Churnd

I put this list together a few weeks ago when I was thinking about building a new desktop computer. I'm still thinking about it, but I'd like a few opinions on what to do/not to do based on my list. Also, anything else I might need that I'm forgetting. I'm not completely decided on the case yet. Any comments appreciated.

Brand new kick @$$ PC

I already have a monitor, keyboard, & stuff like that. I'm mainly concerned with getting the tower itself right. I'm also trying to go go with a reasonable amount of bells and whistles here. Nothing ground shattering, just stable and long lasting.

Edit: Fixed the link.

ldivinag

you should think about the athlon64 setup now that microsoft is beta'ing their windows XP/64....

jimrockford

I wouldn't go with that anytime soon. The cost/benefit ratio just isn't there yet. Besides, you won't find any consumer level applications that take advantage of the 64 bit architecture and it'll be quite some time before you do.

Also, your wishlist came up empty when I tried to view it. Is it still there or is it just me?

Churnd

Try it now.

One thing I just noticed. If the mobo is Micro-ATX, does the Case have to be Micro-ATX also, or will it work with just plain ATX?

Roadrunner

Newegg.com has some great prices. I just picked up a digital camera from them.

Churnd

The way I figure, by the time 64 bit processing actually becomes almost mandatory, it'll be time for a new computer.

jimrockford

I haven't had much experience with Micro ATX motherboards, but I don't believe they will fit in a standard ATX case. Unless you are looking to build a small form factor PC (home theater PC, portable LAN gaming PC, etc) then I'd stick with ATX. I really like ASUS motherboards. You might want to check out one of those in your price range.

Also, I noticed you specified PC2700 RAM. The motherboard and processor you selected run at an 800Mhz Front Side Bus (FSB) speed. You'll want to go with PC3200 RAM to maximize performance. PC3200 runs at 400Mhz which scales at 2x to match the FSB. It's a better match for just a few dollars more. Corsair is an excellent choice though.

Everything else looks good. What do you plan to use the system for most?

Corey

iTrader: (1)

Chris, most excellent choice on the mobo (P4P800), that is what I have.
Very easy to overclock if you ever desire to do so.
You may have seen some of my past posts with my temp monitor running showing no increase hardly in CPU or mobo temps overclocking my 2.4C (c means it's the 800 front bus chip) to 20% (2.88 GHz which I run all the time now) or 30% at 3.12 GHz.
PC Gamer magazine also highly recommeneds that board for mid range systems, and the 2.4C and up chip for gaming.

And as Jim mentioned, you need the 3200 RAM, and in pairs.
If you don't pair them either in twos or fours, you will not run at 800 FSB, you will only run at half of that.

I have the same hard drive, only sized at 80 GB.
Very quiet hard drive the Barracuda series is, and is considered top line.

Nice case man, I wish I had ponied up the $$$ in the beginning and got a windowed case, but it's been fun moddin' my case with a window and green LED fans and cold cathode light tubes.

You will want to order two more fans, for the front intake, and the rear exhaust, I don't see them listed.
Might as well get two blue LED fans since your window and top have blue LEDs in them.
As a matter of fact, I see the rear has two fan spots, you could put two fans in the back for more exhaust.

I see you are getting a wireless network adaptor.
The Asus P4P800 has a built in LAN on the mobo called the Gigabit 1000 or something like that.

If you want a better sound card, get the Audigy ZS, Drew on the forum here recently got that card, and it's Creative's best one out now.
The Platinum one adds a module that goes up in your front open 5.25" drive bay, but not really worth the extra $$$ IMO.

The vid card you selected is the same one I have, the bottom of the line FX model.
It's good, games look so great, but I will be replacing mine later for a FX5900 XT (just came out) down the road.
Prices on vid cards are going to really drop over the next few months, as NVIDIA and ATI are getting ready to release the next gen of cards, which usually happens every six months.

Other than the RAM you had selected, that machine will do some good butt kicking in games.

ldivinag

who said about cost/ratio?

when doom or that next kick ass FPS ships with support for 64 bits... i wont be thinking cost/ratio...

actual, my apps tend to be video editing and graphics app side and i'm heaing some stories that they are getting ready to beta their 64 bit versions too so i'm stoked...

Krash

I think your thinking of thos ITX boards. Those are the ones for the really small form factors. I'm pretty sure that a microATX will fit in an ATX case, sure enough that I would buy it. I've came across many ATX cases that have the mounts for AT boards in them just gotta switch the back panel to match. You should be alright with the case.

SLC Punk

Exactly what I was going to say. Definately get the PC3200 RAM and run dual channel!!

I bought 512 MB of PC3200 RAM for $75. I am going to get another stick this summer so I can run 1024 MB of dual channel ram!

Churnd

I found this off a site while googling:

So I guess I'm good to go with the case. I'll make the necessary adjustments with the RAM. Thanks for the heads up. Didn't know that about the PC3200 and the FSB.

Jim, I'm going to be mainly using the computer for gaming and surfing the web, along with a few graphic intensive apps.

Corey, I think the case comes with the fan on the side and top. I don't see where one would be added for the intake. I might consider getting one or two on the back for more cooling though. What kind do I need?

About your video card, didn't you say you had problems with the cooling fan going out earlier? I wonder if the other card you mentioned had these problems. I might consider upgrading the sound card if it falls under my budget. I'll tinker with the list tonite and see what I can do. I'm getting the wireless card because I have a wireless router and I'd like the option of being able to put the PC wherever I want.

Thanks for the suggestions/warnings guys! It's appreciated!

sabre

You dont need to run the RAM in pairs to get the max FSB. 800 fsb comes from running hyper threading at 200mhz. PC3200 runs @ 200 so you do want to get that or higher. Micro ATX will fit in atx cases. They have mounting holes for both. If you are getting an atx case why wouldnt you get an atx board? More room for expansion that way.

Corey

iTrader: (1)

Chris, I saw that the case has a fan on the window and the top, but you NEED also a fan for the very front of the rig and at the back.
If you look at the pics of your case on the site, you will see two open spots at the rear for the exhaust fans.
And there is an opening up front too for a fan.
These are a MUST to keep the P4 chip cool.

You can see my intake and exhaust fans here.
http://pnw4runners.com/tando/pc4.jpg
The one up front is inside the plastic shroud at the bottom.
http://pnw4runners.com/tando/pc5.jpg

Look on my PC page for more info on the vid card fan.
http://pnw4runners.com/tando/pc.htm

Yes, the Asus fan will go out on you, and instead of getting a new card under warranty, I installed one of the best vid card fans on the market to the GPU on the card.

Churnd

I found the same model board as the previous listed in ATX form, and it includes a few more upgrades for 10 bucks more. Definitely worth it. I added it to the list. Thanks!

Ok, I'll do that. Is there a specific kind of fan I need to get for either?

I'm also thinking about going with an ATI card instead of NVIDIA. I don't want anything crapping out on me right after I buy it. Is the fan failure for just that one model, or all Asus fans?

sabre

I would say just for that model.

ATI does make good cards tho. I have a 9600pro and it does everything I need it to and is directx9 capable.

Corey

iTrader: (1)

You want 80 mm fans.
If you want LED ones, look on my website in the PC section for the custom PC shop links.
I happen to like the shop called The Cooler Guy's.

Any of those places carry fans.
You also want ball bearing ones, they are quieter.

The front & rear fans will hook to the power supply om the mobo, that way your BIOS can be set with the P4P800 to control the fan speed.

It was only my vid card that had the bad fan I believe.
If you get a 9600 ATI, try and get the XT model.
More oooomph to it.

4BangR

Hey I'm basically in the same boat as you are Churned, looking at custom pc's online at Newegg and abspc.com as well. I came upon an ad for Dell 8300 series (I think). The deal ends today, Wednesday, the 11th of February. You get $150 off, a free dvd burner, and a free double memory upgrade.

I'm gonna order one tonight. It will be running a 3GHz P4 with 800MHz FSB and HT tech, 1024MB ram, 80Gig HD, Radeon 9800 PRO viid card, Soundblaster live card, 5.1 Dell speakers, 17" monitor. I'm getting a router and a desktop network adapter as well from Dell. It will be around $1600 with tax ($100) and shipping ($49).

Thats a lot more money than what you were saying, but thats with a monitor and other stuff you might not need. They start out at $999 with a monitor, so you could probly get what you need for 1150 or so with tax and shipping.

Just a heads up.

SLC Punk

Here is what I recommend (and what I did):

Buy a poweredge server. Right now you can get a 2.4 Ghz 800 FSB for $399 After MIR. It only comes with 128 PC3200 ram, cd-rom, and 40gig HD.

But you can easily turn it into a great desktop (if you have all the software). I bought mine for $278 shipped, then spent $70 for 512 mb RAM. I added my 60 gig hd, dvd rom, and cd writer. Then I called Dell and told them that I didn't need the RAM, so I got an RA and sent it back. They credited my credit card $75. (there are other people that also returned their HD and got an additional $60 back, but I kept mine). Add a video card and voila, you are done.

Mine came out really cheap because I had the parts from my old computer, but you can probably buy a new optical drive, hard drive, ram and video card for cheaper that that 8300 would be.

Here is my total cost into my computer:

$278 Computer
$70 RAM
-$75 (I bought mine when they were doing the promo, they gave free palm zire 21's. I sold it on ebay.
-$75 Dell RAM return
Then I am going to buy a video card and I will be set. Total was only $198 + the cost of a video card.

My computer specs:
P4 H/T (2.4C) 800 FSB
100 Total GB Hard drive (1-60 gig, 1-40gig)
512 MB PC3200 RAM
48X CD ROM
DVD ROM
CD-RW

Buying a ATI 9200 128MB video card in a week.

If you want more info on how to turn a server into a desktop go here. There is a sticky for FAQ on the 400SC's.

Here is the current deal for the sc400's on slickdeals.net

Churnd

Added some fans to the list (3 total, 2 rear, 1 front).

I also changed my motherboard to an ATX form board, which was about $80 more, but included 2 more expansion bays and a gigabit NIC card. I think it'll be better in the long run.

I also changed my sound card to the Audigy2 ZS... I don't think it was but $10 more.

I also decided to stick with the GeForce card, and just wait and see if the fan goes out. Corey, how did you know yours went out... besides the obvious "It stopped spinning". I know you couldn't hear it go out with the other fans running at the same time.

Is there anything else I'll need? Accessories? Special tools/equipment?

Oh yeah, thanks for the suggestions on buying a cheap one. My main purpose of this whole project was to learn how to build one.