My PC

I'm just building my PC for now it's something like that:

Asus A7V8X (or Gigabyte GA-7VAXP) the Asus has SATA
AMD Athlon XP 1800+
Zalman CNPS6000-Cu
RAM 512Mb DDR400 maybe DDR333 (don't know which brand any recommendations has to be able to perform good with Asus and Gigabyte)
Antec SX630II
FDD 1.44 Mb 3.5
WD Caviar 7200 WD400JB (Maxtor 40Gb 7200 ATA133-2nd choice)
PlexWriter 48/24/48A
DVD Pioneer 106S
Leadtek WinFast A250LE Ti 4200
SB Audigy 1394
3Com 3C905C-TX-M PCI 10/100 UTP
MS Natural Keyboard Pro
MS IntelliMouse Explorer USB Optical

The real problem I'm facing is do I wait for SATA (doesn't seem to be a GREAT performance boost-at the moment from what I've read just for the sake of thinner cables-NO). I'll probably wait for the VIA KT400 boards like the ones I listed above.

Please tell me what would you change and why (consider not making DRASTIC changes price wise)

"For a little more money, the WD 80gb special edition HDD with 8mb cache performs better than most other hard drives out there based on 7200 rpms and Ata 133"

Yeah my guess is that is why he is looking at it WD400JB is the 80Gb 8Mb special. I have seen it as low as $110 US shipped. Not too shabby!

Yeah?..
I have Asus mobo and Kingston PC2700 and all is just fine.

Sweet, Western Digital now make a 40GB with 8MB cache! That would make a outstanding budget drive or an excellent high-performance image backup drive!

<b><i>"A penny saved is a penny earned!"</i></b>

Seeing how u have no problem waiting for stuff cuz KT400 based boards r not out yet......wait and get an Athlon XP 2400+ or 2600+ CPU...refined 0.13 micron process...aparently it will be REALLY good for overclocking.......otherwise id recomend waiting for that KT400 board u want and get the absolute most budgest AXP chip u can find (XP 1500+) Overclock the hell out of it and than replace it later on with the newer XP chip....

<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=13597" target="_new">-MeTaL RoCkEr</A>

Alright...I was just making a suggestion =)

<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=13597" target="_new">-MeTaL RoCkEr</A>

If you want to save a few bucks, get a generic CD burner instead of a Plextor. There are only 3 companies which manufacture burners, Sony (which makes only Sony brand), Yamaha (which makes only Yamaha brand), and Mitsubishi, which makes all other brands including the Plextor. In other words the Plextor drive is the same driveas the LG and Lite-on brands, etc. Plextor modifies theirs a bit by adding more RAM, and I believe they may also replace the drive motor.

Right now the Yamaha burners are of better quality thn the Plextors anyway.

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Knowan likes you. Knowan is your friend. Knowan thinks you're great.

Does anyone think I should wait for Barton or even ClawHammer and how much more would that cost (your best guesses apply)

I've read your posts does the Asus KT400 board support Barton, what about the fan,...

I totally agree but is there a way to make sure (like contacting Asus-will they make this info available), you haven't mentioned the fan so you probably think it won't have trouble cooling it?

If you want max cooling (maybe for o/cing a XP1600+ AGIOA) get an Alpha PAL8942 or a Swiftech MCX462-BU w/ a Delta Fan... That'll give you some sweet cooling and will let you o/c to probably ~1900MHz...

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

Id personally take the Thermaltake Volcano 7+ as opposed to the Alpha.......the 7+ cools at 0.52C/W which is EXACTLY the same as the Swiftech...and thats at a quiter noise level....and a MUCH cheaper price....

<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=13597" target="_new">-MeTaL RoCkEr</A>