P.C Build, Opinions Please.

Ajnag

Hi, Im just putting a p.c together at a budget of 700 euro.So far This is what has been put together.Im hoping to achieve a silent machine, but with this spec Im at the limits of my Overrun.Any suggestions or cheaper sources would be appreaciated, oh for memory whats the difference between registered,Unbuffered and non-parity? apart from the price.Cheers
Aj.



Q-Tec Midi tower ATX TL-MD, Silver transparent, without psu
Komplett # 121478 60.50euro

Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe Mainboard Socket A nForce2 Ultra400/MCP-T,GbLAN,Firewire
Komplett # 122498 132.85euro

AMD Athlon XP2600+ 1.917 GHz Socket A 333MHz, 512KB Barton, OEM
Komplett # 121193 98.55euro

Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 120GB S-ATA S-ATA/150 8MB cache 7200RPM
Komplett # 115560 107.69euro

Sapphire Radeon 9600 Atlantis 128MB DDR AGP, ATI 9600, DVI-I, TV-Out, Retail
Komplett # 119062 106.48euro

Fans,Psus, Etc.

Zalman ZM-OP1 Cooling fan for ZM80C GPU cooler 12.90EUR
Zalman ZM80C-HP Noiseless Graphics Card Cooler 29.90EUR

CPU-Cooler Zalman CNPS 7000A AlCu (Sockets 478 / 754 / A) 39.90EUR

be quiet! Power Supply Unit 370W Colorline Ultra Silent PFC 74.90EUR

all from HiTide.



Memory from crucial.com
2 X 256MB

DDR PC3200 • CL=3 • Registered • ECC • 5ns • 2.6V • 32Meg x 72


$79.99 = 62.88euro X 2 = 125.76


Current Total: 789.73

Slutmonkey57b

ECC "Registered" RAM is only used in servers and Athlon FX-51 systems, you don't need it - go for a cheaper ram - the TwinMos 3200 512MB CL2.5 on Komplett is well priced.

Save yourself €20 on the mobo and the the Abit NF-S V2.0 instead - same features, different price.

You'll also want a better card than the 9600 - a 9600XT can be picked up for €160, the difference can be saved above.

nadir

ok Ajnag, good enough specs i guess,
Id prolly go for something like this.

Motherboard: Abit NF7-M
http://www.baber.com/motherboards/abit/socket_a/abit_nf7_m.htm
£67.50 from dabs.
Thats about 100 euros i guess

CPU: AMD Athlon "Barton" XP2500+
for 90 euros from komplett,overclockers or whoever
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Sunbeam.html
FAN: Sunbeam CFK08-B Cold Cathode 80mm
20 euros

GFX: MSI GeForce FX5600 XT 256MB DDR AGP, FX5600XT-TD256, Tv-Out/DVI, Retail.
http://komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=121797&cks=PRL
140 euros

get ur Zalman ZM80C-HP Noiseless Graphics Card Cooler 29.90EUR , sounds nice

BOX Q-Tec Midi tower ATX TL-MD, Silver transparent, without psu, whatever, gonna cost 100 euro with a decent pPSU anyways.

Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 120GB S-ATA S-ATA/150 8MB cache 7200RPM
Komplett # 115560 107.69euro
Good make

Memory from crucial.com 2 X 256MB
DDR PC3200 • CL=3 • Registered • ECC • 5ns • 2.6V • 32Meg x 72 $79.99 = 62.88euro X 2 = 125.76
Just make sure u get quality memory, tis important, bad mem is half the cause of crashes, , the other half are cause by dodgy OS - MS*Cough

Thats about 750 bucks. Dunno about a monitor? Im definately going flat screen next time

GFX card because i dont like ATI: nvidia -MSI , what more do u want. Get ati at you own risk and dont expect me to get it working in lonix looooooool. New ati flgrx driver blow big time. Anyhows id advise getting some opinions from people who actaully have run those hardware specs, you know anyway the MSI stuff is solid as hell; motherboards and gfx cards. Abit are supposed to be just as good. Dunno id never buy an asus board for that price. Asus aint bad, but the're not quality stuff like Abit and MSI, if u come across sis chipsets, might be worth while checking it out, via aint bad, but aren't so stable either, i find this dual nomad via board here to be quite tempormental. Anyhows. something to think about alright, good choice on chip btw, barthon cores kick ass, can compile gcc (not overclocked) at OVER TWICE the speed of its intel counterpart. Cant think of anything else really, except have a look at thinkgeek if u have some spare cash left over, they surely have some funky stuff.

Ajnag

Hmm, The closer I think I am to getting the credit card and going for it, the further it seems, Drat!.

Forgot about Linux graphix compatability, but gotta think about it more as, Its not my P.c. and the folks will probably remain windows users.Not bothered about a 256 ddr grafix card either, as no games utilise it at the moment, and when they do start appearing 64 bit systems will likely be taking off.

SlutMonkeys Abit suggestion seems like a good overclock option, and seeing as Ill hopefully have the Zalman,s on board could be well worth it.Will check out your abit reccomendation as well nadir.

As for memory, well I dunno, I might be better off with a single 512M, but am unaware as to what the best make is at the mo, and whats the best value.Suggestions please.

Im trying to keep my buying to Komplett and Irish suppliers, as Ill be using a mates account and he gets discounts, but got to keep shipping costs down as well.

astrofool

the nf7-m has integrated graphics. The v2 does not.

Get the Abit AN7 anyway, its the upgrade of the nf7-s v2.

Graphics wise, ATI are good in linux, and much better in windows. That graphics card above in nadir's selection is **** (the SE version of a ****e card). If you have to go cheap and nvidia, a 5900XT might be better, or cheaper still an fx5700 (not ultra), or ATI wise, a 9600pro/XT would do.

Twinmos do a 2x512meg twinmos memory for about €100, so u get the dual channel and a gig of ram, can't be bad (on komplett).

STAY AWAY from q-tec for psu's.

BloodBath

www.jescomputer.de is your friend.

256MB Powercolor Radeon 9600 Pro EZ RTL € 129,90
HDD SATA 120GB Seagate ST3120026AS € 96,90
MB ATX SA Abit NF7-S V2.0 nForce2 € 93,98
2 x DDR PC333 256MB Mushkin CL2 Blue € 93,98
CPU AMD Athlon XP 2600+ Tray Barton € 84,99
Kühler SA/S478 ZALMAN CNPS-7000A-AlCu € 29,98
Netzteil be quiet! 400W Black 2 Lüfter € 63,99
GEH Midi Chenbro Gaming Bomb Silver € 49,89


Sub-Total: € 643,61


Never mentioned if you wanted a monitor or dvd drive/cr-writer but it's 60 quid under your budget so you could still get a dvd/cd-rw combo drive.


You won't get a such a good system cheaper than that.


BloodBath

WezzyB

You'd be better off by ordering the Memory either from their UK site ( www.crucial.com/uk)

or

from an EU (Kildare) based supplier like PC Memory Upgrade (www.pc-memory-upgrade.co.uk)

WezzyB

The reason why I say this is that I ordered some memory from them over a year a go and got stung for Customs from FedEx for it.

They didn't demand the customs+handling charge upon delivery but sent me an invoice, followed a few months later by a soliciters letter.... I paid up :-(

Ajnag

Ok, just checked the reviews for the Abit AN7 and they aint too good, so It looks like the Abit NF-S V2.0 wins on reviews, price and it has the usb2 and firewire headers included unlike the an7.If anyone can suggest a better mobo, come forth or forever hold your peace :P

jescomputers sound cool but Im afriad of shipping from germany and also have no discount with them unlike Komplett.

The TwinMos 1 Gig sounds good, but is there anyway of finding out how solid they are, as I dont wanna find myself with a nice sys crashing on dodgy ram.I hunting for reviews now.

Now the gfx cards remains a prob, But Im still hunting.

Thanks for the replys, keep em comming, also anyone know of any probs with the Zalman cpu fan touching the mobo, or will it be a safe bet that all will be O.K.

Aj

unkel

Originally posted by Ajnag
anyone know of any probs with the Zalman cpu fan touching the mobo

How do you mean? It is very heavy so don't throw your pc around or do you mean something else?

Make sure you check Zalman's website to ensure compatibility of the mobo. A handful current motherboards cannot use the HSF. Some others are ok, but you'd have to clip the brackets of the HSF, possibly rendering it useless for another platform

Better safe than sorry m8

Creamy Goodness

i have twinmos ddr400 1 gig in my p4 system nothing wrong with it at all. it's a cheap alternative for dual channel ram that won't let you down.

i know it's been said but it can't be emphaized (sp.) enough

stay away from Q-tec for psu's

Ajnag

have been away for awhile now, but heres the latest spec, suggestions welcome as ever.

From Komplett.ie

#115560
Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 120GB S-ATA S-ATA/150 8MB cache 7200RPM @ 109.14

#116244
AMD Athlon XP2500+ 1.833 GHz Socket A 333MHz, 512KB Barton, OEM @ 87.28

#117213
Abit NF7-S V2.0 mainboard Socket A S-ATA nForce2-SPP/MCP-T2/Ultra 400, ATX,1394 @ 110.11

#115491
TwinMOS PC3200 DDR-DIMM 512MB w/Winbond 32M*8/16chip, 184-P (for DDR-PC400MHz) @ 93.17

#121721
Gainward GeForce FX5700 128MB DDR 5ns AGP, "Ultra/860TV-DVI",Tv-Out/DVI,Retail @ 156.09

---

From Elara.ie

CAS00087
LanBoy/MT 350W 4x5.25" 2x3.5" ATX (UPC Code 761345-08002-6) @ 117.59

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From Hitide.ie

CPU-Cooler Zalman CNPS 7000A Cu (Sockets 478 / 754 / A) @ 49.92EUR

Zalman ZM80C-HP Noiseless Graphics Card Cooler @ 29.90EUR

---

> Total: 753.19 + P&P

Seems reasonable for the price, just got to see how things go now.What do ya think of the gfx card chosen, I was told I was beter off with a 5700 for overclocking then with a 9600 pro/xt, and also it seems to take care of linux compatability issues.

BloodBath

mostly good......mostly.

I'd still order off JES computer if I were you. You can get Samsung 160gig hard drives for less than that 120gig on it.

Most of the other components are cheaper too. Had trouble paying at first but doing a bank transfer is pretty easy. Just waiting on delivery now.

Graphics card wise the 9600XT is an excellent overclocker. The pro isn't. In benchmarks the 5700 performs slightly better than the XT in most but the XT is more overclockable.

My 2 cents.

BloodBath

Caliden

i find shop4memory.com good for memory as it is free delivery to persons inside ireland and they have a decent selection