Building the Green Monster

[toledo_speedo]

My 6yr old son and I have started to build our first computer and the only thing he stated was that it had to be Green; the rest is up to me. I have researched this very thoroughly and I think everything should work fine once I assemble all the componets. Tom's forums have been a great help this far and I just want to post everything I have put together to see if anything jumps out at anyone that could be a problem. Here is what I have so far:

The Green Monster Case:

Logisys 650 Watt 24 PIN Green Gamer Power Supply:
http://www.techwarelabs.com/reviews/misc/Logisys-psu/

KINGSTON RAM DDR PC3200(400MHZ) 2 1 GIG Sticks &
an Intel Pentium 4 651 3.4GHz 2MB LGA775 CPU on an
Edit: FOXCONN 661GX7MJ-H Motherboard
http://www.foxconnchannel.com/product/Motherboards/detail_spec.aspx?ID=en-us0000325

Western Digital 800JB Hard Drive (Hoping I can Just update the bios without reloading XP)

Sapphire Radeon X1950 Pro Agp 512mb Graphics Card:
http://www.sapphiretech.com/us/products/products_overview.php?gpid=168&grp=2

I have a new Heatsink & Fan as well, my only concerns are the chipsets and Bios upgrades. Any thoughts?

 

[dagger]

Does it really have to be bright green? PCBs of a darker shade of green would increase your choices considerably. The thing is, ancient hardware are rare, so retailers tend to charge unreasonably high prices for them. Moving back into the mainstream will both give you better performance and cost less at the same time.

And trust me, a 6 years old will get mad like anyone else when waiting 5 minutes for the computer to boot up. While lower end hardware is fine for children, you're really overdoing it...

 

[randomizer]

If you can dump the sickly green motherboard and get something newer, you can throw in a much faster CPU... MUCH faster. Probably cheaper too. 2x1GB Corsair Value DDR2-667 (green PCB) and an NVIDIA PCI Express video card (should be green) should do nicely.

EDIT: A case with no window will hide the lack of green inside

 

[toledo_speedo]

I already have all the shown componets including the Green case & PSU, The Celeron Processor in his old PC is painfully slow. The Pentium 4, 2 gigs of Ram and the graphics card should be overkill.

 

[randomizer]

I see. Well it should all work, even if it isn't my taste of colour

 

[toledo_speedo]

If you can dump the sickly green motherboard and get something newer, you can throw in a much faster CPU... MUCH faster. Probably cheaper too. 2x1GB Corsair Value DDR2-667 (green PCB) and an NVIDIA PCI Express video card (should be green) should do nicely.

EDIT: A case with no window will hide the lack of green inside

The Case does have a window with a Black light, notice the latch on the case to open it.

 

[randomizer]

The Case does have a widow with a Black light, notice the latch on the case to open it.

I was insinuating that you buy a case without a window But I guess that won't happen, so nevermind.

 

[toledo_speedo]

I know it isn't the best looking tower ever made but it was $45 on eBay and the Green PSU was a nice touch for $60. The Graphics card was the fastest available for an AGP board, used it was $130. The CPU was the Fastest direct upgade for my Motherboard and I think it ran about $100. We had the Ram already so $335 seems pretty reasonable and this machine should scream.

 

[megamanx00]

You can't put an LGA775 CPU into a 478 board!!

That said if you need a green board get something like this instead.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138116

Of course, it will need a PCI-E card and DDR2. Hmm... well I guess since you already have all the components just make sure you get the right P4.

 

[toledo_speedo]

I knew I would miss something stupid like that, I have a FOXCONN 661GX7MJ-H Board but that means reinstalling all my software programs. Well it's probably for the best to start with a fresh Operating System anyways; first post edited to reflect the new Motherboard.

Should I upgrade the 80 Gig Hardrive while I'm at it?

 

[randomizer]

Doh, sockets are a pain in the ass

 

[kitsilencer]

I admire your commitment to making everything green. I wish you luck, and have fun building with your son.

 

[toledo_speedo]

Thanks for the info so far, I am still curious about the Chipsets and Bios Upgrades..

I Found a 150 Gig Western Digital Raptor Hard Drive for $120 on eBay. Since I am going to have to reinstall the operating system anyway I figured I could keep his old PC together if we need the programs on it and he can use this one just for gaming.

Is 2 Gigs of Ram and my P4 going to be enough for this Hard drive and Graphics Card?

 

[WR2]

The Graphics card was the fastest available for an AGP board, used it was $130.

For less than what you paid for the used 1950 Pro you could have picked up a new (and faster) AGP HD 3850.
I don't know how much you paid for the P4 651 3.4Ghz CPU but I think most of the people here would have recommended an $80 dual core E2220 2.2Ghz as being a more powerful CPU.

The micro-ATX motherboard might look lost inside that big case. Maybe adding a few green case lights will help cover that up.

The WD 150GB HDD isn't such a good a good deal either. Save $80 and get a Seagate 7200.10 160GB HDD.

Chipsets (motherboard) and BIOS upgrades. May not be required. Check the motherboard's website for BIOS upgrade notes.

The P4 651 / 2GB RAM / 1950Pro will be a serviceable build. Those case lights I mentioned might help the system seem faster!

 

[toledo_speedo]

Yeah, I would have gone a differnet way if I wasn't just trying to just do a hardware swap rather than an entirely new system. I was just trying to get a faster CPU, Graphics card, Green case & PSU; it kinda spiraled out of control after that. I have all these componets and I think this system should be plenty fo him.

The Western Digital Raptor would smoke the Seagate 7200.10 160GB HDD; the WD runs @ 10,000 RPM with a 16 MB Cache. I think it will help make up for the fact that I didn't go with a dual or quad core set up.

 

[WR2]

The Western Digital Raptor would smoke the Seagate 7200.10 160GB HDD; the WD runs @ 10,000 RPM with a 16 MB Cache. I think it will help make up for the fact that I didn't go with a dual or quad core set up.

It will not.

 

[WR2]

The WD Raptor will save you a few seconds on bootup.

And games will start a few seconds faster, game levels load a few seconds faster.

Beyond that a Raptor has no real benefits for a mid to low end gaming system.

 

[toledo_speedo]

So this couldn't be considered a Mid to High end gaming system? Please keep in mind that it is Green and does have a Blacklight in the case.

 

[WR2]

I would have agreed - in 2006.

 

[ohiou_grad_06]

If your looking at the 3850, if perchance you have a pci express board, look at the 4670 on newegg for 80 bucks. Supposed to perform on par with 3850 and no external power connector required.

 

[WR2]

Please keep in mind that it is Green and does have a Blacklight in the case.

Yeah, but it's not the Green Alien case with see-through green power supply.

 

[johnyeah]

The GREEN case and BLACKLIGHT in the case does not make it a gaming system much less a mid to high end one.

 

[toledo_speedo]

The GREEN case and BLACKLIGHT in the case does not make it a gaming system much less a mid to high end one.

What about all the sweet upgrades I put in it?

 

[toledo_speedo]

Yeah, but it's not the Green Alien case with see-through green power supply.

Yeah, but it does have that 1950's refrigerator look that is all the rage right now.

 

[johnyeah]

The "upgrades" you put in it aren't really upgrades. They're stuff that're like 2-3 years old, they'll still handle most tasks fine, aside from gaming.