx55 or more.

 

[Imager]

Awesome responses everyone thanks! I will drop the sound card without a doubt now. I guess I'll go with that Sonta II - Do I need to purchase extra case fans for that though?
Any other recommendations on a passive Nforce4 motherboard though as I have had gigabyte ones before and make PCs for others using them and encountered nothing but problems. I really like the Abit and Asus if that helps to narrow it down. The DFI is sweet but the one I really liked was $199 - OUCH!

 

[theMan]

which dfi board costs 199?

 

[Imager]

This one:

DFI LANPARTY nF4 SLI-DR Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
Here

Is this board ABIT KN8 Ultra Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail $105 crappier than the Gigabyte one?

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: Imager
This one:

DFI LANPARTY nF4 SLI-DR Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
Here

Is this board ABIT KN8 Ultra Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail $105 crappier than the Gigabyte one?

i wouldn't say either one is "crappy". i have had both manf and had good luck with them. i did look over this abit one though, sli for $115 is not too bad.

i personally wouldn't have a problem using board from msi, abit, asus, foxconn, gigabyte, epox, intel, chaintech, biostar & dfi. the only issue i have experienced is that the new dfi boards are ram finicky, but they can run like a raped ape when o/ced with the correct ram.

what is it exactly you are looking for in a m/b?

 

[Imager]

Originally posted by: bob4432

Originally posted by: Imager
This one:

DFI LANPARTY nF4 SLI-DR Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
Here

Is this board ABIT KN8 Ultra Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail $105 crappier than the Gigabyte one?

what is it exactly you are looking for in a m/b?

I'm looking for the a good stable/performance MB that is good with cooling, is quiet and of course is 939 with PCIe. I'm not into OCing a lot so the DFI isn't needed. But with the one Abit being $105 and the SLi (further upgrade ability) is only $10 more why wouldn't one go for the $10 more one? And the Abit Sli thats only $115 is $11 less than the Gigabyte which would ease me on the shipping and tax - Newegg screws me on both - UGH!

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: Imager

Originally posted by: bob4432

Originally posted by: Imager
This one:

DFI LANPARTY nF4 SLI-DR Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
Here

Is this board ABIT KN8 Ultra Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail $105 crappier than the Gigabyte one?

what is it exactly you are looking for in a m/b?

I'm looking for the a good stable/performance MB that is good with cooling, is quiet and of course is 939 with PCIe. I'm not into OCing a lot so the DFI isn't needed. But with the one Abit being $105 and the SLi (further upgrade ability) is only $10 more why wouldn't one go for the $10 more one? And the Abit Sli thats only $115 is $11 less than the Gigabyte which would ease me on the shipping and tax - Newegg screws me on both - UGH!

for you situation i would go the $115 sli one, i looked right over it because sli is usually more $$$, but not in his case, and i would personally buy a abit, without hesitation. in fact a friend of mine has one of my old abit boards running a athlon 750MHz(bought when 750MHz was the newest), and it still runs fine today.

anybody can get a bad board here and there as i have, in fact the msi board i currently have running right now had and issue, but i was able to rma it and all is good with this one.

you could also get 2 of these with that m/b and save a few $$ in the hdd dept.