I have a P4 1.7 400mhz fsb socket 478 cpu that I want to use to build my daughter an internet box. I already have a new Maxtor 160gb ultra ata133 hard drive and an NVIDIA Geforce 2 mx400 64 mb agp video card. I also have a spare cd-rom and burner. What i am looking for is a motherboard that i can use to build this sytem with an eye to upgrading the cpu in the future, where i can drop in a 3.0 800mhz or 533 mhz P4 without too much trouble. Integrated sound and LAN would help,i also need a case recommendation, nothing fancy. ATX form factor. Great forum here and i will post my results, Thanks in advance Dave.
New to Board, with a ? of course.
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Newegg.com has an Asrock p4v88 board with via chipset and dual channel support for $45 plus $3 shipping that should work fine. They also have an apex 350w case for $24 plus $16 shipping. An alternative case is made by powmax with 400w power supply, carrying handle, and 4 lights all built in for about the same price shipped ($26.88 plus 13.99 shipping). If you upgrade later, go for the northwood "c" series p4. They run just as fast and cooler than the prescott "e" cpus with 1 meg cache.
thanks for the reply, that windowed case is pretty fancy for the money and reviewed well too. Choices, choices.
This http://www.newegg.com/app/View...tion=13-186-004&depa=0 seems nice also.
I don't think I would get the Apex case. It doesn't have a very good power supply. The other case has a better one in my opinion, athough it looks a little crazy to me. lol
I don't think I would get the Apex case. It doesn't have a very good power supply. The other case has a better one in my opinion, athough it looks a little crazy to me. lol
I think i am going to go with the Asus P4S800-MX . It suits most of my needs and is upgradeable. I will get the pc 3200 sdram with it for future upgrades. Being that it is a micro atx board kind of messed up my case plans, can you put a micro atx board in a ATX case? BTW the motherboard is $59 but they have refurbs for $29, should I take a chance, I called Asus and they said it has the same warranty as new.
MicroATX boards have the same screw layout as ATX boards, just missing the "bottom third" ... It wouldn't hurt to download the manual for that mobo and look exactly at the screw hole dimensions and compare them to a similar ATX mobo, but you shouldn't have a problem. And like Silversierra said, don't skimp on the PSU (a vital component that is often overlooked), but you could also get a mediocre one now and then upgrade both the CPU and PSU later on, it's up to you.
I'll leave the "to refurb or not" question to others, as I prefer to spend the extra bit of money and purchase all of my products new ... unless they're coming from someone here on the FS/FT forum, of course
I'll leave the "to refurb or not" question to others, as I prefer to spend the extra bit of money and purchase all of my products new ... unless they're coming from someone here on the FS/FT forum, of course
I just took a closer look at the refurb and it comes with zero parts or software, so the new one will be my choice. Asus also sells a barebones kit with same mobo called the VINTAGEI can get it for $107 shipped from Newegg, but it only has a 250 watt psu. This machine will not be used for any real gaming just web surfing, i'm tempted.
Well, the ASUS manual (which is a very excellent full-color guide on how to put together a PC, I might add ...) has no information about this powersupply, so I did some checking around ...
Found what appears to be the exact same case (plus two extra USB ports & a firewire port in the front) at this Korean website (use babelfish or something to translate) http://www.stcom.co.kr/product...asp?no=290&category_1= ... unfortunately, they don't ship stock with a powersupply, so it looks like ASUS is doing something special with these barebones kits (else the Korean company is stripping the PSU's out, which I doubt). The case has room in back for a 92mm fan, which is nicer than an 80mm opening since you can find a quieter solution ... it also *almost* appears that there's room in front for a fan, but it could be just the way the holes appear to line up (esp since it's not listed as a feature). All-in-all, though, not a shabby looking mATX case, and fairly roomy inside for its size.
On the other hand, I also found another Korean site (http://www.technoa.co.kr/conte...iew.asp?pPageID=54988) which appears to be reviewing the Vintage barebones kit, and it shows 2x80mm fans in the rear and says it boasts a 300W powersupply ... :|
From the two cases that o1die pointed out, it doesn't appear that you're saving much money by going with the barebones route. On the other hand, since the whole shebang comes from ASUS, if you've got problems with the PSU (which according to ASUS website says is rated up to 3.4GHz, though I highly doubt that) then just complain to ASUS.
I guess the chioce is up to you, but if it were me, I'd go with the not-barebones route, since you can tell the powersupply much better. For example, that "purdy" Powmax case features this powersupply http://images10.newegg.com/pro...mage/11-145-047-04.JPG which should be plenty good for what you're looking at doing with this machine ... 250W just seems really skimpy, especially since you can't tell anything more about it.
Hope this helps you some!
Found what appears to be the exact same case (plus two extra USB ports & a firewire port in the front) at this Korean website (use babelfish or something to translate) http://www.stcom.co.kr/product...asp?no=290&category_1= ... unfortunately, they don't ship stock with a powersupply, so it looks like ASUS is doing something special with these barebones kits (else the Korean company is stripping the PSU's out, which I doubt). The case has room in back for a 92mm fan, which is nicer than an 80mm opening since you can find a quieter solution ... it also *almost* appears that there's room in front for a fan, but it could be just the way the holes appear to line up (esp since it's not listed as a feature). All-in-all, though, not a shabby looking mATX case, and fairly roomy inside for its size.
On the other hand, I also found another Korean site (http://www.technoa.co.kr/conte...iew.asp?pPageID=54988) which appears to be reviewing the Vintage barebones kit, and it shows 2x80mm fans in the rear and says it boasts a 300W powersupply ... :|
From the two cases that o1die pointed out, it doesn't appear that you're saving much money by going with the barebones route. On the other hand, since the whole shebang comes from ASUS, if you've got problems with the PSU (which according to ASUS website says is rated up to 3.4GHz, though I highly doubt that) then just complain to ASUS.
I guess the chioce is up to you, but if it were me, I'd go with the not-barebones route, since you can tell the powersupply much better. For example, that "purdy" Powmax case features this powersupply http://images10.newegg.com/pro...mage/11-145-047-04.JPG which should be plenty good for what you're looking at doing with this machine ... 250W just seems really skimpy, especially since you can't tell anything more about it.
Hope this helps you some!
TIM, Thanks for all the research, i don't know if you noticed the other tempting feature was the Vintage ships for $2.99 and the other cases ship for around $12-$16. i will most likely go a case with a better psu, this is my first build and i might as well learn how to mount a motherboard in the process. i like the fancy case but just realised that all of my cannibalized drives etc are beige, any recommendations on a beige case at Newegg, micro or regular atx , whatever. Thanks again ALOT, Dave
Irrelevant of what the shipping charges are for each individual component, if the total price including shipping is the same then there's no difference in price for all practical purposes.
As for cases ... Trying to keep a budget theme going, but I came up with two options for you.
Option 1) POWMAX Beige case with 350W powersupply -- http://www.newegg.com/app/View...tion=11-145-046&depa=0
The Good: Decent case, cheap, good enough PSU for right now
The Bad: Lower quality case than option 2, will need to purchase a different PSU when upgrade time comes
Price: $39 shipped (less money now, but more in future)
Option 2) RaidMax Beige case -- http://www.newegg.com/app/View...tion=11-156-011&depa=0
with the AGPB 500W powersupply -- http://www.newegg.com/app/View...tion=17-104-123&depa=0
The Good: Higher quality case, least-expensive high-quality powersupply out there right now, will be solidly set for any upgrades
The Bad: Higher inital cost
Price: $95 shipped (more money now, less in future)
(review of the PSU -- http://www.atruereview.com/500w/index.php )
So there ya have it, those are my two recommendations. It's entirely up to you, of course, and it would depend upon when you're looking at upgrading to a faster CPU and/or better video card as to which option might be a better pick right now. Of course, you can always go with the first one and put in the PSU from the second one later on, that's not a problem either.
HTH
As for cases ... Trying to keep a budget theme going, but I came up with two options for you.
Option 1) POWMAX Beige case with 350W powersupply -- http://www.newegg.com/app/View...tion=11-145-046&depa=0
The Good: Decent case, cheap, good enough PSU for right now
The Bad: Lower quality case than option 2, will need to purchase a different PSU when upgrade time comes
Price: $39 shipped (less money now, but more in future)
Option 2) RaidMax Beige case -- http://www.newegg.com/app/View...tion=11-156-011&depa=0
with the AGPB 500W powersupply -- http://www.newegg.com/app/View...tion=17-104-123&depa=0
The Good: Higher quality case, least-expensive high-quality powersupply out there right now, will be solidly set for any upgrades
The Bad: Higher inital cost
Price: $95 shipped (more money now, less in future)
(review of the PSU -- http://www.atruereview.com/500w/index.php )
So there ya have it, those are my two recommendations. It's entirely up to you, of course, and it would depend upon when you're looking at upgrading to a faster CPU and/or better video card as to which option might be a better pick right now. Of course, you can always go with the first one and put in the PSU from the second one later on, that's not a problem either.
HTH
TIM Heres what I ended up getting. Kind of low end but upgradable. Picked up 256md ddr400 pc3200 Kingston value ram at Circuit city for $49.99 with $20 rebate today. I bought the Asus P4S800-MX for $59. for a case I ordered the Apex Case for $24. Also a fan/heatsink and two case fans. total shipped came to a little over $120, $93 for the parts and $27 for shipping. Thanks again for the help. Dave
I did it today, and surprisingly it went off without a hitch. the Asus motherboard I bought took care of all of the hard settings automatically. it actually took longer to install xp than to assemble the hardware. I could have bought a low end Dell for nothing but I always wanted to do it and really had fun. I really recommend NewEgg dotcom for great prices and quick shipping. Also Tomshardwareguide dotcom has a great step by step tutorial, down to the proper screws with close up of threads. as for price here goes.
Apex ATX case with 350watt power supply $23
Asus P4s800-mx mobo $59
256mb pc3200 sdram $29 after rebate
Maxtor 160gb hard drive $59
Case fan $5
Coolermaster heatsink and fan $12
Windows xp home oem w sp2 $99
Shipping $23
Total $309
Cannibalized a floppy, Pentium 4 1.7, a cdrom and cdrw, as well as a Geforce2 mx 400 video card from a machine I upgraded the cpu in. The best part is the motherboard is upgradable to P4 3.4 so when the cpu prices drop I will upgrade.
Thanks for all the replies i had a great time building it and am now hooked.
Apex ATX case with 350watt power supply $23
Asus P4s800-mx mobo $59
256mb pc3200 sdram $29 after rebate
Maxtor 160gb hard drive $59
Case fan $5
Coolermaster heatsink and fan $12
Windows xp home oem w sp2 $99
Shipping $23
Total $309
Cannibalized a floppy, Pentium 4 1.7, a cdrom and cdrw, as well as a Geforce2 mx 400 video card from a machine I upgraded the cpu in. The best part is the motherboard is upgradable to P4 3.4 so when the cpu prices drop I will upgrade.
Thanks for all the replies i had a great time building it and am now hooked.
If you want a "c" series northwood, prices may not drop, but actually rise from now on. As the supply dwindles, venders may raise prices. Just keep checking around for the best deals. Even the 2.4c is a great cpu. Don't know how many overclocking features your new board has, but some cpus will overclock simply by raising the cpu fsb.
Oldie , don't tempt me already, Newegg has a P4 3.0E retail for $183 this week. TIM, thanks again.
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