Ok, computer builders. Help me out here.

Danbo

Danbo

Joined
Nov 28, 1999
Messages
14,985
I have decided to accumulate quality components, and either build it myself or have somebody build a new computer. I'm looking to replace my AMD Athlon 1800 XP. This Athlon runs ok, so the upgrade needs to be substantially faster to be worthwile.

This weekend, I bought a full tower case. Enermax with 350 watt power supply and 3 case fans, front USB and Firewire connections. Then, I had to make a decision whether or not to go with AMD or a Pentium 4. Eventually, I chose and bought a processor. I got a Pentium 4 at 2.8 ghz with 800 mhz FSB. Should be plenty of power.

I also picked up a hard drive, although I am wondering if I should take it back and get a different brand. I always thought that a Seagate Barracuda was one of the best. I got one with 120 gb capacity, 7200 rpm and an 8 mb buffer. After I got home, I started reading some reviews on the internet, and evidently Seagate has slipped a good bit in their quality. Should I take this drive back and get a Western Digital or Maxtor?

I need advice on the best motherboard for the Pentium 4. I had several motherboards in my hand yesterday, but wanted to do some more research first. Asus or Gigabyte? I have pretty much narrowed it down to those two, and I want the latest 975P chipset. I plan on using dual channel DDR 3200 memory; at least 512 mb. Maybe a gigabyte. ;)

Need suggestions for a good video card. I realize a person can spend a buttload on a high dollar video card, but I can't do that. I need something good, since I will be doing a lot of gaming, but cannot spend more than $200 max on a video card. 128 mb should be overkill.
 
I also need suggestions for DVD ROM or CD/write rewrite drives, etc...
 
Asus tends to support some excellent fine tuning and overclocking options. My preference is for Asus.Gigabyte makes good boards too, and there could be times when I'd take a Gig over an ASUS, but as a generalization, Asus is better IMHO.

I think your power supply could be weak. Enermax isn't a bad brand, but 350 watts isn't much and Enermax tolerates some wide variances in actual output. I've had systems get finicky with Enermax 350s. If you want the best, PC Power and Cooling builds the best by far. My second choice would be an Antec, which is what I actually have.

I also think WD is better than Seagate, but not enough to make you take it back.

Plan your airflow carefully and buy the quietest fans you can. You'll be using a bunch of them to make this run right.

Phil
 
I'd have to agree with phatch on all of his points. I recently built an AMD 2400+ on a Gigabyte board, possibly in the same Enermax tower that you have. For this machine an Asus board would have been a better choice, but I opted for the Gigabyte 'cause I tend to be CHEAP. I replaced the 350W supply with a quiet Antec TruePower 430W. Go with quality quiet fans. At one point I picked up a big 120mm fan at CompUSA to use as the front intake, but it sounded like a cotton pickin' vacuum cleaner so I took it back. I wound up using the PC Power and Cooling QuietCool fans from the old AT tower that I was retiring for both the front intake and the side panel intake, and one of Antec's variable speed quiet fans for the rear exhaust. A Thermaltake Silent Boost CPU fan/heatsink rounds out the cooling package.

I'm rather hard of hearing, yet the sound of a noisy hard drive or cooling fan has always annoyed the dickens out of me. Part of the reason I went "cheap" on the CPU and mainboard is that I knew I'd be dropping several bucks into my power and cooling options. When the price of the AMD 3200+ finally drops below $250 or so perhaps I'll spring for that and an Asus A7N8X. On the other hand, this 2400+ RIPS compared to my old K6/2-500. I like it!

Shalom,
Mark
 
i got the abit is7 for my p4 2.8c and its been fantastic. abit still put gig ethernet on the is7s even though they are marked as not. i would suggest the ic7 or ic7-g as they are a bit newer and faster.
 
You got some nice parts, I'd keep them. You could probably use a better power supply thoug. Antec true power are the best PS's IMO, get a 430 and you'll be set.

I have used an asus for my old amd and now p4, it's one of my favorites. It does overclock easy as hell too. Gigabyte makes an awesome mb as well.
Base your MB decision on your ram, video card, and processor (make sure it's all supported).

For ram, I'd get some OCZ corsair, or geil, get the good stuff.

For a video card go with the Radeon 9600 or 9600 pro if you plan on gaming. A 9800 can be had at around $250 or less I think. Radeon has the best tv-out options and an easy to use control panel. I can't stand nvidia tv-out. With the components you listed and a radeon 9600 pro, you'll have a kick ass machine.

It would be nice if you had a few slots for case fans, maybe 1-2 in the front and 2 in the back, 1 in the top is always nice. I'd get an upgraded cpu fan and heatsink also. If you want to overclock your graphics card, it's very easy, but you'll need to upgrade the cooling fan and ram sinks (cheap and easy). Then you'll be able to buy a cheaper card and have it run at the same speed as the more expensive models. You can also get your cpu running at 3 ghz 860 fsb with good air cooling.

I don't know much about computers, but I've built a few for myself and overclocked quite a bit, email me If I can help you at all.

Ryan
 
i'm only going to buy mushkin memory following this computer...my brand new sticks of corsair twinx-512 3200llpt gave over 17,000 errors through two iterations of memtest86...no thanks.
 
I did some checking, and I can get a new Antec TruePower 430w power supply for under $90. A 480w version is only $10 more. ??? Worth it?

Now, about hard drives. Which is better, Serial ATA or ultra ATA 100?

I have almost decided to go with the Asus P4C800-E motherboard. I can find nothing negative written about it. Price is $180 shipped.
 
While I've been an Asus fan for years, I recently did an upgrade to my system and used an Abit IS7. It's got a P4c 2.4ghz overclocked to 3.12ghz (260FSB setting w 5/4 divider for effective FSB of 832mhz)and has been running stabily for several months. I probably would have bought an IC7, but they weren't shipping yet when I bought my IS7. I tried Mushkin PC3500 but couldn't get it running stabily and eventually switched to Kingston HyperX 2x256mb sticks of PC3500 running in dual channel mode. I used Mushkin PC2700 on my last computer (now wife's)with a P4 1.7ghz in a Soyo Dragon Ultra and it was always very stable. Having used mobos from most of the major vendors (Gigabit and MSI excepted, no experience) it's hard to buy a bad mobo these days, but I have had greater overclocking results with the Abit.

I'll also recommend Antec power supplies, they've always done me well, although if I was starting over today, I'd look into a Koolance case with built in liquid cooling. The whole case/cooling system runs around $200.00 and is well worth it if you get tired of listening to a system with four or five fans (I am).

For CDRW Plextor and TDK have always been top shelf, but recently a company called Lite-On has been getting great reviews. I recently bought a Lite-On 52/32/52 CDRW and it's fantastic. Not a single coaster yet! Better yet, it was $20.00 after rebate from Best Buy. Beats hell out of my old $269.00 Plextor 12/10/32a although Plextors are less expensive today.

For hard drives, I'm a big fan of Maxtor and recently upgraded my old 40gb 7200 rpm ATA133 drive with a pair of 80gb 7200rpm SATA150 Serial ATA drives striped in RAID 0. Wow! The striped Raid array really improves the performance of the whole system.

Regarding video cards, I'm a gamer at heart and usually spend too much on my video card. I just couldn't swallow buying another $400.00 video card just for bragging rights but wanted an upgrade as my 11 month old GeForce4 Ti4400 128mb card is not DirectX9 compliant. ATI has made great strides in recent years and the 9800 is certainly a stormer with the 9600 offering a lot of value, however, when push comes to shove, the GeForce FX5900 edges it out by the slightest of margins. Add in ATI's history of flaky driver development (although I hear they're getting better) I went Nvidia again. You can score a 128mb GeForce FX5900 for your stated $200.00 budget. I really wanted an FX5900 Ultra 256, but couldn't justify the extra cost just for an extra 128mb of memory.

My system totally rocks and will play any game currently available or likely to be released in the next year with all the eye candy turned on and respectable frame rates.

These are only my opinions, but I am a pretty high level geek.

jmx
 
Asus A7N8X Deluxe. That's the motherboard I have, and it really kicks butt. I like the Dolby 5.1 sound that comes on it, and it supports and upgrade to I think a 512 MHz frontside bus. Right now I'm running alot slower than that, but if I ever want to upgrade, then I already have the motherboard for it.
 
Hey, thanks for the help guys. Let's keep this thread going, as I am trying to soak up as much info as possible.

I took the Seagate 120gb hard drive back last night. I kept reading nonflattering reports of Seagate's quality control slipping. I exchanged it for a Maxtor 80gb hard drive, with 8 mb buffer and 7200 rpm. 80 gb will be more than plenty. Saved myself about $40 too.

Now, how about memory? I know that I have to use DDR 3200 memory, but can I use DDR 3500 or faster without problems? I do plan on using the dual channel. I do not plan on overclocking this system, as I am not that techie minded.
 
if you aren't going to overclock...get the fastest memory you can find. i know mushkin's level 2 stuff is really fast but its rather expensive.

Most 3200 and 3500 sticks are faster than anything higher....i'd run something like 3200 with low latency or find a good 3500.
 
Maxtor was running a 120gb for 49 but that may have just been an after thanksgiving sale. I bought a maxtor 160gb last year for $55 and havent had any problems.
 
Ok, thanks to you guys, I am now back up to a 120 gb Western Digital 7200 rpm/8mb buffer hard drive. And, I should get it for $67.89(after rebates). But, I do have to make another trip up to Best Buy to return the Maxtor.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top