building new pc, need advice!

[nAeS]

Alright, i am making a new pc sort of mid end type deal thing. I want to spent about 1000 bucks on it, a lil more or a little less whatever. Right now i have everything picked out from newegg, because they offer free shipping for most stuff and they ship fast, but what do you think of my choices?

Lite On Black 48x24x48x16 Combo Drive, Model LTC48161H BK -OEM $53

Samsung Floppy Black $6 (10 shipped)

Asus nForce2 Ultra 400 Chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket A CPU, Model "A7N8X Deluxe" ?RETAIL $118

AMD Athlon XP 2400+ "Thoroughbred" 266 FSB, 256K Cache Processor ? Retail $80

POWERCOLOR RADEON 9600PRO Video Card, 128MB DDR, 128-bit, DVI/TV-Out, 8X AGP, Model "R96A-C3N" ?RETAIL $150 (coupon?)

Kingston ValueRAM 184 Pin 256MB DDR PC-3200 ? Retail (41x2) $82

Raidmax Silver 10-bay Case w/ 420Watt Power Supply, Model ATX-868WSP ? Retail $70

Sub Total: $562

I plan to use the build in motherboard sound/network, as far as a hard drive i am going to try and pick up one with rebates from circuit city, maybe i can get a good deal on one. If not there was 80gb western digital for 72 bucks at newegg so maybe i should just add that in. I was considering an upgrade to the 9600XT just for the HL2 coupon but do you know if newegg sapphire 9600XT come with coupon or do only the ATI brands...

As far as a monitor, i was thinking about getting a LCD for around 300-400 if i can find one. If not i will just get a 2nd NEC FE991-SB, that is what i use on my main computer and i think it is great, i dont mind the faint horizontal lines much.

So any suggestions on this? The system is going to be mainly used for web surfing, emails, word documents, etc... simple stuff. Yes i realize the video card is not required to be as nice for that but i really just want a HL2 coupon, if the PRO doesnt come with it and the Sapphire XT does not either, then i guess i will lower it to a lesser priced video card.

Thanks in advance! greatly appreciate any comments or advice on what to buy

 

[cronos]

Get *at least* 512 MB of RAM, trust me, it's worth it.

 

[CDRecorder]

I agree; it would be much better to have at least 512 MB of RAM. Also, you might want to consider a slightly nicer case, such as an Antec case. Other than that, your system looks nice!

 

[Alex]

if u can spend a lil more why not get a 2500+ barton? theyre getting cheaper and cheaper and im sure it will be worth it...

 

[robcy]

512 Ram DDR3200, 2500+ and if you can go with the 9600XT. Pretty good system all the same.

good luck

 

[Breezie]

i'd at least get 512mb ram too if i were you- geil value series pc3200 is around 70 bucks and performs pretty well-

oh and i'm not a big fan of your case w/ power supply (basically because the psu probably wont be too good)- try a antec solution series with ANTEC 350watt psu for around 70 as well

 

[nAeS]

2500+ Barton

there is the 2500+ barton retail 10 dollars more, i decided i will go with that thank you I have a question tho, i dont plan to overclock this at all so the fan/heatsink that come with the retail box will work out right? If not what do you suggest i upgrade it to. Oh, and it says the barton runs at 1.83ghz, the 2400 said 2ghz... doesnt that make the 2400 faster? sorry haha I am just a bit confused, still upgrading to the barton though because my main pc is a 2800+ barton and I like it.

Second, that is 2 x 256 sticks of ram each are 41 dollars

256mb pc3200

depending on price i may add another 256 stick considering the comment that more would be helpful.

Then the comment on the case, so i wont need a 400watt power supply and will be able to subdue with a meer 350? I do not want this computer to ever lock up ... well if it has to only a few times hah.

Antec Case

Is the case you suggested I believe, yes it does look pretty nice I think I will change to that, as long as you think the 350Watts is enough?

Sorry for all the questions, I find a lot of the people on anandtech to be quiet knowledgeable so I appreciate the advice. But my other questions refer to the graphics and monitor. Will the 9600Pro come with a HL2 coupon or will the 9600XT from Sapphire? I don?t think I want to spend and extra 30 if it does not come with the coupon.

Lastly, the monitor whew. I just need a nice crisp screen for reading text etc, hardcore gaming is far from what I am looking for. This is going to be more of a family computer than anything so I want the screen to be good at displaying text, nothing blurry.

Anyways, thanks for all the help you have already given and anymore you add

Edit: stupid question but I want to ask anyways, how will the 9600XT from ATI performa gainst my 9800PRO 128mb? thanks

decided to go with this monitor...
what do you think?

 

[Breezie]

Yep that's the case i was talking about- 350watt will run your system fine... in fact if you're not an avid overclocker with tons of pci slots taken up and a bunch of harddrives- you could even run fine with a 300watt- the main thing is the quality- not how many watts you have. The ANTEC power supplies are high end and will insure stability. Raidmax usually gives poor quality power supplies. If you get a 400-500watt crappy brand power supply- it will definitely give you more problems then a good ole Antec or Enermax PSU at lower watts.

If you are running low on cash- just get 1 stick of 512mb ddr pc3200 memory. Geil has it for around 70 which isnt that bad on newegg. By getting only 1 stick you have the chance to pick up another identical stick when you have more money. Dual channel is faster and some people will tell you to go with 2 256mb sticks but in my opinion its only a little faster and by buying one stick now, and one later- you can have dual channel 512mb (1024mb) instead of 256mb (512mb) in the future which will overall benefit you more.

NEC makes good monitors so no complaints there. Shop around for prices though for companies like NEC, Viewsonic, and Samsung- they all make nice flat CRT's and maybe you'll finde a nice one in-store becuase shipping monitors is a lot of hassle.

The 9800PRO is way better then the 9600XT but that doesnt mean the 9600XT is a bad card- if you buy the 9600PRO/XT from newegg- the retail ones MIGHT come with the HL2 coupon- some people get them- some people don't- you'd have to find someone who got one with their card and ask them which exact brand/model they got (i got the 9800np RETAIL and didnt get a coupon).

 

[Jeff7181]

The retail heatsink/fan with the XP2500 will be just fine. In fact, you can even overclock with it... I've got family members who have them running at 2.2 Ghz (XP3200) with the retail heatsink. It's perfectly safe to do if you don't increase the voltage... XP2500's and XP3200's both use the same retail heatsinks... so like I said, if you don't create more heat by increasing the voltage, you can run at the speed of an XP3200 with no problem.

 

[alien886]

I agree it is a stupid question: 9600xt vs 9800pro. Simple answer: 9800 pro BY FAR! See for yourself:

http://www6.tomshardware.com/graphic/20031015/radeon9600xt-13.html

 

[Tbirdkid]

Get the barton 2500 retail. Also, use KOMUSA for your memory for dual channel. Great memory and great prices. Fast shipping too. They just had the 80 gig 8 meg cache drives on sale for 49 after rebate. The XT is wayyyyyyy over priced and not worth it. If you are going to spend that money find a 9700 pro in the classifieds around here. That would be your better bet. As for the monitor.... its your decision... but I game so I needed a nice crt. I got the Viewsonic 190 EFB for 200. What an awesome crt... its big but well worth it with gaming and watching a movie here and there.

 

[Tbirdkid]

eh double post

 

[nAeS]

thanks for advice on the ram, i am gunna go with the giel 512 3200 from newegg, i am going to purchase a 9600xt, here, it comes with hl2 and i dont mind if its a tad over priced the system i have set up right now is...

Lite On Black 48x24x48x16 Combo Drive, Model LTC48161H BK -OEM $53

Samsung Floppy Black $6 (10 shipped)

Asus nForce2 Ultra 400 Chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket A CPU, Model "A7N8X Deluxe" ?RETAIL $118

AMD Athlon XP 2500+ "Barton", 333 FSB, 512K Cache Processor ? Retail $90

Geil Value Series 184 Pin 512MB DDR PC-3200 $77

Antec Solution Series Case with 350W Power Supply,Model:SLK3700AMB,Retail. $73

NEC FE990 19" ClearFlat CRT Monitor ?RETAIL $255

Logitech Cordless MX Duo USB/PS2 104keys ?RETAIL $76

ATi RADEON 9600 XT 128MB DDR AGP8X TVO/DVI (Retail) - $181
(not at newegg.com)

Total: $933 (shipped)

 

[Markfw]

OK, with that budget, check out one of the other posts here that has an Athlon64 3000+ that looks similar to your system for about $100 more. The performance diff and upgadeability are much better.

 

[alien886]

Nah! Try $300 more.

 

[Markfw]

Originally posted by: alien886
Nah! Try $300 more.

It uses the same memory, and the motherboard is the same price, and the CPU is $130 more. Where do you get $300

 

[Ionizer86]

If you're not overclocking, upgrade to teh 2600+ Barton since it's only a bit more money.

 

[osage]

go with a Barton chip 2500 or whatever you can afford

if you are not going to use serial HHDs then save some money and get the Shuttle AN35 Ultra mobo. AN35N-Ultra

Antec cases are good, but for less money I think Enlight is just as good and has some very nice features, like the very slick mounting rails for drives, no screws needed for any of your CD/DVD drives.

ENLIGHT Model# EN-7255 is my current fav for a good qulity case without a premium price.