Complete Overhaul.. Opinions?

[Hawkeye32]

Currently running:
AMD AthlonXP 2000+
Asus POS Mobo
Radeon 9500Pro/9700
3x256 133 DDR Ram
Enermax 350 Watt PSU

Current Wishlist Build:
A64 3200+
Chaintek ZNF3-250
eVGA Geforce 6800GT
OCZ PC3200 Dual Channel Platinum ELR 2 Kit

Now then keeping in mind im a canadian I've got a few questions.
1: The motherboard there are 2 flavors of Chaintek boards that ive seen and one costs about $159 and the other $239. Any idea what im paying the extra $80 for on the higher price board when they seem to have nearly the same er attributes?

2: Memory - Any opinions on my choice of memory?

3: PSU - Im thinking that an upgrade is in order and ive heard good things about the Fortron Source on the boards but my dad suggested a Vantec so im not sure im thinking around 500+ Watts.

4: Cooling - Fan suggestions, im not big up on the whole cooling scene and im not really planning to overclock my cpu but if anyone can suggest a good fan/heatsink that would enable it I would appreciate it.

5: Any canadians out there that know good places to find any of the these components at good prices. Compared to the prices at Newegg all the canadian sites i've seen offer horrible prices but since newegg doesn't seem to ship to canada im sol so far.

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Hawkeye32 on 09/15/04 01:06 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[quagmire]

you dont need dual channel ram for a s754 chip it will only run in sigle channel. its not that big of a preformance increase/decrease anyway cause the controler is built in the chip

 

[Vapor]

1: The motherboard there are 2 flavors of Chaintek boards that ive seen and one costs about $159 and the other $239. Any idea what im paying the extra $80 for on the higher price board when they seem to have nearly the same er attributes?

The cheaper one is great. The more expensive one has better sound, LAN, RAID, has Firewire and a 6-in-1 card reader (and a better color scheme, IMO).

2: Memory - Any opinions on my choice of memory?

Crucial Ballistix. They come in 1 stick packs (up to 512MB a stick), get the quantity you need (I recommend a gig). If you want to use them in a later build, they will undoubtedly run in dual channel (so no worries).

3: PSU - Im thinking that an upgrade is in order and ive heard good things about the Fortron Source on the boards but my dad suggested a Vantec so im not sure im thinking around 500+ Watts.

Go with Fortron. I'm using one right now and have had zero problems. The 530W version is *the* best bang-for-your buck for hi-po PSUs (because it costs less and is the 2nd best [behind PC Power and Cooling's 510W Deluxe]).

4: Cooling - Fan suggestions, im not big up on the whole cooling scene and im not really planning to overclock my cpu but if anyone can suggest a good fan/heatsink that would enable it I would appreciate it.

Stock is good.

5: Any canadians out there that know good places to find any of the these components at good prices. Compared to the prices at Newegg all the canadian sites i've seen offer horrible prices but since newegg doesn't seem to ship to canada im sol so far.

Sorry, I'm an American...no knowledge of this.

Maxtor disgraces the six letters that make Matrox.

 

[pat]

For my parts, in canada,I mostly shop at www.ncix.com or www.anitec.ca.

-Always put the blame on you first, then on the hardware !!!

 

[Hawkeye32]

Its strange, I can't for the life of me find any Fortron Source power supplies on any of the sites I check. I must be missing something.

Anyway thanks for the suggestions.

 

[endyen]

Fortron does not sell to Canada. Truth is, the better enermax, and sparkle psus, are rebranded fortons, so there you go. I buy a lot from <A HREF="http://www.anitec.ca/" target="_new">http://www.anitec.ca/</A> Their prices seem high compared to newegg, but are pretty close, when you do the conversion.
As far as ram goes, I am running cheapo Samsung ram from anitec. It OCs to 220, and gives cas 2.5 At less than $100can, it's reasonable.