need yore opinions...

tman

building a new pc, this is what i've decided on so far.
if there's anything obviously wrong with that specific combination of components, or you can think of something better for the same price. let me know.
not sure whether i should go for a seagate barracuda hd instead...

wd caviar se 120gb, 8mb cache, 7200rpm - €102
http://komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?action=info&sku=109593&p=&t=715&l=2&AvdID=1&CatID=9&GrpID=1&cks=PRL

lg 16/48 dvd - €39
http://komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?action=info&sku=108617&p=&t=775&l=2&AvdID=1&CatID=3&GrpID=3&cks=PRL

lg 52/24/52 cdrw - €47
http://komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?action=info&sku=116196&p=&t=1226&l=1&AvdID=1&CatID=3&GrpID=6&cks=PRL

AMD Athlon XP2500+ 1.833 GHz Socket A 333MHz, 512KB Barton, OEM - €87
http://komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?action=info&sku=116244&p=&t=795&l=2&AvdID=1&CatID=4&GrpID=6&cks=PRL

Abit NF7 V2.0 Mainboard Socket A DDR - €90
http://komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?action=info&AvdID=1&sku=118267&view=detailed

1gb twinmos 3200 - €166
http://komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?action=info&sku=118498&p=&t=1014&l=2&AvdID=1&CatID=17&GrpID=9&cks=PRL


fan - Spire CPU-Fan WhisperRock IV Socket A SPA04B4 For AMD up to XP 3200 Mhz - €
http://komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?action=info&sku=119402&p=&t=1622&l=3&AvdID=1&CatID=28&GrpID=5&cks=PRL

SirLemonhead

Looks pretty good.

About the motherboard, good choice, but if you can afford it you should go for the NF7-S as the audio will be alot better on it (hardware audio, EAX and all that ). If you're not going to use onboard audio then stick with the NF7

SirLemonhead

I also think it would be better to go for DDR 3200 ram and rub the CPU in sync with the speed of that (400mhz)

tman

i'll stick with the onboard audio until a can afford an audigy 2 platinum (or anything decent with a breakout box...)

and yeah, the same was just said to me about the ram... a matched 3200 set costs about the same anyway...:)

unkel

Solid spec.

I would think again about the fan. I presume you want to overclock the rig to run at xp3200 speeds so you need good cooling for that. I would normally advise you to get the Zalman 7000CU, but it's a bit tricky in your case. Going for this HSF with your mobo would mean you'd have to clip off a bit of the bracket, which is fine, but you won't be able to use it anymore if you upgrade to athlon 64 bit. Do more research on the fan

Indeed the choice of harddisk. If it's performance you're after, you can't really beat the WD. If it is running a quiet PC, it's very hard to beat the Barracuda. Dark horse: Samsung spinpoint - getting lots of good reviews lately

Also as was mentioned already, get the cheaper NF7 and buy a decent soundcard soon or get the NF7-S with Raid and better sound (but nowhere near as good as say an audigy2 which goes for €75 atm on komplett.ie)

Good luck with building your rig m8

SirLemonhead

Soundstorm audio actually quite near Audigy 2 quality. The audigy 2 will beat it at analog output, but the Soundstorm will beat the Audigy 2 with digital output.

tman

bah, i've decided to go for a nice case with a reliable psu rather than a crappy €30 jobby:rolleyes:
thats shaved half a gig of ram off of the specs (€600 budget)

i'm not a fan of overclocking tbh, i'd much rather have a stable, reliable system.
i will be clocking it to make the most of pc3200 ram. other than that, nothing wild.

not really too sure about fans, any reccomendations for one that will be able to cope with a lightly overclocked 2500 would be handy...

it'll be at least a year before i can afford any equiptment that would justify buying a decent soundcard, so i'll stick with the NF7 for now. (can't remember the name of the card + breakout box that was reccomended to me, the audigy2 platinum is just what sprang to mind...)

cheers for the advice all, keep it coming

unkel

Originally posted by MasterOfSolos
Soundstorm audio actually quite near Audigy 2 quality

Nah. Never tried digital, so have no opinion on that, but soundstorm is nowhere near the audigy2. In fact it is these opinions floating about on forums that I believed which led to me justifying my recent upgrade to myself. I reckoned selling my old mobo/cpu/audigy2 and buying new mobo/cpu would not hurt me that much financially. Overview:

Soundstorm is >85 SNR. I was going intel after years of amd and was particularly interested in the AI7 with >95 SNR. I have read many reviews and posts about this saying it was the best on-board sound on any mobo (intel/amd) yet. Had it running for a few hours and couldn't get the audigy2 (>106 SNR) in quick enough. Very glad I didn't sell it yet

SirLemonhead

Ah cool I hadn't experienced either sound system at all but was just going on what lots of people said...

I'm going to pick up an Audigy 2 anyway sometime.

Tman, yeah good idea on the good case. Cheap/generic PSUs arent worth going near at all.

unkel

Originally posted by MasterOfSolos
Ah cool I hadn't experienced either sound system at all but was just going on what lots of people said...

I'm going to pick up an Audigy 2 anyway sometime.

Tman, yeah good idea on the good case. Cheap/generic PSUs arent worth going near at all.

The audigy2 is available from komplett @ €75 - superb value for money imho

I cannot urge you strongly enough to go for a good PSU. Search this forum for links over the last 2 weeks and you'll come up with loads of discussions. There's no point getting even a half decent system when you power it from a generic PSU or even worse from a complete piece of sh*te like QTEC - avoid like the plague m8

Search under my user name or COL_LOKI in this forum and you'll get a pointer or two

Woden

alrightly then

if i where you i'd ditch the nf7 2.0 and go for the nf7-s2.0 as people mentioned it has better sound and it also had s-ata support and firewire

with regards to overclocked systems being stable and reliable theres not much to it i only started it a few months ago and if i can do it you can too, no reason why you can't get that 2500+ up to 3200+.

i'd change your cooler its fairly crap tbh someone else was looking at it and i saw a review. go for the coolermaster aero lite 7+ i think it is or whatever the version of the aero that retails for about €22, its a decent cooler for the price

i'd also recommend a liteon cd-rw before lg, liteon can copy just about anything and you'll get a 52/32/52 version, peats are getting them in and www.overclockers.co.uk do them also.

if you have absolutely no intention of overclocking don't waste your money on 3200 ram just get 2700, but if you do stick with something similar to what you have

nice case with a reliable psu try an antec sonata.

oh and as unkel mentioned WD for performance, seagate for silence and maxtor for something in the middle, don't forgot if you get the nf7-s you can get a s-ata drive also

good luck

data