YOU get to DESIGN my next PERSONAL COMPUTER!

[Whatup1049]

Hey everyone its that time again. Time to start fresh and build a whole new PC. It's been a while since ive been "in the hardware scene" so I need help on deciding what hardware to use. Some people tell me to go AMD, others INTEL. Basically I have $900 to spend on a new tower, here are the things I would like it to have:





Best graphics performance/quality I can get

Most processing power for my buck (AMD?)

Atleast 2 GHZ

CD Burner

DVD-ROM

Good audio (nothing fancy like 5.1, just something better than onboard!)

350+ Watt power supply

40+gigs HD

NIC

Mid-tower case, something cheap but "pre-modded" or atleast something different from the "plain" old cases



Most importantly of them all I need to know what motherboard and what processor to get. The rest is pretty easy and I can manage that.

Thankyou,
Whatup1049-

 

[Quetzacoatl]

Okay, here's an AMD template for you

$200 AMD Athlon XP 2400+
$135 Epox 8rda+ motherboard
$60 Lite On 48x24x52 Cdrw
$44 Sony 16x DVD-Rom
$60 Antec Truepower 330 watt
$75 Maxtor 60gb 7200 rpms HDD
$100 Chieftec Medium Tower dragon case (different colors, aluminum, and has a window)

$674 base cost

You'll need to spend about $10-50 for a good heatsink and fan for the processor. This system uses the onboard 10/100 ethernet adaptor, and the Nforce2 audio (which is good). As for memory, i'd suggest Corsair XMS DDR.



Instead of Rdram, why not just merge 4 Sdram channels...

 

[Quetzacoatl]

And here's an Intel template

$262 Intel Pentium 4 2.5Ghz c1 stepping
$130 Abit Be7 raid, the non raid version is about $20 less
$60 Lite On 48x24x52 Cdrw
$44 Sony 16x DVD-Rom
$60 Antec Truepower 330 watt
$75 Maxtor 60gb 7200 rpms HDD
$100 Chieftec Medium Tower dragon case (different colors, aluminum, and has a window)

$731 base cost

Now, this, i'd DEFINATELY get the Corsair XMS and overclock it. Just use the stock heatsink for the Intel system. The Abit motherboard has pretty good onboard sound, the ALC 650, and also a built in NIC. Either way, you need to purchase DDR ram for either of the two systems. Also, you might want to spend some money to upgrade the HDD to a Western Digital with 8mb cache.


Instead of Rdram, why not just merge 4 Sdram channels...

 

[LED]

You forgot the Video card! Best vid card performer is Radeon9700 pro. $280 and up.

[-peep-].

 

[Quetzacoatl]

Oops *slaps forehead* right, need a video card

Hmm, where do you possibly get the Radeon 9700 pro for $280??? I saw a good deal on Newegg, they're selling the Abit OTES ti4200 for $142, good for 275/550 and overclocks pretty well.

Instead of Rdram, why not just merge 4 Sdram channels...

 

[peteb]

[edit] hmm - forgot the optical, I'll need to tune down a little to recover some optical budget. [/edit]

Do you already have keyboard, mouse monitor and speakers?

CPU Northwood 2.2G/400Mhz/512K Cache 195+ship
Asus P4B533 122+ship
1 x CorsairXMS DDR333 CAS2 512Mb 180+ship
ENERMAX EG465P-VE(FM). 430W 82+ship
WD800JB 80Gb Special Edition 112+ship
Intel PRO/100 S Network Adapter 32+ship
TURTLE BEACH SANTA CRUZ 62+ship
ASUS V8420 Geforce 4 TI4200 64M 132+ship

This bundle comes to about $795 from NEWEGG without shipping. Probably can be had for less.

Why this set? I overspecified a few areas like 80Gb hard drive because the cost delta is low and that is a great drive with a 3 year warranty. Sound is optional since the Asus has a 6 channel onboard, but you wanted a non-onboard option. The memory is high, but leaves a lot of room for future spec if you need it, it might save you $ in the long run. Processor and board are solid performers, neither absolute top of the line but very respectable.

Powersupply is top notch and I have had many Enermax supplies with nenver a glitch. Of course there are others. I always overspec power, you'll need it one day and it saves you buying again. You cannot go wrong with an Intel NIC, and the Video, well, you can spend a lot of money on the video. The 4200 is respectable, but not the latest and greatest by any means. I'd take this, or something lower even, and ssave your pennies for the brand Ti4600 or Radeon 9700Pro to drop to the $200 level. The 4600 should quickly once the new nVidia cards hit early next year.

My ideas - case - up to you, fully your own choice based on what you like to look at.

Okay, drop to 256Mb of Corsair XMS covers the burner plus change, you could drop the Enermax to the 350W (although I prefer the 435W) and that should see you through with about $100 for the case and shipping. Chances are you can get a case with the Enermax bundled and save a little there.

-* <font color=red> !! S O L D !! </font color=red> *-
To the gentleman in the pink Tutu<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by peteb on 12/19/02 02:02 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[LED]

I think they're $300 and up, my mistake. I mentioned the Radeon because he requested the best 3d performance, and I assumed price was no issue in that department. That Ti4200 sounds like a good deal, and would keep your quotes in his price range. But I'd rather grab the Radeon. I'd ditch the fancy case for an Antec Midtower performance series.....I look at my monitor when I use my PC, not my case.

[-peep-].

 

[peteb]

trouble is that a $900 budget is destroyed by a $300+ video card.

You _chould_ build the rest of the machine for $600 but I think it would be letting the card down - balance is better, and since both the current Radeons and nVidias will drop in price so quickly I feel it hard to justify the best parts for a limited budget.

-* <font color=red> !! S O L D !! </font color=red> *-
To the gentleman in the pink Tutu

 

[LED]

You can cut corners in other places. A motherboard w/ on board LAN and Sound. The case I recommended comes w/ a 330 watt Antec PSU and costs about what your 430watt does. You can always wait around for the next VC technology. If he buys a 4200, he will just have to upgrade sooner.

[-peep-].

 

[Rob423]

900$ limit.. Jesus... THAT JUST SUCKS!

I'd save up a few more Months dude... Round up some Xmas Money and stuff

This Community is like a Second Family!!

 

[halkebul]

Hello, Whatup1049. At this point, it would be best to invest more in components that have better long-term usability and quality: Power supply, ram and motherboard.

Asus A7N8X Deluxe motherboard $150
AMD Athlon XP 1600+ processor Retail $60
Two <A HREF="http://www.coldconcept.com/default.php/cPath/39_42/osCsid/bacb71282522ff2370ab505db85302d5" target="_new">OCZ 256MB PC3500 Enhanced Latency (EL) memory modules $220</A>
Powercolor ATi Radeon 9700 non-pro version $258
Enermax EG465P-VE(FMA) 431W power supply $90
*case is based on your taste*
Lite-On LTD-166S16X DVD Drive $46
Lite-On 48x24x48 CD Burner $58
Floppy disk drive (use your old one)

Later on, you can upgrade to a AMD 400MHz DDR FSB Barton Processor. But, you could also overclock the 1600+ to rival the speed of a XP 2100+/2200+ processor by setting the "CPU External Frequency" to ~166MHz in the BIOS - remembering to set the "AGP frequency" to 66MHz, set the memoy speed to "sync" and you may have to up the "CPU vcore" and "DDR reference voltage"(something like that) a bit.

The Asus A7N8X deluxe has top quality audio so no need for an add-on sound card. And, not one, but two NICs.

Which full version operating system do you have rite now. Windows XP? Windows 2000? other? I ask because some are having problems mixing this motherboard and windows 2000. Not sure which hard drive you currently have (Note: may have reinstall the operating system after the motherboard change), but using a quality one would help out the rest of the system - Western Digital 80GB Special Edition Hard drive ($115) is my recommendation. So, all in all, it looks like a $975-$1100 upgrade based on whether you want a new hard drive or not. Good thing this is a "tower upgrade" or this would have costs much more with the extra cost of speakers, mouse, keyboard and monitor. Most products (memory at coldConcept.com) purchasable from newEgg.com. Cheers!

<A HREF="http://forumz.tomshardware.com/hardware/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=527833#527833" target="_new">Official Asus A7N8X Thread</A>

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

 

[Col_Kiwi]

But, you could also overclock the 1600+ to rival the speed of a XP 2100+/2200+ processor by setting the "CPU External Frequency" to ~166MHz in the BIOS

On a stock HSF?

<b>Maybe</b> with watercooling...

-Col.Kiwi

 

[halkebul]

On a stock HSF?

Maybe with watercooling...

Hello. Watercooling for 10.5x166MHz = 1.743GHz? Just curious as you may have had some experience with a similar setup.


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

 

[Col_Kiwi]

I don't have experience with a similar setup. I was estimating.

Common sense and the laws of physics tell me the barely-sufficient aircooling HSF that comes stock with an AXP will not allow you to make such a large overclock as 133MHz to 166MHz FSB!

-Col.Kiwi

 

[jihiggs]

he is talking about lowering the multiplier, the cpu temp will not change by much.

my computer is so fast, it completes an endless loop in less than 4 seconds!

 

[markgun]

i have an axp 1600+ that does 1.8GHz(2200+) at 1.775V with a cheap $7 Coolermaster HSF. It runs 49C idle, 56C under load with a 38C case temp. It definitely doesn't need water cooling! But I guess it all depends on what stepping he gets...

 

[Col_Kiwi]

Ahhh, then it'd be no problem. He didn't say he meant to lower the multiplier, that I saw.

-Col.Kiwi

 

[halkebul]

When comparing two Athlon XPs, both with different FSB speeds but with the same clock speed, does the one with the higher FSB speed run hotter/Much Hotter/same heat on average? Just trying to pick your brain here as you are quite knowledgable.

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