Thoughts on my almost finalized new P4 system.

[F1]

Time to replace my 3 yo P3 733. I started off planning to spend about $1500AU but that?s sort of blown out to about $3200AU seeing I?ve decided to go for some better performing\compatible components. Here it is below, I?ve put a couple comments in brackets that I?m thinking. I plan to overclock this system to a good stable level. Any thoughts or recommendations are welcome. (I already have a network card, CDROM, CD-RW).

-P4 2.8C
-Abit IC7 i875
-1x512 Corsair XMS 3500 (Should I go 2*256 of XMS 3200 instead?)
-WD 80Gb 8m cache
-Sapphire Radeon 9800 'Ultimate' (stepped up from 9700pro due to compatibility issues with Abit IC7)
-Antec 480w 'Truepower' psu
-Antec SLK3700AMG Case
-Philips 19" 109P (Initially was thinking of cheaper 19? monitor but I guess I should invest in my planned longest lasting component)
-Microsoft Wheel Optical mouse
-Microsoft Multi-Media PS2 K/B
-Thermalright SLK900u Heatsink (Seems to be in a league of its own, abit expensive though)
-Panaflo 92mm fan, High Speed (went with this for its good performance\Quiet ratio)
-Enermax 120mm Case fan, Adj Speed
-Nanotherm XTC thermal compound (rated better than Arctic Silver 3).

 

[Shmorq]

I would go with 2 x 512MB since in the long haul (as you mentioned), you'll need more than 512MB. Plus, you should go with 2 RAM modules to take advantage of the dual channel memory controller.

You can go with 2 x 256MB now and upgrade later, but the i875 chipset performs slightly better when only 2 banks are occupied as opposed to 4.

Everything else seems fine to me. Maybe a 2.4c or 2.6c if you already plan on OCing to cut some corners, but it's left to your personal preferences.

-Shmorq

 

[oldfart]

You need two sticks of ram for it to run well. The IC7 is a dual Channel DDR board. A Swiftech MCX-4000 may be a better way to go for the HS.

 

[DTSS]

Take a look at this Blue tooth optical wireless mouse! I Love it....if you are spendig the money on a system like your talking about. Why not and spend a few xtra dollars on the most used component. Microsoft Wireless Desktop Keyboard and Wireless IntelliMouse Explorer for Bluetooth. You can buy seperate!

Daryl -DTSS