Please Review Budget system!...

[cmp1223]

Hey guys. I've been posting at AMDmb for a while and just joined up here. I'm looking to build my first computer, to upgrade from a old Dell I have now. Here is what I've compiled so far. If anyone has any recomendations on better stuff in the same price range please post!

Case: ANTEC Sonata w/ 380Watt True Power -$99
- I'm prety much decided on this. I was going to buy the SLK3700 with 350w Smart Power, but I've heard great things about true power and it has good front ports. May need an extra fan.

Memory: Kingston ValueRam 1 gig (512x2) DDR Pc-2700 CL2.5 - $100
- I was going to get 512mb of Pc-3200 HyperX, but I found a great deal on 512mb sticks of valueram at office depot so i picked up two. Pc-2700 (333) is probably enough, since it matches the FSB of the CPU.

Motherboard: Abit AF7-S V2-$85
- Seems like a popular mobo. Firewire, RAID/SATA, Soundstorm, and stable from what i hear

CPU: AMD Athlon XP 2600+ "Barton", 333MHz FSB, 512K Cache - $90
-Not many other options, this is probably the most expensive Athlon i can afford. Overclocking is not a priority, so the retail HSF should do.

Harvested: Radeon 128mb 9100, Mouse/Keyboard, Speakers, CD-RW, DVD-ROM, floppy, Planar 17" LCD monitor, 2 harddrives, WinXP (you can use the same copy twice after a few months)

TOTAL: $375, don't want to break $400. What do ya think? Overclocking the CPU and RAM isn't a priority. I would only consider it if i really needed it as i don't want to sacrifice reliabilty. i figure in 4-6 months I'll get a cheap 9800pro. Hopefully it will last me awhile! Right now im on a Dell P3 1.4g 128 SD-ram, so i will definitely see a difference

 

[Arcanedeath]

Seems reasonable just seems a crime to pair that processer w/ Pc2700 ram and not overclock

 

[SickBeast]

Originally posted by: cmp1223
Hey guys. I've been posting at AMDmb for a while and just joined up here. I'm looking to build my first computer, to upgrade from a old Dell I have now. Here is what I've compiled so far. If anyone has any recomendations on better stuff in the same price range please post!

Case: ANTEC Sonata w/ 380Watt True Power -$99
- I'm prety much decided on this. I was going to buy the SLK3700 with 350w Smart Power, but I've heard great things about true power and it has good front ports. May need an extra fan.

Memory: Kingston ValueRam 1 gig (512x2) DDR Pc-2700 CL2.5 - $100
- I was going to get 512mb of Pc-3200 HyperX, but I found a great deal on 512mb sticks of valueram at office depot so i picked up two. Pc-2700 (333) is probably enough, since it matches the FSB of the CPU.

Get PC3200 Valueram, it costs the same, and you will need it for overclocking.

Motherboard: Abit AF7-S V2-$85
- Seems like a popular mobo. Firewire, RAID/SATA, Soundstorm, and stable from what i hear

CPU: AMD Athlon XP 2600+ "Barton", 333MHz FSB, 512K Cache - $90
-Not many other options, this is probably the most expensive Athlon i can afford. Overclocking is not a priority, so the retail HSF should do.

I know overclocking is not a priority, but come on, the 2500+ mobile costs less than that and would spank it. At least get it for the cooler runnings.

Harvested: Radeon 128mb 9100, Mouse/Keyboard, Speakers, CD-RW, DVD-ROM, floppy, Planar 17" LCD monitor, 2 harddrives, WinXP (you can use the same copy twice after a few months)

TOTAL: $375, don't want to break $400. What do ya think? Overclocking the CPU and RAM isn't a priority. I would only consider it if i really needed it as i don't want to sacrifice reliabilty. i figure in 4-6 months I'll get a cheap 9800pro. Hopefully it will last me awhile! Right now im on a Dell P3 1.4g 128 SD-ram, so i will definitely see a difference

There you go, I added performance to your rig and it will actually cost $3 less, not including the heatsink of course (SLK-800A should be under $30).
Looks like a great value rig to me.

 

[cmp1223]

I bought each 512 stick for $60, and I get a $20 rebate ($100 total). Maybe you misunderstood this, because i haven't been able to find 512 sticks of PC-3200 for around $60 a piece, which would be abou the same price. Still in box though so it can be returned. I've heard those Athlon mobiles overclock like a mofo. I'm still on the edge. I keep asking myself, Do i really want to risk frying my ram or cpu for performance increases which may result in only minimal gains?

 

[SickBeast]

2500mhz from 1833mhz is not "minimal gains" by any stretch of the imagination. You'll go from a PR of 2500+ up to 3700+ or so for a gain of 48%. That's far from minimal.

Granted, 2500mhz is not guaranteed, but it's a pretty safe bet. I haven't seen anyone get one that did less than 2300mhz.

You're not risking frying anything if you know what you're doing. The worst that could happen would be you would fry your CPU. This would only happen if you pumped 2.0 volts into it or something crazy like that.

Even if I had to pay $20 more for each stick of memory, I would go with PC3200 stuff. If you're lucky the PC2700 stuff will do PC3200 speeds, but I have no idea what your chances would be.

 

[nick1985]

get pc-3200

get a mobile barton

get the shuttle AN35N-Ultra


have a nice day

 

[SickBeast]

Yeah the Shuttle might be better, and is definately cheaper.

 

[cmp1223]

Well, Corsair and Mushkin both sell 512MB sticks of PC-3200 at CL2.5 for around $92 a stick, so it is a definate increase. Would really like to find a rebate or something! As for the motherboard, i don't think i need RAID, Soundstorm, or SATA, so a cheaper mobo would do, especially if i need the money elsewhere. Top priority would be something easy to use with a good manual, becasue its my first build. The retail Athlons have a 3 year warranty, and the OEM mobile only 3 months, so thats a little dishearting. Thanks for putting it in perspective Sickbeast, if i could gain over 40% in speed AND have a stable sytem that will last years then its worth it. Does a lower FSB matter? BTW, since its another $30 for a HSF, would there be a retail Athlon then in the $120 range that could do the same?

 

[SickBeast]

No. I'm guessing you could get a 2800+ for around $120. AMD does not make a "3700+" Athlon XP. It's in quotes cuz I'm not certain of the actual model number of a 2500mhz Athlon.

In any event, a good heatsink is a good investment as you can reuse it with other computers you may end up buying, depending on the configuration.

The memory you found sounds good BTW.

I honestly like the ABIT NF7-S and have experience with it, so that's what I reccomend. Others have been preaching the Shuttles at me lately, but I have never used one and have yet to see a review of one. I don't know if it has the features of the ABIT either.

Good luck. :beer:

 

[cmp1223]

Jeez, I've been reading some old posts in other forums and RAM prices seem to have gone up. I though this stuff was supposed to get cheaper as time goes on! A stick of 512 pc3200 could be gotten for around $75 or less with rebates. I also have to factor in some arctic silver, right?

 

[SickBeast]

Yep, Arctic Silver is needed.

And yes, the RAM has gone up you'll have to get over it. It's apparently on it's way back down though.

 

[cmp1223]

Well, i really didn't want to spend more than i had planned, and adding better RAM and a HSF will cost another $100. Is PC-3200 significantly better? I though if the RAM's speed is greater than the CPU FSB, its just wasted. This would be the case if i paired PC-3200 with an Athlon XP Mobile. Is the life expectancy of a CPU decreased with overclocking (especially when you push it that much)?