id appreciate your input _ I DID IT!!

[dabadone]

hello all
im intersted in ordering parts. ive had my eye on pricewatch but i dont know brand names. so here is what im interested in

Processor -

$180 Intel P4 2.0GHz Socket 478 512k (400MHz)
http://www.pcboost.com/store/viewitem.a ... oduct=2188

$120 Intel Xeon 2Ghz Processor with 256KB L2 Cache and 400Mhz FSB
http://store.yahoo.com/justdeals/inxe2gprwi25.html

Harddrive -

$47 40 GB E.I.D.E. DRIVES 5400 RPM, 8.9 ms, 2 MB, Ultra-ATA/ 100 ( OEM, WHITE LABEL BY MDT , 8 Months warranty from us)

http://www.upgrade-solution.com/detail. ... 57&add=yes

RAM -

$54 D.V.C 512MB 64Mx64 PC1600 DDR RAM

http://www.dvcentury.com/Merchant2/merc ... e=DDR512MB

Video Card -

$130 ATI 100-436006 Radeon 9200 128MB DDR TV OUT AGP8X/4X -

http://www.compuhq.com/ati10ra9212d.html


i have my heart set on a P4, but i dont know jack about mother boards or where to score a good priced one. i dont need a huge HD, so i chose a 40gb. i do want a nice video card and from what ive found here, radeon is the way to go. i dont want to spend more than $200 on one.

id appreciate a thumbs up or thumbs down and any & all suggestions.

[tazdevl]

www.pricewatch.com if you weren't aware of it.

Three reliable merchants with great service (which is tough to find these days)
www.newegg.com
www.mwave.com
www.monarchcomputer.com

Way to check merchants out before you order.
www.resellerratings.com

Few things... for a few bucks more ($185) you can pick up a Retail 2.4GHZ P4 C stepping with a 800MHZ bus. These processors overclock on average to 3.2GHZ, have a faster bus = more performance, and hyperthreading which basically means that it tricks Windows XP/2K into thinking that you have a multiprocessor system (has to be the Pro version of the OS)... essentially you can multitask with CPU intensive applications with ease. So you could run a backup of your system, burn a CD and encode a MP3 at the same time. Very nice thing to have.

There are great deals all the time on hard drives. Look in the hot deals section of the CDRLabs forum.

For example I saw a deal on slickdeals for a 160GB Maxtor Hard drive for $80 after rebates. Don't need a hard drive eh? You say that now, until you start adding apps, a few videos, some MP3s etc... it's very enabling to have a large hard drive. I picked up a 180GB drive... 6 weeks later it's 75% full.

Here's a couple deal sites. There are more in a sticky thread at the Top of the Hot Deals forum.
www.slickdeals.net
www.fatwallet.com
www.techbargains.com

Motherboards... I'd look at an Abit IC7 for $137 @ Newegg, great deal for an awesome motherboard. If that's too much I'd look at the Abit IS7 or the Asus P4P800/400 can't remember which # it is. You want a motherboard that takes full advantage of that CPU.

Memory, you want PC2700/PC3200 (preferably the latter). www.corsair.com or try the merchants listed above. I'd say stick with Corsair, Kingston, Samsung, TwinMos... most other brands you run into quality and compatibility issues. There's a deal on slickdeals for 512MB of Crucial PC2700 for $43. Take a look but you might want to move quick. A lot of these deals expire within a few days. I would recommend going with PC3200 though. PC1600 is a waste of your time. Though at a minimum, I'd say go with 512MB.

Graphics cards... I'd look at a Radeon 9600 not a 9200. 9200 won't do well with newer games. You could also look @ the NVIDIA 5600 based cards, but the 9600 offers better performance at a cheaper price.

Lastly, one thing most people forget about. Power Supply. You need a decent one or your system will have a fair number of stability issues. I'd recommend an Antec PSU, preferrably 380W or above. If you skimp or go with a generic brand, you can have major problems, burn out components etc.. All the merchants I listed above carry PSUs.

[dabadone]

wow!!

thanks a ton for your input
ive been hearing that a good power supply is necessary...
i did get all the products i posted from pricewatch.

where can i find: Retail 2.4GHZ P4 C stepping with a 800MHZ
that is a motherboard and cpu combo right??
that sounds gooood

what are your feeling on celeron and amd??

my buddy insisted i buy his celeron 1.7 but didnt

[tazdevl]

Celeron is a POS and I wouldn't take one if you gave it to me.

What I mentioned is just the CPU (2.4GHZ P4 C with HT and 800MHZ bus), motherboard is the Abit IC7 (little further down the post). Total, you get both those out the door for ~$310-320 shipped (no tax if you're outside CA). All three of those merchants listed (monarch, newegg and mwave) have those two parts in stock. Also be sure to get the RETAIL processor, not the OEM, it's a few bucks more but you get a 3 year warranty and a halfway decent heatsink/fan vs a 30 day warranty and no heatsink/fan.

I'd honestly go Intel right now, getting a 2.4GHZ part and depending on memory (this is why I recommended getting decent PC3200/3500 DDR) overclocking the CPU to 3.2GHZ with hyperthreading (HT) is one hell of a deal.

There are decent deals on the AMD Athlon XP 2500 Barton core which OCs to about a Athon XP 3000-3200 for less than $100, ~$95 I think. Motherboard I'd say go for a Asus A7N8X Deluxe (has good built in sound and a NIC - for broadband). Still need to get PC3200 memory @ a minimum. You need to get a solid heatsink though, I'd recommend a Thermalright SLK800 and a Panaflo H1A 80MM fan (good balance between quiet and performance).

Hard drives, I'd seriously consider getting one over 100GB. At a minimum, don't get anything less than $80. Apps keep getting bigger, and as you get into things further, you find you always require more space. That Maxtor deal I brought up is a solid deal for a good drive.

I've been running AMD CPUs for a while and things have gotten to a point where Intel prices have come down and their overall CPUs and motherboard chipsets are just rock solid and a great value.

PSU, get an Antec, cheap and good quality.

Here's a roundup of 13 power supplies.
http://www17.tomshardware.com/howto/20030609/index.html

Here's a 4 way roundup.
http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.html?i=1774

[TheWizard]

I recommend Maxtor, Western Digital, or Seagate for a hard drive. If the vendor doesn't specify which drive it is, don't buy it. I also recommend name brand RAM only; doesn't have to be Corsair or Kingston or Crucial, it can be any major brand including, but not limited to: Samsung, Nanya, Infineon, Winbond, NEC, Kingmax, Micron, Corsair, Kingston.

Finally, if you don't mind ordering from different vendors and want to save even more money, do it eBay. The keys to finding great deals on eBay is extensive searching and patience.

[tazdevl]

Buying new components on eBay isn't the best idea. You run into warranty, customer service issues and in most cases for recently released parts, there is no benefit in terms of pricing. Many of the folks on eBay aren't authorized resellers, hence the warranty issue. It's a great place to find used components like tape backup drives, file servers etc... though.

Regarding memory, the brands I mentioned have the greatest compatibility with most motherboards. You get into Nanya, Winbond, NEC (don't think they make DDR), OCZ (utter crap) and Infineon... even Kingston in some cases. Geil is OK but there are compatibility issues with them because they heavily OC their RAM.

Here's a memory roundup that touches upon compatibility with Intel's latest chipset. The 875 (Canterwood, on the Abit IC7) and 865 (Springdale).
http://www.anandtech.com/memory/showdoc.html?i=1828

Here's a motherboard roundup as well.
http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.html?i=1831

As you can see even some of the more popular brands run into compatibility issues.

Straight up if you want zero issues, buy Corsair, Crucial comes in a close second.

[TheWizard]

I never had a problem buying new hardware on eBay. Just be cautious and read ALL the text on the auction page. Make sure you know what you are getting and make sure the seller is reputable. If you want 100% warranty intact then make sure you buy NEW, SEALED hardware only. If the seal is not broken, the manufacturer will have no problem fulfilling the warranty. Some manufacturers are great and they'll honor any warranty, even if you didn't buy it in a retail box. You'll have the most luck finding new, sealed hard drives, processors, and motherboards on eBay. RAM is often sold in OEM packages on eBay, but it's possible to find new, sealed Crucial or Kingston memory on eBay. Don't be hesitant about buying new OEM RAM, make sure it's new and make sure on the auction page the seller mentions a lifetime warranty, even if it is through the manufacturer. Better yet, get a picture of the RAM and look specifically at the stickers on the RAM. If there are no stickers, the RAM's manufacturer probably won't honor the warranty. If the sticker is intact and it says something like "WARRANTY VOID IF REMOVED" then you know the warranty is still good...just don't remove the sticker when you receive the RAM.

[dabadone]

thanks for all the info, you guys are really helping!!

so here is what i narrowed it down to:

motherboard: Intel D845GEBV2L (HT) Video/LAN 533FSB DDR (P4-478)

processor: Intel P4 478 2.4 GHz 800 FSB (HT) (Retail Box-w-fan)

i also am about to order a case from colorcases.com
they offer a few power supplies, how is the 500W colorcase dual fan p4...they are askin $25. sounds good to me

[tazdevl]

Couple comments... the motherboard you're thinking about won't allow you to take full advantage of the processor, namely Hyperthreading and the faster bus on the CPU. I don't think that motherboard has support for 800MHZ P4s. So you're basically out the starting gate limping along already.

Here's the specs from Intel. A lot of merchants, even the good ones, get the specs wrong.
http://www.intel.com/design/motherbd/bv2/

I would say go for the Abit IS7. It's gotten great reviews and comes in @ $109 @ Newegg. Has bult in sound and NIC. Want to get 2 sticks of 256MB PC3200 as a minimum.

Reviews
http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=NDgw

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.html?i=1831

Video card... you can get a ATI Radeon 9600 Pro based card for under $200. Should be futureproof for quite some time. Also you can overclock the hell out of it and get some solid performance increases. Assuming you have good airflow in your case.

Never heard of that PSU. As I recommended above, I'd go name brand if I were you. You could pick up a Enermax 365 $46, Antec True 380 $70. More power isn't necessarily better if it isn't clean power. You want to mimize voltage fluctuations, cheap PSU's don't do that and even a poor quality higher powered PSU can cause as many fluctuations as a cheap one that has less power.

[dabadone]

ok, it looks like i am going to go w/ the p4 478 2.4 and the abit IS7 (but it is RAID/audio, will this affect me??) and the radeon 9600 pro.

and i will chk into the power supply

thanks for the help, i really appreciate it

[tazdevl]

NP, I was once where you were. More than happy to help.

Raid won't be an issue. The board still has 2 IDE ports (support for 4 devices) and a floppy connector. Nice thing is that if you decide to go RAID in the future, you have the capability.

Just to confirm, you want P4 2.4C 800MHZ FSB w/HT. I think Newegg dropped in price recently too $178 shipped for the retail version. That's a $7 drop from a day or two ago.

[tazdevl]

Here's a roundup of ATI Radeon based cards. If you go to the second page, you can see that my comment regarding the 9600 Pro and overclocking is quite true. Performance is quite good as well.

http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/rad ... ire-2.html

[tazdevl]

Also, I forgot to mention, you don't have to run those Serial ATA ports as RAID, you can always plug a couple drives in there too.

[dabadone]

so after all the research and help offered here
i just finished the purchase


Asus P4P800-VM 865G u-ATX AudioVGA/LAN (865PE Springdale 800/533 FSB)



Intel P4 478 2.4 GHz 800 FSB (HT)



ATi Radeon 9600 Pro 128 MB 4x/8x AGP



now i just need HD & RAM (i think im going to do sdram) and a few other loose ends

thanks to all who helped

[dabadone]

im diggin this HD

http://www.bestbuy.com/detail.asp?e=112 ... 1&scat=512

it says "Average Latency
Not provided by manufacturer "
and i know that this has to due w/ speed

[tazdevl]

Congrats, you have a solid system.

Drive is fine. I'm sure there are better deals out there though. Don't worry about the latency. Might want to check out the Hot Deals Forum and take a look at the sticky thread at the top of the page, might be a good deal in there or posted in one of the weekly specials at the major retailers.

What kind of RAM did you get?

[dabadone]

i havent gotten any RAM yet, my buddy works at circuit city and he was tellin me he can get it for me. waiting for a good deal (not sdram)

i also got the enermax 365 power supply.

hey taz, i dont know what kind of music you listen to but go here:

db.etree.org/eugenius86

if ya see anything ya like lemme know and i will send it to ya for helping me out.