Rate New 1500 Dollar Computer System Please

[BigBiggist]

Alright I am going to purchase a computer in mid September. I have a monitor and the case and power supply are being sent to me as a gift. i do have to try to repair a blown sub amp on a Promedia 4.1 though. I would like to spend around 1500 or less on this system, here are my specs. I was hoping to get PC-1066 and a good mobo with AGP 8x but my budget doesn't really allow it. Any suggestions or input just make them please.

Kingwin KT-436 w/ 3 windows and 5 fans - $165.00
Enermax 431 Watt Whisper - $83.00
Processor - Intel 2.53 Ghz - $659.00 w/ 63% price drop on Sept. 1st ~ $244.00
Motherboard - Soyo P4X400 DRAGON Still waiting for review ~ $150.00
Memory - 512 MB Corsair PC 3200 XMS Series - $232.00
DVD-ROM - Lite-On 16x-48x - $38.00
CD-RW - Lite-On 40x-12x-48x - $66.00
Hard Drive - Western Digital 100 GB SE 8 MB Cache - $140.00
Video Card - Radeon 9700 - if i order ~ $360.00 - at the store - $400.00
Sound Card - Creative Audigy X-Gamer - $84.00
Speakers - Repaired Klipsch Promedia ~ $100.00 - Logitech Z-560 - $136.00
Windows XP - $90.00

Total = $1752-$1828

Subtract Case and Power - $1504-$1580

The only thing that i want to do is overclock this setup to 3 GHz. I want to use the retail heatsink. I will be using this for gaming and school. Will the power supply be large enough for this setup? Thanks for the help.

 

[pr497]

a few things:

the 2.53 P4...you can get the 2.26 P4 (also 533 FSB) for much much less in sept...and it can overclock to up to 2.9 ghz and beyond....

the motherboard...is there a reason why you'd want the P4X400 VIA chipset over an intel or sis? the P4X400 cant even run pc3200 ram at their designated speed (400mhz)...even though it supports it...id say...go with an 850E motherboard with rdram or the sis648 chipset (which does support ddr400)...the sis chipset should be out in sept if im not mistaken...every thing else in your list seems ok...
oh...and the 431w enermax should be more than enough for your setup...

<b>L <font color=red>A</font color=red> e <font color=red>T</font color=red> a <font color=red>I</font color=red> K</b>

 

[BigBiggist]

I would much rather have the SiS 648 chipset but i couldn't find it anywhere. I could only find an Abit mobo which looked really bad and a Soyo P4S-648 which isnt even out yet. I think i should just wait for the Asus 648 mobos to come out. If i can afford it in sept i will get the GA-8IHXP with 512 MB of Kingston PC-1066 Non-ECC. Still just waiting to see how the market in September goes. I just hope the ATI drivers don't suck like they did before.

 

[Crashman]

The P4X400 uses a garbage VIA chipset, AGP8x is the only thing it has going for it, and at this point that means nothing. The Abit board with the 648 chipset doesn't look bad at all, what did you THINK was wrong with the SR7-8X, the ugly collor?

<font color=blue>By now you're probably wishing you had asked more questions first!</font color=blue>

 

[BigBiggist]

Oh yes i know that the VIA P4 chipset is garbage but i just wanted a mobo selected now that had DDR 400 and AGP 8x. The new SiS chipsets look good though. The abit board is fine i guess i just wasn't sure because it got 3 stars and only two people had reviewed it. I also would like a fan on the NB so it doesn't overheat when i overclock, just as a safe guard. Most likely i will go with the SiS chipsets, Asus should be releasing something soon that has this chipset. Hopefully Giga-byte will come out with something too. If not i might just go with the 8IEXP or the Asus P4S8X.

 

[tersagun]

What's the problem with the new via chipset?

"Don't necessarily listen to tersagun,he's been advocating AMD systems,he thinks Intel sucks ass.."

 

[BigBiggist]

No one can get it to recognize the DDR 400 memory. I don't know if it is because of the 2.5 CAS latency or what. Also, intel has not licensed VIA to produce Pentium IV chipsets. This is also not a good thing. The SiS chipset is better than the VIA because of this, i do think the SiS chipset is slower than the VIA chipset when running the same memory but im not sure.

 

[Crashman]

Actually, the last comparison I saw was the 645DX vs P4X400, the SiS was faster. I don't expect the 648 to be slower than the 645DX, so it's most likely faster also.

<font color=blue>By now you're probably wishing you had asked more questions first!</font color=blue>

 

[chuck232]

Any word yet on when SiS648 mobos will retail? I was looking at them and they seem pretty nice . I was especially looking at the ABIT one. (SR7-8X IIRC)

<i>Past mistakes may make you look stupid, but avoiding future ones will make you look smart!</i>

 

[Crashman]

The Abit board is "officially" released already, check Newegg for expected arrival date.

<font color=blue>By now you're probably wishing you had asked more questions first!</font color=blue>

 

[BigBiggist]

The Abit board arrives on the 9th. Asus is coming out with the P4S8X later this month and Soyo is coming out with the P4S-648 DRAGON Ultra later this month or next month. I want to check out the Asus board when it comes out, and maybe the Soyo.

 

[xxsk8er101xx]

look into the santa cruz sound card. i love the thing. Ha support for my 4.1 digital speakers wher emy sound blaster xgamer 5.1 didn't. Also get the 2.26ghz .. you won't notice the 260mhz difference! But you will notice the 400 dollar savings!



<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=9933" target="_new"> My Rig </A>

 

[BigBiggist]

Yeah, most likely I will get the 2.26 or maybe the 2.4. Both processors should be below 200 after Sept. 1st. I have looked at the Santa Cruz and I liked it. I went for the X-Gamer because of EAX Advanced HD or whatever it is called. I also heard that the ingame sound effects would be better in the audigy. Also, isn't the Audigy Chip faster and its 24 bit instead of 18 bit. How much of a difference will this cause? Hopefully the audigy gamer will support my 4.1 sound system.

 

[xxsk8er101xx]

no get 2.26 .. thats on a 133mhz fsb i believe the 2.4 is a 100mhz fsb ...

<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=9933" target="_new"> My Rig </A>

 

[chuck232]

There's a 2.4B too. 18 multiplier IIRC. By September 1st, it and the 2.26B should both have the price of $193USD, so the 2.4B may be the better choice.

<i>Past mistakes may make you look stupid, but avoiding future ones will make you look smart!</i>

 

[xxsk8er101xx]

oh ok, news to me, cool ...

<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=9933" target="_new"> My Rig </A>