Need Opinions on this Cimp Please

[Goodie]

Hey guys, Im buying a new computer this Janurary and was wondering if you guys thought this set up I want is good. I mostly want to play games like UT2003 , Morrowind and high end games. I already have a GeForce4ti4200 128 megs ram and I also have soundblaster live 5.1 and speakers. That's why you don't see that stuff on the list . Anyway could you guys please look this over for me, Thx. Btw I have a budget of around $1700 but the price has to include tax and shipping.



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PC CANADA.COM




Ram.............OCZ 512Mb PC3200 DDR Performance Series
Case............Nest Mid Tower ATX Case w/ 7 Bays w/ Window, w/o Power Supply - Led Lights in front from top to bottom of case
MainBoard......ABIT AT7-Max2, Socket A, Via KT400 / VT8235 Chipsets, (ATX
MS Windows XP Pro w/ CD & Manuals (OEM) -Must Purchase mainboard

$752.31
Before Tax
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NCIX.COM

CPU.......... AMD ATHLON XP 2200+ OEM & VOLCANO 9 HSF & ARCTIC SILVER II *1 YEAR WARRANTY
HARD DRIVE................. MAXTOR 20GB DIAMONDMAX 541DX ATA100 5400 512K OEM
FLOPPY DRI........................... 1.44 MB High Density Floppy Drive
DVD DRIVE PIONEER....................... 16X-40X DVD SLOT LOAD OEM ATAPI
NETWORK................................................ USR 10/100 PCI NETWORK CARD W/ WAKE ON LAN RETAIL BOX
$532.56
Before Tax
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Local Comp Store

Refurbished monitor ...........17"
Keyboard.........................Standard
Mouse.....................Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer(optical)

 

[Captain Slug]

Can someone find him a better canadian supplier? I know they're out there.

The few things I recommend changing...

- Switch the Volcano 9 to an Thermalright SK-7 and a fan rated above 35CFM
- OCZ brand RAM has debate-able quality. I recommend switching to Crucial or Samsung.
- You didn't list a power supply. You will need a reliable 400w model. Preferable one with dual fans.
- You'll need 2 or three case fans.
- For that amount of money I recommend getting a Hard Drive rated at 7200RPM and 40GB would be a much more comfortable capacity for gaming.

 

[tbirdkiri]

everything Capt covered is a valid, and useful point.

Also, the Sk7 is truely a much better idea if your going with a 2200, because they run much hotter then most other athlons.

Yea.... where are our local (foreign acctually) canadians?

 

[Goodie]

Ok, thatnks guys, this iswhat i wanted to hear. I want to make a Game system and I know you guys here know your stuff.

Can one of you guys explain AMD to me a bit. This is going to be my first AMD system and I don't quite understand how their setup works yet., never even seen an AMD chip B4. They rate them like slot A and so on, but the one I want dosent say what it is. So how do i know it fits the mainboard I want. The one I want now is an Athalon XP 2400+ 2Ghz 256k 266fsb (OEM). Now How do i know that it will fit into a ABIT AT7 MAX2 SOCKETA KT400 5PCI USB2.0 FIREWIRE SERIAL ATA RAID AUDIO LAN.

 

[TheFrag]

all Athlon XP's are socket A's. Also, those prices are in canadian, right?

 

[Captain Slug]

Can one of you guys explain AMD to me a bit.

It's similar to setting up a Socket 370 system.
The main differences are...

- you need to be slow and cautious about installing the heatsink.
- only put a tiny glob of Arctic Silver on the CPU die. It spreads around easily.
- Don't worry about your CPU temp unless you're idleing above 50C. Good stable temps for a high rated AMD chip are anything below 45C (They can get hotter safely, but stability is questionable if they get past 55C.)

 

[Goodie]

@ The frag, Yes those are Candadian prices

@ Captain Slug, thanks for the info. I didnt know the heat range for AMD. My current Intel runs at 29C overclocked so I would have been going nuts when I seen the AMD Temp had you not told me that

 

[Goodie]

Alright, I changed some of the stuff Captain Slug. How does this look now? I think I like this system now. Gonna look real slick with all the lights too.

PC CANADA.COM





Case..........………Nest Mid Tower ATX Case w/ 7 Bays w/ Window, w/o Power Supply -.
MainBoard...…….ABIT AT7-Max2, Socket A, Via KT400 / VT8235 Chipsets, (ATX
PowerSupply……Enermax 465W ATX Power Supply
CaseFan………….80mm Secondary Case Fan w/ Blue & Red LED ( Need 2 of these)
$626.70
After Tax
(no shipping)

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NCIX.COM

CPU........……………. AMD ATHLON XP 2400+ 2.0 GHZ 256k 266fsb OEM
Cooling……………….THERMALTAKE A1455 VOLCANO 9 COOLMOD SOCKET A 1300-4800RPM
Ram…………………..SAMSUNG 256MB PC2700 DDR333 184PIN OEM
HardDrive……………MAXTOR 20GB DIAMONDMAX 541DX ATA100 5400 512K OEM
Floppy Drive…………1.44 MB High Density Floppy Drive
DVD…………………..SONY 16X DVD / 52X CD-ROM DDU1621 INT IDE W/O SW OEM
Network………………USR 10/100 PCI NETWORK CARD W/ WAKE ON LAN RETAIL BOX

$701.96
Before Tax
(No Shipping)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Local Comp Store

Refurbished monitor ...........17"
Keyboard.........................Standard
Mouse.....................Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer(optical)

 

[funnyperson1]

i would definately get a 7200 rpm hardrive....its worth the extra dough.....hdds are the slowest part of your system after all...also i have a 17" monitor that i got for 40$, and i would say unless the one youre looking at is a flat Viewsonic, trinitron or samsung i would get a 19"

 

[BaldHeadedDork]

A couple of notes:

*Anyone in the market for an AMD system now should strongly consider an nForce2 board. The Asus A7N8X is out and looks as good as everyone hoped, and its $20 less than the AT-7MAX in the US.

*Buy a shim. This is a $10 thin plate that fills the gap between the outside edge of the processor and the heatsink. It doesn't help cooling, but it will prevent a slip while installing the HSF that could easily break your processor.

*I like Sparkle PSU's better than Enermax or Vantec. They are less expensive and most often perform better.

*You won't need to buy a network card. Both the Abit AT-7MAX and Asus A7N8X have onboard 10/100LAN.

*I would strongly consider going down in processor speed, or choosing another case, to get a larger and faster hard drive. You can fill a twenty gig hard drive with WinXP and a half-dozen games. Forty gig should be your minimum, and a 7,200RPM drive will give a performance boost you can see.

*Speaking of seeing, I'll second Funnyperson1's recommendation for a 19" monitor. Some good ones at around $200US include the Optiquest Q95 and Samsung 900NF.


Good luck!

BHD

 

[subconcept]

pc canada rules! i love that store

 

[TerroH8er]

yeah get a new hard drive, it would kill your performance

 

[Captain Slug]

A couple of notes:

Good luck!

BHD

What he said.

 

[Goodie]

Thanks for the comments guys. I guess I should have mentioned that the reason Im getting the slower HD is because I already have a 40 gig 7200 rpm in this machine in useing right now.
I'll have to remove that NIC from the list, I didnt know mainboards came with internal NIC's, cool now I save a bit more money.

*Buy a shim. This is a $10 thin plate that fills the gap between the outside edge of the processor and the heatsink. It doesn't help cooling, but it will prevent a slip while installing the HSF that could easily break your processor.

I have no idea what your talking about, but im gonna go search for this handy tool, might just save some greef foe me


as for the monitor i'm looking at. Well my local comp store sells refurbished monitors and they sell for about $150 CDN for 17" and about $230 for 19" and around $350 for 22" . Im looking at the 17"

 

[Captain Slug]

I have no idea what your talking about, but im gonna go search for this handy tool, might just save some greef foe me

You can lever the heatsink into place without worrying about chipping the core because it replaces the padded feet with a solid surface.

 

[Goodie]

Ok, i understand now, thanks for the pic Im gonna have to get one of those things.
Oh and I found a better fan for the Amd cpu. It has a 72 Cfm rateing at 4000prm. should cool it enough