How does this sound?

[ucfswimmer]

I figure since everyone else gets opinions before they buy, I should probably do the same...tell me what you guys think of my new rig..haven't purchased anything yet...prolly not for another month or whenever i get my tax rebate back...prices should drop a little by then.

im hoping to try and up the FSB to 166 after a few days of burn-in, id like to put the ramsinks and CORB on the gainward and OC that to like 250/575...and then eventually id like to unlock the AXP and hike it up to a 12 or 12.5...preferrably all air-cooled.

you guys notice any weak links for the 166 FSB or have any other suggestions?



COLORCASES.COM:

Lian-Li PC-60 Aluminum ATX Case $166.00
350W Deer Power Supply $23.00
BB Quiet Case Fan 80x80x25 3 pin $6.00
24" Black FDD Cable $11.50
18" Black ATA 100 IDE Cable x 2 $24.00
24" Black ATA 100 IDE Cable x 2 $27.00

Sub-Total $257.50
Shipping & Handling $32.29
_________________________________________________
Total $289.79



NEWEGG.COM:

Soyo Tek K7V Dragon+ Plus Motherboard $146.00
Corsair 256MB PC2700 CL2 DDR DIMM 333MHz $138.00
IBM 60.GB 7200 RPM OEM BARE DRIVE $111.00
Gainward Geforce3 Ti200 128MB DDR RAM $196.00
Aopen 56x IDE CD-ROM Drive OEM BARE DRIVE $28.00

Sub-Total $619.00
Shipping & Handling $23.34
_________________________________________________
Total $642.34



COMPUBUZZ.COM:

AMD Athlon XP 1800 CPU $145.00

Sub-Total $145.00
Shipping & Handling $6.95
_________________________________________________
Total $151.95



CRAZYPC.COM

Tin Coated Copper RAM Sinks 4 per pack x 2 $29.90
Arctic Alumina Adhesive $8.95
Arctic Alumina Thermal Compound $4.95
Non-Conductive Athlon XP Shim $8.95
Swiftech MCXC-370 CPU HSF $44.95
Slim Fan Adapter 80mm to 60mm $9.95
Sunon 80x25mm, 3pin, 35cfm, 33dBA $8.99
80mm Chrome Fan Guard $1.75
Thermaltake Crystal Orb Chip Cooler x 2 $27.90

Sub-Total $146.29
Shipping & Handling $7.66
_________________________________________________
Total $153.95



DIRECTON.COM:

Silver Mitsumi 1.44MB 3.5" FDD $10.00

Sub-Total $10.00
Shipping & Handling $5.37
_________________________________________________
Total $15.37



Grand Total $1253.40



thanks in advance for all replies.


~jeff~

[Jon]

Not so sure about the Soyo Dragon+. I'm not sold on it going 166MHz.

Dump the Deer 350W PSU. Don't by alot of top-notch components if you're going to run them on a crappy power supply. Go for a Sparkle 400W.


Everything else looks decent enough to me.

[ucfswimmer]

Originally posted by Jon
Not so sure about the Soyo Dragon+. I'm not sold on it going 166MHz.

Well I've only heard good things about the Dragon+, I like the onboard LAN, and onboard 5.1, you can adjust the FSB in 1mhz increments and the vcore by .025 all the way to +.1 or -.1, i havent heard of anyone hitting 166 with it, the highest ive heard is 150, but they said their ram was limiting them..they booted up at 157 but it wasnt as stable as they would have liked..i figure with high quality ram and the other parts being decent as well (and if im lucky) i may hit 166...but that is DEFINATELY arguable...



Dump the Deer 350W PSU. Don't by alot of top-notch components if you're going to run them on a crappy power supply. Go for a Sparkle 400W.

I've heard good things about Sparkle..Enermax too obviously. What do you think about a CodeGenR PSU? I did some research on Deer/L&W PSU and it sounds like they have put on better units recently...and do you think i need a 400w over a 350w?

~jeff~

[Jon]

If Sparkly made a 350W I would recommend it. I only say the 400W because I don't think their 300W would be enough. It would be better than the other generic 350W PSUs you named though.

Just don't want to cut corners with things like that, they will come back to bite you.

I have no qualms with the Dragon either. I've always liked Soyo and they actually built the first board I ever overclocked on. I just don't think it's built for 166Hz because of the LAN and audio that's onboard. These things don't usually like high PCI buses and cause the entire board to suffer for it. They are nice editions, most certainly, they just don't have the overclocker in mind. I honestly don't think rated memory would help. You can always get lucky though.

Forgot to welcome you to the forums earlier, too...so, WELCOME! Glad to have you aboard. :D

[Ridenow]

Originally posted by Jon
If Sparkly made a 350W I would recommend it. I only say the 400W because I don't think their 300W would be enough. It would be better than the other generic 350W PSUs you named though.


I own a Sparkle 350W. Bought it for $55 from servercase.com. It is an excellent PSU.

I have no experiance, but I have been told that shims can cause more harm than good.

[Al Capone]

change the cd-rom, aopen are not so good for them, either get a sumsang one (same price) or get a good dvd rom like Toshiba for an extra $20

[Patchmaster]

In the interest of economy, can't you find a 3.5" floppy at one of the other places you're ordering from for less than $15? $10 for the floppy and more than $5 for shipping is just too painful.

I'm also curious about something. You listed 24" ATA/100 cable. The ATA/100 spec dictates a maximum cable length of 18", yet I've seen 24" and even 36" ATA/100 cables for sale at a number of places. Does anyone know if these longer cables actually work well or is this just a case of somebody giving the customer what he thinks he wants?

Speaking of cables, these guys (http://www.svcompucycle.com/new48ys804pi.html) have rounded cables on sale for quite a bit less than the prices you quoted. I'd also check out their fans. They have a 80mm YS-Tech that moves more air then the Sunon you've listed and is just a wee bit noisier.