Ordering New Parts: Need opinions PLEASE

[Kaliman]

Hard Drives: two 60 GB 7200 RPM IBM Deskstar 60 GXP in RAID0 Price: $152 x2

Controller: Promise Fasttrak 100TX2 RAID Controller Card Price: $75

Video Card: Leadtek Winfast Geforce3 64MB DDR with TV / DVI out 4ns 4X AGP Price: $340

Floppy Drive: Teac 1.44MB 3.5 Inch Floppy Drive Price: $10

HSF: ThermoEngine Heatsink with Delta Black Label Fan Price: $35

Speakers: Klipsch ProMedia 4.1 THX 5 Piece Speaker 400-watt (RMS), 160 Watt Subwoofer, Frequency Response: 29Hz - 20kHz Price: $295

RAM: Two 256 MB crucial dimms ECC registered Price: $95

Motherboard: Asus A7M266 Price: $163

CPU: AMD Athlon Thunderbird 1.4GHz 266MHz Bus Socket A PGA Processor-OEM Version Stepping AYHJA Price: $169

CD-RW: Plextor 24x/10x/40x Price: $290

DVD-Rom: Pioneer 16x Price: $60

Sound Card: HERCULES GAMING THEATER XP. Multiple USB and game port , Digital Signal Processing (DSP), Free bundled software. RETAIL PACKAGE
Price: $130
Case: Lian-Li PC-68+USB Price: $205

PSU: ENERMAX EG465P-VE(FC). 431W Power supply for AMD K7 & Pentium4. Fan on/off controlled by M/B ~ Real "Sleeping Mode" support. Meet AMD K7 and Intel 2.03 Version. Price: $85

NIC: 3Com EtherLink 10/100 3CR990-TX-97 Price: $80

OS: Windows 2000 Pro Price: $125 (Free)

Keyboard: Microsoft Natural Keyboard Pro Price: $35

Mouse: Logitech MouseMan wheel optical Price: $30

Total: $2,401 w/out monitor and shipping


there it is, the only thing i'm worried about is the HSF i have listed. at 1coolpc.com they talk about an installation risk. But i have no idea what else there is. Anyone have suggestions on that and anything else on this list.......thanks oh yeah, and should i get 1 512 mb instead of 2 256? Crucial doesn't have them and i don't know where else to get them.

 

[Owl]

HSF i like the G/W CAK38 all copper and easy to install..
about 38.00 us or less....

Intel inside
Moron outside

 

[Owl]

and i would drop the ECC and just get cas 2-2-2
yes 1 512mb would be good....

Intel inside
Moron outside

 

[Kaliman]

what is cas2 and where do i get it from, is there a cas1?

 

[Owl]

that mother board uses 2x184-pin DDR DIMM, DDR SDRAM,
i would get PC2100 cas
2 sticks 256mb
at 300mhz. at 79.00 x 2

Intel inside
Moron outside

 

[Owl]

Check this out/// PC2400 = 300mhz.

http://www.pcprogress.com/cart/memory.asp?OrderID=74642353462762087583541

THIS is what your looking for
CORSAIR MEMORY 256MB DDR CAS2
32X64 184 DIMM XMS2400 CM64SD256-2400C2 $76.00

Intel inside
Moron outside

 

[Owl]

and the price went down i payed 98.00 now 76.00

Intel inside
Moron outside

 

[Kaliman]

what's the difference between unbuffered and registered. The one you recommended is unbuffered is that bad. And i've never heard of pc2400 is that better than 2100. If it is how come i've never heard it recommended. And since the 512 mb one doesn't perform as well i should get two 256. But that leaves no room for upgrades. Is that ok, will 512 mb of ram be sufficient?

 

[Boondock_Saint]

What you posted is almost EXACTLY the same rig I am building minus the sound card and RAID. Anyways, I am going with 512 MB's of PC2400 DDR RAM, and the Swifttech MC462 heatsink/fan combo. MUCH sturdier of a mount, as it screws into the holes surrounds the socket of the motherboard. No dealing with clips and such that can easily break. Ditch the ECC for sure, as it just slows ya down.

 

[silverpig]

Go for 2x256 MB of PC2400 DDR ram. The only difference between PC2400 and PC2100 is that the 2400 is rated to run at 150 MHz while the 2100 is rated to 133 MHz. 512 MB will be plenty for anything you might need in the forseeable future unless you get into some really serious CAD/3D rendering stuff. I'd use 2 sticks instead of 1 because with nForce, you need 2 sticks to take advantage of the dual channel bus for the ram. Getting 2 sticks prepares you for this, and for any future chipsets that follow this design. Also, definitely ditch the ECC. You'd only need that with a serious server.

You may want to consider a different LAN card too. The Linksys Etherfast 100TX is a good 10/100 LAN card, is well supported, and costs a lot less than $80.

Other than that, it looks good to me.

Lyrics. Wasted time between solos.