Building a new system

[jag1]

I'm building a new system that will be used mainly for LAN gaming and broadband internet surfing. I want to build a decent performer that will play newer games without any problems. (My P3 600 Dells don't play them smoothly anymore). The components I'm eyeing are: Asus P4P800 Deluxe board, P4 2.66HT 800mhz processor, 512MB DDR400 Ram (OCZ Performance?), Maxtor 160GB SATA hard drive, and an ATI Radeon 9600Pro 128MB 8X AGP video, in a Diabolic series gaming tower with a 400W power supply. I'm trying to keep the price of this system around $1000 ($320 of which is eaten by a flat panel monitor) since I'm building 2 of them, one for myself and one for my wife. Any suggestions are welcome.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Welcome to the forums!

Will you be overclocking?

FYI (especially if not OC) the 2.8C will drop to the 2.6C price at the start of February.

 

[jag1]

I've never overclocked before, usually just upgraded or rebuilt to increase performance. If the need were there, I probably would try it. I've seen alot of people replacing parts in a short timeframe from OCing, and if what I have does the job without it I see no reason to risk it. The P4 2.6C (800) I've seen OCed to 3.5 on alot of forums using the Asus board. Being the smallest P4 to use HT tech, and the fact I can get it for $175 is why I was eyeing it over the $205 2.8. I would definitely go 2.8 (800) if prices dropped though.

 

[jag1]

 

[jag1]

About overclocking, will these components overclock if I decide to? (I've seen people claiming to overclock P4 2.6Cs to 3.2-3.5. I've read around the forums that PC3500 Ram will OC better than PC3200. Is anyone here OCing with OCZ Performance PC3500? I would like to attempt an OC, but if the cost of buying more expensive Ram outways or comes close to the cost of upgrading the processor I don't see the advantage. Opinions anyone?

 

[xenos500]

that motherboard will allow you to keep your ram near normal speeds while overclocking your CPU. Get whatever ram you can afford and dont worry about it.

 

[jag1]

So should I use PC3200 Ram, or PC3500 Ram? And should I run one 512 or dual 256s? My understanding is that dual 256s will perform better because they will run dual channel? Things have changed since my last PIII builds!