Help w/ New Computer Plz~

[2heaven]

Hi guys,

I was just going to buy a new computer and am currently researching what components to get. I know this thread gets a lot of questions like that but I really need to know what is good out there. This is my proposed set up:

CPU: Pentium 4 2.4C GHz w/ Hyper-Threading Technology 279
MB: ASUS P4P800-DLX Intel 865PE, 800MHz Dual DDR400 199
RAM: Samsung 512MB PC-3200 DDR400 SDRAM x2 115
VIDEO: ASUS V9480TVD GeForce4 Ti4800SE 128MB DDR VIVO 237
SOUND: Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 OEM 114
HDD: Western Digital 120GB w/ 8MB cache 168
CD-RW: LiteOn 52x24x52 OEM 59
DVD-ROM: LiteOn 16X OEM 47
MONITOR: Viewsonic P95f+ PerfectFlat 385
CASE: ??????

**All Canadian prices**

I don't know what case to get so if you guys could help with that, it would be awesome. I need to know if anyone knows any good places to get computer parts in Toronto ON.
There is also the issue with the RAM, alot of talk about Corsair and Kingston, but I don't find a lot of stores supply it. Is there a significant difference, and if there is what is it?

Oh, and also, I have not heard a lot about the Ti4800. Should I get that card, or is there a better alternative?

Love, Faith & Joy<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by 2heaven on 06/17/03 04:26 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[slvr_phoenix]

The motherboard that you chose comes with a 6-channel onboard audio system. You <i>could</i> buy the Audigy 2 ... or you could do what I'd probably do which is use the onboard audio and invest the money that you would have spent on the Audigy 2 to upgrade your graphics card. Just a thought.

As far as the RAM goes, Corsair and Kingston both offer memory modules that perform a bit better than the norm ... for a price. Corsair offers its XMS line and Kingston offers its HyperX line. Some people find it worth the price, some don't.

On to cases, it's really hard to suggest a case when we don't know what you're looking for in a case. My personal preference at the moment is towards the Antec Sonata. It's quiet, comes with a good power supply, and looks fairly stylish. Other people have other preferences of course, depending on the case's color, the size, the number of hard drive bays needed, what power supply comes with the case (or no supply at all if they plan on buying their own anyway), what layout the case has for extra fans, if the case has a window on the side, what materials the case is made out of, etc., etc. Basically there are so many good cases these days that we can finally be pretty picky over what features we want it to have.

"<i>Yeah, if you treat them like equals, it'll only encourage them to think they <b>ARE</b> your equals.</i>" - Thief from <A HREF="http://www.nuklearpower.com/daily.php?date=030603" target="_new">8-Bit Theater</A>

 

[slvr_phoenix]

Oh, and the GeForce4 Ti4800 is a pretty good performing card. Of course it's also been trimmed from the product cycle, since it is a bit old as far as nVidia is concerned. So it isn't the latest and greatest, but it also doesn't suck.

"<i>Yeah, if you treat them like equals, it'll only encourage them to think they <b>ARE</b> your equals.</i>" - Thief from <A HREF="http://www.nuklearpower.com/daily.php?date=030603" target="_new">8-Bit Theater</A>

 

[CaveInfiltrator]

try newegg.com....i think they serve our canadian neighbors! lol

ok, firstly, ASUS provides excellent onboard sound. and that deluxe mobo? yea, its Digital. like, really. has digital output for surround and dolby decoding. i seriously doubt youll notice a diff between that and the audigy. (dont know about enviromental stuff tho, i know my creative had that, but i put my creative gamer in my linux box and am using the onboard. its pretty good, and crystal clear)

now on to the CD-drive.

why not get the Lite-On combo drive? sure, its a 48x24x48x16x but like your really going to notice a diff between 48x write and 52x write. (must say i have the 52x but id give that up for a dvd) and its cheaper $65 american dollars on newegg...

other than that...sounds like a nice fast sys. but id def put the extra money from the sound card into a video card and some cas 2.0 memory. and get an ATI....maybe 9700 pro? get ATI....

BTW, doesn't that board support SATA? get the seagate 120GB SATA drive...its like 40 bucks more that that WD...

i mean hey...why not go for the extra juice? your building a rocket...give it all technology has to offer!


OSI, ISO, ITU-T, IETF, IEEE, WEP, 802.1X IPSec, ISAKMP, ATM, FR, 802.3, X.25, 802.11, 802.5, MPLS, RIP, OSPF...
Welcome to the acronym industry.<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by caveinfiltrator on 06/17/03 07:47 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Spitfire_x86]

Radeon 9700 (non-Pro) doesn't cost much, and it's much better than GeForce4 Ti4800SE

----------------
<b><A HREF="http://geocities.com/spitfire_x86" target="_new"> My Website</A></b>

<b><A HREF="http://geocities.com/spitfire_x86/myrig.html" target="_new"> My Rig</A></b>

 

[AMD_me]

Get an Abit IS7 or IC7 (I use IC7), DEFINITELY GET Corsair or Similar (HyperX, etc.) Low latency 2.0CAS memory. IT DOES WONDERS! Use onboard sound if all you are doing is playing games, it doesn't lag my games out at all and is very good to my ears on a 5.1 THx setup. I would also get a nice cooler, because with a good aircooler that chip can reach 3.5 GHz (Mine runs at 3.51GHz w/ an SLK-900u and a 60CFM 92mm fan.) You could get either a Zalman CNPS-7000(Al)Cu or an SLK900u.

<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=24302" target="_new">My System</A>
My NEW, Breaking 23k 3DMark2001 Score: <A HREF="http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=6597084" target="_new">http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=6597084</A>

 

[2heaven]

Thanks a lot for the posts guys! Any more people with more suggestions?

Also, I looked up newegg.com, but it seems that they don't ship up here.

"Does Newegg.com ship internationally?
Newegg.com does not ship internationally. At this time we only ship within the United States and Puerto Rico. "

Anyways, let's see what it looks like now:

CPU: Pentium 4 2.4C GHz w/ Hyper-Threading Technology 279
MB: ASUS P4P800-DLX Intel 865PE, 800MHz Dual DDR400 199
RAM: Samsung 512MB PC-3200 DDR400 SDRAM x2 115
VIDEO: ATI Radeon 9700 PRO 128 MB 419
SOUND: Onboard Sound
HDD: Western Digital 120GB w/ 8MB cache 160
CD-RW/DVD-ROM: LiteOn 48X CD-RW/16X DVD-ROM Combo 88
MONITOR: Viewsonic P95f+ PerfectFlat 385
CASE: ??????

**All Canadian prices**

I'm still not sure about what to do with the RAM. Corsair costs almost twice as much as the Samsung for the same amount of memory

Love, Faith & Joy

 

[Badger86]

newegg does not ship to Canada, much to my iritation. The three sites I use are: ncix.com, anitec.ca and atic.ca... they are all based in vancouver, my home town, but I believe they also ship, maybe not anitec...

For your case I would go for a generic Chieftech, many other companies put their names on similar cases, aluminum 21" case. It's roomy and well built and is common enough to probably be found locally.

For $160 get the seagate 80GB Serial ATA HD. For the monitor, I know it is $100 more but I hear great things about the Samsung 900NF 19" ($470), when I get the money that is what I will get.

For cooling the Zalman CNPS7000-ALCU($63) is much lighter then the all copper version, wont strain the mobo as much, and is almost as good, plus is very quiet.

Finally, I am not sure what the extras are but you may want to find out if the deluxe P4P800 is worth the extra.

 

[2heaven]

Any more suggestions ppl?

Love, Faith & Joy

 

[slvr_phoenix]

Now that you're looking at an ATi Radeon 9700 Pro for a video card, I'll suggest the Sapphire Atlantis Radeon 9700 Pro Ultimate. It's just as good as any other Radeon 9700 Pro for performance, but it comes with a fanless heat sink which means no fan noise from the video card.

Granted, you could also just buy a fanless heatsink yourself to put on a Radeon 9700 Pro, but that voids the waranty, where as the Sapphire Atlantis Ultimate doesn't. It's just a thought.

And if you're into silly gadgets that serve no purpose other than looking cool, check out the <A HREF="http://www.matrixorbital.com/products/MX2xx.htm" target="_new">Matrix Orbital</A> drive bay LCD panels. They add style to any case.

"<i>Yeah, if you treat them like equals, it'll only encourage them to think they <b>ARE</b> your equals.</i>" - Thief from <A HREF="http://www.nuklearpower.com/daily.php?date=030603" target="_new">8-Bit Theater</A>

 

[xeenrecoil]

Sup

Im happy to see that you decided to go with the Asus mobo its a excellent choice.

As far as the CPU goes i would buy the fastest CPU you can possibly afford, the 2.6 isnt much more and you can OC it to about 2.8 without errors with the factory cooling, Zoooooooooooooooooooooooooom!

As for the video card i would suggest an Asus card no matter what model, i personally have the v9280S-tvd and it is a monster, they have it set up to be 20% faster then a standard ti4200 solution from the factory, AND its OCable even more with the utility they give you with the card, Asus am teh win!

As far as sound goes the onboard sound is excellent i wouldnt buy a sound card its a waste of money that you could be spending on something else.

As far as the ram goes Samsung is fine and with that in mind, take a look at http://www.buyaib.com
i dont know if they ship to canada but if they do you wont be dissapointed with their ram they sell OCed ram and you can get the CL-2 option for $15 more per module, and the ram comes with a free copper heatsink, and lifetime replacement warranty.

As far as the Hard drive goes get a Seagate Barraccudda, they are the fastest drives on the market, their latency times are the best, they are always anywhere from 0.5 to 1.0ms faster then everyone else, on a single calculation basis that isnt much but consider how many times you access your hard drive over the course of a day, it adds up. there are normally two models of the barraccudda, one is the standard model then they have the high performance model, normally designated by 23a, and 26a as the last two numbers, take a look at this and familiarize yourself with their modeling scheme it makes a big difference on performance. I suggest getting the 8MB version if you can afford it, however the 2mb version is fine you wont have any trouble with it.

As far as monitor i suggest a Sceptre Dragon Eye or Diamond Flat, they come with a 5 year...yes 5 year warranty, they are professional grade monitors, you wont be dissapointed.

Case...there can be only ONE...ThermalTake Xaser 2000 or 3000, ThermalTake is the best there is when it comes to cases...o and btw Toms agrees with me

Repeat after me, PriceWatch is my friend http://www.pricewatch.com , heheh

I hope this is helpfull, i always try and give as much help as i can.

XeeN