How will this system compare?

Ok, I'm trying to put together a PC on a really low budget to upgrade from a Celeron 600 @ 750Mhz/82Mhz fsb, 32MB Kyro PCI. Right now I am looking at using these items (I can throw all of this together for approx. $200):

AMD Athlon XP 1600+ OEM
Thermosonic Thermoengine HSF w/ 38cfm Delta (will this even be powerful enough of a cooler for the XP?)
ECS K7S5A Motherboard
ATI Radeon 8500 LE 64MB OEM
256MB Crucial PC-133 CL2 (pulling it from current comp)
20GB Maxtor 5200rpm ATA/100 (pulling it from current comp)
Generic Floppy, CD-ROM

I heard that the $87 Radeon 8500 LE 64MB is a good overclocker, and I will certainly overclock it as far as I can, and do a vmod if necessary. I will also overclock the Athlon XP as far as I can get it too on the ECS motherboard.

Would these listed parts, if assembled & overclocked, be as fast as my friend's P4 1.6A (not overclocked)/256MB DDR/Radeon 8500 LE 128MB (not overclocked) in 3D games (i.e. Medal of Honor: Allied Assault)? I'm not looking to build the fastest computer (due to my budget) but just something that will be as fast as my friend's rig as listed above. Thanks in advance.

Although it's not comparable it will be just as good since you'll be hitting high frame rates. How much money would you have left over? If it's possible, sell your SDR and drop the ECS for a refurb 8KHA+ for 41.00 shipped at Newegg.com and Crucial PC2100 256MB for 60.00. The ram you may consider perhaps 10-20 bucks if you sell your SDR. Anyways, what is your power supply now? The Epox is also very demanding on power.

What you put together now is average, however I think that if you can chip in a few more bucks for more quality components it would be much more worth it.

I checked the NewEgg refubs section, and can't find the 8KHA+ . I suppose I can afford to spend an extra $30-40 on the motherboard, so what should I get to accomodate the XP 1600+ ?

I figure I might as well just keep the SDR RAM if I'll only get $10-20 for it. I don't have the credit card capacity to buy the RAM online, so what's the best RAM I can get locally? I can get the 256MB Crucial PC2100 for $60 at BestBuy, and is this RAM decent for overclocking?

Oh yeah about the powersupply-
I will be buying one of two available black Antec cases w/ 330 or 350W PSUs at CompUSA, 330-350W Antec PSU should be sufficient, right?

Thanks again for helping

Doh, they seem to be not in stock. I was saying you could probably sell your ram for 40-45.00 locally to a store convincing them it is still mint, lifetime guarantee with Crucial and you are only deducting a very small amount since it was used).

The Crucial PC2100 can overclock to PC2700 Speeds (166fsb) at CAS2-2-2 with around 2.85 voltage. So I think it is very good for PC2100, sometimes it'll go with 2.75v. Keep an eye on the Newegg refurb section and search for reviews. http://www.amdmb.com/ is a very good source for motherboard reviews.

What power supply do you have now btw? I sometimes see the KR7A and KX7-333 which would also be a great cantidate for the 1600+.

Yodums

i810 Forever said:

I checked the NewEgg refubs section, and can't find the 8KHA+ . I suppose I can afford to spend an extra $30-40 on the motherboard, so what should I get to accomodate the XP 1600+ ?

I figure I might as well just keep the SDR RAM if I'll only get $10-20 for it. I don't have the credit card capacity to buy the RAM online, so what's the best RAM I can get locally? I can get the 256MB Crucial PC2100 for $60 at BestBuy, and is this RAM decent for overclocking?

Oh yeah about the powersupply-
I will be buying one of two available black Antec cases w/ 330 or 350W PSUs at CompUSA, 330-350W Antec PSU should be sufficient, right?

Thanks again for helping

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put them on ebay you'll get from 25 to 35 for them

I suppose I can throw the RAM on eBay, I didn't really pay that much for the RAM anyways ($17 per 128MB stick in December).

For the PSU it will either be a 330 or 350W Antec psu in whichever Antec case I decide to buy at CompUSA.

i810 Forever said:

I suppose I can throw the RAM on eBay, I didn't really pay that much for the RAM anyways ($17 per 128MB stick in December).

For the PSU it will either be a 330 or 350W Antec psu in whichever Antec case I decide to buy at CompUSA.

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CompUSA maybe overpriced abit. Check other local computer stores, they have better hookups and better prices. CompUSA is really well known so they make more profit by upping the prices. Look into the Antec SX840, good case for ventillation, comes with an Antec 400watt Smart Power which is a very powerful PSU (Has more amps on the 5v rail than the 430 watt true power).

Before throwing anything away, just make sure you have everything you got first before you make sacrifices which you can't handle.

This case is $99 at CompUSA-

"[Performance Plus660B Mini Tower Case, 330w Power Supply, 8 Drive Bays] Performance Plus660B Mini Tower Case, 330w Power Supply, 8 Drive Bays"

And this one is $130 also at CompUSA-

"SX1035B ATX Tower Case, Black, with 350W PS"

I don't think I've seen the SX840, how are those usually priced?

Before throwing anything away, just make sure you have everything you got first before you make sacrifices which you can't handle.

Click to expand...

I definately won't be selling or getting rid of anything until I've at least have had the new machine assembled and running for at least a month to be on the safe-side.