My new system, any opinions?

[DGath]

Haven't ordered it yet, but I will in a couple days and just looking to see if there's any other suggestions from someone. I'm upgrading from a Dell P4 1.4 ghz with 128 megs RDRam. Never again am I buying Dell or any other complete system from someone who doesn't let you upgrade as you please without buying from them. It sucks. So here goes...

Processor
P4 2.6C - RETAIL
$185 shipped

Motherboard
ABIT IS7 - Intel 865PE chipset - RETAIL
$107 Shipped

Case/Power Supply
Antec Sonata black case with 380W TruePower
$104 Shipped

Memory
KINGSTON HyperX 1GB Kit (2x 512MB) DDR400 (PC3200)
$213 Shipped

From my existing computer, I'm going to be switching these components into my new system

Video Card
Radeon All in Wonder 8500DV

HDD
WD 120GB
Maxtor 80GB
Maxtor 8GB

Optical Drives
Sony CD-RW
Samsung DVD

Then of course dual-boot XP and Red Hat 9

Total - $609

Mostly this cpu will be for video capturing/editing/converting, and then of course when Doom and HL2 come out later this year I'll use it for that too. That should be it. I'm not going to be doing much overclocking, enough to keep it well within the safe range using stock cooling. The video card is beginning to be a bit outdated, but it'll last me another year or so since I don't play many games. I'll upgrade to the next gen AIW at that time. But other than upgrading the vid card in a year, a gig of 3200 ram with the C processor should last me about 24 moths since I'm not too demanding. Eventually I'll get a HDD to match one of mine and take advantage of the RAID controllers I'm paying for that in the mobo.

So then the questions....
1) Is it worth the extra $100 to go with the Mushkin, I'd doubt it csince I won't be over-clocking. And this new system will be so fast anyways I doubt I'd be able to tell the difference from 3200 and 3700. What about Corsair?
2) Is an Antec 380 TruePower going to be enough or should I go 400w+?
3) Is it that big of an advantage to make a say... 40 gig partition (on the 120GB) just for XP and programs and then the other 80 GB for storage? Will it go that much faster?
4) I don't think it's worth the extra $50 to get the ASUS P4P800 Deluxe. The speeds are about the same on the benchmark tests. As long as the PAT is enabled, the boards are about the same right?

I think that's everything, and any input is greatly appreciated, even if it's just saying "Looks nice!" So thanks in advance.

 

[digitalman]

1. since you are not o'clocking, i doubt you are going to see much performance increase by spending the extra $100 on your ram. other people may swear by it. personally i don't think that even if you do get better performance it would be more then 3% which i doubt you'd notice.

2. the antec should be enough, the true power supplies are rated better then a cheepie 400. a dual xeon only needs 460 so you should be fine with a 380 on a single board.

3. i wouldn't say that the 40/80 gig parttition would make anything faster, but it is a good idea. having your data on one partition seperate from you OS is a smart idea. and it is even smarter when dual booting as you can access your stuff without touching the os partition that you are currently not running. it really makes it easier to acess files. plus if one OS gets hosed, it is easier to perserve your data.

4. I am not sure of the differences between the two boards so i can't be much help there

does that a 2.6c mean that it is celeron? if so i would shy away from it. rather then spend the $100 on ram you may want to consider a dual amd-mp rig. you will get a huge performance increase in redhat. and in windows the dual rig will perform better too, though not as much as in linux. if you got dual 2400mp you may be in the same ballpark price wise. Definitly worth considering!

 

[DGath]

Nah, the "c" in 2.6c means it has dual-channel memory and a 800 mhz FSB, it's the new Hyperthreading processors they just came out with not too long ago. Thanks by the way.

 

[cmaMath13]

Doom and HL2 with ATI 8500?

I think should invest in a better video card...

 

[DGath]

Well we won't know until they come out and we see the benchmarks, but I'm at least banking on the fact that the 8500 will be in the minimum requirements catagory and not below it. One thing is for sure, I'm definately not buying one now, can't afford it on top of all the other stuff. But, if when I get HL2 or Doom and it runs like crap.... then I might get one. But that's 4-6 months from now so I have time to save up money.

 

[LED]

1)NO
2)YES
3)Advantage is with Back-ups/Crashes-Reinstalling, and Defrags
4)Right from what I know and have read