College Computer

Ok, allow me to start a free for all. My brother is heading off to college at the end of this month, and I have been comissioned to build him a dorm comp. I am going into this with a more open mind than I have with any other comp than I have ever built (usually I have already decided amd vs. intel, for example.) This time I will take advice on anything and everything, but here are the general guidelines:

Budget:
he would like to keep it around 1K, athough I suspect he would be a little flexible.
CPU:
He is open to overclocking, so there is a lot of flexibility. I know the 1700+'s are ocing very nicely now, and the 2500 barton isn't bad either. What are the best steppings for these two? I also realize the p4's are whooping up on the XP's now, so I am open to intel possibilities. But, I have no idea which chips give the best bang/buck. I suspect the budget might push me into AMD territory.
MOBO:
Who has a board they really like?
MEMORY:
What is the best buy here? I've always liked crucial, how are they OC'ing these days?
MONITOR:
I think we will go with a 17" lcd or 19" crt, but this is completely in the air.
CASE:
He has seen my WC setup and likes the idea of having a watercooled case, so I'm looking at Koolance and Swiftech. Any others? (this may be the factor that forces me to go AMD due to money)
VID CARD:
He want a tv tuner. I've looked at the 9700 AIW, but this looks out of budget. It might be smarter to get a separate tuner card (I know nothing about these) and a 9600ish card. Any suggestions?

Any other suggestions are more than welcome.

Thanks!

hmm...
cpu:
personally i'd go intel, but since i'm out of the loop, can't help you there.

mobo:
never had a problem with gigabyte boards, but there are probably better overclocking boards if that is indeed what your brother will want to do.

monitor:
definitley go 17" lcd. have you seen those dorm desks? they're SMALL! benq has a nicely speced 17" monitor (16 ms) for under $400. the cost of the lcd (and watercooling) might make you consider the amd.

case:
i would go with an aluminum chieftec dragon (for the weight, watch out for the dorms with no elevators ...) and assemble watercooling from individual parts (instead of the swiftech/koolance case). better performance and lower cost.

vid card/tv tuner card:
i'm out of the loop on the vid cards, but a seperate tv tuner card is definitley the better way to go. you won't lose it when you upgrade the vid card like with the aiw. consider the msi tv tuner card or the leadtek tv tuner card. i have the msi, and its relativley easy to work with.

$1000 system with intel and a 17" lcd and watercooling is well, shall we say a bit optimistic?

hence, this:

the cost of the lcd (and watercooling) might make you consider the amd.

Click to expand...

and he did say the budget was a little flexible

Ok, after cruising around newegg for a while here is the starting system. I'm not set on any of these items at all, I just want to give people the opportunity to say "no, don't buy X, because Y is ten times better and only costs $10 more" or something like that.

CPU:
1700's are $45, the 2500 barton at $95 is also an option here.
MOBO:
Last I heard Nforce 2 was still the way to go. The MSI K7N2-Delta is $90 and there is a deluxe version for $124 that also has serial ata, raid, and dolby sound.
edit: the Soltek SL75-FRN2 is now the front runner here. $96 with all the goodies.
CD drive:
Lite-On DVD/CDRW combo for $61 (I had no idea the combo's were so cheap!
PSU:
Enermax 350 W for $45
Video:
Radeon 9500 (non-pro) $120
TV card:
(I had seen the MSI, but thanks for the tip on the leadtek) Both are about $50
Memory:
Unless I end up with a VIA chipset, I'm probably going to want dual channel, so I'm looking at 2x256. Crucial pc3200 256's are $54 a pop. (In my experience crucial usually has some overclocking headroom, but I'm worried cuz these are cas3)
Hard Drive:
Seems kinda anachronistic to go with regular ATA with serial so common these days, but it will probably force me to spend more on the mobo and drive. The seagate serialATA 160G is $154. I'm seriously unsure about this one.

Figuring $200 for the case (the koolance is 210 at newegg) that brings me to around $900. And I still need mouse/keyboard, monitor and speakers (am I forgetting anything?) I could stand to trim a few bucks off the price, but I'm also willing to listen to arguments that I should spend more for better performance (still waiting for someone to suggest an intel combo.) So...waddya think so far?

i would opt for a more... popular... nforce 2 board like the abit, asus, or epox ones, just for peace of mind ya know?

if you plan on running your ram and fsb/cpu in sync you might wanna check out other better performing brands with lower latencies.

and most people around here would tell you should go with the Fortron 350 or higher instead of the enermax.

1700+ DLT3C $65

Epox 8rda+ $88

256mb Twinmos PC3200 $55

Fortran/Sparkle/Enermax/Antec 350-430watt PSU $35-70

Case $10-200 depending on how stylish

Case fans- panaflo's are quiet $6 each

Thermalright heatsink- anything above an SK6 $20-50

Maybe go for a 92mm to 80mm adapter or 120mm to 80mm adapter and also a tube of silicone and a large 92mm or 120mm fan (to keep noise low but cooling performance high)

HDD 40GB+ price varies by capacity

CDRW $55 Lite-on is my favortie

Monitor 19" $220-300

KB+ mouse $20-80 depending on color/style/wireless or wired
I suggest a USB optical mouse minimum ($12 for white logitech)

Vid card (gaming or not? Let me rephrase that- Do you want him to get good grades or to veg out on FPS games?) $20-400

I would suggest NOT overclocking in the dorm, the room is going to be hot as hell (unless it is A/C'd which is unlikely). It is a pain in the *** if your system locks up while writing a paper.

Therefore, get the fastest CPU you can afford at default speeds, but something that will also be overclockable after he is out of the dorm.

I would get a ATI AIW 9700, I would have loved to be able to watch TV on my computer in the dorm room. If money is tight here, get the seperate tuner and less capable video card. Computer games just make you fail classes anyway (I KNOW!).

Do NOT get a 19inch CRT, much too big for a dorm desk. 17inch LCD is a great idea.

I would also not recommend a watercooling setup, my computer was kicked and otherwise abused in my freshman year dorm room. I wouldn't trust watercooling to be leak free under those conditions. His computer is going to be an indispensible tool, you can't have times where it doesn't work because a pump fails or any of the other problems with water that are not problems with air. A dorm room is far from a controlled environment (at least mine wasn't), not the best place for something that needs some level of care.

Also, I would recommend you keep it quiet. He is going to have a roommate(s) who may not like the buzz of high speed fans (easy at default speeds).

Stability and noise are the most important things the first year, once he is out of the dorm and is more in tune to what he has to do to pass classes he can spend more time messing around with his computer.

I spent alot of time my freshman year in college helping people who were crying (guys and girls) because they had lost data because of an unstable computer. Losing 8 pages of a 10 page paper will make just about anyone cry *unless you don't care, then you laugh, fire up counter-strike (it was new my freshman year), and ask the prof for an extension*.

I'm going to second Kct2's suggestions... all of them.

i would opt for a more... popular... nforce 2 board like the abit, asus, or epox ones, just for peace of mind ya know?

if you plan on running your ram and fsb/cpu in sync you might wanna check out other better performing brands with lower latencies.

and most people around here would tell you should go with the Fortron 350 or higher instead of the enermax.

Click to expand...

I've always considered MSI to be reputable, and possibly the best bang for the buck. I'll check out the others though (especially epox.) As for the ram, do you have any specific suggestions? Also, isn't enermax considered "cream-of-the-crop for psu's?

1700+ DLT3C $65

Epox 8rda+ $88

256mb Twinmos PC3200 $55

Fortran/Sparkle/Enermax/Antec 350-430watt PSU $35-70

Click to expand...

nice tips, I'll look into these. Btw, aren't the 1700's much cheaper than this?

Vid card (gaming or not? Let me rephrase that- Do you want him to get good grades or to veg out on FPS games?) $20-400

Click to expand...

I definitely want to get him a decent gaming card. We frequently play with each other online. He is also smart enough to not let it interfere with school (at least he can't be any worse than I was and I turned out fine, right? Right? Ok, nevermind.)

kct2, he is going to be in the pacific northwest, so I don't think heat will be too much of a problem. Your point on stability is extremely valid, though. I'll make sure we don't push the chip to the limit so there is some wiggle room if it get hot, or something. These days with the low speed chips being just underclocked premium chips, it doesn't make sense not to take advantage of the easy oc'ing room that is there. The aiw9700 looks great, but it just destroys the budget.

I'll talk to him about your wc'ing concerns, but I'm sure there will be an out-of -the-way spot to hide the comp from errant kicks. His current machine is such a vacuum cleaner that I'm sure he is drooling over the idea of a silent machine that can be left on overnight (and folding for me )

Thanks for all the input so far, keep it coming.

edit: check out my list above for the new mobo front runner.