Suggestions on Rig Please?

[eLm0]

I went out and bought a new computer late Dec . I sold it because I decided I wanted a laptop instead. I've reconsidered again and am gathering my thoughts about building the following, along with prices (in Canadian). 1 USD = approx. 1.55 CDN
$200 - Lian Li PC-60
$95 - Enermax 430W PSU
$200 - Radeon 7500 AIW
$85 - some DVD player
$240 - Pentium 4 1.6a
$230 - Asus P4B266
$140 - Crucial PC2100 DDR
HDD - already have one

I'm just wondering if anyone has any suggestions on my specs so far. I've been following the AMD scene for quite awhile, which was the system I just sold, so I'm not exactly sure about the compatibility of heatsinks with P4s. Value-wise, can I expect anything better than the new Volcano 7+?

Thanks for the help.

 

[Daovonnaex]

<< I went out and bought a new computer late Dec . I sold it because I decided I wanted a laptop instead. I've reconsidered again and am gathering my thoughts about building the following, along with prices (in Canadian). 1 USD = approx. 1.55 CDN
$200 - Lian Li PC-60 >>


Nice case. You may also want to consider the Directron SF-201.



<< $95 - Enermax 430W PSU >>

You'd say money by getting an Antec power supply, and you'd get a superior product.



<< $85 - some DVD player >>


Lite-On or Asus.



<< $240 - Pentium 4 1.6a
$230 - Asus P4B266
$140 - Crucial PC2100 DDR >>


DDR-SDRAM is an inferior solution for the Pentium 4. I recommend an ABIT TH7II paired with Samsung PC800 RDRAM. You'll gain superior memory bandwidth and superior signal integrity.



<< Value-wise, can I expect anything better than the new Volcano 7+? >>


Yes. As is the tradition of Thermal Take, the Volcano 7+ is nothing special. The AVC Sunflower is relatively cheap, and performs very well. FYI, Intel's stock cooler is pretty good as well.

 

[agentK]

what about the 8500 or geoforce 4s? unless you really need all the features that the AIW has.
also, i hear RDRAM is would make your system overclock better.
good luck with your set-up!

 

[eLm0]

Both the 8500 and GF4s are nice, but you failed to mention they cost at least twice the 7500 . My choice of the Radeon over the GeForce chipsets is most impulsive of me... I was fooling around the other day with the TV-out on my video card, and figured it was better to go with the Radeons for their improved TV-out performance. I haven't seen pics of the remote included with the 7500 AIW, but I seem to be leaning towards the AIW for this reason =\. If someone can tell me whether the 7500 has TV-out, I might be inclined to take the 7500 and the programmable remote from JBL .

About the Enermax vs. Antec PSU... while I have nothing to say about the superiority in quality, the Antec will run be about $20-30 more. I find that this is an area where I save some money, and yet, not have any significant impact on quality.

 

[Pariah]

Use RDRAM with P4's. They won't overclock better than DDR, but they will perform better with lower clock speeds nullifying the potential clocks gains of DDR. Don't waste money on a 430W PS. 300 is more than enough for that system. If you want peace of mind get a 350, but even that is unecessary. Lite-on DVD will work fine, Toshiba and Pioneer will cost a few dollars more.

 

[AlastorX82]

Get a PC-65 instead. $5 for more a sweet window...

 

[mchammer187]

go with an antec 1040B instead of your case and PSU

and the money saved can buy you the radeon 8500

AVC sunflower would be a good HS+F $19 USD shipped from pcpowerandcooling.com it is called cpu cool P4 S478

i've seen lian li's in action they are not worth it IMO

like dao said i would go with TH7 II + rambus

 

[agentK]

Don't waste money on a 430W PS.

i'll second that. but i'd say get a 350w instead. 300w seems to be the minimum nowadays.

 

[Amused]

Yeah, don't waste all that money on a case. Get an Antec sx1030 or 830. I have not heard of ONE SINGLE P4 machine -- OCed or not -- failing because a 300W Antec PSU did not supply enough power. Save your money on the heatsink, too. The stock Intel cooler is great, and with all the air an Antec case moves through it, it wont heat up at all in there.

PLUS, retail boxed CPUs insure a reseller has not tested your CPU for overclockability and siphoned off the best OCers to sell at a higher price. (call me paranoid, but with the P4 1.6A being the new C300A, I have plenty of reason to believe this is happening)

Also, I have to agree with the Th7-II/RDRAM opinions above. You could get the TH7-II RAID board for a few dollars more, and upgrade to RAID-0 later if you want to, or have two more IDE channels for expandability.

With the money you save from the case, PSU and the cooler, you should be able to get a better video card... hell, maybe even a Ti4600

 

[Ausm]

Waste of money on the case...buy an Enermax full tower and save yourself 100 bucks then use that money to ditch the Radeon and get a Geforce 4


Ausm

 

[jcmkk]

The Alpha heatsink is finally out for the P4. It can be had here.