[Twisted Metal]

The company my wife works for decided this year to give out a christmas bonus and do away with profit sharing, (IE they got greedy lol) and she gave me half of it to do with as I please. I've been feeling the need to build a new system and give her my old one and this just gives me the opportunity to do that. So after reading everything I could stand this is what I came up with and need some opinions on whether or not this would be worth the money. Or maybe someone knows of a better setup up around the same price +/- $200?

system

Case: Koolance PC2-601BW Full tower Liquid Cooling case with the Koolance, CPU-200G

Mainboard: MSI KT3 Ultra2-BR(6380E-060BT) With RAID, Bluetooth Function

Proc: AMD Athlon XP 2000+

Ram: Kingston 400MHz DDR PC3200

PSU: VANTEC VAN-520A (520W)

Video: ATI All-In-Wonder RADEON 9700 PRO

Drives: WESTERN DIGITAL 40GB 7200RPM Lite On 48x24x48 CDRW Lite On 52X CD-ROM (already own)

Inputs: Memorex Model RF5700 Wireless Keyboard and Mouse combo

Monitor: Viewsonic 17" TFT LCD monitor

Total price: USD $2042.49

Thanks for any help, I appreciate it alot,
Twisted Metal

[RangerJoe]

case - good
motherboard - good, but why do you want bluetooth? not much actually uses that technology. id go with the epox 8k3a+ if i were you, i have this board, and i love it, stability is fantastic, and bios is wonderful, and all the overclocking options are sooo nice.
cpu - i would go with the xp1800 tbred. alot of people have been getting these to 2ghz with aircooling, so you should be able to do 2.1ghz or so.
ram - i would go with some corsair ram. im assuming the reason you want koolance is to overclock, or at least partially, and corsair will allow you to overclock as much as you want. (the pc3200 cas 2 is great stuff)
psu - i plan on buying that psu myself, it has a 1% regulation on the rails like the pc power & cooling psu's do..this is great.
video - if you want the best, go with a 9700. i hear the Tyan version is pretty sweet, and comes ovrclocked from the factory..at least i think i heard that
drives - i would recommend going with a 80gb WD special edition, the one with 8mb of cache...these are highly loved around the forums...my brother has the 40x version of that cd-rw, and it burns a cd in about 2 minutes flat...
keyboard/mouse - http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduc...82E16823109104 for the keyboard, i like this one because it has the scroll wheel on the side, so thats kinda neat...and mouse - http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduc...82E16826105127
monitor - if you do any hardcore gaming, id get a CRT...they are soo much better for games, but if not, lcd's are neat

[Twisted Metal]

Yeah, I'm wanting to be able to spool it up fairly high as far as O/C ing goes.

I only figured on that mainnboard because another forum they where giving it alot of great reviews (but as I trust this forum more I figured I'd ask here before ordering ), I was looking at the Epox 8RDA+, but have heard they are having some troubles with a video issue.

as for the ram, after I wrote up the post I noticed I had clicked on the kingston catagory instead of the corsair. I had meant to get the corsair.

monitor though I end up having to get. as the computer room was given to our newest member of the family and my computer is stuck in the "florida" room now.

Actually, now that i look at it, with CRT I get more screen better res and spend less. just have to use the saved cash to buy a bigger computer desk.

[RangerJoe]

yea, i woulda recommended the 8RDA+ but i knew about the video card problems it had...the 8k5a2/3+ are nice boards, but the only difference you will really notice is the onboard sound and USB 2.0...the new southbridge just doesnt really show the numbers they thought it would (it is supposed to have more overall memory bandwidth, but it isnt noticable in anything)..the 8k3a+ is still probably the best overclocking board out there, the kt400/nforce 2 board from epox do not have as high of limits on the vcore/vdimm adjustments either..

just make sure you get the 8k3a+ if you decide on it...it has the DLED system which is a ton of help if you are having problems with the stuff that happens between the time you turn on the computer, and windows starts to load, it has helped me out many times.

corsair is the best...its basically a proven fact

i have a huge desk, so i havnt even thought of getting an LCD, and plus i play counterstrike, where the screen changes a whole lot, and LCD's just dont do well with that sorta stuff.

you have a good computer setup though.

[EluSiOn]

Case: Super bad, if you want to water cool your system, you are much better off do it yourself order parts from www.dangerden.com, www.dtekcustoms.com or becooling.safeshopper.com. Koolance sucks in WC. They got the look but they don't get the performance at all. White Water, S-Type, MAZE3, TC4 those water blocks are way better than CPU-200G. Koolance is only ok for cpu running at stock speed but not when it is OCed. You will save yourself tons $$$ just use those DO IT YOURSELF Kit. Koolance case actually chieftec case which can get cheap from www.newegg.com

Motherboard: Epox 8RDA+ (www.mwave.com US$ 105)

CPU: AMD 2400+ from ebay retail box w/ 3y Warranty only US$160

RAM: Corsair XMS PC3500 512/256mb from www.googlegear.com cheapest and free shipping

P.S: PC Power & Cooling, Antec TruePower Series or Sparkle.

P.S. read the AMD Motherboard/ Epox Motherboard Forum's sticky. 8RDA+'s video problem was merely user error + poor board layout combination and only affect GF4 not 9700. It can be easily avoided

[SpyderMatrix]

i agrre a DIY kit would do you better and get a chieftec case with like a window kit and a cold cathode kit as for the mobo get an Abit like kx7 333r or a kd7 they are just as good and give some excellent ocing options over all other boards

[DreamClocker]

2000 Dollars? What!? I'd wait 2-3 Months and get the hammers, or even wait for the Optrons, and wait for the GeForce FX

Get a grip man!

[Twisted Metal]

Thx for the reply guys I've gotten a bunch for PM's giving me ideas, and have gotten the system to basicly this:

Vapochill premium $559
Asus A7N8X Deluxe $147
AMD XP 2400+ $194
Corsair XMS DDR ram 512 MB PC 3200 $170
WD 60GB 7200RPM hard drive/8MB buffer $102
Antec TruePower True550 550W PSU $100.99
ATI RADEON 9700 Atlantis PRO 128MB $339
Koolance Exos $219.95 (for GPU/NB cooling)
Mitsubishi 17" CRT Monitor $129

total: $1989.46 (shipping included where needed)

DreamClocker, LOL I hear ya, but i do have a grip. in another 4 months I'll not have the money to do something like this as our newest member to the family will be arriving. That kinda makes this a "do it now or don't do it at all" kind of thing. If I hold off I'll probably use the money to buy a bunch of crazy crap for the baby as my wife says. I still think a boy is never to young for sports LOL( yes it's my first )