Another Critique My Build Thread

[AccordinglyDone]

I know you guys see a lot of these so I'll get this over with quick. This is my first build and I will be using it at college next year. Feel free to comment on anything. Here are the specs:

Monitor - Sony STYLEPRO CPD-E240/B - $235

Case - Antec Performance II 1040BII 400W - $113

Motherboard - Asus A7N8X Deluxe - $129

CPU - AMD ATHLON XP BARTON CORE 2500+ 333FSB 512K - $128

Video Card - ATI Radeon 9700 Pro - $266

RAM - Kingston 256 MB PC3500 DDR 433 Mhz x 2 - $138

CD-RW (or cd-rom) - Lite-On 52X24X52X Internal EIDE Black - $45

DVD-ROM - Lite-On 16x DVD Drive Black - $40

CPU Fan/Heatsink - Vantec VA4-C7040 - $30

Thermal Paste - Arctic Silver's Silver Thermal Compound - $7

HDD - Maxtor 120GB Ultra ATA133 7200rpm 8MB Cache - $130

Printer - HP Deskjet 5550 - $110

Speakers - Altec Lansing ATP3 - $52

Mouse - Logitech MX700 - $62

Keyboard - Logitech BLACK Elite Keyboard - $36

Floppy Drive - Whatever - $10

TOTAL - $1531

Thanks,
Tim

[sandman001]

get the Abit NF7-S revision 2.0 motherboard instead.

[Rocko[DPC]]

Agreed. Either that or an Epox. I had the Asus and I hated it.

Question: Where did you find a 9700pro for $266?

[AccordinglyDone]

Yea that's my fault about the 9700 pro. I copied down the price of the regular 9700. So do any people here like the Asus?

[Cereal Killa]

If I were you I would just not get a floppy drive (today it's all cd-rom / dvd) and save up an extra 10 $. but hey, that's me, saving up everywhere I can :p

[AccordinglyDone]

Well I figure the floppy is cheap enough that it won't matter. There are still a good amount of people using floppies for text files etc. so it will be just in case I ever need it.

[The_Punisher29]

Yeah I like ASUS :p But if your going on a performance system get the Abit, it's trully better ! Is it Kingston Hyper X ram you're buying ? And I would go for a ThermalRight SLK-800 and a nice Panaflo 80mm fan: you can get a Low1A, a Medium1A, or a High1A :)

[Kekkai]

In my opinion, you should not get the ATP3 speakers. They sound awful for the money compared to many other speakers out there. The bass is really boomy. It's not solid at all. The satellites have awful high's and awful mid's. They seem muted and anyone can clearly tell that the balance is quite off. Why not try out the ACS48 by Altec? Speakers of that quality are hard to find, even in today's market. I remember the reviews received by the ACS48; it won top awards by all reviews. I think the cheaper ACS340 by Altec were not bad at all either.

Please please don't get it the ATP3.

[stan03]

you can get the logitech mx duo with wireless elite and nx700 for 85 bucks on newegg

[gahdzila]

I have the Asus A7N8X Deluxe and I LOVE it. It is a very stable, feature rich board.

[AlucardCasull]

yeah, i got the regular a7n8x and its awesome, its a great overclocker. and you can get 2x Hyper X 2700 for 90$ on ebay, unless thats hyper-x ram you already got.

[Hookem]

Another vote for the Asus board...I really like the Soltek nForce2 motherboards also...;)

[Hawky]

instead of getting sound system, get plantronics .audio90's

really good.!!

[CrashOveride]

Originally posted by sandman001
get the Abit NF7-S revision 2.0 motherboard instead.

I agree.

[Fuzzbeaner]

DO NOT make the mistake my friend made.

Hyper X ram has BIG compatibility problems with Nforce 2 boards. You've been warned. He can only run his 3000+ barton to run at 200 mhz with it!

-Jeff

[Hookem]

I had some problems setting up my nForce 2 box...Seems Corsair had some problems also...From my understanding most of the problems have been resolved...Corsair said it was Nvidia's fault, with Nvidia saying it was Corsair...Whatever motherboard you choose just make sure and read up on it in the motherboard section and you should be okay...You will atleast have an idea about probable problems you may encounter...;)

[fiji]

how many case fans are you getting?

also i dont know about that heatsink, but i reallly love my slk-800
i have my barton oced to 2100mhz right now and it keeps the max load temp at 41c