My System, Suggestions?

[JustysRule]

AMD Athlon 3400+ Socket 754 1MB Cache

Antec Mini Towercase w/ silent 350W PS??

Cheap CD-R/DVD-Rom combo

2x WD Caviar SATA drives w/ Raid 0

Corsair XMS memory 512MB PC3200

Cheap 17" LCD Monitor

Motherboard w/ integrated video and audio, raid, 2x SATA.

It will never be used for gaming, just burning cds, doing school work (going to school for mechanical engineering, possible need of 3d rendering programs??), etc. I'm building it for school this year. I'm keeping it under 900 bucks. I was looking for suggestions for a motherboard. I was thinking mabye some integrated graphics card, if not, I'd pick up a Geforce 5200 w/ CATV or something so I could use it for my TV as well. Also mabye a suggestion for a Power Supply?

 

[pat]

well, just get a Soltek k8an2e-gr at new egg fo 90$. the only thing it doesnt have is firewire. I have it here, running stable and fast with my 3000+..I'm almost jealous at you with the 3400+...I run RAID0 SATA with 2 seagate on the nvidia sata controller and they are fast! WD are good drives, but Seagate has a 5 years warranty. That why I choose them.This mobo has onboard sound, USB 2.0, LAN but no video...just get a ati all in wonder 9600 with if you have enough money. Great card with TV tuner and video capture. Good to play DVDs too and other multimedia stuff. I have the AIW9600XT here and no problems at all for everything I throw at it.

Why dont you just get a dvd burner instead of a combo drive??? it does all you neer from cd burning to playing DVD as well as burning them!! Great for backup!


thermaltake make good silent PSU as well as Zalman, Antec and some other. I use a Thermaltake here and very pleased with it.

I'm almost tempted to tell you to get a 3200+ if you run short with money. My 3000+ put to shame a p4c 2.8 Ghz, so it it not a weak CPU. Imagine the 3400+...do you really need all that power if you dont plan to play game? I dont think so.

So, my recommendation would be:
Soltek board
3200+
AIW 9600
Corsair value RAM 512 megs
DVD burner, such as the benq 1620
2 at least 80 gigs SATA HDD if you want RAID0
and a good case and PSU.
You'll need a floppy for RAID drivers to install at Windows installation (press f6 to install third partie SCSI or RAID drivers..)

I dont know how much that will cost you but you'll have a really well balanced system to play with for many years...

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

 

[endyen]

I will agree with Pat about the 3200+, though for a different reason. The 1 meg of cache is not all that usefull. With the odmc, main memory is very low latency, so if you are going to get a 2.2 ghz chip, why pay more.
The enermax psu I use is actually made by fortron. Since thier own label is cheaper (not available where I am though) that would be my recommendation.
I have found that Abit makes best quality boards, and so if (when) I build another 754 board, I will use thier new and farly inexpensive <A HREF="http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-127-190&depa=0" target="_new">http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-127-190&depa=0</A> board.

 

[JustysRule]

Ok, so you guys are suggesting that a 3200+ w/ 512kb cache is more reasonable? That doesn't sound bad. Now my question is I see all these oem notebook proecessors on new egg much cheaper. Whats the difference? Can I use them?

 

[pat]

usually, they have a lower wattage and voltage requirement. Doesnt have a fan too. If you dont plan to overclock, then it doesnt worth it.


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

 

[pat]

That could be a good board, but it only have 2 SATA headers, so rather limiting. On my soltek, the array use the 2 nvidia controller and the 200gb maxtor is connected on the Promise SATA controller. both burners are on their own IDE channel to have faster disc-to-disc copy one being slave to a WD HDD.

But if you dont plan to much drive, then it is 5$ less than the soltek, has firewire and should be good. But I'll buy a Soltek again if I have to build another A64 config

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