New System Review

[rickd59]

OK, I am doing another system for:
A high school kid going into college. The computer will be used for typical college stuff....music, some gaming, and possible a little school work (majoring in Forestry, not CS, Graphics, or Video). For space constraints, he wants the LCD (despite the cost). Anyway, please look it over and let me know if there are any known configuration issues or better parts available. The system (from Newegg) is as follows:

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Case - ANTEC SOLUTION SERIES MODEL SLK3700AMB w/ANTEC SMART POWER 350W P4/AMD POWER SUPPLY ATX12V - RETAIL - $68.00

CD/DVD Burners (RW Drives)
Lite On 52x24x52 CDRW Model LTR-52246S Retail - $43.99


CD/DVD ROM Drives
Aopen (BLACK) 16X DVD-ROM Drive MODEL DVD-1648/BKH - RETAIL - $29.99

Floppy Drives
SAMSUNG 1.44MB BLACK FLOPPY DRIVE Model# SFD321B/LBL - OEM - $7.00

Hard Drives
Seagate Barracuda 80GB 7200RPM ST380011A Hard Drive OEM - $74.00

Keyboards
Microsoft Multimedia Keyboard & Wheel Mouse Optical Value Pack - OEM - $29.00

Memory (System Memory)
CORSAIR MEMORY XMS Extreme Memory Speed Series 512MB 32MX8 PC-2700C2PT With Platinum - Silver Heat Spreader OEM - $103.00

Monitors - LCD Flat Panel
NEC/Mitsubishi 17" LCD Model 1760NX BK Black- Retail - $457.00

Motherboards - Intel
Asus Motherboard for Intel Processors Model P4S800 Retail - $83.99

Network - Wireless AP
D-Link DI-614+ AirPlus Enhanced 2.4GHz Wireless Router with Built in 4-Port Switch - RETAIL - $66.00 (-$10 Rebate)

Network - Wireless Card
D-Link DWL-650+ AirPlus Enhanced 2.4GHz Wireless Cardbus Adapter - RETAIL - $47.00 (-$10 Rebate)

Processors
Intel Pentium 4 / 2.4CGHz 512k socket 478 Hyper Threading Technology 800 MHz FSB - RETAIL - $172.00

Software - Operating Systems
Microsoft Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 1 - OEM Full Version - $143.00

Speakers
Logitech Z-340 3 Piece Speaker System - $45.00

Video Cards
MSI Ti4200-VTD8X (MS-8894-060) GeForce 4 Titanium 4200 DDR/SDRAM 128MB 8X AGP Video-in TV-out Dual VGA CARD - RETAIL - $122.00


Subtotal » $1,490.97
Shipping and Handling Charge » $ 58.00
Grand Total » $ 1,548.97
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As always, thanks ahead of time.

-Rick

 

[JeanLuc]

Good god I read though and that a near mirror image of a system I've just built for myself.
Good choice with the 2.4C processor, best value chip on the market in terms of preformance-price ratio.

PLeanty of power with 350Watt PSU. Antec never makes a bad case. I've got the Antec Plusview 1000 AGM with side window. Great chioce.

I nearly got that mainboard, but i opted for the MSI Neo2 insted. Question; Does the Ausus come with IDE riad or just SATA raid?

Seagate Barracuda, good choice. You will think that there not working as there so quite!!

The graphics card lets the side down a bit. Still good for todays games and for the next 6 months, but a GeForce 5600 Ultra may have been a better choice.

 

[rickd59]

I don't think the P4S800 supports RAID, but I also evaluated the Neo2 and the IS7, but still opted for the ASUS (all appear to be really good boards), but I couldn't depart from ASUS since all things seemed pretty even, and ASUS was actually the cheapest of the bunch. As for the 5600 Ultra, it was too much cash. I think the Ti4200 is overkill for his intended uses, but I think like you; get the best bang for the buck. Thanks for the input.

-Rick

 

[pIII_Man]

pc2700? Although it is good quality mem...he would get beter performance with pc3200 value select...

3 386DX-25's...12 volts...glue some ln2 and a wicked amount of overclocking and you get a willamantee minus 36 pins, 33.75 million transistors and a couple hundred mhz...

 

[rickd59]

THanks P3. I also evaluated the DDR400 and it was $128 for a the low latency Corsair RAM. This stuff has skyrocketed over the last week. I don't think it will translate too much of a performance increase, so I was willing to drop it down to the DDR333. That's not an unreasonable assumption, is it?

-Rick

 

[Cloaked]

get lower quality 400mhz ram instead of the pc2700 corsair stuff. Cheaper (cas 2.5 or 3) ram will prbably run faster on the 200mhz bus because the bus timings and the memory speeds are syncronized (sp?). Also i am assuming that you are buying 2 256 MB sticks, not just one 512 one. I would also not worry about raid, it does not seem he will need it at all. You could probably get a lower spec comp if you wanted to save money, unless he does more gaming, video apps than you seem to be saying.

 

[amaru]

why go so extravagent for a "simple" user...IMO..when getting a computer..only get what you need...in this case an athlonXP or a celeron. 128meg video card for someone who may play some games? Get a 64. I used to build computers..but now the big companies are building some good systems at good prices...Dell/IBM have some nice package deals for the less demanding users...and way cheaper than 1500 bucks..

 

[rickd59]

Amaru,

I always look at Gateway and Dell, but it's not true that they have decent systems at better prices. EVERYTHING is integrated for their cheaper systems. Their $999 systems have nothing, and as soon as you upgrade to reasonable levels, the prices sky rocket. PLUS, it is very difficult to surmise who actually makes their parts. It is almost impossible to compare "apples to apples" with these companies. A DELL system is (typically, something like) '256 MB of PC2700 with MX440 a 40 GB 7200 spin HDD, God only knows what motherboard, and some generic 17" LCD, with a dirt cheap, proprietary 230 crapy case and PSU'. I can't tell if that RAM is Geil, Corsair, Kingston, OCZ.....the HDD is a Maxtor, Seagate, WD drive, the mobo is ECS, DFI, ASUS, ACME or who knows which, and its almost always a crappy video card with many integrated components. You know what I am saying. I did evaluate those systems, and since I couldn't tell what I was getting, and the fact that I could easily match the price with quality components, for me, it was an easy decision. I do agree that this system is overkill, HOWEVER, if he is anything like many of us, you really "bloom" in college, and he may take a serious interest in computing. Therefore, I would rather err on the side of a better system than a cheaper one, saving only 10-15%. This system is costly because of the monitor and the fact that it is coupled with a WAP and Wireless card (those three items cost $570, leaving the rest of the system weighing in at $978 delivered for a 2.4 GHz 800 MHz HT system, with an 80 GB HDD, 512 MB RAM, a 128 MB Ti4200 with DVI, an ASUS mobo, very good case, DVD-Rom, 52X CD-RW, Win XP Pro, decent speakers, a decent KB and an optical mouse. I seriously doubt many resellers could match these prices. Plus, the clincher has to be that of all of my friends and family that I try to help....they invariably buy a DELL because, for some completely unkown reason, they trust these complete strangers. Of the 20 or so people that I know that have bought a Dell or Gateway system, I would seriously bet that 18 or 19 of them have had to take a half day from work, and meet a PC Tech to have them service their systems. I am VERY surprised at the outrageously high rate of failure. Of the 15 or so systems that I have built for people, I have had two occurences of parts that failed out of the box (which were replaced with no discomfort), and recently had to service my first computer for my mother in law (her integrated LAN card got fried, but we did have lightniing here last week). Maybe I have been tremendously lucky, but these systems have been lasting for three, four, and five years with no problems. Skimping on parts really does seem to cost more in the long run, so I try to avoid it (this is from my own personal experience, and I admit, I don;t build lots of systems). However, thanks for the input, I really do appreciate it. Please let me know if you think that any of my thoughts are off base.

-Rick

 

[Flinx]

You might try for the AMD solution. Saving the money on the processor you could put it elsewhere like better speakers/screen. He is likely to enjoy music more.

I'm not familiar with the CDRW/DVD but do you really need the extra CD-R?

The loving are the daring!

 

[rickd59]

Hey cloaked,

I was actually going to buy a single 512 MB stick, and I thought that the decreased speed and latency of PC2700 with CL2 would probably offset the increased spead and latency of CL2.5 (or CL3) and PC3200, especially for a substantial price differential. No facts or figures, just assumptions, and I could be really wrong. Please toss me some facts and figures if you have them. Where can I benefit from increased speed and where will an decreased latency help out (which apps)? He totally does not need RAID, so I didn't even look at it. Once again, I totally believe this systme is a bit more than he needs, but cheaper parts will probably catch up with him far sooner than later. Thanks again.

-Rick

 

[Flinx]

Any help?
<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/memory/showdoc.html?i=1839" target="_new">http://www.anandtech.com/memory/showdoc.html?i=1839</A>

The loving are the daring!

 

[rickd59]

Flinx, thanks for the link, I will check it out a little later.....I steered away from the DVD/CDRW combo because it really didn't save much money.....these two drive cost slightly more than $70, and allow you to copy CD to CD which I thought would be invaluable for sampling friends CD's that he didn't currently own.

-Rick