Fashioning a New PC - Need some Moral Support

[JonnyBo]

With my celleron 400 I have been out of the pc hardware loop for quite some time, I finally have saved up enough money to buy a new system, but I don’t have the faith in my self that I once had. I was hoping some of you guys could look these pieces of hardware over for any conflicts, and if you have any advice.

This is the first time I am building a pc from scratch, I know my way around under the hood, so that shouldn’t be a problem, but any advice on what not to do would be great, you know the voice of experience, so forth and so such.

I have two memory sticks labeled down there cause I really don’t know which one to go with? I believe that cas 2.0 is best, better then 2.5 anyhow…

I dunno I guess I am just looking for some feedback… Thanks for all the help :)

-Blake


Chieftec Server tower DX-01SLD
Dragon Silve Entry Level Server Case w/Arcylic window/ 2 x 80mm sleeve cooling fan/80mm side panel fan. (SPX-02) No Power Supply
$65.00 $65.00

SOYO **DDR400 Supported** SY-P4X400 DRAGON ULTRA ATX Motherboard for Intel Processors Retail
Sigma Box (SB-P4SX) featuring 4 front USB 2.0 ports
Specifications:
Supported CPU:Socket-478 P4 (1.4G - 2.53GHz)
Chipset:VIA P4X400/8235 chipset
FSB:533/400 MHz
RAM:3x DDR400/266 PC2100-3200 184 Pin up to 3GB
IDE+RAID:UDMA 66/100/133 Up to 8 Devices
Slots:1x AGP Pro (4x,8x, 1.5v) 5x PCI Bus Master V2.0
Ports:2xCOM,1xLPT,1xFDD,2xPS2,6xUSB2.0 and Audio and LAN ports
Onboard LAN: Realtek 10/100 Mbps
Onboard Audio:CMI 8738 6-channel audio
$165.00 $165.00

ATI RADEON 9700 PRO 128MB TV/DVI 8X AGP RETAILRADEON™ 9700 PRO
GPU: RADEON™ 9700 PRO Visual Processing Unit (VPU)
Mem: 128MB DDR memory 256-bit memory
OS: Windows 2000,ME,XP DirectX® 9.0 support
Eight parallel rendering pipelines, Four parallel geometry engines
Bus: AGP 8X support 2GB/sec Bandwidth
Peak Memory Bandwidth 20GB a sec (compare to ti 4600's 10.4gb)
Pixel Fill Rate: 2.6 Gigapixels/Sec
Resolutions: From 640x480 at 200Hz, to 2048x1536 at 85Hz
Integrated TV Output support up to 1024x768 resolution
2x/4x/6x full scene anti-aliasing modes
Anti-Aliasng
$353.00 $353.00

Allied 400W Power Supply ATX400P4 w/ Two Fans
Power Supply Type : ATX
Dimensions : 5.5 x 6.0 x 3.4 Inches
Cooling : Dual 2 Ball Bearing Fans
MTBF : 100,000 HOURS
Hi-Pot/Burn-In : 100%
Protection : All Outputs
Warranty : Two Year
Approval: UL, CSA, FCC
Description: *Ideal for P3, P4 and AMD Systems
*AMD Approved for Athlon 1400/Athlon XP 2000+
*8 large and 2 Small Leads
*2 double Ball Bearing Fans
*Color Retail Box
$36.00 $36.00

Intel Pentium 4 / 2.53GHz Northwood 512K Socket 478 Processor 533MHz Processor Bus
CPU: 2.53 GHz
Type: Pentium 4 Northwood
Cache: 512K
BUS: 533 Mhz
Socket: 478 Retail (Box with Heatsink and fan), 3-year MFG. Warranty-(CPU ONLY NO RAMBUS RAM)
$252.00 $252.00

GeIL DDR RAM 512MB PC-3200 400Hz Ultra- CAS 2, 1T CommandGL5123200U
DDR400, CAS 2, 184 Pin Dimm, 6-3-3 1T Timings,6 Layer Low Noise PCB. Pure Copper Heat Spreader with 3m Patened Thermal Tape; Clear Acrylic Retail Package - Lifetime Warranty.
$178.00 $178.00

CORSAIR MEMORY XMS Extreme Memory Speed Series 512MB 32MX8 PC-3200C2 With Heat Spreader
Speed 400MHz
Organization 64M x 64
CAS Latency 2-3-3-6-T1
Memory type DDR
Part number: CMX512-3200C2
$190.00 $190.00

WD WESTERN DIGITAL "SPECIAL EDITION" 80GB 7200RPM EIDE HARD DRIVE MODEL # WD800JB - OEM, DRIVE ONLY
Size: 80 Gigabytes
Interface: IDE ULTRA ATA100
Seek time: 8.9ms
RPM:7200
Cache 8MB
OEM(Drive alone) 3 Year Manufacturer Warranty --* Works With PC & Mac *
$106.00 $212.00 *two drives*

Lite On 40X12X48 CDRW Model: LTR40125S-Retail
Recording 40X(6000KB/sec) Z-CLV (20X, 24X@8min, 32X@18min, 40X@53min)
Re-writing 12X High-Speed (1800KB/sec) CLV
Reading 48Xmax (7200KB/sec) CAV (20X~48X)
Interface : ATAPI-E/IDE, support up to Ultra-DMA Mode2, 33.3MB/sec
Buffer Memory Size: 2MB
Access Time : 80ms (typical)
MTBF : 70'000 Power On Hours with 25% Duty
SMART-BURN® technology Underun protection,
Retail box (Includes Software Cables and blank Cd's)
$63.00 $63.00

LITE-ON LTD-163 16X DVD ROM Drive - Retail
Speed : DVD-ROM 16X (6.4X~16X) - CD-ROM 48X (20X~48X)
Interface : ATAPI-E/IDE
Sustained Transfer Rate : Support up to Ultra-DMA/33 33.3MB/sec
Burst Transfer Rate : Support up to Ultra-DMA/33 33.3MB/sec
Access Time : 120ms (typical)
MTBF : 70'000 Power On Hours with 20% Duty
Supported OS: DOS 6.xx, Windows 95/98/NT/2000/XP, OS2 Warp
Retail Box (Includes manual, Power DVD software Audio Cable and screws See pic)
$39.00 $39.00

Microsoft Windows XP Professional
- OEM Full Version Disk ONLY, no Manual
$139.00 $139.00

[AllGamer]

i'll go for AMD instead :t

the rest is a sweet setup :)

[BipolarBill]

I would not get a VIA chipset for an Intel CPU. I don't agree with AG on substituting AMD either. If I could afford it, I'd get Intel amd RDRAM, but DDR400 is fine. If you're dead set on DDR400 (it's not as imortant as you may think), get a SiS-based motherboard from Asus.

[JonnyBo]

I am not so much of a fan for AMD as I am Intel, but it boiled down to Coke and Pepsi, they got ups they got downs, both still wet your whistle.

As far as teh via chip set... did you have some kind of personal bias to them...? Experience, should I be scared of them ? hehe :p

As far as the 400ddr
I was looking for a mobo that supported 8x agp, and just so happened the board supported 400ddr as well, I figure while I got it might as well use it?

I am sure the difference is really small, but I am completely open to suggestion... the whole over clocked chips kind of make me upset, just give me a reason and I would probably get some ddr333 or something there of

Hey guys, Thanks!

[AllGamer]

i got VIA chipset on both intel base and AMD base mobos

but i do agree they are not that great, many bugs, but always fixed with the next release of drivers

:t

[JonnyBo]

Originally posted by AllGamer
i got VIA chipset on both intel base and AMD base mobos

but i do agree they are not that great, many bugs, but always fixed with the next release of drivers

:t

Okay that erks me... I really dont like it when stuff dont work out of the box...
p4x400 has been out for a few months now no? so all should be hunky dory?

[JonnyBo]

On the via chipset deal
I looked into a asus mobo and I found a 8x agp board, funny a few weeks ago I didnt :p

ASUS P4S8X Motherboard for Intel P4 478 Retail
Specifications:
Supported CPU: P4 Socket 478 1.4 GHz ~ 2.53+ GHz
Chipset:SiS® 648 North ,SiS® 693 South Bridge
FSB:533 / 400 MHz
RAM:3 x184-pin DDR PC2700/PC2100/PC1600Max 3GB
IDE:2 x UltraDMA 133/100/66/33
Slots:1 x AGP 8X 6 x PCI
Ports:1xLPT,2xCOM,2xPS2, 1xRJ45,1x1394,and Audio Ports
Onboard Audio: C-Media 9739 CODEC
Onboard LAN:10/100Mbs
Onboard Firewire: IEEE1394 interface provides high speed digital interface for audio/video
Onboard Serial ATA: With up to 150MB/s data transfer rate, Serial ATA is faster than current Parallel ATA
6 USB 2.0 Ports

This also carries serial ata, anyone have any experiance with serial ata to ide converters? they worth whial ... jsut for air flow and the such ?

:)

[BipolarBill]

That's the motherboard I recommend.

Serial ATA is a new IDE interface which is self-configuring and capable of greater speeds than standard IDE.

http://www.seagate.com/newsinfo/technology/sata/faq/index.html

[JonnyBo]

Originally posted by BipolarBill
That's the motherboard I recommend.
Serial ATA is a new IDE interface which is self-configuring and capable of greater speeds than standard IDE.


Now serial technology really isnt out there yet, but I like the little cables! does anyone have any experience with SATA, is it worth it to buy SATA converters for exsisting hardrives that use IDE... so forth and so such?

[AllGamer]

it'll be hard to find good HDD for it at the moment i do agree :t

[couch potato]

i myself am using a P4, but since i have no experience with AMD, i cant say which is better. the radeon 9700 is a good choice, but i have always heard that ATI cards have horrible drivers. the Ti 4600 is still an awesom card, even though its not the fastest:)

[JonnyBo]

I am told the new drivers for the 9700 are quite good.. only time will truly tell but this is what I hear...

I think in about one weeks time I'll be gettign this pc :)

[fluffycow]

I can support amd......and the fact the ati has, or at least used to have bad drivers.
Ive had an athlon for about 1.5 years and my friend has had one for about 3.5 years. You get a lot more for your money with amd.

[JonnyBo]

Originally posted by fluffycow
I can support amd
more money with amd.

I like your avatar.. heh :)

[fluffycow]

Hey, ur twisting me woordz!!

Heh, have you seen the thread where I talked about my avatar :)

http://www.sysopt.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=720948#post720948


Been getting a lot of positive things about it :)

[JonnyBo]

any one know some good how to build the pc, links, i mean i know how, but I dont wana snap the motherboard in half... i saw the tom's harware one so I think I am good.. but I Love enriching my self in information!

[BipolarBill]

Tom wrote the book, literally. Stick with that.

[ukulele]

I wouldn't worry too much about ATI drivers. I've used them for years mainly because they have always work great for me and others I have setup. Their price/performance ratio can't be beat either.

[JonnyBo]

sounds very good to me !

[fluffycow]

Originally posted by ukulele
I wouldn't worry too much about ATI drivers. I've used them for years mainly because they have always work great for me and others I have setup. Their price/performance ratio can't be beat either.

If your going to play games, worry about the drivers. For a short time (2 weeks) I had a radeon 7200. The display was very pixelated and shaking at resolutions of 800-600 and under...even in 2d mode.

I noticed bugs in the drivers in 1 or 2 of my games. Impairing the playability of one of them. I know someone who has one now, it locks up on warcraft 3, and it runs grand theft auto only if he runs an ati tweaker program to turn some acceleration off. Ati has, or used to have bad drivers. I don't have a more recent card so I couldn't tell ya if they've improved the drivers in the past few years.

Im an nvidia fan....the only reason is drivers. Havent seen any visual bugs on any games I own, except when my card doesn't support something (its an old tnt2)

[ukulele]

Not all systems are created equal. If you get issues you can't live with send it back. One thing about ATI's though, they love it when you push 'em to the max. :x

[Giblet Plus!]

The radeon 9700 has some problems with 8x agp boards. Wait until they fix their problems before spending $ on one. They're actually doing another revision of their chips to fix it.
I'd stay away from via for intel chips, and get sis or intel instead. More performance and reliability.

Memory wise, I'd buy samsung instead of geil or corsair. Both companies use samsung chips anyways, and the samsung memory is cheaper. Cas 2.5 samsung can usually be run at Cas 2.0.

I'd like to urge you to buy AMD, but it's your choice. There's legitimate reasons for buying both. Hint - Overclocking is the reason for buying intel.

You don't need serial ata - especially since there are very few serial ata hard drives out their. If you want good performance, and don't care about cost, get scuzzy. (you now what I mean, right) :t

[Tick]

Sounds good.. Any thing is great when it works and your happy!

If it aint broke Tweak it till it MegaHertz!

[JonnyBo]

Originally posted by Giblet Plus!
The radeon 9700

yeah this pisses me off, I heard about it but i better look into it deeper, like when there will be a new release... so forth ans so such

Originally posted by Giblet Plus!
Memory wise, samsung Cas 2.5 samsung can usually be run at Cas 2.0.

I am a fan of samsung, and like you said the fact both companies use samsung, says something, 'something'
and as far as running 2.5 at 2 I am not a fan of really overclocking a new pc out of the box, I would rather have a 2.0 ... but .. uhg left or right coke or pepsi

Originally posted by Giblet Plus!
I'd like to urge you to buy AMD, but it's your choice. There's legitimate reasons for buying both. Hint - Overclocking is the reason for buying intel.

yeah that whole non oc bit... thats the same here, basicly there are ppl for intel, there are ppl for amd, and there are ppl right in the middle, when the ppl in the middle start to move to a ship then i'll probably start to move, till then I stick with what I know... :p

Originally posted by Giblet Plus!

serial ata - get scuzzy.

Yeah serial ata rocks... like next year this time maybe! and belive me I was like this close man! <you cant picture me going 'like this close man'> to getting a scsi drive !

Originally posted by Giblet Plus!
(you now what I mean, right) :t

hell yeah... I apprecate the feed back I spank you I mean thank you! :)

[JonnyBo]

Originally posted by Tick
Sounds good.. and your happy!


My words exactly
;)

[Giblet Plus!]

If you're not overclocking, you should get an AMD. The athlon xp blows the p4 out of the water price/performance wise at stock speeds. :p