So I'm building this new system . . .

[DealMonkey]

Used to build my own systems back about 3-4 years ago until I realized I could buy new Dell systems for less than I could put 'em together myself. So anyway, I've been thru a few Dells over the last few years . . . 8100 then a 8200 and finally a 4550. Now that Dell doesn't have quite the good deals anymore, I'm back to building my own rigs.

Here's my gameplan: Spend ~ $1,000, get the best components I can within my budget. Target machine needs to play games FAST and also handle content creation tasks on a daily basis.

I've already purchased the following:

Antec Super LanBoy Case ($73 @ Buy.com)
Antec TruePower 430 Power Supply ($60 @ Newegg)
Abit IC7 Mainboard ($118 @ Newegg)
CPU P4 Northwood 3.0Ghz Retail 800mhz ($217 @ Newegg)
1GB PC3200 Corsair DDR RAM (2x512MB matched sticks) CL=2.5 ($187 @ Newegg)
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB ($179 @ Frys)

So, thus far, I've burned through $834.00 of my $1,000 budget. Wow, that went fast.

I still need to get the following components:

Lite-On Internal 8X DVD burner (SOHW-812S) Black OEM ($83 @ Newegg)
Maxtor 160GB 7200RPM SATA OEM HDD ($111.50 @ Newegg)
Sony Black FDD OEM ($12.99)

So after picking up those components I'll total out at $1,041.49. A little over budget, but not too bad. And, I feel like I got good quality components that I'll be happy with for a good year or so.

Any comments or critiques on my setup? Lemme know!

 

[GeneralGrievous]

I'd get an AMD mobile processor and upgrade your video card to an X800 or 6800 of your choice. A mobile @ 2.5 ghz will do just as well if not better than that P4 at gaming.

 

[nick1985]

well if you want to play games "FAST" then get an athlon 64. they are faster for gaming than intel.

everything else looks good

 

[Dufrane]

If the rig is for gameing I would go with the a64 machine. I love mine.

 

[txxxx]

Can any of you read? He's already purchased an Abit IC7 + P4 3.0c.

 

[txxxx]

Originally posted by: GeneralGrievous
I'd get an AMD mobile processor and upgrade your video card to an X800 or 6800 of your choice. A mobile @ 2.5 ghz will do just as well if not better than that P4 at gaming.

Not quite, Athlon 64's still had a small but distinct advantage over the Athlon XP's, although they didnt whack there's to 2.5ghz so its still debeatable.

Oh and that was from a "lets compare the X800 with Athlon XP's and Athlon64's" review.

 

[xenos500]

Originally posted by: txxxx
Can any of you read? He's already purchased an Abit IC7 + P4 3.0c.

I second that motion. ^


I'm happy with my IC-7 and 2.6C, Im sure you'll love yours too.


Don't listen to the AMD guys, you made the right choice IMHO, with one of the best s478 boards around.
The Anandtech population is biased quite a bit towards AMD, but the rest of the world is not.

 

[Mo0o]

CPU P4 Northwood 3.0Ghz Retail 800mhz ($217 @ Newegg)

Dont waste an extra 40 bucks on this, just get teh 2.8C northwood and OC it to that. That is what I'm doing in my Shuttle XPC and i have a 30o idle temp w/ the Shuttle's ICE cooling + AS5.

edit: oh damn i guess i wasn't careful in reading, looks like you already purchased your 3.0 =\

 

[DealMonkey]

Yup, not surprisingly, this place is crawling w/ AMD (especially A64) fans. That's cool. I just happen to be an Intel guy.

That said, all of the responses have been interesting. I didn't mean the thread as a "what should I buy" sorta deal, rather I wanted to see where you think I went wrong spending my budget.

It seems you can build a pretty damn nice system for $1,000 these days. Especially when you already have the OS and the monitor from your previous system.

 

[CrazyHelloDeli]

Wow, I always pegged DealMonkey an AMD guy...choosing Intel is so..."Conservative"...

 

[nick1985]

Originally posted by: DealMonkey
Yup, not surprisingly, this place is crawling w/ AMD (especially A64) fans. That's cool. I just happen to be an Intel guy.

That said, all of the responses have been interesting. I didn't mean the thread as a "what should I buy" sorta deal, rather I wanted to see where you think I went wrong spending my budget.

It seems you can build a pretty damn nice system for $1,000 these days. Especially when you already have the OS and the monitor from your previous system.

an intel guy? whats that mean, you only buy intel? cool, you shut yourself out from looking at what else is out there...:roll:

and BTW, an A64 is faster than your intel chip at gaming.

 

[MrBond]

Personally, I'd pass on the Lite-On DVD burner. Lite-On DVD burners aren't as solid as their CDRW drives were. Get a NEC ND-2500A, it's only $78 at newegg, which only puts you like $6 over budget . There's also a lot of talk about how those drives are firmware-flashable to dual-layer support

I'd have gone with the p4 too personally, I had enough of the lack of thermal protection on the AMD Tbirds I had (I'm sure they fixed that though - but at the time of my last upgrade the AMD64 was WAY more expensive than it is now)

 

[nick1985]

Originally posted by: MrBond
Personally, I'd pass on the Lite-On DVD burner. Lite-On DVD burners aren't as solid as their CDRW drives were. Get a NEC ND-2500A, it's only $78 at newegg, which only puts you like $6 over budget . There's also a lot of talk about how those drives are firmware-flashable to dual-layer support

I'd have gone with the p4 too personally, I had enough of the lack of thermal protection on the AMD Tbirds I had (I'm sure they fixed that though - but at the time of my last upgrade the AMD64 was WAY more expensive than it is now)

you are aware than a64's run cooler than P4's right?

 

[MrBond]

you are aware than a64's run cooler than P4's right?

Read the last thing I wrote. At the time of my last upgrade, the AMD64 had just been released and was VERY expensive compared to the p4 I bought. I wasn't going to spend that much money when the P4 was perfect for my needs. And for the record, I didn't know that, so thanks for pointing it out

(lets not turn this into a p4 vs amd64 debate thread - I'm sure that's been done before and DealHunter's mind is already made up anyway)

I also might hold off on the SATA drive for the moment in favor of an ATA133 drive - you can always add a SATA one in later if you want. Use the money you save to get a nice DVD-ROM drive, I like to keep my BFV CD in one drive at all times

 

[txxxx]

Originally posted by: nick1985

Originally posted by: MrBond
Personally, I'd pass on the Lite-On DVD burner. Lite-On DVD burners aren't as solid as their CDRW drives were. Get a NEC ND-2500A, it's only $78 at newegg, which only puts you like $6 over budget . There's also a lot of talk about how those drives are firmware-flashable to dual-layer support

I'd have gone with the p4 too personally, I had enough of the lack of thermal protection on the AMD Tbirds I had (I'm sure they fixed that though - but at the time of my last upgrade the AMD64 was WAY more expensive than it is now)

you are aware than a64's run cooler than P4's right?

Maybe so , but 1. He's already purchased it, and 2. The difference isnt large enough to go swapping items for.