Building this final thoughts/suggestiosn??

[dimebolt]

First off TIA -

heres what im shooting for.

AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice 1GHz FSB Socket 939 - 190.00

// Board Choices //

MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX - 135.00
DFI Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 ATX AMD Motherboard - 118.00

// Open for board suggestions //

ATI 100-435513 Radeon X800XL 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 - 325.00

OCZ EL Platinum Revision 2 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Kit - 167.00

Western Digital Caviar SE WD2500JS 250GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA II Hard Drive - (x2) 140.00 (ea) (planning on running them in raid 0+1)

Thermaltake Silent Boost K8 80mm Ball Cooling Fan/Heatsink 31.99

NEC 35XX DVDRW Combo drive - 45.99

Lian Li PC-65B Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 125.00

Ultra X-Connect 500watt PSU - 70.00 (xoxide is the only supplier I found)

What kind of speeds do you think I can get stable.

TIA

 

[Scott9027]

Go with the DFI board over the MSI.

That's the best bang for your buck card out right now, but don't buy it there, you can find it for $250.

I would get 2 Hitachi 7K250's instead of the WD.

Get a Thermalright XP-90 or something comparable instead of that heatsink, especially if you want to push your OC.

Great case IMO, as well as the DVD drive.

Please don't buy that PSU. Look at the Fortron AX500 Bluestorm, OCZ Powerstream 520, Seasonic S12 500, or any number of reliable PSU's.

 

[tenchi86]

I second the blue storm. Also the xp-90 if it will fit would be nice. Can I ask why Hitachi? The seek time is a bit better yes but is there any other reason you suggest that? Anyway I dont do AMD so I cannot help you there. Do you have ram timings though?

 

[Know Nuttin]

I think you need 4 drives for 0+1 on those boards.

I would look at the Maxtor 16mb DiamondMax 10 series.

Definitely don't go for the Ultra X-Connect.

exactly which model of NEC DVD writer is that? 35xx could be the 3520 or 3540. I would go for the 3540 since the price difference is so negligible.

 

[dimebolt]

Ah, Yeah I meant 2 drives for just raid 0 dunno why I put 0+1 maybe I was considering it.

Where Can you find that x800xl for 250? (ati brand?)

I also like case cleanlyness with comp power, thats why im liking the ultra x-connect.

 

[Flip-Mode]

Ah, Yeah I meant 2 drives for just raid 0 dunno why I put 0+1 maybe I was considering it.

Where Can you find that x800xl for 250? (ati brand?)

I also like case cleanlyness with comp power, thats why im liking the ultra x-connect.

The X800XL is 250$ at Monarch, its connect 3d brand not ATI but its the same and dare I say I even think the Connect 3D is better.

 

[1cem4n]

Ah, Yeah I meant 2 drives for just raid 0 dunno why I put 0+1 maybe I was considering it.

Where Can you find that x800xl for 250? (ati brand?)

I also like case cleanlyness with comp power, thats why im liking the ultra x-connect.

X-connect are pretty bad powersupply so if you really want this "cleanliness", go with a better powersupply as you will have to replace this and EVERYBODY knows that modular PSUs are for people who can't hide wires. lol, Try Newegg for the Videocard. The fortron is good and so is the OCZ Powerstream 520.

-1cem4n

 

[tenchi86]

BlueStorms dont look to bad, the wires come prewraped in a nice netting. With a little work you cannot even notice it(genreally speaking of course)

 

[hainer36]

i had a x-connect....they arent horrible...but basically your paying for the wires, not good, i had it running computer, than made it runs my fans, because it lacked on the computer so i put in the Aspire 550W (somepeople hate that too...but its the best ive had...beats OCZ hands down) definatly go with a bluestorm its a good psu, i would suggest the same psu as me...but i know that wont last long as people would kill me for saying that

 

[BrutalDrew]

CPU is good, but you could even get a 3000+. Both will OC the same most likely. Definitely get the DFI board too. Get the X800XL from Monarch for $250. That RAM is too expensive too. You can get 2GB of RAM for that price or get cheaper UTT. RAID-0 is not worth it either. The performance gains are neglibile and reduced reliability. Get an XP-90 with panaflo fan and a Fortron AX500-A.

 

[superdaveviii]

RAID 0 may not be worth it on its own, though he mentioned using 0+1. Costs some extra bucks and redundancy is a waste of money right up until a drive fails, single or RAID. Then a potentially very, very bad day can be skewed into mildly annoying. Instead of losing hundreds of gigabytes of data, you lose whatever time it takes to get an RMA done.

Though I hate to break your heart, you'll have to double your price on drives if you want a 0+1 array, as it requires 4 disks. They run in pairs like RAID 0, and mirror each other for redundancy.

 

[Vulcan]

Don't bother doing raid. I'd for the Fortron ax500 as well. For hard drives get the DiamondMax 10.