Putting together a new computer

[etalns]

Hi all, I'm currently building a comp and was hoping for some opinions on the parts I've chosen. I'm rather amateur to this sort of stuff, so I was hoping to get a few opinions on the manufacturers, and the parts etc.

Case: Koolance 2nd Gen Water Cooling System
CD-RW: 32X/10X/40 INT EIDE
DVD: Sony DDU 1621 - Removable disk drive DVD-ROM
HD 1 (SCSI): Seagate Cheetah X15 - Hard drive - standard - 18.4 GB - SCSI Ultra160 (16-bit) LVD - 3.5" internal - 3.6 ms - 15000 rpm - 8 MB
HD 2 (IDE): Western Digital Caviar WD1000BB Special Edition - Hard drive - standard - 100 GB - DMA/ATA-100 (Ultra) - 3.5" internal - 8.9 ms - 7200 rpm - 8 MB
Ram (using 2 sticks, to total 1024 mb of ram)64X64 512MB DDR 184-PIN PC2100 DDR PC2100
Network Card: 3com
Processor: 2.2 GHZ P4 Northwood
Motherboard: Intel Desktop board D845BGL - Mainboard - ATX - Intel 845 - processor(s) 0 / 1 - LAN EN, Fast EN
Sound Card: Creative Labs Soundblaster Audigy X-Gamer 5.1 Retail boxed
Video Card: GEFORCE4 XTASY TI4600 128MB AGP BILINGUAL
Speakers: Altec Lansing 641CN

Now, I do have a few questions.

1) Is the mobo I have chosen a good choice? or should I go for a different one?
2) What sort of SCSI controller should I pick up?
3) Should I use DDRAM or RDRAM
4) What sort of speeds would I probably be ablet o get my NW up too with my water cooled case?
5) To my knowledge the ti4600 is teh best video card on the market, is this correct?
6) Speakers, overkill?
7) If you were building a comp, and you started with this, what would you personally change =)

 

[acejj26]

someone has some money to spend =)

i'd personally go with a different board since you want to overclock....don't expect an Intel board to have overclocking features

i'd get the Asus P4S533 (based on the 645DX chipset) or the Abit TH7-II (based on the i850) chipset. the latter would be better if you want the NW 2.2 since you wont' be able to O/C the bus too much anyways on the board (the Rambus might hold you back). i think if you go with the Asus board, you should get a 1.8A and try to get it up to 2.4 (which shouldn't be much of a problem)....also with that, get the best memory you can find and try to run it at 400 MHz. that will compete with a Rambus solution at stock memory speeds

what CD burner are you getting? I'd get a Plextor 40x if you're gonna be dropping this much cash on your new system...what's another $40? also, i'd get either a Pioneer slot-loading DVD drive or a Toshiba DVD drive. Sony's aren't that good.

hard drives look good. i'd go with a nice Adaptec Ultra160 SCSI card. you pay a little extra, but it's worth it

network card looks good...i've used a 3Com 905 NIC for 4 years now, and it still runs like a champ

sound card looks good....i like the Hercules Game Theater XP, but the Audigy isn't bad

video card looks good, too...you're right, you can't go wrong with it...it IS the fastest gamer card out there right now

speakers....i like my Logitech Z-560's, but they're a 4.1 solution. i've also had several sets of Altec Lansings, and they sound great. i've never heard the 641's but i'm sure they're nice, too

here is what i'd get (but this is just me)

case: koolance 2nd gen (the one that is based on the Chenming case, not the other crappy one they have)
cd-rw: plextor 40/12/40 IDE
dvd: pioneer 16x slot load IDE
hdd1: seagate cheetah X15 (the one you have listed)
hdd2: WD Caviar 100 GB (the one you have listed)
memory: 1 stick of Samsung PC2700 DDR 512 MB (helps in overclocking to only have 1 stick...besides, you won't notice too much of a difference between 512MB and 1024 MB)
nic: 3Com 3c905tx PCI
processor: 1.8A or 2.0A Northwood (with the water rig, you might be able to hit 2667 MHz running your NW at 133 MHz bus using the 2.0A)
mobo: asus p4s533
sound: audigy x-gamer
video: gainward ti4600 powerpack (the golden sample one with the 750 on the end of the name)
speakers: altec lansing 641
scsi adapter: adaptec 19160 SCSI card


hope my input helps

 

[etalns]

<< what CD burner are you getting? I'd get a Plextor 40x if you're gonna be dropping this much cash on your new system...what's another $40? also, i'd get either a Pioneer slot-loading DVD drive or a Toshiba DVD drive. Sony's aren't that good. >>



Was going with a Sony CDRW - will change it over to Plextor.




<< sound card looks good....i like the Hercules Game Theater XP, but the Audigy isn't bad >>



Switched to the Hercules



<< speakers....i like my Logitech Z-560's, but they're a 4.1 solution. i've also had several sets of Altec Lansings, and they sound great. i've never heard the 641's but i'm sure they're nice, too >>



A summary on the speakers can be found here.





<< i'd get the Asus P4S533 (based on the 645DX chipset) or the Abit TH7-II (based on the i850) chipset. the latter would be better if you want the NW 2.2 since you wont' be able to O/C the bus too much anyways on the board (the Rambus might hold you back). i think if you go with the Asus board, you should get a 1.8A and try to get it up to 2.4 (which shouldn't be much of a problem)....also with that, get the best memory you can find and try to run it at 400 MHz. that will compete with a Rambus solution at stock memory speeds >>



I have been told in the past that the 845 chipset is incredibly stable, may have been before the 850 was realeased. Anywhere I can find info on both? Or just some more opinions on the differences between the two and which is better overall (out of 645 DX, 850, 845)

Q]memory: 1 stick of Samsung PC2700 DDR 512 MB (helps in overclocking to only have 1 stick...besides, you won't notice too much of a difference between 512MB and 1024 MB)[/i] >>



Well, I actually dont purcahse my parts from a store, I use a distributor, and they dont sell any pc2700 ram =( or is the pc2700 an overclocked pc2100? If It'd only be as fast as rambus when o/c'd I wouldn't mind paying the extra money for RDRAM. Also, would it be putting too much onto my board to put a 512 stick in as my only ram? in the past I have tried to put a 512 stick on this comp and it ran incredibly slow. 933 hmz dell (old )





<< video: gainward ti4600 powerpack (the golden sample one with the 750 on the end of the name) >>



Ugh, once agin the whole distributor thing comes into play. They don't sell Gainward, does any other company make a powerpack alike this? You can find a list of companies I can purcahse from here.

Thanks alot for your help!

 

[etalns]

BTW, would it be a wise choice to wait till the end of the month for the 533 mhz fsb intel chip?

 

[MWWInc]

Ace gave you a lot of good info.

Drives: Pioneer and Plextor make good stuff, LiteOn CD-RWs are best bang-for-the-buck though in my opinion. May I ask what you need SCSI for though? You could save your money and get two of those WD drives and RAID them for added performance.

Mobo/RAM: Intel chipsets are pretty much the standard IMO. The i845 is a P4 + DDR platform and the i850 is P4 + RDRAM. DDR2700 is a little slower than RDRAM, and if you can only get DDR2100, the RDRAM will be the faster solution. So I'd get an i850 boad like the Abit TH7-II like ace said, or an Asus P4T533E if DDR2100 and RDRAM are your only 2 options.

Video: I see MSI and Visiontek both listed at that link, they both make good Ti4600s. It's all about the features you want, they're all about the same speed-wise (Anand had a Ti4400 and 4600 roundup, so check that out).

Proc: If you're an OCer (as I'm guessing by the water-cooling), you'll be running a 533Mhz bus anyways, so why bother? 1.6A, 1.8A, 2.0A...pick your price range, they all OC quite well.

 

[etalns]

<< Mobo/RAM: Intel chipsets are pretty much the standard IMO. The i845 is a P4 + DDR platform and the i850 is P4 + RDRAM. DDR2700 is a little slower than RDRAM, and if you can only get DDR2100, the RDRAM will be the faster solution. So I'd get an i850 boad like the Abit TH7-II like ace said, or an Asus P4T533E if DDR2100 and RDRAM are your only 2 options. >>



I looked in Asus, and this is the board I find. Here are specs on it

Main Specifications:
Supported RAM Technology RDRAM (RAMBUS) , ECC
Memory / RAM 0 MB ( 2 GB ) - RDRAM (RAMBUS) RIMM 184-PIN - 800 MHz
Memory / Cache None
Data Bus Speed Max 400 MHz
Mainboard Intel 850
Storage Controller DMA/ATA-100 (Ultra) - integrated
Warranty
Networking None
Communications
Audio Output None
Video Output None
Processor 0 ( 1 ) x Intel Pentium 4 - Pentium 4
Dimensions (WxDxH) / Weight 30.5 cm x 24.4 cm
Form Factor Desktop / deskside - ATX

Is that the right mobo?

Also, if it has a max 400 mhz DBSM, would my processor be able to reach 533 mhz fsb?

also, going to go with the 2.4, willing to pay the extra now and keep it for a tad bit longer, and I'm wondering how I can get that thing in myice-cold basement with twater cooling

 

[etalns]

<< May I ask what you need SCSI for though? >>



I just thought it'd be a good idea to run my OS off my SCSI and some of my mian programs, then do all storage on my supplementary drive.

There are 2 things which are important, I will most likely use this for video editing quite often, and it is important I have atleast over 100 gigs, but also it is incredibly important that I have al lmy data very secure, so thats why I'm kinda iffy about raid 0 setup. If I combined 2 - 80 gig seagate barracudas (I thnk thats the silent hd's i've heard about) by raid, what stripe would I go at and wuld that run faster then a scsi overall?

 

[sniperruff]

wow if only i have 1/4 of your budget i'll get me a nice amd1800xp with basic stuff!

 

[acejj26]

maybe a raid 0+1 setup....get 4 80 GB Seagates, and do a 0+1 stripe for data integrity and speed

for overclocking rambus memory, get the low density memory chips. ask your distributor....they'll know what i'm talking about

 

[etalns]

Acejj, possibly got any instant messaging software?

 

[Athlon4all]

I've got AIM and MSN. See my sig. I'd be happy to help you out.

 

[MWWInc]

<< I just thought it'd be a good idea to run my OS off my SCSI and some of my mian programs, then do all storage on my supplementary drive. There are 2 things which are important, I will most likely use this for video editing quite often, and it is important I have atleast over 100 gigs, but also it is incredibly important that I have al lmy data very secure, so thats why I'm kinda iffy about raid 0 setup. If I combined 2 - 80 gig seagate barracudas (I thnk thats the silent hd's i've heard about) by raid, what stripe would I go at and wuld that run faster then a scsi overall? >>



SCSI will usually be faster, but more expensive. I'd check out this article, which talks about IDE RAID (there's a SCSI RAID article on that site too). I think normal stripe size is 16K. Oh and RAID 0+1 is striping and mirroring, so you get some benefits of RAID 0 speed while having all you data duplicated like RAID 1.

Oh, and here's the mobo we're talking about. That board would give you onboard IDE RAID for "free". However, I don't think it's the one you listed because that description doesn't mention RAID or the AC97 audio onboard.

Overall, I'd get the TH7-II RAID and 2 Western Digital WD1200BB hard drives and put them in RAID 1 if you want reliability. Those drives cost ~$170 each, which is about the same as an 18GB Seagate Cheetah SCSI drive. Mmmmmm...almost 1/4 terabyte of storage...

 

[acejj26]

mwwinc....if you go with a mirror array (raid 1), you don't get the capacity of each drive combined....you only get the capacity of the smallest drive in the array (which is a moot point if you use similar drives)....you only get the combined capacity if you stripe (raid 0)

that was why i suggested the raid 0+1 array. if you use 4 80 GB drives in a raid 0+1 array, then you get an effective 160 GB of storage, plus all the data is mirrored for integrity

qosis....you can reach me at supergenius160 on AOL Instant Messenger...i'd be happy to advise you on your purchase

 

[MWWInc]

<< that was why i suggested the raid 0+1 array. if you use 4 80 GB drives in a raid 0+1 array, then you get an effective 160 GB of storage, plus all the data is mirrored for integrity >>



Ace: Ah yes, you're right. I was thinking from a $ standpoint, but sounds like 0+1 is the priority here. Just for my own curiosity, have you see any good RAID 0+1 benchmarks around the web? I was disappointed it wasn't included it in Anandtech's IED RAID comparison. Edit: Found this

Qosis: While the WDs would be good for RAID 0, you need 4 drives for 0+1. So the Seagate 80GB drives x 4 would give you that for ~$100 more than the WD setup. Plus the cost of a RAID card? or can the TH7-II do RAID 0+1? If you end up getting a separate RAID card it wouldn't matter if you got the TH7-II version that you listed above that doesn't have onboard RAID.