Since we are talking gaming systems here

[Slava]

Here's the one I am putting together tomorrow because my P4T-E mobo died 😱( last week. This is a temporary solution. I'd like to hear a few opinions if this system will last me a year or 18 months. {Prices are US$, no shipping cost}

<font color=red>CASE: </font color=red> AOpen Full Server Tower w/5 x 5.25" bays (external), 7 hard drive bays internal, floppy drive bay, 7 expansion slots (from the old system)
<font color=red>COOLING: </font color=red> 3x80mm Antec 80MMBB fans, 2x60mm Vantec TF6025 ThermoFlow fans and 2x80mm AOC FC-2000 PCI-slot system blowers - $52.00
<font color=red>POWER SUPPLY:</font color=red> Antec "True550" 550Watt, Dual Fan-cooled AMD/P4 Ready ATX Power Supply - Retail - Price: $ 109.89
<font color=red>MOTHERBOARD:</font color=red> Abit IC7-MAX3 Intel875 Sk478 400/533/800 FSB Dual SATA RAID, DUAL DDR 400, AGP 8X, USB 2.0 Audio/Gigabit LAN ATX MB - Retail - Price: $ 179.89
<font color=red>RAM:</font color=red> Kingston 1024MB Kit ( 2x512MB ) HyperX ( KHX4000K2/1G ) PC4000 Dual Channel DDR 500Mhz CL3 - Retail - Price: $ 309.00
<font color=red>CPU:</font color=red> Intel Pentium 4 2.4A Northwood @ 2.9 GHz with stock cooling on Cooler Master PTK-001 Premium Thermal Compound (from the old system but soon to be upgraded to <font color=red>P4 3.0</font color=red> Northwood with Hyper-Threading and O/Ced)
<font color=red>IDE CABLES:</font color=red> 2 (two) x Antec 26 inch Cobra A26 ( Black Color ) ATA133 IDE Round Cable - Retail Price: $ x 2 = $26
<font color=red>VGA:</font color=red> eVGA FX5700 Ultra @ 545/1.03GHz (from the old system but soon to be replaced with a <font color=red>6800 Ultra</font color=red>)
<font color=red>HARD DRIVE:</font color=red> 2 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 120Gb @ 7200 RPM (from the old system)
<font color=red>SOUND:</font color=red> SoundBlaster Live! X-Gamer 5.1 Surround (from the old system) hooked up to ONKYO $3600 5-Speaker Dolby Surround Sound system
<font color=red>FLOPPY:</font color=red> TEAC (from the old system)
<font color=red>CD-ROM:</font color=red> Toshiba 52X (from the old system)
<font color=red>CD-RW:</font color=red> Yamaha SafeBurn 24x12x40 (from the old system)
<font color=red>KEYBOARD:</font color=red> Logitech Elite USB/ PS/2 104keys -RETAIL - $32
<font color=red>MOUSE:</font color=red> Microsoft IntelliMouse Optical (from the old system)
<font color=red>MONITOR:</font color=red> 21" ViewSonic G220fb True Flat, Graphics Series (from the old system)

<b><font color=green>TOTAL COST so far:</font color=green> 708.78</b>

<font color=green>"The creative powers of English morphology are pathetic compared to what we find in other languages." (Steven Pinker, The Language Instinct)</font color=green> 😎

 

[entium]

Where are you getting your parts from! hook us up lol

Really good prices

System looks good though

Way not try AMD 64, nice chips alot less money too.

I prefer Intel just about to get a AMD 64 though just to test it out

 

[MrPanther0]

I think hes going intel again cause he needs to use his current CPU.

I would suggest finding ram that can do PC4000 speeds at atleast CL2.5.

What cooling will you use for the 3.0?

 

[HardWareBoss]

Looks good. I would use Abit IS7 Mobo. Unless you need the features of Canterwood.

 

[Slava]

Where are you getting your parts from! hook us up lol

Well, the prices I posted are LIST prices at <A HREF="http://www.essencompu.com" target="_new">http://www.essencompu.com</A>. The prices I will pay them tomorrow will be less since I know these guys. But if you buy from them you will pay what I posted.

I think hes going intel again cause he needs to use his current CPU

Correct. I see no need to get a faster CPU at this point. Will stay with the 2.4A for a while. It overclocks really well.

I would suggest finding ram that can do PC4000 speeds at atleast CL2.5

IMHO Kingston HyperX DDR500 is the best memory in existence. And according to <A HREF="http://www.tomshardware.com/motherboard/20030812/ddr500-01.html" target="_new">THG review</A> memory timings have become irrelevant as in they offer no tangible performance gain.

What cooling will you use for the 3.0?

I will cross that bridge when I come to it . Noise is not a problem for me. I will get something really powerful. There are plenty of choices. Also, the good thing about my PC case is that it is made of very thick metal and when closed I cannot hear any of the fans. Additionally, though my sound card is rather old it still does the job extremely well and hooked up to a big professional grade amplifier/water-cooled speakers I could not hear the fans even if I tried :lol:

<font color=green>"The creative powers of English morphology are pathetic compared to what we find in other languages." (Steven Pinker, The Language Instinct)</font color=green> 😎 <P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Slava on 06/07/04 00:11 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Slava]

I would use Abit IS7 Mobo. Unless you need the features of Canterwood

Ya, I hear you. It is $100 cheaper too. But after much deliberation I decided to go with MAX3 because of Secure-IDE and a promising-looking mobo cooling system. I heard a few ppl complain about MAX3 mobo fans but I am hoping for the best. In the worst case scenario I can take it back and get something else because I know the vendor.


<font color=green>"The creative powers of English morphology are pathetic compared to what we find in other languages." (Steven Pinker, The Language Instinct)</font color=green> 😎