My First Homemade Computer!

[Sotomatic]

This is my first time posting on the boards and my first attempt at putting a computer together. I just wanted to post its potential specs and would be interested in hearing your opinions or suggestions please. Nothing has been purchased yet. I wanted to make sure what I was planning on purchasing was good.

Case: Antec 350-Watt ATX Mid-Tower Case(100.00)
Motherboard: Asus P4PE($123.00)
Processor: Intel Pentium 4 2.53 GHz($233.00)
RAM: Kingston DDR SDRAM 512 MB($122.00)
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Special Edition 80 GB($111.00)
Graphics Card: nVida Geforce4 Ti4400($185.99)
Sound Card: Internal
Bay Drive 1: Plextor PlexWriter PX-W4012TA/SW($86.00)
Bay Drive 2: Toshiba DVD/CD-ROM SD-M1502($36.50)
Operating System: Windows XP (Free - $20.00)

Total Cost: $1007.00

Let me know what you think.. THANKS!!

 

[lhgpoobaa]

Case: Good.
Motherboard: Good.
Processor: Good.
Ram: Could be better, what kind of kingmax? PC2700 or better i hope.
Graphics: Decent, though you may want to consider a Ti4200 or a Radeon 9500pro funds permitting.
Sound: HMMMM. Personally i would prefer a proper extenal soundcard.
CD-RW: Liteon burners are cheaper and just as good IMHO. Ditto with the DVD. Liteon's rock.
XP: yep.


<b><font color=purple>[Rik_]</font color=purple> I wonder how many people have made their own phasechange system?
<font color=blue>[LHGPooBaa]</font color=blue> I get phasechange whenever i eat a hot chillie :lol: </b>

 

[Spitfire_x86]

I guess you have choosen to buy PC2100 DDR RAM. Buy PC2700 DDR.

Buy a Radeon 9500 Pro BBA for $198. It has full DX9 support. 2x faster than Ti4600 w/ Anti-aliasing. In normal condition, always beats TI4400 and sometimes beats Ti4600.

You can buy a LiteOn 48x/24x/48x CD-RW for $57 instead of this highly overpriced Plextor drive. Don't worry about quality. Many people here use LiteOn CD-RW, everybody is satisfied with their drive.

This Toshiba DVD-ROM seriously sucks. It's only good for watching DVD-Movies. Get a LiteOn 16x DVD-ROM ($45, LTD-163D or later model). It is a complete CD-ROM replacement and very good at ripping CD Audio and DVD movies.

Let us know <A HREF="http://forumz.tomshardware.com/community/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=25703#25703" target="_new"> What File compression format you use? </A>

 

[lhgpoobaa]

hehe. beat you by a second

<b><font color=purple>[Rik_]</font color=purple> I wonder how many people have made their own phasechange system?
<font color=blue>[LHGPooBaa]</font color=blue> I get phasechange whenever i eat a hot chillie :lol: </b>

 

[halkebul]

I agree with Spitfire_x86 and lhgpoobaa, in all respects.


<i>It's your world kid!!!</i>

 

[vk2amv]

Case is fine.

Ditch the P4 and get an AMD Athlon 2600+. Much better chip than a P4. But make sure you get the 166Mhz FSB model.

Next for a Mobo get a Epox 9RDA+ NForce2 Mobo

For RAM forget kingston garbage and get 2 Corsair 256MB XMS 3200 CAS2 SIMMS and run them in dual channel mode on the NForce2 Mboard.

Keep the hard drive. WD Specials rule.

You still have internal sound on the Epox board.

Forget the plextor garbage and get a Lite-On 48Write-24RW-48Read Writer. Much better writer and also faster than the plextor.

Also get a Lite-On 16x DVD Drive, Forget Toshiba.

And Windows XP is the Best OS so thats fine to.

Last with the extra money you saved from getting rid of the P4 garbage and getting AMD instead forget the TI4400 and get an Ati Radeon 9500Pro of a Radeon 9700Pro.

Hope this helps.
AREA_51

 

[vk2amv]

Ha. we all answered within 7 minutes of each other.
AREA_51

 

[Spitfire_x86]

I think he can't afford Corsair PC3200. I recommend Kingston PC2700 for him.

Let us know <A HREF="http://forumz.tomshardware.com/community/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=25703#25703" target="_new"> What File compression format you use? </A>

 

[Spitfire_x86]

What's the time in Australia now? It's 3:38 PM here

Let us know <A HREF="http://forumz.tomshardware.com/community/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=25703#25703" target="_new"> What File compression format you use? </A>

 

[lhgpoobaa]

I just popped out for dinner. Its 8:58pm EST here.

<b><font color=purple>[Rik_]</font color=purple> I wonder how many people have made their own phasechange system?
<font color=blue>[LHGPooBaa]</font color=blue> I get phasechange whenever i eat a hot chillie :lol: </b>

 

[vk2amv]

Well yes is he cant afford corsair kingston or crucial would be the next best thing I spose.
AREA_51

 

[4Ryan6]

Vince?





Details, Details, Its all in the Details, If you need help, Don't leave out the Details.

 

[MeTaLrOcKeR]

I Agree....go with a 333Mhz FSB Athlon XP Chip.....like a 2600+ 333 or a 2700+ or so.....with 2 chips of 256MB PC-2700 DDR....Infineon is good stuff to I find personally....

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