What'd you guys think of this setup?

rockski32 · Dec 16, 2001

This is all of the stuff that I am ordering, hopefully tommorow. Since this is the first time I am putting together a pc I might be missing something like wires (Do I need a cable for the HD since its OEM)? Any other wires I need? Will the 300 watt supply be enough?
CHIEFTECH Server Chasis (Workstation Tower) CT1030 w/ AMD approved 300 watt power supply $82(newegg)
3 Panaflo fans (39.6 CFM) - $36 (heatsinkfactory.com)
Athlon XP 1800 -$187(monarchcomputer.com) OEM
ALPHA PAL8045U Heat Sink - $35 (newegg)
EPOX EP-8KHA+ - $105 (newegg) RETAIL
IBM Deskstar 60GB 7200RPM $115(newegg) OEM
Crucial 256MB 32x64 PC 2100 DDR -$59 (newegg) OEM
LITE-ON 24102B-01 24x10x40 - $82(newegg) Retail
Teac 1.44MB Black Floppy Drive - $17 (newegg) OEM
Creative Inspire 5.1 - $100 (best buy) RETAIL
Audigy Gamer - $80 (buy.com) RETAIL
GeForce 3 Ti 200 - $175 (buy.com) RETAIL
Keytronic Tag a long keyboard w/ mouse - $23 (newegg)
Arctic Silver Paste - $6 (newegg)

Total: $1102

*Does not include a monitor because I'm trying to find a place that sells the Viewsonic G90f in a black case..so that'll add $300 to the total making it $1402

de8212 · Dec 16, 2001

<< EPOX EP-8KHA+ - $105 (newegg) RETAIL >>

Just a side note on this one. newegg has been out of stock sonce, at least, last friday. I called them and the guy told me they should be getting 200 of them in late friday. They may have but they haven't added it to their site yet????

<< ALPHA PAL8045U Heat Sink - $35 (newegg) >>

I considered that one as well but I read somewhere yo may have to take a dremel to it to keep from hitting something on the epox board. Didn't sound too difficult, just not something I wanted to do.

BTW, nice system.

rockski32 · Dec 16, 2001

Thanks for the reply! Yeah I've heard about the problem with the alpha but my uncle is a carpenter so there should be no problem cutting a piece of the alpha off and other than that I've heard nothing but good things about the alpha...but I'll take another look around...just curious what heatsink did you end up getting? Oh and yeah and I'm getting the epox from a different site...directron.com I believe....same price though...

<added last sentence about the epox>

de8212 · Dec 16, 2001

The alpha does have darn good reviews. i'd stick with it if I were you. Especially if you have no problem shaving a bit of it off.

I ended up getting the volcano 7. I have no plans to overclock. I've used past volcano's before and they do the job OK. BTW mwave has tghe epox in stock and it's cheaper than newegg. Just a suggestion.
de

ku · Dec 16, 2001

de8212: if you read this, could u tell me how it performs? i love how it looks and the fact that is has a 80mm fan. also, how is the performance/noise ratio?

Windogg · Dec 16, 2001

Get a bigger power supply.

Windogg

de8212 · Dec 16, 2001

ku.
I assume you are talking about the hs/fan. I won't get it until this week and I won't get the epox until xmas. Along with a lite-on 24x cdrw, pioneer dvd, etc. It's all going in my sx1040.

t4t3r · Dec 16, 2001

if you are sticking with the 8kha+, you might need a bigger psu. either get a case w/o one, or look at the Antec brand SX1040 from microbarn for $135 shipped. the 8kha+ is known to need a lot of juice. in some cases the 300watter will work fine, but some have problems running that board with a 300w psu. i myself have an 8kha+ and the sx1040 from microbarn, and everything runs spectacular. btw, looks like a good setup. enjoy your new toy...

t4t3r

GT1999 · Dec 16, 2001

The quality of the PSU makes a huge difference as well.. Antec ~300 or Sparkle ~300 will most likely be fine, especially if you don't add another HD or anything, but you never know. I currently have a Sparkle 300, and if I were to buy a rig like yours I would at least go for a 400, if not 430-550W PSU, if I had the cash to burn.

rockski32 · Dec 16, 2001

Ok I've decided to get the Cheiftech without the power supply and then get an Enermax psu for $57 from new egg...now all I have to do is find a place where that case isn't sold out! The Enermax is 350W, will that be enough or should I opt for 431W Enermax? oh an btw I just visited Microbarn and they've shut down and aren't taking any new orders!

rockski32 · Dec 16, 2001

Hmm, I'll take a look into the Antec and Sparkle....one question how do you guys determine what's enough power..just kinda guess or is there somekind of system I don't know about it??

bustone · Dec 16, 2001

512MB would be preferable

scoobydooby · Dec 16, 2001

Have memory prices gone up a lot of is $60 a lot? I picked up 384 mb's crucial 2100 for about sixty a few weeks ago....
Scoob

Wind · Dec 16, 2001

1. Need bigger PSU 350W & above.
2. Unless u wanna mod the Alpha...consider other HSF.
3. IBM HDD is good...but u might wanna consider Maxtor, Seagate...since there r many mixed responce to the 75GXP as well as 60 GXP series in realiability issues.

Otherwise...

Daovonnaex · Dec 17, 2001

<< This is all of the stuff that I am ordering, hopefully tommorow. Since this is the first time I am putting together a pc I might be missing something like wires (Do I need a cable for the HD since its OEM)? Any other wires I need? Will the 300 watt supply be enough?
CHIEFTECH Server Chasis (Workstation Tower) CT1030 w/ AMD approved 300 watt power supply $82(newegg)
3 Panaflo fans (39.6 CFM) - $36 (heatsinkfactory.com)
Athlon XP 1800 -$187(monarchcomputer.com) OEM
ALPHA PAL8045U Heat Sink - $35 (newegg)
EPOX EP-8KHA+ - $105 (newegg) RETAIL
IBM Deskstar 60GB 7200RPM $115(newegg) OEM
Crucial 256MB 32x64 PC 2100 DDR -$59 (newegg) OEM
LITE-ON 24102B-01 24x10x40 - $82(newegg) Retail
Teac 1.44MB Black Floppy Drive - $17 (newegg) OEM
Creative Inspire 5.1 - $100 (best buy) RETAIL
Audigy Gamer - $80 (buy.com) RETAIL
GeForce 3 Ti 200 - $175 (buy.com) RETAIL
Keytronic Tag a long keyboard w/ mouse - $23 (newegg)
Arctic Silver Paste - $6 (newegg)

Total: $1102

*Does not include a monitor because I'm trying to find a place that sells the Viewsonic G90f in a black case..so that'll add $300 to the total making it $1402 >>

Instead of an Alpha cooler, why not get a ThermoSonic ThermoEngine? It's cheaper, and its performance is nearly as good as the best Alpha. Also, get a CS4630 based sound card instead of an Audigy--they have less distortion. Finally, does that mainboard have built-in ethernet and RAID?

Rickten · Dec 17, 2001

I just bought the parts for a system last friday and I just have a reminder. Don't forget tax and shipping. I got screwed on the tax because I ordered from newegg and I live in California. Tax and shipping added on about a 100 dollars to my total. Just a friendly reminder since I see you are posting prices before tax and shipping costs.

edit: I'd also like to mention that I was going to get the XP 1800+ but then I got to thinking. The 1700 is 50 dollars cheaper. There is only a 60mhz difference between the two. Is 60 mhz worth 50 bucks. Just a question to ask yourself and a possible way to bring the price down a little bit if needed. Or maybe free up some cash to spend else where on possibly a better PSU or bigger hard drive. Just another thought.

jere01 · Dec 17, 2001

Aren't the Deskstar hard drives supposed to have the highest failure rate?

JoeDaddy · Dec 17, 2001

<< Audigy Gamer - $80 (buy.com) RETAIL
GeForce 3 Ti 200 - $175 (buy.com) RETAIL >>

Why not go with the sb live 5.1 from newegg for $34 w/ free shipping and step up the vid card to a ATI Radeon 8500 retail box?

Or you could try your luck and get the oem radeon 8500 and flash the bios w/ the retail bios to bump your speed up to 275/275 instead of the 250/250 on OEM cards. Just be aware that its not a guarranted thing. I had an OEM 8500 this morning that had tons of artifacting w/ the retail bios.

Just a thought....

[EDIT]

One more thing, since alot of your prices are from buy.com, why not check and see if staples.com has the same thing available? If so just pricematch and use staples coupons, (40 off 200,etc..)

[/EDIT]

rockski32 · Dec 18, 2001

I've heard that the reliability issues only occur in the 75 GXP series and that the 60 GXP series are actually pretty solid...I think I'm gonna check prices one more time before I order and if I find a Maxtor or Western Digital for cheaper then the IBM I might consider changing but for now I think I'm gonna stick with the 60 GXP unless someone has some horror stories about it....

No the Epox does not have built in ethernet nor RAID but I already have a NIC and I don't see myself utilizing RAID anytime soon....

Again is there some method for knowing how much watts are needed for a system or do you guys just ballpark the figure? I'd like to becuase right now I'm basically relying on what other people tell me is enough watts.....

As to dropping down to a 1700....I can get the 1800 for $187 and the 1700 for $157....so that would be a $30 savings and maybe the extra 60 Mhz isn't worth the $30 but I really don't want to start dropping down the cpu because then I'll be at 1700 and think there's not much of a difference between it and the 1600 and so. I'm ok with paying $187 for the 1800 so I think I'll just stick with that unless I need the extra $30 for shipping or some other component..but thanks for the suggestions.

And as for the ram as I already stated I'm gonna hold off for a little bit before I get some more ram...I figure that 256 mb will get me through and then I can just pick up another stick in a month...or maybe even as a christmas gift....but at the most within two months that ram will be up to 512 mb

As for the staples deal I couldn't find the audigy nore the geforce there so I guess I'll go with buy.com...they have free shipping for now so it's still a pretty good deal.

Thanks for all the replies guys!

Daovonnaex · Dec 18, 2001

<<

<< Audigy Gamer - $80 (buy.com) RETAIL
GeForce 3 Ti 200 - $175 (buy.com) RETAIL >>

Why not go with the sb live 5.1 from newegg for $34 w/ free shipping and step up the vid card to a ATI Radeon 8500 retail box?
[/EDIT] >>

The SB Live sucks. Why not buy an Audigy OEM, an SC OEM, or an AC OEM. Then, why not buy a Radeon 8500 OEM?

rockski32 · Dec 19, 2001

Ok this appears to be my final setup...any compatability problems or anything of that sort? I'm pretty much set on these products unless anyone knows some glaring incompatiblity or something horribly horribly wrong with one of these parts.....

Antec SX1040B w/ 400w psu - $127 (newegg.com)
3 Panaflo fans (39.6 CFM, no RPM) - $36 (heatsinkfactory.com)
Athlon XP 1800 -$187(monarchcomputer.com) OEM
ALPHA PAL8045U Heat Sink - $35 (newegg)
EPOX EP-8KHA+ - $109 (directron.com) RETAIL
maxtor diamondmax 60 GB 7200 RPM
Crucial 256MB 32x64 PC 2100 DDR -$59 (newegg) OEM
LITE-ON 24102B-01 24x10x40 - $82(newegg) Retail
Teac 1.44MB Black Floppy Drive - $17 (newegg) OEM
Creative Inspire 5.1 - $100 (best buy) RETAIL
Audigy Gamer - $80 (buy.com) RETAIL
GeForce 3 Ti 200 - $175 (buy.com) RETAIL
Keytronic Tag a long keyboard w/ mouse - $23 (newegg)
Arctic Silver Paste - $6 (newegg)
Viewsonic g90fb (19', flat screen, max res: 1600 X 1200 77 Hz, 1024 X 768 118 Hz, .21 mm horizontal dot pitch) - $317

Total: $1469 (without tax and shipping)

What'd you guys think of this setup?

Member

Diamond Member

Member

Diamond Member

Golden Member

Lifer

Diamond Member

Senior member

Diamond Member

Member

Member

Member

Senior member

Diamond Member

Golden Member

Golden Member

Senior member

Banned

Member

Golden Member

Member