System build: revised specs

[Merlin]

Hi,
This is the spec i've decided on for my system, if anybody sees any glaring errors, ommissions or stupid mistakes, please tell me!

AMD Athlon XP 2500+ (Retail)
Abit NF7-S Rev 2.0
TwinMOS PC3200 DDR 512MB
LiteOn LTR-52327S 52x/32x/52x CD-RW
LiteOn 16x DVD-ROM
Maxtor SATA 120Gb 8Mb Cache
Coolermaster Centurion ATX
Enermax EG365AX-VE(G)(FMA) 350w PSU
Samsung 3.5" Silver Floppy Drive
MSI GeForce 4 MX440
NEC 15" TFT (Refurb)
Coolermaster Q Alloy Keyboard
Logitech MX300
Coolermaster 5.25" Front Bezel
Coolermaster 5.25" Front Bezel

Thanks,
Merlin

[Ethos]

Looks good to me, apart from... Gf4 mx440?

Also get two sticks of 256meg PC3200 rather than one 512meg stick so you can run them in dual channel!

Apart from that seems decent enough!

Ethos

..... *cough* antec truepower *cough*

[Merlin]

*cough* expensive *cough !!

[TiG]

Personally i'd buy the 465 version of the enermax rather than the 365, definitely 2 sticks of 256 instead of 1 512mb, and if you are going mx440 why not go for the intergrated Graphics port (NF7M) and get 1 gig of memory?.

TiG

[Merlin]

ive put 1 512 stick in because i'd like to put 1Gb in eventually, just not right now! 350w seems like enough to me, am i really likely to use 450w? and i decided that i'd rather have an nf7-s and a separate gfx card.

[Austin]

No need for a retail AMD CPU, an OEM with a decent cooler like Volcano 11+ is a MUCH better idea. Getting 512MB now in order to add another 512MB and then enable DUal Channel is fine in theory as you only lose 5%ish in perf by not using Dual Channel ... however it is a very good idea to buy 2 sticks at the same time to use Dual Channel, buying another stick of TwinMOS PC3200 in 3-12 months time may not be good enough. I'd say buy 2x256MB now and get the DC boost and when 1GB proves useful sell the 2x256MB and get 2x512MB ... you may even get faster RAM, better latency or DDR-II by the time 1GB proves truly useful.

350W from a good brand like Enermax should be more than enough for you sure but a 400W one should cost little more and will ensure it doesn't become a limiting factor so it makes better long term sense. 15" TFT vary a lot esp older models. You should be certain the native res suits you and if you plan to game or watch movies you really want to ensure it has 24bit colour (not 16bit) and 25ms response time (pref 20ms).

The MX440 is an abysmal choice considering how much better the Rad9000-9200 and GF-FX5200 are. Even then gaming perf will be pretty dire, the gfx card is easily the most vital part when it comes to gaming. Seriously an XP2500+ o/c'ed to XP3200+ with an MX440 will get blown away in games by a Duron with £70 GF4TI4200, please don't skimp on the gfx card. I'd rec the GF4TI4200 as there's nothing near that price that can touch it, Rad9600PRO is a good card if you can afford to pay the extra. BTW a GF4TI4200 64MB is a much better idea than a 256MB GF-FX5200 or Rad9200 so don't be fooled by that one either. Unless games are very unimportant I'd seriously suggest you use 256MB RAM and spend a little more on the gfx card, unless you want your PC crippled for games give the gfx card priority over RAM, CPU, SATA HD, 7200-8 HD etc.

BTW why aren't you considering a DVD Writer? Now that many drives can do + and - it takes the worry away. not only that but you can read CDs/DVDs, write CDs/DVDs, rewrite CDs/DVDs all with the one unit. Since on-the-fly copying makes no sense it seems strange not to have the option of 7 times the capacity of a CD for media that now costs £1. I'd rec the £90ish NEC ND1300A myself.

[TiG]

Few points...

Retail CPU, 3 years warranty rather than 1yr might be worth it if Merlin is keeping the machine for a while. I wouldn't worry about the perf drop for the moment, but there is no way in the world he can put ddrII in a current MB. No way it would work i'm afraid. Its a big stigma with dual channel ram that you need to buy from same batch, this is complete bull. As long as the memory is of the same density, (chips per side etc) the system won't know the difference.

I agree with austin, with the cost difference i'd rather pay for that little extra on the power side and get a slightly beefier power supply. Just for safety sake.

I'm not sure i agree with Austin on the DVD writer, although i've just aquired one for work. But i am doing a lot of large DB backups at present.

TiG

[Merlin]

thanks for all the feedback.

As gaming really isn't important to me, i'm going to stick with the GF4. I chose it because it was cheap and functional, not for gaming. As long as it works, i'm fine with that.

I will, however, consider upping my budget to get a better monitor, maybe a 17".

The retail CPU stays though, as i have no intention of overclocking.

[evildoc614]

i say save your self 10bucks and drop the floppy... its really not needed =)

[blockers]

Why not get 2x256mb of the same ram. Using dual channel. Then buy another 512mb later, and still make use of the dual channel and have 1gb of RAM at the end?

[Austin]

Retail CPU does have 3 years but what do you think an XP2500+ is going to be worth in 6-12 months let alone 3 years. I think 1 year is plenty enough, if it dies you can buy a faster replacement but dying is very unlikely if you don't o/c or are careful when you do o/c. Most (not all) people buy the XP2500+ with o/c'ing in mind so warranty goes out the window anyway. The retail fans are decent enough but way inferior to the likes of the Volcano11+ which are only £15.

TiG I wasn't meaning to put DDR-II in a current mobo but trying to suggest that by the time most users have a use for 1GB DDR-II will probably be the std anyway. As for trying to match sticks as closely as possible for Dual Channel it isn't necessary but strongly rec'ed. I think the DVD Writer is worth it because you can still copy CDs (20p each 700MB) but you also get the ability to copy DVDs (4.7GB for £1ish) which is very useful for backing up and storing video footage. Decent DVD-ROM and CDRW are going to be around £50-60 whereas a 4x +&- DVD Writer is now only £90ish ... well worth the extra £30(ish) IMHO. Geez that's a lot of 'ish'!

Merlin if you're very sure you don't care about gaming the GF4MX is more than fine. I would stick a floppy in there even though the're hardly used, they can save some headaches for the £6-10 they cost. blockers there are often problems when trying to use 256+256 on one channel and 512 on the other channel, esp if you seek out 400FSB. Going 1x512 now with mind to adding another 512 down the line saves that problem at the expense of 5% perf in the meantime ... but you may find adding another 512 could be just as problematic though.

[chrisf6969]

I think you will want a better graphics card down the road.

I know 2 people who went cheap on GF4mx420's (Dell computers) and 1 upgraded less than a month after getting his computer. And the other is planning on upgrading as soon as I can come over and do it for him (as he is completely scared of opening his PC case)

[chrisf6969]

Here's one of their computer's after the upgrade GFti4200.... 10,628 marks http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=5377060

I had the benchmark before it too... it was like 3700 marks I think

Here's another Dell with the GF4mx420 http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=6734835 4000 marks

CPU ---------- 2400Mhz ------------2533Mhz
GPU------------ti4200----------------mx420
Game1 --------167fps---------------65fps
Game2---------170fps---------------64fps
Game3---------160fps---------------65fps
Game4----------43fps----------------NOT SUPPORTED
3dmarks-------10,628---------------4,093

about 150% more fps in the 3 low detail benchmark games.

[Merlin]

yes, but as i pointed out earlier, i dont play games! as long as it will put a decent 2d picture on my monitor, i dont care how many 3dmarks its got!

[chrisf6969]

Thats what they said too. But they ended play around a little bit tinkering with a few games & demos, etc. once they had a better system they wanted to see what the games looked like, etc.

Even little things like 3d screensavers, like http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...tware&n=229534 Marine Aquarium screensaver looks so much better and smoother on a decent card.

I'm just saying down the road you will want to upgrade too! The ti4200 would last you longer.

[evildoc614]

Iam not sure if i got lost in the thread or not but what are you gonna be using the computer for? Can any one find a price for a 3.2EE ? ive looked and i cant find one..