Hardware Advice

Bu11et_Proof

I am building a new PC at the moment have some stuff got already
Asus P4C800-E Deluxe mobo
Samsung DVD drive and Samsung CD-R
also got a Cheiftec Dragon Case

looking at ordering the rest in the next coming week or two heres a list

Intel Pentium 4 "Northwood" 3.2GHz (800FSB) with HT Technology
Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 Serial ATA 160GB
Corsair 1GB DDR XMS3200LL Pro TwinX
Antec TrueBlue 480W PSU
Asus ATI Radeon 9800/TVD Pro 256MB

if anyone has any advice or suggestions it would be greatfully appreciated as this is my first build,

Thanks in advance
Bu11et_Proof

quarryman

well tbh if i was putting a pc together tomorrow that is exactly what i'd be putting into it, good choices.

nadir

im going the amd route next time, ive been a staunch intel fan, but recently im coming to the belief that amd are quite simply better, im talking about pure performance here, ok so the p4 will run at 3.2 GHz and a barthon xp will only be around 2 Ghz.
But weve been testing them out here, for example compiling, gcc glibc or whatever the barthon xp does it nearly 3 times as fast, its unbelevable. Ive also been looking at high load performance, and results are comparable. Honestly its looking like im going to be finishing up with intel soon.
Also i swear by msi , and abit are sweet too for motherboards.
Id reccomend an nforce 2 with a nice barthon xp. and once again, even tho its so much cheaper thats not the reason i say that, I just mean in pure performance terms.

Woden

if you plan on doing any oveclocking get ram that is rated to a higher frequency, also do you really need to spend your money on a 256mb 9800pro a 128mb will probably do the job just as well.

data

Col_Loki

Seems like your going with a pretty big budget? If your looking for a gaming system then you really should check out the AMD64's they beat the Intel hands down for gaming.

The Asus 9800pro 256mb phew, expensive card...... the €220 sapphire & powerColor cards will perform pretty much the exact same TBH. If your going to that expensive on graphics then get a 9800XT and not just an expensive make.
Other than that think about a 9800pro 128mb sapphire/powercolor and save €150 ish.

Check out www.jes-computer.de for the best prices ive seen around.

Other than that like data said, Pc4000 Ram would be a good idea as the "C" chips overclock like theres no tommorrow. If you plan on not overclocking then the ram you have is fine...........but its sooo easy to overclock the "C" chips.

Is noise going to be an issue for you? Because if your looking for a very quiet system then you really need to pick wisely. The harddrive you have is a lower performance than say the Samsungs, WD's , Maxtors but its prob the quietest out of the bunch.

The PSU is a beast, will power just about anything (i have one) and you have lovely blue lights . The 3.2ghz chip is only around €60 more than the 3ghz so thats not so bad..... if you put a semi decent cooler on it you should get over 3.6ghz out of it (if you get decent ram) - possibly aproaching 4ghz.
Im an Abit fan when it comes to motherboards but asus aint bad either.

freekhead

yeah COL_LOKI is talking knowledge there....the graphics card you mentioned is to heavy priced 128 is fine. sapphire 9800pro 128mb would be fine and there only €200 ish now......

...and take Dataisgod's advice and get pc4000 ram if you wana overclock cause you wont get fsb ram 1:1 over say 225 with pc3200 have a look at maby ocz gold pc 4000 remember it will be stable at 250 and maby more....

that MB you got is rock solid...

where you ordering your stuff? might be able to help you out there

Bu11et_Proof

I have to say you guys do know your stuff, i will take the advice and go for the Pc4000 Ram. sure if need some advice on the overclocking side of things i will ask on the boards also getting the 128mb card will cover some more goodies. Freekhead well i was looking at overclockers.co.uk as i got some stuff already from them. if you can help in any way Iam open to suggestions.

thanks again lads for the advice
Bu11et_Poof

Col_Loki

Overclockers arent bad at all, pretty nice range and decent price.

Also you could try ....

www.jes-computer.de , www.komplett.ie (for general things)
www.elara.ie (nice range of cases & cheap delivery) , www.hitide.ie www.pc-look.com (nice flashy things, great coolers etc).
www.pc-memory-upgrade.co.uk (based in kildare, free delivery, great prices on Ram and best selection ive seen)

The Zalman CPU cooler (7000 series) is a fantastic cooler with variable speed that can be totally silent...... great for overclocking .

On the overclocking thing, there are lots of people who are well up on it and will help you through step by step (and its pretty easy ) . Realisticly your talking between 3.8 - 4ghz which is a very nice performance boost!! If you have the Pc4000 ram its just a matter of notching up the FSB bit by bit, mabye a little extra voltage and just watch temps........

Think your making the right choice on the graphics card, its just not worth it at all. Asus are a good make but powercolor arent bad either. Sapphire are one of the biggest arround so you cant go wrong.

You can get DVD burners for under €100 (€93 on jes-computer) now, mabye think about it? Dvd-/+R's are getting cheaper by the day and its nice to have.