Is this ok for P4 Gaming?

Rosewill ATX Case with 400W Power Supply and Side Window (Black), Model "TU-155"-$50

ABIT "IC7-MAX3" i875P Chipset Motherboard for Intel Socket 478 CPU-$182

ATI RADEON X800 PRO Video Card, 256MB DDR, 256-bit, DVI/TV-Out, 8X AGP-$400

Intel Pentium 4/ 2.8E GHz 800MHz FSB, 1MB L2 Cache, Hyper Threading Technology-$179

Mushkin 184 Pin 512MB DDR PC-3200-$88 (1 stick)

Hitachi 120GB 7200RPM IDE Hard Drive, Model HDS722512VLAT80-$89

SONY Black 16X DVD-ROM Drive, Model DDU1612, OEM-$29


Total:$1092




I have a monitor keyboard and speakers, i plan on using the case psu, unless there is better for a good price as i am strapped for cash (1200), and stock heatsink.

That PSU will leave a lot to be desired, most non name brand PSUs don't have the power needed for overclocking of even to be rock stable at stock.

Also, you will need some nice cooling if you're planning on overclocking, I assume you are since you're on the overclockers forums.

And finally,

Welcome to the Forums!!!!

well i dont know of any other gaming pc ONLY forums that talk about internals but i just probly oferclock to like 3.2 or not at all sinse im gaming.

The Presshot ICW stock cooling will make overclcking tough, but, overall, its a nice gaming system. Seeing youre on budget, have you considered AXP or cheap A64? With lower ratings, (compared to P4) they will do better at gaming, and the A64 2600+ will give you more overclocking potential as well.

You might want to consider going with 2x256 sticks of ram to take advantage of dual channel, as well.

Welcome! Here's my opinion: get 2 stick of ram for dual channel, lose the hitachi drive cuz of its notorious failures and get a seagate or samsung drive. then get a p4 3.0C chip and oc it to 3.5 (which usually can be done on stock cooling).

is 3.0e good?

The 3.0E is a prescott, which runs much hotter then the 3.0C northwood, and therefor needs better cooling for an overclock. Go for the normal 3.0C

but is 512k l2 instead of a 1mb l2 presscott a better sacrafice for gaming>?

The 512kb <-> difference is minimal, id say a few percentage points. Only on very high clockspeeds (4Ghz+) the more cache outdoes the longer pipeline of the prescott.

I think most of the good folks have already made excellent comments.

Ok, let's see, you are strapped for cash... only looking for a mild overclock... want to use stock heatsink... and hope to avoid investing in a new power supply. Here's what Uncle Batty recommends.

Forget the Prescott... it runs too hot if you plan on using stock cooling... and at lower speeds the Northwoods will beat it in performance anyway. I just got a 3.0C and it's great. If you truly don't require anything more than a modest overclock, then maybe the 2.8C is worth looking at to save ya a few bucks. Either 2.8C or 3.0C should easily do 3.2 to 3.4 gig with a stock heatsink/fan and default voltage.

That power supply will be fine if you are only planning on a modest overclock. You are smart for picking a X800 Pro for a vid card, those are awesome. You might wanna check out a Western Digital or Maxtor harddrive that has 8 meg of cache, that really helps harddrive performance. Better yet, get a SATA drive (see link).

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=22-144-151&depa=1

Now to save you cash on the motherboard. Instead of the IC7 Max3, check out the Abit AI7. I have my 3.0C in an AI7 right now and it's a sweet setup. Lots cheaper too. It has all the features you want.

Lastly, you definitely want two sticks of RAM, preferably 2X512 if you can swing it. There are lots of people having good luck with Kingston Value RAM. For a modest O/C, even cheap PC3200 RAM will work ok if you use the 5:4 memory ratio. Trust me, for gaming you want dual channel RAM for mega memory bandwidth, so get two sticks... even if it's 2X256.

i would recommed looking out for some deals on HDs, look for about 0.50 cents or less a gig. BestBuy has a seagate HD for 40 bucks after MIR. here. It will save you a few dollars.

mail in rebates :gag:
If you can put a computer together yourself, then try to get an OEM hard drive from newegg or directron, you'll save some money and not have to wait for the MIR. I'd definitely suggest dual channel if you want efficient gaming. My dual channel is running at 70% efficiency and I'm getting over 4000MB/s on Sandra for only half of my ram, almost a 1000MB/s over my brother's non-dualchannel ddr.
BTW, yakkolio... I'm not slamming your idea, I've just had many experiences with the MIR companies "forgetting" to send me the money or the money getting "lost in transit" so I have a bad opinion of MIR's.

You might want to get more than just 512mb of ram for gaming or you will see lag from the newer games.