Review My New A64 System...PLEASE!!

[roy_jones]

First of all, I want to thank all the folks that helped educate me on what to look for in an A64 system.

I'd like to get some feedback on my final decision, here- so please criticize, comment and otherwise let me know what you think of my new system.


AMD Athlon 64 3200+, 512KB L2 Cache, Socket 939 64-bit Processor

MSI "K8N Neo2 Platinum" NVIDIA nForce3 ULTRA Chipset Motherboard

Geil Ultra Series Dual Channel 184 Pin 1GB(512MBx2) DDR PC-4000

Sapphire ATI RADEON X800 XT Platinum Edition Video Card, 256MB GDDR3, 256-Bit, Dual DVI/VIVO

Aspire 500W 12V Black Dual Fan Aluminum Power Supply, Model "ATX-AS500W BK12V"

ANTEC ALUMINUM SERIES SUPER LAN BOY MINI TOWER CASE with Clear Side Acrylic Window

COOLER MASTER HYPER 48 CPU Cooler for AMD K8 and Intel P4

Arctic Cooling VGA Cooler, Model "ATI silencer 4"

Samsung 16X DVD±RW, Model TS-H552B/WBCH Black

Western Digital Special Edition 80GB 7200RPM IDE Hard Drive, Model WD800JB


Well, there it is...what do you think? I paid $1200 US dollars for the system, shipped to Canada. It comes preloaded with Windows XP sp2 and fully assembled. It's already overclocked to 2.6 GHz. It scores 81,068 in Aquamark3. Think I got a decent deal? It comes out to around $1500 Cdn. after the currency conversion...

What chips are the Geil PC-4000 DDR based on? I've been looking all over to determine this, to no avail!

My big issue at this point is that I've got to get it shipped here. The person I'm buying this system from is going to help me with trying to get by customs, but any advice that I could get from any of my Canadian brethren about eliminating customs hassles (ie: duty and brokerage fees) would be GREATLY appreciated.

Thanks for the feedback-

 

[warlock110]

wow, this is used? or is it new? and the ram, how high can it hit? i don't know about the price since i have to add the item up, but shipping that box is gonna cost you an arm and a leg, i hope there's some shop in canada that you can buy off instead of shipping all the way from the US. well let see if the price is right

AMD Athlon 64 3200+, 512KB L2 Cache, Socket 939 64-bit Processor 210 i believe

MSI "K8N Neo2 Platinum" NVIDIA nForce3 ULTRA Chipset Motherboard this one is 110

Geil Ultra Series Dual Channel 184 Pin 1GB(512MBx2) DDR PC-4000 i don't know, but 1GB of the TCCD stuff is around 220

Sapphire ATI RADEON X800 XT Platinum Edition Video Card, 256MB GDDR3, 256-Bit, Dual DVI/VIVO I haven't looked at this one, but it's worth atleast 300

Aspire 500W 12V Black Dual Fan Aluminum Power Supply, Model "ATX-AS500W BK12V"
i'll throw in 50 for this, i saw it when i was looking for PSU

ANTEC ALUMINUM SERIES SUPER LAN BOY MINI TOWER CASE with Clear Side Acrylic Window this one is 40 after rebate, sometimes 50, retail is 100

COOLER MASTER HYPER 48 CPU Cooler for AMD K8 and Intel P4 i don't kow how much this cost, i'm assuming around 50

Arctic Cooling VGA Cooler, Model "ATI silencer 4" no idea on this one too, i'm guessing 30

Samsung 16X DVD±RW, Model TS-H552B/WBCH Black this one i know, it's 50 to 60

Western Digital Special Edition 80GB 7200RPM IDE Hard Drive, Model WD800JB this one is 40 bucks, i have my 60GB for 25 brand new so this is worth 40

all prices are for new retail item in box.

 

[hi_its_ryan]

the MSRP is around $500 for that vid card

 

[warlock110]

there must be a mistake, most likely on my price calculation, the price that i put added up to be around 1100, they can't shipp the box to you for 1200 considering the shipping cost, they won't make much profit at all. This is wierd lol

 

[warlock110]

the MSRP is around $500 for that vid card

standby corrected, ryan is correct, that means that they shipped you the system for less than retail value, if it's new then great, if it's not, then you have to reconsider. The problem is that if anything goes wrong, i don't know if you can contact or complain, after all it's a cross country transaction.

 

[TimoneX]

I'm not crazy about your memory or power supply choices but aside from that it doesn't sound too bad. This is a 90 or 130nm CPU?

 

[roy_jones]

You're hitting the nail on the head with your comments about the shipping. I'm really banking on being able to get it across the border without getting nailed big-time on customs fees. It's a risk, but the seller is going to mark it as a gift, and as a used computer...so I don't know what to think really at this point. I'm nervous about it, lets just put it that way.

It's a new system that's been tested for 48 hours for stability at 260 X 10 for the memory at *I believe* 2.5 7 4 4, so I'm sure it's not TCCD, but am still trying to figure out what chips it uses.

If something's wrong with it, you're right- I'm going to be in trouble, because of the fact the seller is in the US. It was sooo much cheaper than what I could do in Canada, though, that I decided to roll the dice. It's all hinging on customs at this point for me. I'm going to be nervous until it's safely arrived and booted.

I honestly don't know what to say about the price. I negotiated it, suffice to say- so it wasn't what they were asking. It was obviously the price that caused me to bite-

I priced out the parts here in Canada, and it came to $2145 Cdn. before taxes, with the cost of Windows factored in. That $1200 figure is with the system shipped...I figure after the conversion to Cdn. it will come to around 1600. I've still got to get a display and some other stuff too...

 

[roy_jones]

I'm not too crazy about the PSU or Memory choices, either TimoneX. The problem is that the system is coming pre-assembled and ready to go, so there wasn't a lot of choice involved. The PSU supposedly has 32A on the 12V rail...so that's atleast encouraging, but again, I'm not as well versed on some of those details as the majority of the posters here....

 

[warlock110]

i have felt the PSU personally (they have it at my local store, it weights about 1/2 of my 420watt Thermal take PP lighter than my 420watts raidmax, and also lighter than my 350 watts antec), now my TT PP isn't good but it's in the upper middle class of the PSU, i do not like the PSU at all, the rams is ok, i do believe that the RAM is retail for 300 dollar, check on newegg (this is just off my head, i think you should go check for yourself). Again, the price is amazing, but they do say "if it's too good to be true, it probably is". I wish you the best of luck, do tell the guy to take out the Heatsink before he ship, that sink is quiet heavy, it's gonna ripped the socket out. That's all, the price is good and that's all I can say.
just my opinon, don't take it too serious, I personally don't trust any one who OC a system and sale it, as you can see on this board, alot of peple sale and trade stuff, but even if the item is OCed, they do not insure that the item will hit the same speed, plus they would never sale an item in the Ocing state, all the things that are sold are stock, the new owner can do what ever he/she wants to it. Saling window is also iligal unless the retail window disc is provided. I don't like this saler at all.