Advice for building new system

[redwingslv]

Hi everyone! I'm new to the forums and would like to throw out a few questions. I am interested in building a new system but would like some recommendations/comments/suggestions on brands to use, things to think about, etc. I use my computer for a lot of gaming (graphic intense) photo editing, home movie editing and multi-tasking. My current system is slow and very unstable. It crashes and locks up frequently.

This is what I have now:

CPU: AMD Athlon T-Bird 1.333 Ghz
Mainboard: Epox 8KTA3
Ram: 512MB Crucial (2x256)
HDD: Maxtor 60GB 7200 RPM
PSU: 400W
VGA: MSI GeForce 4Ti4200 128MB
Sound Card: Creative Soundblaster Live 5.1!
OS: Windows XP Professional
Drives: Basic floppy drive, Samsung 52X CD Rom, HP Cd-Writer (old model)

Problems: Current system is slow when booting and multi-tasking. Unstable, frequent crashes, lockups doing different tasks. Sound is choppy (adding sound card vs motherboard on-board sound seemed to make little difference to quality although enjoy EA sound)

This is what I think I want/need:

CPU: Intel P4 3.2Ghz 800 FSB
Mainboard: Not sure, heard good things about ASUS?
Ram: 1GB PC3200 DDR400 (2x512MB) of something, not sure brand or speed?
HDD: 200GB SATA (Not Maxtor – too many issues in the past, WD maybe??)
WD Raptor or Seagate Barracuda 7200.7%
VGA: (keeping current card)
Sound Card: (keeping current card)
OS: (same)
Drives: (keep Samsung CD-Rom, need new floppy drive)
DVD: Need DVD/CDRW burner

Like most people, I want it all but am restricted to a budget of probably around $1500 including case and all accessories. I have a 19" monitor and printers I am keeping.

Any advice on brands of different components (I'm tired of AMD processors and Maxtor HDD - seemed to have had problems over the last few years with them) Who is making the best motherboards, HDD, RAM, etc) What about chipsets for P4 processors?

Overall, I'm looking for reasonably priced items/brands, with good reputation and a stable, quick system. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Mike

 

[Scout]

Don't blame ya for going with the P4... Nothing worse than a flaky system! You may have a cooling problem causing your instability or some driver issues. I use a lot of Athlon systems, so I like them for the price/performance.

Anyway, you'll want an Intel 865PE board; Asus and Abit are the leaders, but Gigabyte and some others make some really good boards as well. Price range is from about $90 to $125. Would recommend you read some of the 865 reviews before you choose. Newegg is a great place to buy.

As for the 3.2 processor, I'd look at the 2.8 for the price and overclock it a bit. 2.8 to 3.0 seems to be the sweet spot lately in price of Intel processors.



Scout
700 Mflops in SETI!

 

[redwingslv]

Thanks for the info. I thought cooling might be a problem, I've read a lot about AMD's producing more heat. I added 3 case fans (1 intake, 1 exhaust in back and 1 exhaust in top) and the system seems to be a lot cooler. I also upgraded the power supply after buying the new AGP graphics card because I was worried that I didn't have enough with a 300W and a GeForce card, plus the AMD CPU.

You mentioned over-clocking a 2.8 to 3.0. I haven't got into overclocking even a little because I was worried it would cause instability or cause potential hardware damage - but I know people do it all the time. Are there any other issues I would need to address before attempting to overclock a system (cooling, power supply, etc???)

 

[Scout]

Yes to the above! Overclocking creates greater heat problems and can be dangerous to hardware, but personally I've never broken anything doing it... and I do it to every computer I have!

The P4's are limited to front side bus increases and that's pretty safe for the other hardware in the computer because most of the P4 chipsets offer PCI and AGP locks so you don't push your other peripherals which can be a source of instability. Memory is another thing though, it overclocks with the FSB speed so you have to either have good quality memory or else you can turn down your memory settings some.

With that P4 2.8 you have a 14 multiplier if it's an 800 MHz FSB chip. By pushing the FSB to 215, which is a reasonable overclock, you have a 3 GHz. chip for the price of a 2.8! You sometimes have to up the CPU voltage a tad to get it stable at higher speeds, but that's the whole fun of overclocking... trying to see how much you can get!

If stability is important, don't do it, but you can always play and then put the settings back to normal for everyday work. Lot's of options...

Scout
700 Mflops in SETI!

 

[HardWareBoss]

The Abit IS7. One heck of a board at a great price.