How are these PC Specs?(edited w/final part list)

[XyZspineZyX]

I'm gonna buy these parts tomorrow to build my new PC next weekend.
What do you guys think about the parts I am getting?

I just ordered all of them.

1. Abit VT7 Motherboard (http://www.abit-usa.com/products/mb/products.php?categories=1&model=162)

2. Intel Pentium 4 530 processor 3.0E Ghz

3. Samsung 160GB SATA Hard Drive

4. Allied 400W ATX Power Supply

5. ATI Radeon 9600XT All in wonder 128MB'

6. 2 sticks of 512MB Corsair PC3200 RAM

7. Samsung 16X DVD Drive

8. Windows XP Media Center 2005 OS

9. Samsung 16X DVD+/-RW Double Layer DVD Burner

[XyZspineZyX]

I'm gonna buy these parts tomorrow to build my new PC next weekend.
What do you guys think about the parts I am getting?

I just ordered all of them.

1. Abit VT7 Motherboard (http://www.abit-usa.com/products/mb/products.php?categories=1&model=162)

2. Intel Pentium 4 530 processor 3.0E Ghz

3. Samsung 160GB SATA Hard Drive

4. Allied 400W ATX Power Supply

5. ATI Radeon 9600XT All in wonder 128MB'

6. 2 sticks of 512MB Corsair PC3200 RAM

7. Samsung 16X DVD Drive

8. Windows XP Media Center 2005 OS

9. Samsung 16X DVD+/-RW Double Layer DVD Burner

[KU_]

Looks nice.

[quillan]

I'm assuming you're getting these from Newegg, since that's where the links go.

IS7-E motherboard, Socket 478: $81
Pentium 4, 3.0 E Prescott, Retail: $185
ATI Radeon 9600XT, All in Wonder: $187
Windows XP Media Center, OEM: $128

My suggestions are slightly different. Unless you need a video card with a TV tuner built in, or are planning on capturing and encoding video, avoid the All in Wonder cards. Is that what you're going for, with the Media Edition operating system? If that's what you're planning, then this is fine. The Prescott processors are nice for encoding, and going with a better, but older, version of the card (9800 Pro AIW) was $254 instead.

Now, if this ISN'T what you're planning on, then I suggest the following instead:

1. Athlon 64 3000+ Winchester core Socket 939 CPU, OEM (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-103-499&depa=1): $155
Since this is a bare CPU, you'll need a heatsink , fan and such, so:
Alpha heatsink for Athlon 64, bare (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=35-112-006&depa=0): $30
Sunon 80mm fan (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=11-999-001&depa=0): $4.50
1 tube of Arctic Silver 5 thermal compound (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=35-100-007&depa=0): $7.59

2. Gigabyte GA-K8NF-9 motherboard, PCI-Express (http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=13-128-268&depa=1): $149

3. MSI GeForce 6600GT, 128meg PCI-Express (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-127-147&depa=1): $187

4. Windows XP Pro with SP2, OEM (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=37-102-153&depa=6): $147

This costs a little more than what you planned on, but it will perform a LOT better. The Prescotts are better at media encoding, but the Athlon 64s are no slouch at it either. You can use the Media Center edition if you want to instead. If you're planning on capturing video or playing TV through the computer, you'll either need to switch out the video card, or buy a separate video tuner card.

[XyZspineZyX]

Well I'm going for the whole video editing and importing thing.
I plan on putting a lot of my VHS tapes onto DVDs.

[XyZspineZyX]

I just put up the list of what I ordered.
It came to around $1000 with shipping and tax.

[KU_]

Looks good. But what about the case, and cooling?

[XyZspineZyX]

I already have a case.
And the power supply comes with a fan as does the processor right?
I also have a couple fans with the case already.

[KU_]

I hope your case is big enough. ANd yea, it should come with fans, but most of the time they are grabage.

[quillan]

If you bought a retail processor, then it comes with a heatsink and fan. If you bought an OEM processor, it's going to come without a heatsink, or a fan, or a warranty. And I think you might have a problem here. The model 530 Prescott is for Socket T, the LGA775 setup. The VT7 motherboard is for Socket 478. Did you order this (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-116-184&depa=1) or this (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-116-171&depa=1)? The first is NOT the one you need for that board. The second is the one on the one day sale at Newegg.

[octibon]

Hey quillan,
You seem very knowledgable in computer parts and such. Do you know any good quality (mostly for gaming) quality Micro ATX motherboards? Thanks

[NSAagent]

octibon for which processor? AMD or Intel?

quillan, would you suggest getting that cooling compound in conjuction with the heatsink? what would be the benefit, besides the obvious?

and why did you suggest Windows XP Pro as opposed to home?

[quillan]

NSA, have you ever built a computer before? Thermal compound is a paste like substance that goes in between the processor die and the heatsink. It allows heat transfer between the two, and fills up any spaces left by gaps due to position or imperfections in the surface of either. Every time I've seen a heatsink, it can either come like the processor does, in either a bare or a retail package. The retail package includes a fan and a small container of some thermal compound. When I was checking on Newegg, they were out of stock on the retail version of that Alpha heatsink, while they had the bare version. I own an Alpha heatsink myself (PAL8045, for Socket A), and I bought it in the bare version, so I can say from experience that it doesn't come with any thermal compound.

Arctic Silver is REALLY good. I've seen several test results, where Arctic Silver results in several degrees Celsius lower temperatures than the usual stuff you get. I've been using it myself, and that small tube will last me forever, because you just don't use that much. Just to give you an idea, I'm running an Athlon XP 2000+ processor on my computer, on an Abit motherboard. The board has a temperature sensor under the CPU socket, and I've got a software monitoring program that came with it, that will give me the various temp readings, voltage readings, and fan RPMs on the various components of the motherboard. Sunday, I got up and turned my computer on about 8 am. That computer was on all day long (played Civ 3 most of the day). Sunday evening, about 9 pm, my processor temperature was 39 C (102 F), while the system temp was 34 C (93 F), and room temperature was 24 C (75 F). From experience, that's a really good CPU temp for an Athlon processor of any type.

As far as Windows XP Pro vs Home, I think if you run a home network, you have to have Pro. At least, once upon a time, Microsoft was saying that XP Pro was necessary to join a domain with the computer. I can't find the feature comparison they used to have posted. The current one is here (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/howtobuy/choosing2.mspx). Based on that, there's no real reason for most people to need Pro. I don't know if MS changed the components included in Home, or they were lying the entire time. I'd believe either possibility.

[NSAagent]

quillan, thanks for clearing that up. i would've certainly looked over that. and to answer your question, i have never built one myself and am planning on doing so in the near future. for now i'm making a list of components i'd like to get. so far i'm well under budget.

as far as XP Home/Pro goes i never really knew that either, but i think i'll take my chances on Home.

[XyZspineZyX]

I got the Socket 478 processor from Microcenter.http://forums.ubi.com/images/smilies/16x16_smiley-wink.gif

[quillan]

Good, I was worried there. It would suck to waste $200.

[Tejo.hr]

Give AJ a few more weks and he'll be a hardcore PC gamer. http://forums.ubi.com/images/smilies/16x16_smiley-tongue.gif http://forums.ubi.com/images/smilies/16x16_smiley-wink.gif

[XyZspineZyX]

Actually if it doesn't get held up by the processor everything should be here by the end of Saturday and I can assemble on Sundayhttp://forums.ubi.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif

[NSAagent]

Aj, just what, exactly, are you gonna need a 160 GB hard drive for?

on second thought, nevermind, i don't want to know....

[XyZspineZyX]

I'm gonna do video editing and I'll have a bunch of games on therehttp://forums.ubi.com/images/smilies/16x16_smiley-surprised.gif

[NSAagent]

i'm gonna get two 80 GB HDs.

one for games and other apps, the other for music, videos, etc. files. the latter might be external too as i want to keep my porfolio and such on it too.

[octibon]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by NSAagent:
octibon for which processor? AMD or Intel?
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

AMD.

[quillan]

Go to Newegg (http://www.newegg.com), and on the left, click the link for Motherboards-AMD. On the new screen, on the left hand side, are your advance search options. It will allow you to pick on some dropdown boxes any number of filters you want to use, like board manufacturer, CPU socket, number of slots, etc. Down at the bottom is the filter for Form Factor. Pick MicroATX. If you want to filter the processor, do so as well. I see a number of good quality boards for both Socket A (Athlon XP processors) and Socket 754 (Athlon 64). There are none (yet) for Socket 939, but I am sure those will be coming. Personally, I'd recommend if you're going for the Socket A, go with the NForce 2 chipset. But that's just a personal preference on my part.

[octibon]

Is this a good motherboard?:

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-131-518&depa=1

Thanks

[quillan]

I'd recommend this one instead:

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-128-262&depa=1

It's by Gigabyte, so it's still a good quality board. It has two IDE controllers instead of one, so you've got the option of 4 EIDE devices instead of 2, assuming you can fit that many in the case. It still supports SATA if you're using those drives instead, has the same level of built in graphics/sound/ethernet, and supports 1.6ghz HyperTransport instead of 800 mhz. That probably won't make much difference now, but it will give you the best possible performance in the long run. I'm assuming you're planning on an easily portable computer for LAN parties?

[NSAagent]

octibon, are you merely going after the PCI-e interface on that board for that processor?

i'd also recommend quillan's suggestion.

for me personally, i'd want the socket 939, but that's me.

[quillan]

No Micro-ATX boards for Socket 939, yet.

[NSAagent]

oh i know that

that's what's dictating my choices...that's what i was getting at...sorry for the misunderstanding

[octibon]

I don't mean to bring back a dead thread, but I didn't want to start a new one. I'm getting serious about building a computer now and I just need a good motherboard and I think everything else will pretty much fall into place. There are so many mobos that it can get a bit intimidating. I think this component has been the only one really holding me back and I've spent hours looking for a one. I was wondering if these motherboards were any good:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813127187

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813128269

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131530

The main things I'm looking for are:

1) Supports PCI-E
2) Socket 939

If anyone could help, I'd greatly appreciate it.

[VTAssault]

I also have questions about updating my computer.


Right now, my specs go something like this.

AMD Athlon 1.05 Ghz processor
Sony CD-RW CRX160E
Asus DVD-Rom E608
Western Digital 40G HDD
ATI Radeon 7000 32mb AGP (*sniff* its horrible)
Standard 3 1/2 floppy drive
Linksys LNE100TX Fast Ethernet Adapter
VIA Rev 5 or later USB Universal Host Controller (thats what it says under my USB thing in Device Manager. says that twice also says USB root hub)
AMD MB (not sure what kind.


if you need to know anything else tell me.

Is there ANY way i could update this so that its powerful enough to run Pandora Tomorrow? Hopefully keeping it under $500. I dont need a case, but a power supply is probably necessary. I dont need a floppy as i can take it out of my current. My audio is built in.

i REALLY need to upgrade my computer. I have a Radeon 7000 32mb for goodness sake. 32 MB. Ive looked around before, but i never really find anything that suits me well, usually in the mobo and processory areas. Im really not into spending $500+ on a processor alone.

Edit: wow i didnt realize this was an old thread. Sorry about that. But still my message stands because its to late to not necropost (octibon)

[Spam Fisher]

Why is there such a hoo har about "necroposting". If the thread is still live then it can be contributed to no matter how old it is.

If someone posts a new thread about a previous topic they get pounced upon and if they "necropost" they get pounced upon. If the mods dont like "necroposting" then they should lock older threads or delete them entirely. Apologies for being off topic.

[quillan]

Well, this case isn't really bad, though I think it probably would have been better to start a new thread for it. What usually happens is that instead of posting a question, they drag up a year-old thread and add comments to it, comments which are meaningless a year later.

As to the most recent upgrade request, look here (http://www.anandtech.com/guides/showdoc.aspx?i=2475). Anandtech does periodic buyers guides on components, and their entry level guide has some really good recommendations cheap. Their entire entry level AMD Sempron recommendation is $598 in this guide.

Now, on the motherboard recommendation, I prefer the first one. There's no need to have an SLI board unless you intend on buying two matching single-slot video cards to go in it. As far as the third one goes, it's a good board, but there's really no need for a PCI-E X4 slot, unless that's the bastardized low-cost SLI alternative, and again that's worthless unless you're planning on buying two expensive video cards.