How's this look?

[Ssetre]

Hmm I've heard that their are some very nice prebuilt kits. But I don't keep up much with watercooling. For your first time though I'd go with a prebuilt kit. It should keep the costs in check and give you something reliable. I think Cooler Master builds good stuff.

 

[johan851]

Hmm I've heard that their are some very nice prebuilt kits. But I don't keep up much with watercooling. For your first time though I'd go with a prebuilt kit. It should keep the costs in check and give you something reliable. I think Cooler Master builds good stuff.

Prebuilt kits give you the same performance as high end air, they just cost a lot more. If you want a half decent system you gotta go DIY - otherwise watercooling just isn't worthwhile.

 

[dj_2004]

why do you have 2 cd rw drives? dont you only need a dvd/cd rw? and i agree get a nice psu. antec makes some nice ones and fortron are cheap and great. looks good otherwise

 

[johan851]

It looks like you're well under your target budget of $1,500. Have you already spent some of that on peripherals or something? If not, you might consider getting a Raptor. The increased file system speed makes a pretty big difference in overall performance.

 

[Monotone]

nevermind watercooling, i do plan on overclocking now. im going to just buy a very nice fan and not overdo it. i would prolly want...3.3ghz from my 3.0c. i plan on going back to 3.0e just for the idea of having more possibilites with overclocking. might as well get the better processor, and keep it stock until i can overclock safely.

and dj_2004, is that you jon? caits freind? its kasra (meiskasra) lol u told me to join here

 

[hUMANbEATbOX]

johan, i really don't like confrontations, but you have to admit, i had a valid point, if you read my post with a level head.

i didn't mean to be offensive, sorry if i came of that way.

YES a64's are nice, i would like one myself to play with, but so are p4 setups, and i happen to like intel chipsets.

i think either setup would serve his purposes, but he happens to want a p4 and the setup he pieced out would be really good and very fast with a bit of tweaking.

 

[jbarket]

Looks good so far, but I'd just go with the 3.0C. The 3.0E Prescott runs hotter, and has no real performance gains. If you're buying a Socket 478 motherboard and using air cooling, going with a Northwood (3.0C) seems like the way to go.

Also, I don't want to send your hopes to the skies incase you end up with a dud, but you can expect well over 3.3 from a 3.0C with the stock Intel HSF. It took me a matter of hours tinkering to push my 3.0C past 3.6, rock solid stable, with no TIM and the stock HSF.

One thing I would consider if you're planning on overclocking is faster RAM. Buying PC3200 is the only thing I regret about my most recent build. Good RAM like you're looking at should have no problem being pushed, but buying PC3500 or better can only help.

Also, I'm not so sure about that Aspire PSU. I think most people on here would urge to to consider a Fortron or Antec PSU.

The only other thing to consider you might have overlooked is utilizing the RAID capabilities of your motherboard with a couple of Western Digital Raptors. If it's in the budget, I think most people on here would consider it a worthwhile upgrade. I love mine.

 

[batboy]

Looks good so far, but I'd just go with the 3.0C. The 3.0E Prescott runs hotter, and has no real performance gains. If you're buying a Socket 478 motherboard and using air cooling, going with a Northwood (3.0C) seems like the way to go.

Jbarket, while I agree with almost all of your last post, and I agree that a Northwood might be a better choice for someone that is not experienced in overclocking that is planning on using air cooling, however, I don't agree that the Prescott won't show more performance.

Once overclocked to at least 3.4 or so, the memory bandwidth really takes off on a Prescott. I have lots of benchmark comparisons that I did of Northwood vs. Prescott. Let me just post one "real world" benchy in which the Prescott kicks hinny.

NOTE: Lower numbers (faster times) is better in Super Pi. The Prescott running at 3.4 gig matches a Northwood running at 3.8 gig, now that's a big difference.

 

[meionm]

nice chart batboy had to declock my 3.0c to compare got 36s at 3.67 which would equal to [email protected]

I would pick northwood you can built quiet system and powerfull, while prescott will yeild higher overclocks though it will stress all of the components and create mass of heat which if you can't handle will cause errors

 

[batboy]

Now why would your 3.0C at 3.67 significantly beat my 3.0C at 3.8? That seems odd.

I do know memory makes a difference in Super Pi. I was running 1:1 with relaxed timings.

That graph shows the same system and components with only the CPU changed. If you don't compare same systems to same systems, then you are comparing apples to oranges.