Review My System Before I Purchase It

Later today I'm hopping onto Newegg and ZipZoomFly to order my new computer. Here's what I'm getting:

Processor: AMD Athlon 64 3000+
Newegg. Retail with stock heatsink.

Motherboard: MSI K8N Neo Platinum
ZipZoomFly. Newegg does not have it in yet (it's a new mobo).

RAM: Corsair TWINX1024-3200C2
ZipZoomFly. Newegg does not have the TWINX item listed, which means they're out of stock for at least 2 weeks.

Video Card: ATI Radeon 9800 PRO
Already purchased. It was on sell at Fry's for $180. Not bad.

Hard Drive: Western Digital 80gb SATA
Newegg. I'm getting SATA because of the slim cables. The slightly incremented price doesn't bother me. I know a lot of people seem to recommend Seagate for SATA drives, but, through a friend, I may be getting a FREE Western Digital 80gb SATA drive. If I end up getting the free one, I will take this one that I purchased and do a RAID 0. I'd rather RAID two WDs than a WD and a Seagate. Anyway, my question is: Is this drive good for my system? Or will I be much better off with the Seagate or maybe Maxtor equivalent?

CD Drive: Lite-On Black 48X24X48X16 Combo Drive OEM
Newegg. I never watch DVDs, so I only need a CD-RW. Also, I have no need to purchase two drives rather than one. -- edit -- going combo drive for the possibility of dvd games (i don't upgrade computers often, so it's best to future proof myself for a measely $10 extra)

Case: Anted P160WF
Newegg. Slick case... I like it

PSU: Antec True 430
Newegg. Is this enough? I'm pretty sure it is, but I thought I'd ask anyway.

Monitor: Samsung 955DF 19” Two-Tone
Already purchased. I chose this model over the Viewsonic equivalent. The Viewsonic has a slightly more vibrant image, but is bulkier, and the design is uglier. Samsung wins.

Thanks everyone. Your opinion matters!

Looks like a good system. I'd go with a this Lite-In Black Combo Drive myself (in case you ever want to watch DVDs or if new games start coming only on DVDs) for only $10 more.

what about case cooling?

Mr Radar, thanks for the suggestion. In fact, I'm almost certain that I'm going to follow your advice. When I was selecting hardware, I only related DVD drives with the ability to watch DVD movies; I never stopped to think how many games are going to be on DVDs soon -- UT2k4 is already one of them. Again, thanks for the advice, I'm going to follow it.

(original message editted accordingly)

Case cooling: the case comes with 2 x 120 mm fans -- one front and one rear. I've read several reviews saying that the P160's stock cooling is more than sufficient. If it is truly needed, I wouldn't mind dishing out an extra $50 on cooling -- again, only if it's necessary.

Thanks for the quick replies.

i have the following comments / suggestions...

-i have to second mr. radar's DVD suggestion. that's a good combo drive, and it's good for your money.
-good video card. you're gonna have fun with the ati.
-i have a western digital sata drive, and i believe that it has faster speeds and ratings than the maxtor / seagate (please correct me if i'm wrong). maximum pc magazine always rates western digitals as the top performing hard drives.
-can i suggest getting a PC Power and Cooling 510W TurboCool Power Supply? Many people on the oc forums also suggest getting a Forton Power Supply. Higher wattage is better. It's good for the soul.

-oh yeah...i almost forgot. check out other vendors besides newegg.com and zipzoomfly.com. www.mwave.com is an alternative, and check Virtual Hideout for other vendors on the right side of the web site.

let me know how it turns out on this thread.

well since you have a 64amd i would go with a higher ram than 3200, to use its full potential of at least ddr 500 or 550, to use its full potential..

You don't need RAM rated higher than PC3200 to "unlock the full potential of the A64", unless you want to do serious OC'ing, which it doesn't sound like Calculusaurus is doing since he's using the stock heatsink.

The Antec TruePower 430 is a good power supply and should be fine for running that at system stock or with a little OC'ing.

i just got the p160..great case
i got amd 64 3200+ mobile
1gig ocz 3500eb
radeon 9800pro
430w true power..same as u
i got the raptor 74gig sata

for cooling im going with water though...

oh ok, sorry about that, i forgot it was for heavy oc'ing,, would a antec 350 work with his setup also/? or is that pushing it?

Antec's SL line (300, 350, 400, and 450 watt PSUs) is weak compared to their True [Power/Blue/Control] line. I'd get an FSP350 Fortron or Sparkle instead, though the True430 (what he wants) is better than the FSP350.

you say its weak, but what if you dont oc it?

whoa ati radeon 9800 PRO? WHOA NICE PRICE!! frys which one? the one off the 60 in la county?

sorry for the dbl post.. but this is all i found at frys ONLINE. maybe they got discounts at the store. http://shop1.outpost.com/category/Outpost/PCtab/Video+Cards/Shop+by+Graphic+Chip/ATI

Depending on what you'll be doing, I'd get a bigger hd than 80gb. I think 120's aren't too much more. ( I just filled an 80, and my friend filled a 120 a year ago ) I've got a 7200rpm 8mb cache western digital, I wouldn't reccomend anything less. The brand is really up to you though. Overall it looks like a good base system.

Looks like a good system, but I would recomend a 10k WD sata. There hasn't been anything thing that has felt like a huge jump in speed since my switch from a 166 mhz to a 1.1 ghz that has made such a huge difference in feel as a 10k HDD. Windows boots before you can blink, and it just makes computing in general a whole lot faster. I know they are expensive, but from the look of your other specs, it doesn't look like you have an issue spending the ching.

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calculus? ::

hey guys....i have a quick question

everyone seems to recommend Forton / Sparkle power supplies on this forum. what makes them better than the PC Power and Cooling TurboCool 510?

only that they are cheaper, by far power and cooling are top rated but cost for it, i like antec true power my self..

530 watt Sparkle: $70 @ Newegg. Good enough for most.

Antec TrueControl 550: $100 @ Newegg. For those who don't find the Sparkle good enough but can't afford PC P&C.

PC P&C TC-Deluxe 510: $210. For those who can afford it and/or have maxed out their Antec/Spakle.

Bios24 said:

Depending on what you'll be doing, I'd get a bigger hd than 80gb. I think 120's aren't too much more. ( I just filled an 80, and my friend filled a 120 a year ago ) I've got a 7200rpm 8mb cache western digital, I wouldn't reccomend anything less. The brand is really up to you though. Overall it looks like a good base system.

Click to expand...

He said he might beable to get annother 80gig and put it in raid 0.

Fortron and sparkle have steadier rails and cool better. And i third the dvd combo drive, tho it looks like you are going for it anyway. But other than that, a rock solid system.