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OT: Please help Farmer Indy pick out new PC components! UPDATE - IT'S ORDERED!

I

IndyJaws

Golden Member
Hey TeAmmates! I just came into some $ and Mrs. IndyJaws is allowing me to put together a new system! 😀

As much as I would love to do a dually, I think I'll have to stick with a single processor. I used to be on the cutting edge and knew about all the latest models of mobos, but since hanging out here, I've lost track of the latest and greatest. (Could it be that participating in DC has made me dumber?! 😉 )

The machine will primarily be used for playing games, crunching 🙂 , and some digital video editing down the road (going to wait on the capture card for now). I do plan on overclocking.

Anyway, here is a list of components I'm considering - please feel free to make comments:

Athlon XP 2000+ OEM
1 GB DDR PC2100 RAM (already have - bought in the fall when 512's were only $60/each 🙂 )
Gainward GeForce 3 Ti200 Power Pack Golden Sample 64MB (don't think it's worth the extra to get 128MB model)
(2) Maxtor D740X 60GB 7200 RPM hard drives (worth the extra to get the "quieter" model?) - Want the extra storage in 2 different drives, not to be used in RAID for now
Creative Audigy XGamer (non-OEM)
LiteOn 32X or 40X CD burner
PAL 8045 heatsink
Antec SX1040B case w/ 400W PSU
Various case fans

Other pieces I haven't mentioned, such as floppy, cabling, or NIC I already have.

I need recommendations for a mobo. I don't mind spending the extra $ for an Abit or Asus if it's worth it. At one time, I was considering the Epox 8KHA+, but don't know if it's still a good board compared to the newer ones. I wouldn't mind having RAID, if only for the extra IDE channels.

Can you help out a friendly farmer? I really appreciate any suggestions anyone can give me! 😀

Oh, yeah, one more thing...

GO HOOSIERS!!! - I'm heading down to Bloomington in a few hours to be a part of the atmosphere! 🙂

Thanks in advance!!! 😀😀😀
 
I would go witht he asus a7v333, I think thats the model. It is the one based on the VIA KT333 chipset. The board has loads of features, and if you get hte one that has raid, it also has built in firewire. It has usb 2.0 standard which I like and ca n't wait to get a webcam to support it. The reason I say go with the KT333 chipset is that you can be sure that when overclocking it will be your memory or cpu that will hold you back, not your mobo. Also a quick note on the cpu, somebody correct me if i'm wrong but arn't the athlon mp's unlocked. Some people might find spending the extra few $ worthwhile just for that.
 
The Antec sx1040 is a great case that you definitely can't go wrong with.

There are many choices for motherboard. I would suggest a few:

1) Soyo K7 Dragon Plus - Great all around board with lots of features. The onboard sound rivals the creative, on board lan, and onboard raid. Overclocks fairly nicely. I use it on two systems and the Seti times are great too. The PAL 8045 will fit this motherboard.

2) ASUS A7V333 - You have already got PC2100 memory so the 333 advantage will not be as great as it might have been. Great features on this board also. RAID ATA133, USB 2.0, Firewire, same 6 Channel audio sound that the Soyo has. Looks like from the pictures that the PAL will fit you might want to verify in the mobo forum that someone has done it.

You could wait as the KT400 chipset will be launching soon and you could see this monster board from Abit linky

As for the hard drives I have a personal bias against Maxtor so I probably am not a good source to ask about that I would buy WD instead.

I have heard good things about the LiteOn Burners, however I have always been partial to Plextor and have felt they are worth the difference in money.
 
like crazee i wouldn't go for the maxtor's i favor seagates myself, they have always been reliable and speedy for me, they have some good tools as well. As for the motherboards i will be quite interested myself to see what ppl say!

Good luck!

Alex 😀
 
I have built a few AMD systems lately that were based off the nForce chipset. I'd recommend that if you don't have your heart set on VIA. The built in networking is top-notch, and they seem to perform right with the VIA KT266A and KT333 MoBos.

Asus has a 415D MoBo out, which does away with the integrated graphics. Pretty sure it has an option to lock the PCI and AGP busses to 33 and 66Mhz respectively. A *VERY* nice feature to have when OCin'.


Of course, you could always build a Northwood system. 😀 With as much money as you're spending on that 2000+ XP, you could easily get a 1.8A and hit 2.4Ghz at 133Mhz FSB(533Mhz effective).

I just built myself a 1.6A Northwood system with an EPoX 4BDA MoBo(i845 chipset, uses DDR). This thing flies at 140Mhz FSB with the ram at a 4:3 the FSB ratio(for 187Mhz RAM clk). Seti WU's usually get crunched in less than 3 hrs. Things are also nice around 2.4-2.5Ghz with the RAM at 1:1 FSB ratio.

A Northwood system would also fly at video editing, especially with the memory bandwidth advantage, and the 512KB L2 cache. And if noise is important to you, they're very easy to cool. I'm even running the retail heatsink now at 2.2Ghz and the CPU is still in the upper 40's.

Just some things to think about. 😀

Defster
 
The Asus A7V333-RAID has not only Firewire, but also four USB 2.0 ports, a Sony I-Link port, and monitors the on-CPU temperature diode in the AthlonXP/MP. Not only that, but it supports the Asus I-Panel and I-Panel Deluxe, the latter of which should show current CPU temperature on an LCD. About the only bad thing I saw was the location of the floppy-drive connector, which is near the bottom of the board.

The latest-generation Seagate IDE drives, the Barracuda ATA IV, is definitely very quiet in operation (I have one) but lags behind the competition in most types of tests. I think I'd go with one of those Western Digital Special Edition models with 8Mb of cache (100Gb or 120Gb) if I needed lots of capacity, or a Seagate Cheetah X15-36LP and an Adaptec 19160 controller if I needed speed but not lots of capacity.

If you look around you may see one or two CD-RW drives that also play DVDs. Might be useful for some people.
 
I have (3) dual AMD systems - all are running on the Tyan TigerMP(S2460); they are dual MP1200 and (2) dual XP1700

Over-clocking isn't an option, but all three boards have been incredibly stable - I've not lost a single DDR module or had lockups of any kind.

As for the Lite-On burner - good choice - I've had both a 16x and now a 24x burner with zero problems; nice too 'cuz they usually come bundled with Nero software - very easy to use. 🙂

As for HSF - I've been using the Thermaltake Volcano 6cu's - they've been working great for me. 😉


 
I went to school at ISU ( bloomington / Normal ) Smack them for me will ya? 😛
 
The mobo forum fell in love with the Soyo Dragon when it came out and if I was going to do a single proc, I'd probably go with that.

For the Maxtors, whatever model you get will be QUIET as heck. Most of mine are the "J" model not the "L" with the fluid-bearing motor and they are dead silent.

For heatsinks, I LOVE the Coolermaster HHC-001. But, it's a noisy puppy. You could replace the fan with a lower RPM model but the heatsink rocks.
 
Why not buy a dual board, and only use one socket? That way you can upgrade later 😀

And the new MPX AMD boards support overclocking ( like the Epox and such )
 
Indy, if you want Great cooling, watercool. it's real easy, and Blows air cooling away. I have 2 xp's on water. The 1900+ @ 1.85 volts and seti running is a cool 35-37 c. depending on room temp. I got some of my stuff Here
 
I'm looking at motherboard moniter right now and my xp 1700+ @ 1900+ is 35 c right now. I am using an alpha pal 8045 with origional artic silver. room temp is a warm 74.
 
Actually, most in-socket thermoresistor OVER-read temps on watercooling applications, and UNDER-read temps on aircooling applications(due to secondary heatpaths in the MoBo getting cooled by the air circulation).



Defster
 
Thanks for all the input everyone! 🙂

Ok, I've made a few changes...

How about the WD800BB hard drives? Storage Review seemed to like them quite a bit, and I can pick up the 80 GB drive for just a bit more than the 60. 🙂

Looks like the Asus A7V333 might be the way to go on the board. I do like the onboard USB 2.0 and Firewire, plus they are an excellent name in a board.
 
WD=bad reliability.

A buddy of mine, and his brother, have both sworn them off.

Maxtors are just simply...well...they rock! 🙂
 


<< WD=bad reliability.

A buddy of mine, and his brother, have both sworn them off.

Maxtors are just simply...well...they rock! 🙂 >>



I totaly agree.
 
I couldn't disagree more. We sell thousands of units with Western Digital hard drives and have found them to be extremely reliable with great tools. The only good thing I can say about our experiences with Maxtor is that they do RMA fast.

It has gotten to the point where we are not allowed to sell Maxtor drives.
 
If you guys allow me to input my .02 cents, I will go with WD, that's my first choice when building pcs, Seagate and then MAxtor, and stay away from IBM, I got one in my server (it was a good deal to refuse) and I have to RMA twice, now is running with a HDD cooler to avoid crashes. I have a TT cooper 6.0 as a HS in my AMD XP and the cpu is happy like a baby with a new toy. 🙂
Take a look here at this site (that's where I buy most of my supplies after I compare prices)http://www.accessmicro.com/index2.php3?rnd=1558891018, so you can compare with your favor/s vendor/s.

Good luck finding what are you looking for

Eltano
 
Well, I jumped in and got the goodies! 😀

Here's what I ended up with:

Asus A7V333-R (maybe the most important part of the system - why go cheap?!)
2 Mushkin High Performance 512MB PC2100 DIMMS (sadly already bought, or else would have got PC2700)
AMD XP2000+ OEM
Antec SX1040B case
4 Enermax 80MM thermo-controlled case fans
1 Panaflo 80MM CPU fan
Alpha PAL8045 HS
Gainward GF3 Ti200 Golden Sample video card
Audigy X-Gamer (never been a big fan of onboard sound)
2 WD800BB 80GB hard drives (that was the hardest part - everyone has a strong opinion one way or another! Storage Review liked them. 🙂 )
LiteOn 16X DVD-ROM
LiteOn 40X CDRW
3COM NIC
Zoom Modem

I can't wait!!! 😀 My first new PC in about 3 years! 😀 Thanks to everyone for your input and guidance, especially Fingers and Crazee for the A7V333 suggestion! 🙂
 


<< btw...what power supply do u have running on that beast? 😉 >>



400W Antec - from what I've read, it supplies good, clean power 🙂
 
Networkman, what kind of power supplies do you use? I've heard that for a Dual AMD system at least 400W is needed.
And for the Tyan's, do you need the 12V ATX-Power supply or a regular?
Cause those power supplies are a bit pricy 😉
 
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