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MY DREAM MACHINE ... HELP NEEDED!!!

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Heya!

I have $3000.00 to spend and I want a bad ass PC... After checking with tons of vendors it seems my ideal system would cost me near $4000.00 if they build it. So I am gonna do it myself and after searching for weeks online I have come up with a system...BUT I NEED YOUR EXPERTISE AND OPINIONS!

LIMITATIONS:
* CPU must stay Intel ... wife works there so I have to be loyal!
* I only have $3000.00 to spend. I can only exceed that by $200 to $500 if need be. Looking for a good cross of price and performance!
* I want to OVERCLOCK ... after spending 2 weeks reading stuff here I simply must!
* I want to keep this PC fairly quiet ... fairly noiseless if possible.
* This PC must run well on my LAN as I have it hooked to a DSL line with 2 other older PC's on it at the moment.
* THIS IS A GAMING RIG...

WHERE I ESPECIALLY NEED YOUR HELP:
* Water cooling... everyone says I should build my own from various parts instead of going with a kit because I will get better price and performance. But what parts in particular do I use? Which pump?
* Optimize/Correct my hardware selection and be very specific about the part so I don't order the wrong ones!
* Recommend ANYTHING you would do differently!

WHAT I HAVE COME UP WITH IN MY N00BISHNESS!!!
* Intel 2533MHz Pentium 4 Processor
* SUS P4B533 i845E Socket 478 DDR Motherboard
* PC3200 DDR 512MB 400Mhz 64Mx64 184 Pin CAS 2 Memory w/Heat Spreader Corsair Part# CMX512-3200C2 (GONNA DO 1GIG!, but been still debating on going with RDRAM)
* Western Digital caviar special edition, 80gb eide ultra ata/100, 8mb cache (GONNA DO 2 OF THESE! RAID0)
* Antec TRUE430 TruePower 430watt 12V ATX Power Supply
* Chieftec Black Server tower DX-01BD (LIKED THE LOOK... opinions on others?)
* NVIDIA® Geforce4 Ti 4600 128MB w/ DVI, TV out & dual display (DEBATED on going with the Radeon 9700 ... but seems like this is the best bang for the buck!)
* Toshiba 16X DVD ROM/48X CD-ROM Drive (NO IDEA, anything better?)
* Plextor PlexWriter CD-R/RW 40X-12X-40X Burn-proof (NO IDEA... Anything better?)
* Creative Labs SoundBlaster Audigy 5.1 Platinum Bay w/1394 (Seems pretty uncontested)
* MS Windows XP Professional (Any reason why I should save a few bucks and go with Home edition instead?)
* 1.44MB Floppy Drive (NO IDEA, anyone in particular)
* Monitor = 22" NEC-Mitsubishi MultiSync FE1250+ .24dp 1920x1444 (INPUT welcome here too!)
* Klipsch ProMedia 5.1 500W THX Surround
* Logitech Cordless Freedom Optical w/ Mouse (HEARD there was a new one out with a mouse charger... will go with that if I can find it)
* WATERCOOLING... (TOTALLY STUCK... HELP! )

This will be my first PC to be built from the ground up. I have done some mild changes on my existing PC's and am pretty computer-savy so I know I can do it... though it WILL be a learning experience. Your advice is extremely welcome. I just don't want to order all this and end up putting it together and realizing I forgot something simple or critical. I will actually wait for YOUR INPUT before I take any more steps. I really don't want to mess this up! Please even feel free to email me if you want!

Cuthulas (My old EQ name... )
cuthulas@hotmail.com

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go with RDRAM and the 850 chipset. get ATI 9700 PRO

plextor is good, but the money/performance ratio sucks ass. case and PSU is good. you can go with XP home. you don't need a gig of ram and it won't make a diff once you go past 384 as far as gaming goes. remember you have to ger RDRAM in pairs for best performance. you don't need the Platinum bay.... not for gaming. the audigy is just as good without all the ins and outs.

*the homeless guy on 21st street*

-please help-
will code HTML for food.
-god bless you-

Reply to scamtrOn

Ight, I assume after spending this much money, u want something that'll last (I do the same; last comp cost me 4K+ w/o monitor!). IMHO, wait a little. May I ask what you mean by loyal (I dun mean to start flame war or anything) when talking about Intel. I understand they're a trusted company, but AMD is too. Now, if you were to wait till real early 2003, u could get urself a Hammer, which will last. Furthermore, u can also get a GF5 then, which too will last (and rape a R9700). Otherwise, current systems u get now won't last very long (I have a 1.2Ghz T-Bird, 512DDR, Quadro DCC, RAID 0, and this baby still runs everything blazing fast, and it's 2 years old almost!!!).

What if you had admin rights to life?

Reply to Flamethrower205

Well, I'm way over my depth here, but here's my two cents anyway...

For starters, I'd look for something bit more "future-proof". I'd look for some RDRAM mobo that can support hyperthreading. E.g mobos with 850E should be able to do that with BIOS updates. Also, I'd like to make sure that the mobo is capable of supporting hyperthreading Northwoods up to 3.6GHz without a hitch. Don't know if <A HREF="http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103-954842.html" target="_new">this</A> is an issue anymore, though.

Anyway, this report (<A HREF="http://www.csaresearch.com/reports/hyperthread_rpt.doc" target="_new">http://www.csaresearch.com/reports/hyperthread_rpt.doc</A> ) seems to suggest that RDRAM is your best bet with hyperthreading. So picking a suitable mobo (or waiting for one) would give you a CPU upgrade path all the way to 3.6GHz hyperthreading Northwoods.

Basically, here's what I'd like to see on a P4 mobo:
-RDRAM support, 533MHz FSB
-support for hyperthreading Northwoods up to 3.6GHz
-AGP 8x
-RAID support
-(decent onboard audio)
-(onboard LAN support)

Don't really know which board to recommend, or if such thing even exists yet, but I'd be willing to wait a little for such thing.

I'd tone down the GPU. IMO, Ti4200 offers great bang for the buck and you have decent chances of OC'ing it to Ti4400 or maybe even Ti4600 performance levels. If you notice later on that OC'd Ti4200 doesn't cut it, go for Radeon 9700. In the meantime, ATI's drivers probably have matured some more and the price might be better as well.

You want WHAT on the [-peep-] CEILING?! -Michelangelo

Reply to Napoleon

1. You might want to considder RDRAM... it is still faster, until Double DDR comes, but it costs more.
2. Considder an ATi Radeon 9700(PRO)... they are better then the Ti4600 and with DirectX 9.0 supports will last longer.

Now the cooling part (my teretory :cool: ):
You can choose to build youir own one with diffirent components but keep in mind that a lot of things use diffirent tube sizes. And if you mix aluminium with copper you need to use stuff like WaterWetter to stop the battery-effect.
If you want to do it good you also cool the NorthBridge, GPU, HDs and ofcourse the CPU. Building your own one with diffirent parts will cost a lot of time and testing before being sure that it works good... and the costs can always rise when you need tube converters, etc.
So I recommend going for a kit like the Innovatek ones.

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Reply to svol

You can always say "wait a few months 'cause the stuff out now won't last" because that always applies. When GF5 comes out, R400 will be around the corner; when that comes out, GF6 will be coming up...

Get what you want, but the 430W supply is overkill. If it's only a bit more expensive, then sure, go for it, but if you're paying quite a bit more, then just get a 350 (unless you're gonna try to run part of your water cooler off of that thing, but that's not recommended).

Some day I'll be rich and famous for inventing a device that allows you to stab people in the face over the internet.

Reply to silverpig

Here's my list: (note: it's in cdn dollars)

Case: Antec 1040B 400W black case (looks exactly like that chieftec you want)

Mobo: Asus P4B 533

CPU: Intel P4 2.53 GHz

RAM: 512 MB PC 2700 Samsung

Video: ATI Radeon 9700 Pro

RAID card: Promise Fasttrack2 hardware raid

HD: 2x WD 800JB 80 gig drives

LAN card: Linksys LNE100TX

Sound: SB Live Audigy OEM

Floppy: Teac black

DVD: Pioneer 16x

CDRW: Sony 40/12/40

Keyboard/Floppy: MS optical mouse and internet keyboard

OS: MS XP Pro

Total: $2803.17 cdn before tax

Some day I'll be rich and famous for inventing a device that allows you to stab people in the face over the internet.

Reply to silverpig

Wow... outstanding feedback, everyone! I'm gonna work on compiling all the recommendations I got here and from some other boards. It certainly seems like a lot of personal choices to be made. I think the thing I have decided for sure is to wait a little longer. I mainly want this rig for some of the MMORPG's coming out next spring so I will see if I can hold off on what I'm using at the moment.

I'll repost my "final" choice when I finally come to a conclusion. Thanks again a ton and please post more feedback if something pops to mind as I will be checking this thread later!

Cuthulas

PS: Flamethrower, it only makes sense for me to buy Intel when my wife draws her paycheck from them! Edited by cuthulas on 10/06/02 06:05 PM.

Reply to cuthulas

What I'm saying is that the Gf5 will support new features, and is totally new. GF6 will prolly just be a faster version of it as we have seen. Then GF7 will be something new, etc. This is why I reccomend waiting, because what's interesting is that GF3 and GF4 will prolly phase out around the same time, seeing as how the GF4 is simply a pumped version and GF3's can be oced.

What if you had admin rights to life?

Reply to Flamethrower205

GF4 is a different chip than the GF3, it's not oc'ed. Like GF 256 had the SDR, then came DDR; GF2 had GTS, then Pro then Ultra; GF3 had GF3, then Ti series... GF4 had Ti 4200-4600. Each new GF number was a different core though. Same with GF5, same with GF6... there'll be multiple versions of each card; a brand new version, and a pumped version. He should just get what he can when he wants it, and not worry.

Some day I'll be rich and famous for inventing a device that allows you to stab people in the face over the internet.

Reply to silverpig

Quote :

Some day I'll be rich and famous for inventing a device that allows you to stab people in the face over the internet

2 words: ANGER MANAGEMENT :lol: :tongue:

BAULZ DEEP

Reply to AMD_cErTiFiEd

one word: i second that

*my favorite bum on 21st street*

-please help-
will code HTML for food.
-god bless you-

Reply to scamtrOn

There's more of a story to it. There's a page on the internet somewhere (taken down on the last link I had for some reason), that contained funny quotes from the IRC. One went like this:

[person 1] get down
[person 1] get down
[person 2] ... and dance!!!
[person 2] nmp3 bot dances
\-<
|-<
/-<
[person 3] Some day I'll be rich and famous for inventing a device that allows you to stab people in the face over the internet.

Some day I'll be rich and famous for inventing a device that allows you to stab people in the face over the internet.

Reply to silverpig

<A HREF="http://www.bash.org/?top" target="_new">http://www.bash.org/?top</A>

There it is :smile:

Some day I'll be rich and famous for inventing a device that allows you to stab people in the face over the internet.

Reply to silverpig

Most Droll.

 :cool: I :smile: think :frown: I'm :redface: addicted :wink: to :eek: these :mad: ever :eek: so :tongue: cute :cool: smiley :lol: faces! :wink:

Reply to lhgpoobaa

However the new stuff that made GF3 revolutionary is still in GF4, and GF4 doesn't have new stuff, just enchanced versions.

What if you had admin rights to life?

Reply to Flamethrower205

HAHAHA some people are pretty stupid

BAULZ DEEP

Reply to AMD_cErTiFiEd

Almost every card has stuff from older versions in it with some enhancements.

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Reply to svol

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