Yet another system build critique

[MrMiyagi]

Building it for my buddy. He doesn't need it for much but run of the mill internet, but he wants to get some acceptable gaming with it as well. He'll also want the ability to OC it when it starts to run out of juice in a couple years.

ASPIRE (Turbo Case)Green ATX Mid-Tower Case with 350W Power Supply, Model "ATXB5KLW/350" $44
ABIT "IC7" i875P Chipset Motherboard for Intel Socket 478 CPU -RETAIL $112
Intel Pentium 4/ 2.8E $177
Geil Ultra Series Value Dual Channel 184 Pin 512MB(256MBx2) DDR PC-3200 $98
Seagate 120GB 7200RPM SATA $92.50
Logitech Cordless MX Duo $69
Pioneer Black DVD+RW/-RW Drive, Model DVR-108, OEM $105

For video he's buying my 9800 Pro (for which I'm replacing with a 6800).

Total $698 + whatever he's paying for my 9800 Pro.

Curious about my RAM choice. Also doubting the power supply.

Thanks tons for any comments!

 

[Mik3y]

dont go for the 2.8E, if your friend has a reason to go intel, then get the 2.8C. its faster and a much better performer. i would have to recommend your friend to choose the athlon 64. its faaaaar more future proof then any cpu intel has and is faster and cheaper. as for the case and psu, the case is cheap and not very sound proof and sturdy. as for the psu, its weak and not exactly quality, so if he wants to overclock in teh future, he'll need a strong psu. i really recommend an antec case with an antec psu, for whcih you can get relatively cheap. the memory itself looks good.

 

[Farvacola]

I would have to agree wholeheartedly with Mik3y, A small jump up to athlon 64 would benefit that system by a lot. Intel, in my personal opinion, has shown some very weak performance, so I would ssteer clear of them for now.

 

[DieHardware]

Agreed, 2.8C or better yet Athlon64.

 

[Cawchy87]

44 dollars for a case + psu will buy you nothing but problems.

 

[MrMiyagi]

2.8E goodbye. 2.8C hello.

I don't really know anything about A64's or their mobos. How about an A 64 3000+ w/ an ???, well I don't know anything about AMD mobos.... MSI K8T Neo-FIS2R K8T800 or a K8N Neo Platinum? They don't use dual channel RAM or somthing either?

He may just want to stick with Intel I'm not sure.

The case, I know it's cheap. He likes the way the case looks though. I'm looking into adding a good Quiet 450W PS. Any suggestions?

Thanks again

 

[AnnoyedGrunt]

If you are interested in going AMD, then I think the best budget deal out there now (or soon, anyway) will be the Sempron 3100+. It's basically like getting the A64 2800+ but without the 64bit (you also give up some cache, but the performance doesn't suffer too badly). What you get though, is a socket 754 interface, so when you couple that with any of the 754 MB's (I prefer the ones with the NF3-250 chipset) then you will have a good upgrade opportunity in the future (currently you can get up to A64 3700+ on that platform). The A64 2800+ is only a tad more expensive though, so it is also a very good choice (and so is anything faster, depending on budget).

Other than that option, I think you have made some very nice choices and I don't see anything wrong with the RAM.

-D'oh!

 

[mechBgon]

I would definitely pick up a high-quality PSU to replace whatever comes with the case. Enermax, Fortron and Antec are three respectable brands that you'll find at lots of online stores.

I would really strongly recommend that you stick with PATA instead of SATA, particularly with the Abit IC/IS models, because the setup can be daunting. If you have the hots for SATA for some reason and simply MUST have it, then here is what one Abit owner passed along to me after a drawn-out battle to make his board boot from SATA:

hi mechBgon

thanks for all your help.

first of all - i've built a few pcs before and never used memtest86 - its great - i'll be using it a lot from now on!

secondly, i found the problem thanks to your other thread. i'm not sure if it made any difference, but i aslo installed all the sata drivers during the windows installation - although i definitely installed an sata disk before on a different box without having to do this (but it wasnt win2003 - so maybe that needs it)

but where i think the main problem was - was in the bios settings - here are the settings that worked for me (this one is without raid - im waiting on a second disk to set up the raid):

note - these are from memory (and from your other thread) - i dont have the box in front of me atm:

Under Integrated Peripherals -> OnChip IDE Device:
IDE Bus Master - Enabled
OnChip Serial ATA - enhanced
OnChip Serial ATA Mode - ide
SATA RAID ROM - Enabled

Advanced BIOS Features:
Hard Disk Boot Priority - 1. Bootable Add-in Device
Bootable Add-in Device - Onboard sata
Boot Other Device - Enabled

You've been warned, it might not be so simple :evil:

 

[Mik3y]

mechBgon is the forum's God!

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: Mik3y
mechBgon is the forum's God!

Whoa boy :Q

 

[Mik3y]

Originally posted by: mechBgon

Originally posted by: Mik3y
mechBgon is the forum's God!

Whoa boy :Q

its cuz of ur fantastic comp building guide. whenever someone needs help on building a comp, i just refer them to your guide. of course i take all the credit for it! j/k also, ur more informative then most people in this forum that i know of.

 

[trexpesto]

my regular non-noisetaker enermax is pretty darn quiet. Solid as a rock.
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=17-103-443&depa=0

 

[Vee]

Just reinforcing some points already made.

You're talking about "couple of years". Consider giving the guy a 64-bit system. It doesn't cost more.
A64 2800+ or 3000+. Even the 2800 will slightly outperform the 2.8 P4 most of the time, outside multithreaded apps. Though IMO, performance really isn't any issue between these cpus. He will get 32-bit performance that is roughly enough the same, not to make any difference, from both A64 2800 and 2.8 P4. (and the P4E isn't so bad IMO)
I don't think there's any point for you going AMD, for any other reason than 64-bit.

My guess is that 32-bit only PCs, are going to become the new '286 towards the end of those "couple of years".

In that case, I'd suggest a nForce3-250 chipset.

(EPoX 8KDA3J is fairly cheap, and seem well recieved.
I've ordered a couple of them. But I haven't got them yet, so I can't say anything.)

Get a good PSU. I skimp on most things, but never on the PSU. I like Fortron's 120mm fan units. No need for 450W. Buy quality and 350W is more than enough.
Otherwise Antec is highly regarded.

 

[nick1985]

get an athlon64 rig, it will trounce that P4 in just about anything.

 

[zlooop]

Look at the Tagan 380W PSU from AJUMP.com

 

[Illissius]

Get the 3.4GHz Extreme Edition. It makes the Internet faster!

All joking aside:
- I believe, but am not certain, that the vanilla IC7 doesn't have onboard LAN. Either get a seperate card for it, or get an IC7-G or AI7.
- GeIL doesn't have the best reputation. Get Crucial, Corsair, Mushkin, Kingston, or OCZ, off the top of my head. I'd also up it to 1GB, assuming you have the money.

I won't get it on the AMD vs. Intel debate because I assume most other posters have already done that (didn't bother checking ).

 

[DarkAmeba]

Get AMD... intel is less performance for more money

I'd stay away from Geil