Building a decent system...

OKay let say if I have around $1,500, what kind of system should I think of building?...
by system i mean, [flat, if possible] monitors, case, mobo, cpu, ddr rams...etc
I'm looking for items that are under the bucks...
any recommendation ??

Abit NF7-S
Twinmos PC3200 2x256meg or bufflow PC3700 (whatever it is)lol
Amd athlon Xp 2500+
Fortron 530Watt PSU
80gig WD h/d 7200rpm 8MB Cache
Ati Radeon 9800NP
SLK-800 with TT Smart Fan II
Case off your choice
monitor off your chice aswell

or u can go with a Abit IC7 with a P4 2.4C

Thats alot of money. Go with NF7-S if your going with AMD

Case+Power Supply:
ANTEC SOLUTION SERIES MODEL SLK3700AMB w/ANTEC SMART POWER 350W P4/AMD POWER SUPPLY ATX12V - RETAIL



Harddrive:
WD WESTERN DIGITAL "SPECIAL EDITION" 80GB 7200RPM EIDE HARD DRIVE MODEL # WD800JB - OEM, DRIVE ONLY



Now do you want a CD-rom drive a DVD drive or a CD-Burner or a DVD-burner??

CD-ROM:
ASUS CD-S520 52X CD-ROM DRIVE - RETAIL BOX

DVD-ROM:
LITE-ON XJ-HD166/XJ-HD 165H 16X DVD ROM Drive BLACK- OEM

CD-R/RW:
Lite On 52x24x52 CDRW Model LTR-52246S Retail

DVD-R/RW:
NEC DVD Recorder Drive Model DRW-NE-0ND1100A OEM




LCD Monitor:
NEC MultiSync LCD1760V-BK 17" LCD Black Monitor - Retail

CRT Monitor:
Samsung 19" CRT Monitor Model 955DF-T/T Retail




Now you want AMD or INTEL??

AMD:
Processor: AMD ATHLON XP 2500+ "Barton" 333 FSB PROCESSOR CPU- RETAIL
Motherboard: Asus Motherboard for AMD Athlon XP/Duron Processors, Model# A7N8X Deluxe Retail
Motherboard2: ABIT NF7-S ,nForce2 SPP chipset Support AMD Socket A with 200/266/333 FSB ,8X AGP,SATA 150 ATX motherboard Retail

Intel:
Processor: Intel Pentium 4 / 2.4CGHz 512k socket 478 Hyper Threading Technology 800 MHz FSB - RETAIL
Motherboard: ASUS Motherboard for Intel Pentium 4 / Celeron Processors, 800Mhz FSB Model# P4P800 Deluxe Retail
Motherboard2: ABIT IC7-G, Intel 875P chipset for Socket 478 800MHz Canterwood ATX Motherboard RETAIL




RAM High or Low cost? (Memory):

Low Cost:
1. CRUCIAL MICRON 512MB 64x64 PC 2700 DDR RAM - OEM
2. KINGSTON HyperX Series 184-pin 512MB DDR333 (PC2700) 64X64 DDR RAM modules, Model# KHX2700/512

Mid cost:
1. CORSAIR MEMORY XMS Extreme Memory Speed Series 512MB 64MX64 PC-3200C2PT With Platinum - Silver Heat Spreader OEM

High Cost:
1. OCZ 512 x 2 (1024MB) Enhanced Latency DDR PC-4000 Dual Channel Gold, Model OCZ5001024ELDCGE-K - Retail
2. CORSAIR MEMORY XMS Extreme Memory Speed Series, (Twin Pack) 1GB(2 x 512MB) 2x(64MX64) TWINX1024-4000 PRO Matched Pair .Retail



OH!.. Floppy Drive :
SONY 1.44MB 3.5 INCH INTERNAL FDD DRIVE - OEM




Heatsink:
1. Thermalright SLK-800(A) ( Heatsink ONLY ). All Copper heat spread. New Version.
2. Zalman CNPS6000-Cu Pure Copper CPU Cooler for AMD Socket 462 and Intel Socket 370..




Fan for case and heatsink:
1. Thermaltake SMART CASE FAN II. Variable Fan Speed Control, by temperature sensor.
2. VANTEC's Tornado (Double Ball-Bearing) Fan.
3. SUNON 80x80x25mm, Ballbearing, Case Fan, DC 12V, 2.1W, 2900 RPM, 39.0 CFM, 4-pin. MODEL: KD1208PTB2




Video Card: (Nvidia or ATI? Price?)
Low cost ATI: ATI RADEON 9600 PRO 128MB 8X AGP DVI/TV RETAIL

High cost ATI: ATI OEM SAPPHIRE RADEON 9800 PRO 128MB DVI/TV 8X AGP BULK

Low cost Nvidia: VGA CHAINTECH Geforce FX 5200 128MB DDR . RETAIL BOX

High cost Nvidia: ASUS V9900 Geforce FX 5800 128MB DDR and TV Out, Model V9900/TD/128MB 128MB Retail




Ill leave the mouse and keyboard up to you (Logitec!)

steven you learn well young jedi

i sound like a broken record, but there really is no reason to get anything other than an nf7 of some kind. I love my nf7-s v2 and its a great deal more stable and faster than the asus a7n8x deluxe v2.

i can't fault steven recommendations, though i'd personally choose an antec true power and a 120gb maxtor instead


Thinking about it though, id love an a64 setup if i had that kind of money // james laughs uncontrollably //

That list looked a lot smaller when I wrote it

james.miller said:

i sound like a broken record, but there really is no reason to get anything other than an nf7 of some kind. I love my nf7-s v2 and its a great deal more stable and faster than the asus a7n8x deluxe v2.

Click to expand...

Gotta keep preachin until all the heathens are converted!

While its possible to build a decent budget rig using Intel I still recommend going with AMD when looking to stretch a dollar. The NF7-S is definatly the route to go for a motherboard. Its the best ocer and its no slouch on the features either. The fact that the price has dropped a bit is just gravy.

IMHO if you are building a machine on a budget you want to get a good Flat screen CRT monitor. You get more screen for your $ with a CRT (and personally I still am not on the lcd bandwagon, call me old fashioned ).

To me the whole goal if you are in to gaming is to cut corners were you can to save cash for the best video card you can afford, since this is where you will get the most mileage from your cash when it comes to gaming. A barton 2500+ or a 1700+ coupled with a good HS like a thermalright SK-7 won't set you back far at all. Pick a fan depending on your OC and noise preferences or get a smartfan II. If you can manage to set aside enough cash for a 9800pro then you would have one sweet rig

I agree on the SLK-3700AMB. Its a fantastic case. Looks good and has great cooling. I would consider a PSU upgrade if plan to OC heavily or run alot of components off of it. It might be worth sticking with the stock PSU for a while though if you are not certain that you will oc alot. If you replace the PSU Fortron is your best bang for the buck PSU. The 350W frotron with the 120mm is like $36 at newegg. I am running the 530W Fortron in my dually and it rocks. A steal for $75.

As for memory well that depends on if you will be ocing and what apps you will mainly run. Most people can probably get by on 512mb but I like 1gig. If you only opt for 512 and there is a significant price diff between 2x256 or 1x512 then just go with the single channel memory. The performance difference is pretty tiny.

bump anyone esle gonna tel him what system to build ??

james.miller said:

steven you learn well young jedi

i sound like a broken record, but there really is no reason to get anything other than an nf7 of some kind. I love my nf7-s v2 and its a great deal more stable and faster than the asus a7n8x deluxe v2.

i can't fault steven recommendations, though i'd personally choose an antec true power and a 120gb maxtor instead


Thinking about it though, id love an a64 setup if i had that kind of money // james laughs uncontrollably //

Click to expand...

MAXTOR!!?? I have heard bad things about maxtor. I prefer WD or SeaGate for HD's.

bad things about maxtor? i've had only maxtor for 3 or 4 years now and i sell them to everyone i know. never had any issues.

no, me neither. my 2year old 80gb diamondmax is still going strong.

Ive only heard of one problem with a maxtor, and that was a rather unique problem - one of the i.c's blew up. Never heard of that before or since.

This is the system I think I am going to build. I am only going to spend $1200 dollars though. So you could upgrade the video card and get 1gig of ram.

Antec Sonata case with true380 $95
Abit NF7-S $114
Vantec Nexus fan controller $19.99
Athlon XP 2500 Barton $91
Mushkin PC3200 level1 2x256 $124
Mitsumi FDD $8
WD Special edition 80GB 7200rmp 8mb cache $77.50
Viewsonic E70F+SB 17" flat monitor $139
Viewsonic black slim keyboard to match $29
Microsoft Optical Wheel Mouse $22
Lite On 52x32x52 Black Color CDRW $40.99
LITE-ON XJ-HD166/XJ-HD 165H 16X DVD ROM $32.99
Arctic silver ceramique $3.99
Thermalright SLK-947 $37.99
2 Panaflo 120mm fans $22.00
Panaflo 92mm for hs $7.00
Windows XP home $96
Radeon 9600XT when it comes out $200

Total is $1160.45

I'm not planning on ordering for another month so maybe I will be able to get 1GB of ram and a radeon 9800np if prices drop enough.

james.miller said:

no, me neither. my 2year old 80gb diamondmax is still going strong.

Ive only heard of one problem with a maxtor, and that was a rather unique problem - one of the i.c's blew up. Never heard of that before or since.

Click to expand...

Yeah, my 20gb maxtor has been going for about 4 years now.

my samsung one has been going for about 5 years

I just switched to an NF-7 from Epox...

The NF7-S undervolts fairly badly... doing it over I might have considered the 8rda3+.

have you used a multimeter to check that?

My goodness....these are loaded of info...ton to look at...and sure confused...
now...how come non of you put the price by the item so i know which one to put under the list...[or did i mis-read somewhere]
i think the AIW 9800 (399 at Fry's) is good...any comment??...
and what's the best monitor to look at, holding $399 in hand
so far it's $800 already...should i buy a combo or seperate cpu and mobo?....not very interested in dvd-burner...yet...
and the case?....which is the best and how much?...
so major units are: Case, combo [or separate], AIW, and Flat Monitor...That's should be a system right?...well including minors sutff like keyboard/mouse....
speakers?...no need i have amplifier w/ home speakers already...so thanks goodness i'm saving some bucks...
TIA you guys...
hope u see more good responses

ya but I don't think I need one in this case... I'm basing my comments on personal experience, other info on the net, hardware doctor readings, mbm5 readings, stability and overclockability.

james.miller said:

have you used a multimeter to check that?

Click to expand...

LBJGH said:

ya but I don't think I need one in this case... I'm basing my comments on personal experience, other info on the net, hardware doctor readings, mbm5 readings, stability and overclockability.

Click to expand...

can you elaborate on that? personal experiance? without a mulitmeter of some sort you know nothing about your true voltages. Nf7's are among the worst boards ever produced as far as voltage and temp readings go.

I just want to second the NF7-S. The next best - the ASUS A7N8X-Deluxe - has BIOS corruption problems (4 times for me now - good thing I have a spare BIOS chip ), and needs risky Volt mods to get any good voltage into your chipset, processor, and RAM (I have successfuly pulled off one of these so far...). Past that it is more expensive and doesn't really offer *that* much more in the way of usefull and applicable features.

I used to be in the other camp until I got to play with an NF7 .