Final Approval on $900 budget system

[newuser]

*(note, see my post (post 16) for the revised configuration w/ revised RAM. psu, case)

DVD ROM
LITE-ON XJ-HD166S/XJ-HD165H 16X DVD ROM Drive - Retail48X $33

HDD
WD WESTERN DIGITAL "SPECIAL EDITION" 80GB 7200RPM EIDE HARD DRIVE MODEL # WD800JB - OEM, DRIVE ONLY (8MB cache) $83

CABLE
24-Inch, Teflon Coated, IDE True ATA133/100, Flat Cable for IDE Hard Drives, CD ROM, DVD ROM or CDRW, 3-Connector, 133/100/66, 24 Inches Long. Please see image. $3

KEYBOARD
Chicony IR Wireless Multimedia Keyboard with Built-in FSR Mouse (Black)- RETAIL $28


*RAM
KINGSTON HyperX Series 184-pin 512MB DDR333 (PC2700) 64X64 DDR RAM modules, Model# KHX2700/512 2x$75 $151

MOBO
►On Sale! Epox Motherboard for AMD Athlon/Athlon XP/Duron Processors, Model# EP-8RDA+ $85


*POWERSUPLY
ENERMAX EG365P-VE(FM). 350W Power supply for AMD K7 & Pentium4 $47

*CPU
AMD ATHLON XP 2600 /333 FSB PROCESSOR $93 (*switching to oem+ SK7 HSF)

VIDEO CARD
LEADTEK WINFAST A280 GEFORCE4 TI 4200 128MB VGA & TV-OUT, DVI-OUT AGP 8X RETAIL BOX $125

*CASE FANS:
2intake/2exhaust<a target=new class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.svc.com/8027cfm210db.html">fan from svc:80 x 25 mm Vantec Stealth Fan (27CFM @ 21dBA) $9/each
</a>

CPU COOLING
Arctic Silver's NEW Premium Silver Polysynthetic Thermal Compound: Arctic Silver 3. 3-gram( 1 cc. ) tube. $7 *svc $5
Thermalright AX-7 Socket A Cooler $18
80x25mm Variable Speed YS-Tech 3-pin Case Fan 10.2~48.5CFM (for heatsink)

31/2 floppy SAMSUNG 1.44MB BLACK FLOPPY DRIVE Model# SFD321B/LBL - OEM, DRIVE ONLY $8

*CASE
CaseTek (Black) Super ATX Tower case, With Window and USB 2.0/1394 Model CK-1018-1A $55


FREE STUFF (old rig)
wireless mouse, speakers, monitor, printers etc..
I/O magic 48x16x48 CDRW (EXTERNAL)
phone modem

I think that's everything about $920 total after shipping. does this sound good.

 

[Jeff7181]

I'd get the Asus 3.3ns Ti4200 card if I were you. From what I hear it's easy to hit Ti4600 speeds with it... mine is coming tomorrow... if you like, you can PM me and I will make sure you see the benchmark results and overclocking results when I get it and test it.

 

[Ionizer86]

Is the 2600+ a barton? I've seen the 2500+ Barton for cheap. Getting that extra cache is good cuz you can always overclock for the speed back.

On hard drives, last week, at OfficeMax you could get a WD1200JB for $30 after MIR. Maybe you may want to wait out a better deal on HDDs.

If you want quiet, I've heard that Vantecs are a decent bit louder than Panaflos though both are rated at 21dba.

I think I've seen a 350W PSU for $10 or $20 when not on sale @ svcompucycle.

For better cooling on a higher end chip, you may want to get an SLK-800 instead of an AX7 since I have an AX7 on an XP1600+ and idle is like 50ºC as measured by my 8KHA+.

 

[Jeff7181]

SK-7 heatsink is fine, that's what I use...
XP2500 would be a little better than the XP2600 in my opinion too
You can find a lot of stuff cheaper if you watch sale ads and get mail-in rebates... but the question is, can you wait that long? It may take a month to get a good deal on a hard drive, a good deal on a CDRW drive, and good deal on a set of speakers, etc.

 

[jdogg707]

The system looks good, I think I would go with the 2600+, the 2500+ can't really keep up in most tests, and the added cache is nice, but almost 200MHZ in speed is a healthy increase. If you are looking to OC though you could go with a 2500+ and get it there probably very easily! The Kingston stuff is really nice and the Asus video card does OC to 4600 pretty effortlessly (my friend has one). Good machine...looks like its going to be plenty fast for not to much money!

 

[paperfist]

Looks pretty good to me. You do know that the motherboard comes with cables for the HD/CD-ROM & Floppy?

Not quite sure why your going fan happy if you don't plan to overclock (from the last thread you made) but maybe you like the sound of Apaches landing in your case? Just joking I guess I am old fashion in that I like the Retail fans that come with the parts when it's just a stock system.

No luck finding a case/PS combo? Could save a few bucks going that route, but maybe your getting that case because of the looks.

If you look at some of the benchmarks at Tomshardware the 2500+ & 2600+ are virtually even. So you can't really lose on either.

 

[ScrapSilicon]

Chieftec case deal ..I like aluminum

 

[newuser]

haha
Yeah, about 10 pepople have said the 2500 may actuall be better.
I was originally going to run like 5 case fans, then 2, then someone said 2 would not be good, so back to 4.
I think I may double check the PSU/case combo's again.

How fast could I get that 2500 to run (safely) and would the pc3200 RAM be that much better for oc'ing

 

[Jeff7181]

PC3200 is a MUST for overclocking... and the XP2500 should at least hit 2.1 Ghz. More likely 2.3 with the newer chips that are coming out.

 

[Atlantean]

Not too bad for a budget system. Its faster than the almost 2 year old computer I have now. What type of monitor do you have with it? And are you going with onboard sound or are you gonna use the sound card from your old comp?

 

[ultimatebob]

I would really recommend against the wireless keyboard if you're going to be using these system for heavy gaming. I had all kinds of response time and battery life issues with mine.

You also might want to spend a few more bucks for a DirectX 9 compliant card, like the Radeon 9600.

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: ultimatebob
I would really recommend against the wireless keyboard if you're going to be using these system for heavy gaming. I had all kinds of response time and battery life issues with mine.

You also might want to spend a few more bucks for a DirectX 9 compliant card, like the Radeon 9600.

I'd have to disagree on the DX9 reasoning. Mostly because there are absolutely zero DX9 games available right now... and by the time there are, there will be new DX9 compliant cards that are faster than what you can get right now.

 

[moogle077]

Maybe he doesnt want to buy a new card every year or 2

I used my voodoo 3 3000 PCI all the way until last week.

 

[newuser]

back to the drawing board I guess

what could I do with that 2600+ after oc'ing
---Specifications:
CPU: 2.08 GHz
Type: XP 2600 Thoroughbred
Cache: 256K
BUS: 333MHz
Socket A
OEM (Processor Only)

what could I do with the 2500 after oc'ing
---CPU: 1.83 GHz
Type: XP 2500 Barton Core
Cache: 512K L2, 128K L1, Total 640KB
BUS: 333MHz
Socket A
OEM (Processor Only)

If i get pc 3200 memory, I could only afford 512mb (1 stick). What would be best the 1 gig of pc2700 or 512 of pc3200 with some mild (read: do not want to burn up my $$$, lol) oc'ing

 

[Zebo]

Hehe this is fun.

DVD ROM
LITE-ON XJ-HD166S/XJ-HD165H 16X DVD ROM Drive - Retail48X $33
--------------------------------------
Great Deal


HDD
WD WESTERN DIGITAL "SPECIAL EDITION" 80GB 7200RPM EIDE HARD DRIVE MODEL # WD800JB - OEM, DRIVE ONLY (8MB cache) $83
--------------------------
Loud, but great 3 yr warranty and fast. Personally I'd change to Seagate Barracuda 80GB 7200RPM for same price and it's silent but slower and only 1 yr warranty.



CABLE
24-Inch, Teflon Coated, IDE True ATA133/100, Flat Cable for IDE Hard Drives, CD ROM, DVD ROM or CDRW, 3-Connector, 133/100/66, 24 Inches Long. Please see image. $3
-----------------------
Yea!!

KEYBOARD
Chicony IR Wireless Multimedia Keyboard with Built-in FSR Mouse (Black)- RETAIL $28
-----------------------------------------
I'd have to say go with Logitech Navigator cordless set cause it's quiet

RAM
KINGSTON HyperX Series 184-pin 512MB DDR333 (PC2700) 64X64 DDR RAM modules, Model# KHX2700/512 2x$75 $151
-----------------------------------
Better chioce would be Corsair C2 PC3200 512MB NewEgg 95.20 If you want to OC.

MOBO
&#9658;On Sale! Epox Motherboard for AMD Athlon/Athlon XP/Duron Processors, Model# EP-8RDA+ $85
-----------------------------
Excellent

POWERSUPLY
ENERMAX EG365P-VE(FM). 350W Power supply for AMD K7 & Pentium4 $47
---------------------------
Go with that chaintech w/powersupply $95

CPU
AMD ATHLON XP 2600 /333 FSB PROCESSOR $93 (*switching to oem+ SK7 HSF)
--------------------------------------------
great bang for the buck.

VIDEO CARD
LEADTEK WINFAST A280 GEFORCE4 TI 4200 128MB VGA & TV-OUT, DVI-OUT AGP 8X RETAIL BOX $125
---------------------------------
Great if you like fast but I like quiet... no fan and fast enough is ATI Radeon 9000 64MB 56.00 getting 6500 3dmarks.

CASE FANS:
2intake/2exhaust<a target=new class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.svc.com/8027cfm210db.html">fan from svc:80 x 25 mm Vantec Stealth Fan (27CFM @ 21dBA) $9/each
</a>
---------------------------------------
Waste of money and loud. I OC a 1700 to 2200 levels and only use powersupply fan as case fan.

CPU COOLING
Arctic Silver's NEW Premium Silver Polysynthetic Thermal Compound: Arctic Silver 3. 3-gram( 1 cc. ) tube. $7 *svc $5
Thermalright AX-7 Socket A Cooler $18
80x25mm Variable Speed YS-Tech 3-pin Case Fan 10.2~48.5CFM (for heatsink)
---------------------------------
Great cooler, great fan, same as I have. Weird.


31/2 floppy SAMSUNG 1.44MB BLACK FLOPPY DRIVE Model# SFD321B/LBL - OEM, DRIVE ONLY $8
-------------------------------
Never use a floppy IMO waste of $$$

CASE
CaseTek (Black) Super ATX Tower case, With Window and USB 2.0/1394 Model CK-1018-1A $55
------------------------------
Get the $95 cheiftech case.

 

[newuser]

Originally posted by: Carbonyl
Hehe this is fun.

not much fun on this side of the internet . you guys are keeping me up, re-thinking the set-up again and again. Thanks for all the help everyone, you guys know much more than I do.

Yeah, and those $9 case fans are hella expensive, may do without or something cheaper

 

[newuser]

SVC
CPU COOLING
Arctic Silver's NEW Premium Silver Polysynthetic Thermal Compound: Arctic Silver 3. 3-gram( 1 cc. ) tube. $7 *svc $5

Thermalright AX-7 Socket A Cooler $18

80x25mm Variable Speed YS-Tech 3-pin Case Fan 10.2~48.5CFM $9 (for heatsink)



FREE STUFF (old rig) --SAME AS ABOVE
wireless mouse, speakers, monitor, printers etc..
I/O magic 48x16x48 CDRW (EXTERNAL)
phone modem

NEWEGG
24-Inch, Teflon Coated, IDE True ATA133/100, Flat Cable for IDE Hard Drives, CD ROM, DVD ROM or CDRW, 3-Connector, 133/100/66, 24 Inches Long. Please see image $3

CHIEFTEC Server Chasis (Aluminum Workstation Tower with Plastic Front Cover) SILVER COLOR w/ Side acrylic window and a Case Fan on Side Window **Now with 2 x Front USB2.0 and 1 x Firewire IEEE1394 ports** Model AX-01SLD Retail Weights Only 18LBs! $70 (going to run the included case fans for now-cheap)

LITE-ON XJ-HD166S/XJ-HD165H 16X DVD ROM Drive - Retail48X $33

SAMSUNG 1.44MB BLACK FLOPPY DRIVE Model# SFD321B/LBL - OEM, DRIVE ONLY $8

*ditched the new wireless keyboard, I will use my old wired one for now

WD WESTERN DIGITAL "SPECIAL EDITION" 80GB 7200RPM EIDE HARD DRIVE MODEL # WD800JB - OEM, DRIVE ONLY $83

CORSAIR MEMORY XMS Extreme Memory Speed Series 512MB 32MX8 PC-3200C2 With Heat Spreader $95x2 $190

?On Sale! Epox Motherboard for AMD Athlon/Athlon XP/Duron Processors, Model# EP-8RDA+ $85

?Hot! ENERMAX EG365P-VE(FM). 350W Power supply for AMD K7 & Pentium4 $47
*decided to stick with the seperate ps, I need something reliable, some of the foxconn's specs don't look too great (+$22 more is worth the relability)

AMD ATHLON XP 2500 "Barton" 333 FSB PROCESSOR CPU- OEM $93
*still 100% on this, but I lke the extra cache on the 2500+

Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition with Service Pack 1 - OEM Full Version $93

LEADTEK WINFAST A280 GEFORCE4 TI 4200 128MB VGA & TV-OUT, DVI-OUT AGP 8X RETAIL BOX $125

*sound card- I am going to use the onboard audio for now

*monitor- I have a 19" traditional screen. I am moving to a flat panel one (15" or 17") pretty soon

I did a real quick total, I think I am still around $900

 

[newuser]

^
just revised it above
NEWEGG total= $830+ $40 shipping
SVC total= $32+ ~$5

grand total= $907
sound like a good value system?

 

[Booster]

Originally posted by: newuser
^
just revised it above
NEWEGG total= $830+ $40 shipping
SVC total= $32+ ~$5

grand total= $907
sound like a good value system?

Sounds good. But what are you going to have for the monitor?

 

[newuser]

I will use the old monitor for now.
Does this look like a better CPU/RAM combo?

 

[newuser]

^

 

[Mark R]

Be warned, the nforce2 chipset is very fussy about RAM.
As I understand it Kingston HyperX memory will not work reliably, similarly, Corsair XMS memory is not reliable (unless you use the 'low-latency platinum').
Your best bet is probably to get crucial memory direct from crucial, specifying your exact motherboard model on the order - this way they have a money back guarantee of compatability.

Yes I've been burned - I've got several unstable Athlon systems now, because I bought 2 Gigs of 'Twinmos PC2700 CL2.5' memory, when I should have got 'Twinmos PC2700 Cl2.5 with winbond chips'.

 

[Atlantean]

Originally posted by: newuser
SVC
CPU COOLING
Arctic Silver's NEW Premium Silver Polysynthetic Thermal Compound: Arctic Silver 3. 3-gram( 1 cc. ) tube. $7 *svc $5

Thermalright AX-7 Socket A Cooler $18

80x25mm Variable Speed YS-Tech 3-pin Case Fan 10.2~48.5CFM $9 (for heatsink)



FREE STUFF (old rig) --SAME AS ABOVE
wireless mouse, speakers, monitor, printers etc..
I/O magic 48x16x48 CDRW (EXTERNAL)
phone modem

NEWEGG
24-Inch, Teflon Coated, IDE True ATA133/100, Flat Cable for IDE Hard Drives, CD ROM, DVD ROM or CDRW, 3-Connector, 133/100/66, 24 Inches Long. Please see image $3

CHIEFTEC Server Chasis (Aluminum Workstation Tower with Plastic Front Cover) SILVER COLOR w/ Side acrylic window and a Case Fan on Side Window **Now with 2 x Front USB2.0 and 1 x Firewire IEEE1394 ports** Model AX-01SLD Retail Weights Only 18LBs! $70 (going to run the included case fans for now-cheap)

LITE-ON XJ-HD166S/XJ-HD165H 16X DVD ROM Drive - Retail48X $33

SAMSUNG 1.44MB BLACK FLOPPY DRIVE Model# SFD321B/LBL - OEM, DRIVE ONLY $8

*ditched the new wireless keyboard, I will use my old wired one for now

WD WESTERN DIGITAL "SPECIAL EDITION" 80GB 7200RPM EIDE HARD DRIVE MODEL # WD800JB - OEM, DRIVE ONLY $83

CORSAIR MEMORY XMS Extreme Memory Speed Series 512MB 32MX8 PC-3200C2 With Heat Spreader $95x2 $190

?On Sale! Epox Motherboard for AMD Athlon/Athlon XP/Duron Processors, Model# EP-8RDA+ $85

?Hot! ENERMAX EG365P-VE(FM). 350W Power supply for AMD K7 & Pentium4 $47
*decided to stick with the seperate ps, I need something reliable, some of the foxconn's specs don't look too great (+$22 more is worth the relability)

AMD ATHLON XP 2500 "Barton" 333 FSB PROCESSOR CPU- OEM $93
*still 100% on this, but I lke the extra cache on the 2500+

Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition with Service Pack 1 - OEM Full Version $93

LEADTEK WINFAST A280 GEFORCE4 TI 4200 128MB VGA & TV-OUT, DVI-OUT AGP 8X RETAIL BOX $125

*sound card- I am going to use the onboard audio for now

*monitor- I have a 19" traditional screen. I am moving to a flat panel one (15" or 17") pretty soon

I did a real quick total, I think I am still around $900

if you are gonna be gaming, do not go with a flat panel (by this I assume you mean lcd right?), stick with the 19" monitor you have and spend more money on the video card and cpu... oh and I would recommend an ati radeon 9500...

 

[newuser]

Well, I guess that makes sense.
My current laptop sucks bigtime for games. A lot of ghosting, blurry, etc. and it is only like 2yrs old. I guess all the LCD's run a bit slower? Better off with a 19" flat screen (crt)?

 

[FluxCap]

Crucial is the main offender with nForce2 boards. Kingston (2700) works great with my Abit NF7-S. Do more research here before you take what someone says as "gold".