Newbie Needs Your Opinion.

[jeffbax]

I'm one of those ppl who read your forum, don't talk much myself, but I was just wondering what you all thought of this comp I'm going to build.

I'm not going to do any overclocking really myself, I bought things like a lian-li case just b/c it will probably last me a while for the future upgrades.

Here it is, my ~$2000 dollar beast (counting the likes of a desk, os, etc) (I know you oc's probably think its crazy, but Everything I'm buying I need, all from scratch and I dont have the likes of a desk, plus I want things like the nostromo and gamepad for emulation)

http://www.10sixzone.com/jeffcomp.gif

http://www.10sixzone.com/jeffcomp.xls
^ excel file.

What do you think!?

I know I went a little nuts on stuff, but I couldn't help myself ;)

But, I'm not 100 % sure about that desk...

Once I'm finished, I'm going to get 2000 bucks out of my savings account onto my moms credit card and order it all :)

But, if you have suggestions on things like good-yet-inexpensive 2.1 speakers (I dunno if i even need 4.1 or 5.1 sound) please enlighten me, or a cheaper monitor thats still good (I want 17 inch)

Also, please take note, I don't realy have any small pc shops that carry good stuff... I got a compusa thats about 30 minutes away :eek:

Online would be the biggest help for places to buy stuff

[Shadow ÒÓ]

if you buy from pricewatch, I added up roughly $250 savings from your price. If you'll spend another $100 on your monitor, you could easily get a 19". Amazing what the difference is in just 2".

Where are you buying? Locally or internet?

[Gandalf]

Hey man, I dont really have any suggestions on your comp, but I did the same thing when I made mine! (see sig), I MADE A SPREADSHEET!!

Oh so useful! :D

[touser]

i agree with shadow on this one, it is definitely worth the extra $$$ for a 19" monitor!

[scoobydoo]

I would add a DVD-ROM to the mix as well!

I have a Lian-Li PC-65 case and decided to get Black drives for it. IMO they look great in the case!

I held off for a while because of the markup for them compared to the white drives and the concern about them matching in color(blackness):(

I don't know if the Black drives interest you, but I just picked up the Black Lite-On 16X DVD-ROM($60) and the Black Lite-On 24x10x40 CD-RW($80) from Newegg this week for $152 shipped.

I held off on the $17 Black Teac drive cause I really never use the floppy drive and have been considering turning it around and making it an internal drive anyway. With the amount I use it and the ease of removing the side of the Lian-Li case to access it I think it is a good option!

Anyway, I am very pleased. The drives look excellent. They came with all the needed software, they match perfectly and more importantly they are very quiet and work great:)

[David]

Sweet! Very nice...

Perhaps try PC2700 RAM if the board will take it.

[Jeff Bolton]

i notice windows XP is just $87. that sounds like an upgrade to me. are you planning on installing another one and upgrading? you'll probably want the full version

jeff

[Thermal]

Think about a better psu...like atleast a 400w. A Enermax431 is what I use,,,
Also-I've used the 8kha & 8k7a....I got rid of the 8kha, The 8k7a is alot better of a board in not just my outdated opinion!
I also noticed you have 8kha+ -meaning raid....& only 1 hard drive listed. Did you want raid?

[Yodums]

Sounds good, but a better PSU should be there possibly 450-500 watt for future reference as well.

Those extra accessories add up to 500 dollars! :eek:
Try to cut back on some

Yodums

[NYC37]

NICE. real nice. i overclocked my geforce3 to geforce ti500 levels, so you may want to try that. its a pny, so lifetime replacement, but i dont know about the conditions, like excessive wear and tear.
otherwise it looks like its going to be a really nice gaming system, but dont forget the little things, like fans. But if your parents are willing to spend 2000 bucks on this computer, thats great. took me 3 weeks just to convince my dad to spend 1400 on my current computer.

[Kendan]

Originally posted by Spike Spiegel
i notice windows XP is just $87. that sounds like an upgrade to me. are you planning on installing another one and upgrading? you'll probably want the full version

jeff

I thought that the upgrade ver. is the full version except for having to put in an older version to verify. If I am wrong please post and let me know. I was thinking about upgrading to win xp in the future and need to know. Thanks in advance.

[hombre]

Looks good :)

I got a Gainward Ti200 Golden Sample (230/530) and I've been extremely pleased with it. (Top Choice IMHO)
I would also say, stay with the Z560 speakers. With the sound card your getting, you'll want a nice set. If you're looking to save a few $$, check out Labtec's LCS-2514. There 4.1, sounds great, and around 60 bucks. I'm planning on getting a set of Z560's myself.
Your choice on a modem is good, and I don't have any complaints with the US Robotics I have, but I got a Zoom v.92 recently and if I had to choose, I would go with the Zoom again.

Your system looks great, you'll be pleased.
The hardest part is waiting for all the components to arrive! :D

[NYC37]

definetly buy full version of win xp, its not old version to verify methinks.

[Kendan]

Originally posted by NYC37
definetly buy full version of win xp, its not old version to verify methinks.

Why would I definetly buy something that costs more unless I know for sure that I can not get the upgrade? You are not even sure.


Edit: I posted the question in the operating systems forum and recieved a response stating that it is the full ver. with previous ver. verification. So there would be no need for me to spend the money on the full ver. When I have Win 98 right here.

[Randy]

Jeffbax, I've seen lots of comments at various forums stating that the Epox boards and the Enermax psu's don't work well together, you might want to pick a different PSU if your set on the Epox board. Antech PSU's are reported to work well with the Epox boards. Have fun putting your new rig together.
Randy

[FRANK]

First of all, Welcome to the forums.

That system looks pretty good from where I'm sitting.

In addition to Shadow ÒÓ's suggestion on the monitor, I would consider the XP1600+ processor. This will perform very close to the XP1700+ at default and I believe it has a bit more headroom if you chose to overclock it down the road for about $50 less. I would take that savings and apply it toward a Plextor CDR/RW. I also notice you didn't include a HSF, I would recommend that you invest wisely on this device for the added peace of mind, these AMD CPU's run very hot.

I think that the Epox 8KHA+ motherboard is an excellent choice. If you become so inclined, XP 2000+ numbers can be attained from the XP1600+ with minimal effort.

I also agree with the above post concerning the Enermax psu. People have reported problems regarding the 5V line with these, the Epox boards can be rather finicky when it comes to the psu. I've got a couple of generic 400W units from CompUSA ($59) that perform well on both of my 8KHA+ boards.

As far as your "spread sheet", I've never used one. I prefer to spread the parts all over the kitchen table!

Have fun and check back with your progress.

Good Luck!

[jeffbax]

Wow!

Such a warm welcome.

I know my thread has really gone by, for some Reason I couldn't connect to the overclockers forums for a long time, thus I'm just seeing this now.

I've decided to go with an Abit board, and it has raid.

I'm NOT getting 2 hard disks at the moment b/c I don't need them ;) But when I get another (probably in a year when I make more money lol) the raid is there :) (I should use Raid 0 right?)

If I use raid 0, can you still have partitions? I know raid 0 makes 1 big drive for speed out of 2, but can you still have partitions?

Also, maybe I'll cut to a 40 gig hard disk, and get the black faces to match my black lian li? ;) (or more powerfull PSU? ..) If I was to paint the drive covers, can I just use black spray paint?

And I plan to overclock my geforce, not sure about CPU yet, but prices fell so I choose the xp 1800.

I'm not sure if I'd overclock the cpu yet though, as I'm only 16 and don't want to fry my hard earned cash.

And I know I'm a little accessory happy, but I got a 2000 budget that I saved all summer for (still got money left ;) I'm not spending all of it hehe) so I'm going a lil balls out.

Uhh... the pic and excel sheet are updated to my current comp, so If you'd like to comment again now that I can browse forums I'd greatly appreciate it.

I think I'm about to order these parts within the week or two!

My dad is on travel in NH, and is picking up my desk to skip sales tax ;) what luck hehe.

I decided not to get the Logitech speakers b/c of price (I could get more of other stuff) Plus, I'm limited on space thus I'm not getting 19 inch. I dunno where I'd put 4.1 speakers at the moment.... but I think the Audigy will last me a while for when I get the 4.1 ... what you think of the altec speakers I choose? I have heard they are good from other friends.

Also, I'm tryin to buy from only a few places to save money on shipping ;) I've calculated that as well heh.

And there aren't any good local places near me...

The closest thing is this place that "specializes" in refurbished 120 mhz pentium laptops lol.... and Compusa which won't save me money LOL

And as for the 87 bucks for Window's XP, it IS OEM, and it says "Must be purchased with hardware"... Why wouldn't it be the FULL version?

And as for the HSF, its the retail CPU, it comes with the stock ones.

But should I get oem CPU an a better HSF? if so what do you recommend AND is it at newegg?

[David]

1)Yes you can partition a RAID array. It is treated like one big disk and can be split as such.

2)Overclocking the CPU by a few MHz is OK, its only major overclocks that you REALLY have to watch the temp. Up the FSB a few MHz and boost the voltage a bit. You should, with a 1800 reach XP1850+ no probs and XP1900+ easily.

3)If you buy XP OEM then you will get a sticker to put on your case.

The 'FULL' version costs more and is bought not along with hardware.

Hope this helps, let us know how you get on :D

[Shadow ÒÓ]

RAID 0 will improve your read times. (you'll load programs faster)

RAID 1 will write faster (saving large video's n such)

Most people prefer the benefits of RAID 0 I believe...but if your data is critical and you can't afford to lose it, you may consider 1 or even 0+1.

[Roman79]

Looks like a nice system! The only thing I'd change is to get some quality name brand memory . There are few things worse than crappy memory, even if you're not going to o/c

[Roman79]

Originally posted by Shadow ÒÓ
RAID 0 will improve your read times. (you'll load programs faster)

RAID 1 will write faster (saving large video's n such)

Most people prefer the benefits of RAID 0 I believe...but if your data is critical and you can't afford to lose it, you may consider 1 or even 0+1.


I'm no RAID expert, but isn't RAID 1 mirroring? I understood that RAID 1 offered no performance increase, only redundancy. How would that allow you to write files faster?