Wee~ Building new PC
 

Finally... after months of wait... I will soon be able to build my new pc :D :D :D

This is what I'm thinkin: (Newegg)

Lian Li Black Mid-Tower Case, Model "PC-61" -RETAIL

MSI nForce3 250 Chipset Motherboard for AMD Athlon 64 Socket 754 CPU, Model "K8N Neo Platinum" (MS-7030) -RETAIL

AMD Athlon 64 3200+, 1 MB L2 Cache, the Only 64-bit Windows Compatible Processor - OEM

ENERMAX Noisetaker Series 470W Power Supply, ATX 12V V1.3 compatible: Support latest P4 and Athlon 64 platforms, Model "EG475P-VE-SFMA"

Corsair XMS Extreme Memory Speed Series, (Twin Pack) 184 Pin 1GB(512MBx2) DDR PC-3200 - Retail

Seagate 160GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive, Model ST3160023AS, OEM
(I kno.. I kno.. 7200rpm wont make much of a diff from IDE.. but the wires are prettier.. and not that more expensive)

SONY Black 1.44MB 3.5inch Floppy Disk Drive, Model MPF920, OEM

Logitech Cordless MX Duo USB/ PS/2 104keys -RETAIL

NU Technology Black 8X DVD+RW/-RW Drive, Model DDW-082 BLK

hehe.. please feel free to recommend a better or more economical part if you see fit.

I'm still debating X800 Pro or XT since I work at compusa, I can get the ATI made cards for $325 and $405 respectively... so i'll stick with my TNT2 (oh the injustice) till then...

A few questions..:
1. Is the X800 worth it? :D XT over Pro
2. Since I'm gettin the OEM athlon64.. what heatsink+fan do u recommend?
3. Biggie = Should I buy the OEM version of Windows XP Pro?... or use my uncle's "borrowed, charity, free version" that I've been using on my old pc till now?... Will I need to activate windows once I install it?... It may look like im getting expensive parts.. I'm still on that tight budget :D .. saving a 100-150 bucks would be helpful..
thanks

:icare:

Shit, I find nothing wrong with your list at all. I'd recommend a Vantec Stealth PSU over the Enermax, though, because they're just as good and offer a 120v recepticle on the back to power on a monitor with the rest of the system. If you have a copy of XP Pro Corp. then use it and Google some facts on how to change it's serial number. Activation isn't required on it.

cool. thanks

and any heatsink/fan that I'm supposed to get?... I'm not sure what's good enough, and what's complete shit.. dont want to burn out my athlon 64 on my first night :D

Though I don't have personal experience, several of my friends recommend the Thermaltake Silent Boost HS/fan unit. It runs at 21 dB and apparently keeps things nice and cool.

And for the video cards... the XT is only a marginal increase in power over the pro (in fact, in a few benchmarks, the pro outperformed the XT...). In my opinion, it's not worth the $100 I'd pay, or even the $80 you'd pay. But again, it's up to you.

The main difference you'll see is when you have ALL the effects turned up ALL the way. Then the XT has a noticable framerate increase. Either way, though, they'll still be super high framerates. Like over 100 on all the newest games.

Your list is quite nice, especially that Lian-Li. No muss no fuss with that SATA drive either. The X800 Pro is a worthy investment, but it's not worth it to go for the XT unless you really have the extra franklin to blow in your budget.

Is the X800 XT worth it? Yes. Is the X800 Pro worth it? Yeah. Depends on how much you wanna spend for a videocard. Each card is easily worth their pricetags. The extra $100 for the XT WILL be seen in performance, even though both cards are super power houses.

I'd get the Thermaltake Silent Boost for your Athlon 64. Works better than an SLK-900U + Tornado and is as quiet as an 80 MM fan turned all the way down.

Everything else looks good!

-Lasereth

thanks all
I've added the Thermaltake Silent Boost fan for my athlon64.. and changed the pwr supply to the Antec True480 :D

can't wait till next week! XD oh yeah.. and another week till the 21st!

very nice list, i may have to steal some of those for my computer upgrades =p

oh oh oh!
I've replaced my floppy with this :
Mitsumi USB Digital Card Reader/Writer W/FD (Black)INTERNAL, Model FA404A/404M

its a sd card/memory card reader + floppy.. anyone hear anything of this?

w3rd

I ordered all my parts, and I got the psu, dvd, hdd, and cpu fan for now.. waiting on the rest.

The one part I DIDNT order was the video card. Turns out, I can only get discounts from CompUSA on items that are in stock only. I dont want to wait until the CompUSA I work at decides to put it in stock..

So what should I do? I have the money.. and If its worth it, I can wait... but is it worth it? I could get a Radeon 9800 cheap these days,, I guess I could even get a x800 pro for a bit expensive price, but I can afford it...

grr,, what shall i do? I kno its up to me in the end, but some advice would be appreciated.. :D thanks

oh yeah.. and why are the GeForce 6800's so cheap on pricewatch?...

Well, I'd say it has a lot to do with 1) there are 3 different versions of the 6800 1) the 6800, the 6800 GT, and the 6800 Ultra, all of which have varying prices, and the regular 6800 having the lowest price (around $299 "on sale") on some websites. 2) The advent of PCIX has to have something to do with the drop in prices, despite the fact that these cards aren't available to the public yet, the news of them does signal a new technology, so that might be driving the price of the "lowest" 6800 down as well. Of course, you can expect at least a 50% performance boost from this card over the 5900 or an ATI 9800 Pro. For a real performance boost, up to a 300% increase in some benchmarks, I would invest in a 6800 Ultra. Sweet Jesus, what a leap.