Hi!

Well, I primarily joined to ask a question (don't you hate those one post moochers?) but this forum looks like fun, so I might as well say hi first and settle in for residence. =P

Okay then. I'm on the verge of getting myself a new computer (450 MHz isn't cutting edge anymore, dangit!), and I've gotten up the courage (and funds) to join the ranks of the elite computer homebuilders. I just need to run this list of components by someone as a check before I spring for an order on Newegg. Perhaps a few of you can be kind enough to assist me.

Here's the list:

AMD Athlon XP 2600+ with 333 MHz FSB
Thermaltake Volcano7+ with Arctic Silver III
AsusTek A7N8X nForce2 DeluxeRetail Motherboard
Microsoft Windows XP
2 x 256 MB Corsair XMS PC3200 DDR SDRAM
Sapphire 9700 Pro Video Card
120 GB Western Digital HDD w/8 MB Cache
Plextor Plexwriter 48/24/48
Soundblaster Audigy2 Platinum
Lite On 16/48 DVD-ROM
Antec 1080 Plus Case with 430 watt PSU
Viewsonic P95f+ 19" Monitor

And then a few peripherals that aren't as important, but I'll list them anyway.

Microsoft Internet Pro Keyboard
Logitech MX700 Cordless Mouse
Klipsch 5.1
------------------

Basically, I'm looking for confirmation that all this works in harmony, I haven't picked a component that completely screws up my system, and everything looks balanced. As for specific questions: I'm not entirely sure on the monitor - it's a toss-up between the Viewsonic and the NEC FE991SB; and I don't have much of an idea on the keyboard.

Lastly, I apologize if I've posted this list in the wrong place; it's great that everything is specialized here for specific questions, but I didn't see any forum for general homebuilding.

Thanks!

Looks good from here!

I'd go for the Logitech Cordless Desktop Optical mouse & keyboard if your budget stretches to it - I've been using one for over a year & found it to be pretty good, even if it has got 5 or 6 extra keys that you never use!

- -
I owe my success to having listened respectfully to the very best advice, and then going away and doing the exact opposite.

That will be one kick ass system.

<font color=blue>Inconcievable!!!
You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means. -Vezzini and Inigo</font color=blue>

I'm not sure you'll want to use that Asus board. I've heard some complaints about it's ability to overclock when using dual memory. And the bios doesn't unlock the multiplier on teh processor. Not a whole lot of overclockability with that board either. The EPoX 8RDA+ has a lot more overclocking options. I have the epox board currently. I'm having some problems with it at the moment though. It doesn't want to unlock my multiplier on my proc and has been pretty finicky about my memory. I'll have to do some more testing and get back to you. If you don't plan on overclocking that ASUS board will be fine. But then again if you aren't going to overclock you're wasting your money with that cooler and you should just get a stock cooler. I have the retail cooler on mine and my idle temps are 31c and my full load temps are around 48~50c. The epox board is a lot cheaper also. If you want to do some shopping around check at www.googlegear.com and www.mwave.com they are both as reliable as newegg and often have cheaper prices.

<b>SVOL</b> is a big 'ol stinky granny that needs to take a shower and quit trying to take Eden's place as teh forum whino.

You twisted me around with the motherboard bit, Yahiko. =P

Even though I'd like to overclock, I haven't done it and I'm not really sure how to do it anyway (I can always learn!). I checked on Anandtech, because I hadn't heard of the Epox mobo (sadly enough, I keep forgetting to visit Anandtech as a supplement to THG), and then I got confused, since both boards looked great.

So, hrm...how much of a difference would there be between overclocking with the boards? If it's 'the Asus is for moderate overclockers and the Epox is for serious overclockers,' then I don't think it would make much of a difference for me. The things that turned me off about the Epox review on Anandtech was some of the board layout and the slightly lower performance (though overclocking would make that a moot point), and what turned me off of the Asus was the higher price. Augh!

Thanks to all of you for the help, again.

oh oh, going for that one-post moocher title here.....


Looks real good to me! As a matter of fact, when you get done building it, you are completely encouraged to send it to me free of charge! I won't mind!





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A few points i would like to make:

A. Hi there!
B. Watch out for wingding!
C. I would get a 48x24x48x liteon burner instead of the plextor... you get the same performance, with alot less price.
D. 2 x 256mb ram... are you sure you dont need to upgrade later? runing 512 is good for games but you may need more if you are a power user.
E. get a explorer3.0 mouse instead. its more funkilicious!
F. I really mean it about looking out for wingding!

Cherrio

<b>My Computer is so powerful Sauron Desires it and mortal men Covet it, <i>My Precioussssssss</i></b>

Don't waste money after Plextor 48x/24x/48x CD-RW. Get LiteOn 48x/24x/48x instead.

It's true that I am a big LiteOn supporter, but it's the quality of LiteOn CD-RW's that made me a LiteOn supporter. I think poobaa is with me.

<b> "You can put lipstick on a pig, but hey, it's still a pig!" - RobD </b>

Well some of the good points for the EPoX board are that the PCI and AGP busses are locked so that when you overclock your FSB you won't mess with them. The reason the EPoX board is good is because it has some many increments to chose from. So if you want to overclock you can take it slowly. On the bit about the board layout, I'm not sure what they meant by it was laid out poorly. I like it. I especially like the fact that the socket is near the edge of the board so when you go to put your Heatsink fan on and your screwdriver slips it won't even come close to touching the board. hehe.. oh and I'd also recommend the liteon burner cause you can get a firmware update for it and make it a 52x burner. I'd also go for a trackball over a mouse. It may take some getting used to but you'll never switch back. You can get some Cosair XMS PC3500 512mb memory for only $183 at www.googlegear.com. I'd recommend the pc3500 cause even if your board doesn't "support" it now, it'll be compatible in the future and maybe your board will support it with a bios revision. Basically it's up to you on which board you want. If you're not that serious of a gamer or overclocker you probably won't notice a difference with either board. I'd also like to recommend the onboard sound. It's way better than my soundblaster live platinum that I had in my old system. So if you nix the sound card, the plextor and go with the lite-on you'll save a bit of money. Maybe even enough to buy 2 512mb Cosair XMS sticks I'm sure you'll be happy with whatever you choose.

<b>SVOL</b> is a big 'ol stinky granny that needs to take a shower and quit trying to take Eden's place as teh forum whino. <P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Yahiko81 on 01/30/03 08:41 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

If you put a third stick of ram it runs with the dual ddr I beleive. At least that's how I took it from my owners manual. Here's one thing to consider. You could skip getting the audigy and get two sticks of 512mb. If the onboard sound isn't up to par (i doubt that) then you can go ahead and add the audigy or whatever else is around at that time. I'd much rather add extra memory (especially to an XP machine) than worry about having an audigy. The EPoX board comes with 6 usb 2.0 ports and 2 firewire ports. So that should be enough. Before you buy anything go ahead and let us know what you are getting and the price including shipping. Then we'll try and find you the best deal from reputable sellers. Granted newegg is good, but they are a bit pricy at times.

<b>Eden</b> likes to help <b>Svol</b> make snowballs.

I thought the third stick would knock you out of dual-DDR mode and back into single channel. It kinda sucks in that way, and it would have been nice to try four sticks as well, but it's just the way it is.

Hi Praeludium. If your looking to pump the memory, do it from the start with two sticks of 512. I also have to agree with everyone else, it seems the sound on the N-force boards isn't too bad at all, unless of course you need something closer to the pro-audio relm.

Jarrett

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I was gonna keep my mouth shut and stay the one-post-moocher...but hey...there's a chance here....

You sure you don't want me to take that off your hands? I'd be glad to help you rid yourself of that precious jewel....er...um...I mean that piece of junk...yeah yeah....Really! I could easily be talked into taking it off your hands....



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Unless the price difference is that much, I would consider getting the monitor from a bricks and mortar store, like Best Buy or Frys, or something. Two reasons, easier to return if it's a little off (instead of packing it back up, then sending it UPS for $50 or something, since it's so heavy) and there is less shipping involved, meaning less chance of damage to the monitor. Your call, though.

If you live near a Frys, they have <A HREF="http://shop3.outpost.com/product/3353312/" target="_new">this</A> which is a NEC 19" flat screen, but it's only in white.

-SammyBoy

Some day, THG-willing, I shall obtain the coveted "Old Hand" title.

Well, I was all set to order it Friday night, but then I got stymied when the motherboard went out of stock about twenty minutes before I had everything finalised. Grr...

Now the plan is to try for tomorrow, then hopefully I'll be a proud owner at the end of the week.

Looks like all this agonising over specs and lists of components is about over. Now I'll probably stare at the THG page at all the new stuff that comes out <i>after</i> I build my PC and wish I'd waited for that! Oh well, such is the nature of computing, 'tis always changing.