Please give Hardware suggestions

[Achaelus]

I'm looking at building this system for gaming and video editing. Does anyone see any major errors here--ie 350w psu not enough etc. Thanks for your help!



--Aspire (Turbo Case )X-Dreamer Black ATX Mid-Tower Case w/Window and 350W Power Supply, Model ATXB3KLW-BK/350W

--Lite On DVD-Dual/ CD ReWritable Drive MODEL LiteOn LDW-411S - RETAIL

--Western Digital 160GB WD1600JB 7200 RPM 8MB Hard Drive OEM WD1600JB

--ASUS Motherboard for Intel Pentium 4 / Celeron Processors, 800Mhz FSB Model# P4P800 Deluxe Retail

--Intel Pentium 4 / 2.6CGHz 512k socket 478 Hyper Threading Technology 800 MHz FSB - RETAIL

--ATI All-In-Wonder RADEON 9600 PRO 128MB DDR 8X AGP RETAIL

--KINGSTON HyperX 184-pin 256MB(x2) DDR400 (PC3200) DDR RAM modules, Model# KHX3200A/256

[bigal13]

hi

these days 350 watt psu is the minum you should be looking at my advice would get some thing bigger just incase you want to upgrade anything at a later date

also what about getting a DVD writer

[Achaelus]

Actually that Lit On is all in one--cdr, rw dvdr, rw

Speed: 4X max. DVD+R Write; 4X max. DVD+RW Write; 4X max. DVD-R Write; 2X max. DVD-RW Write; 12X max. DVD-ROM Read; 40X CD-R Write; 24X CD-RW Write; 40X (CAV) CD-ROM Read

[mightynimrod]

Get the Hercules 9800SE AIW instead, if you get a good one you can soft mod it to a 9800PRO AIW....if not then you still have a superb card. You can get these for £134 inc VAT and Del.

[Achaelus]

Where would one find such a card in the US?

[evildoc614]

try pricewatch.com or pricegrabber.com or newegg.com

[Austin]

Pricegrabber/watch if you don't mind poor service for the lowest prices (be sure to check resellerratings) and www.newegg.com if you want first class treatment with good prices.

A 350W PSU should be okay but it would be a better idea to get a new one. Basically brand matters more than the Wattage, look to Antec, Enermax, ThermaTake, S/Flower (TTGI), ToPower or Sparkle. A 350W one of those is more than fine and can easily beat even a 550W of a dodgy brand. 400W is nicer for the long term but a good branded 350W is certainly fine.

LiteOn are great for CDRW and DVDROM but I've heard a few negative things about their DVD Writer (nothing major though) so would advise the NEC ND1300A with flashed firmware. Sony are good but overpriced, IIRC Pioneer are good but a quick check of the forums should confirm. WD are very good but I would suggest Maxtor, Seagate or even Hitachi over them as they are about as fast and much quieter and cooler drives. No need for 7200-8 over 7200-2 but if you want that tiny extra zip it does only cost a little more. I'd rec Adata for the RAM, esp the PC4000 stuff which is very reasonably priced and capable of great synced o/c's. Kingston are fine too though.

[SilentDeath]

id rec the maxtor 160gb 7200 8mb sata over the wd. mine cost £105 inc.. cheaper than the wd at most places too... also quieter and almost as good performance, if not better

[chrisf6969]

I like that case... I just built a system with that same case. See bottom computer on my website... click signature.

It was easy to work with... I got a 2 papercuts (sharp edges on the metal) while working on the putting everything in, running wires, etc.... but for the price... I dont think it can be beat.

[madwelshboy]

Hey chrisf6969,

That is one FANTASTIC overclock, could you tell me what rev bios you are using and what PSU?
Have you tried Prime95 for stability, if so do you get any errors?
Did you have to disable HT in the bios (or change anything else of significance).

Well done mate.

[Austin]

A lot of getting a P4C to the likes of 3.6ghz is pure luck, usually you need to disable HT which is better for gaming but not for Windows. It would be nice if Intel could allow you to enable and disable HT from within Windows as with Windows o/c'ing you could choose between 3.2ghz+HT and 3.5ghz-HT for example.

[madwelshboy]

Hi Austin,

Thanks for the comments, I'm sure I've seen you in another forum site (noticed your "House with a red door in Birmingham", good to hear from you mate (us amateurs need some guidance now and then )

[chrisf6969]

Originally posted by madwelshboy
Hey chrisf6969,

That is one FANTASTIC overclock, could you tell me what rev bios you are using and what PSU?
Have you tried Prime95 for stability, if so do you get any errors?
Did you have to disable HT in the bios (or change anything else of significance).

Well done mate.

I'm not home, but I think I have Bios 15 (maybe 16) I havent upgraded it lately so I know its not 18. Last time I upgraded I used their new windows BIOS utility.

Skyhawk 300W (who says you need 400W for good OC's)

No, never used Prime95, I usually test with SuperPI and PIfast.

HT is enabled.

This just happens to be one sweet ass chip that gets to 3.6 at default voltage! THe mobo has always undervolted .05 so to get default voltage I had to set it to 1.575 in bios, reads 1.52 in windows though.

When I first put it in, I gradually cranked it up at 1.6v(windows read 1.55v), but I couldnt believe how cool it was running as I went up.... 3.0Ghz, 3.2Ghz, even 3.5Ghz....then at 3.6Ghz (motherboard's limit - 300Mhz FSB) I lowered voltage a little (back down to default) and it was still stable!!! Its been running 24-7 with out problems!

It boots at 305, 310, 315Mhz FSB but the video AGP acts up on anything over 301Mhz... I think the AGP bus lock goes out over 300Mhz FSB

[chrisf6969]

This was one of the easiest overclocks I've ever had.

Lucky chip & mobo. Took the Northbridge cooler off, scraped off TIM, and put some generic paste instead of TIM pad.

PSB set to 800, dram ratio at 2/3, GAT at Auto, ram timings at 2-3-2-6, other than that I really didnt do much of anything

[madwelshboy]

Just out of interest, what does the PSB stand for/do ?? (I must have missed this one in the manual)

Last thing, when you get chance, can you let me know what bios you are definitely running, I can't wait to try mine out, but I need to get a vantec aeroflow first, anyone know the best place in UK?

[chrisf6969]

madwelshboy-

its the same thing as FSB. Its on the main CPU bios page... 533 for 533 CPU's, 667 for overclocked 533 CPU's... 800 for 800 CPU's (2.4C, 2.6C, etc..) Gives you different memory ratios and... has to do with how aggressive the timings (GAT, etc) are.... and can limit your overclocking if you try to keep it on 533.

Have you tried changing the dram ratio and cranking the FSB up more. b/c 3.12 isnt bad for a 2.4C, but I've been seeing so many people with them at 3.4Ghz-3.6Ghz

What are you getting for Sisoft memory scores?? I get around 5900Mb/s bufffered at DDR400 (300Mhz FSB * 2/3 ratio = 200Mhz)

P.S. Does your sound pop & click. It used to not when I had a 533Mhz CPU overclocked, but it seems like the faster the FSB the more annoying the sound was with the onboard sound. SO I went out and got an Audigy PCI card.