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"Thoughts on new PC spec wanted."

It has been a long time coming but the day is finally near. I'm going to order and build from scratch a new PC. I've decided on most of it so far. but not keeping up with PC hardware like I used to, I wanted a second (in some cases first) opinion.

AMD Athlon 3000XP 400MHz FSB version
Coolermaster Jet 7 fan
Sapphire Radeon 9600XT 128Mb graphics card
Maxtor Diamondmax Plus 9 160gb Serial ATA150 7200rpm 8mb Cache
512Mb x2 chips of DDR 400 MHz RAM. Any recommendations on brands?

Nforce 2 based motherboard. Struggling to make up my mind on this, last time I checked the two to get were Asus and Abit boards. Do I go for an A7N8X-X or A7N8X Deluxe or A7N8X-VM from Asus, or NF7 Crush or NF7-S Crush from Abit? What about Gigabyte or MSI boards?

I'd like a 19" CRT monitor, been looking at Iiyama's. Anyone got one?

The DVD drive will likely be a Pioneer.

Can't think of much else. Mainly advice on the motherboard I was after. Thanks folks.

adrian wrote:
> If you want a 19" monitor get a SyncMaster 957MB from Samsung.
> About as cheap as the Liyama's at £170 depending on where you
> shop. It has excellent quality with it being 0.20 mm dpi, where as
> other monitors similar priced are 0.24 and even higher depending on
> make.

Thanks I'll look into it. Problem is, with most sites like Ebuyer, everyone is so quick to mention damaged stuff with fewer of the satisfied customers bothereing to review products that it can be difficult to find anything that is definitely decent.
>
> System seems a good one. I have the NF7-S and can thoughly recommend
> that board. The Asus A7N8X Deluxe is also great.

NF7-S it is then if I can get my grubby mitts on one at short notice.
>
> With the XP3000 are you sure its 400mhz FSB? As I am sure its only
> the 3200 that have 400mhz.
>
I thought so too, but Ebuyer have a 400 MHz FSB version for a few quid more than the 333 MHz version. Figured it was worth a fiver of a difference.

> Also maybe get a DVD writer as there only £70-100 depending on
> the model.

I think I will. Probably a Pioneer drive, in my experience their's are probably the best.

AMD_MAN wrote:
> That spec is pretty good, i will definatly go for the NF7-S
> motherboard, Also are you planning on overclocking? if not then why
> not go for a quieter cpu HSF as that Jet one is pretty loud,

I fancy overclocking at some point, but I love that fan. I decided on a Jet before anything else in the system!

gamezfreak wrote:
> Maxtor Diamondmax Plus 9 160gb Serial ATA150 7200rpm 8mb Cache
>
> Nice big drive, But i've heard Maxtor's can be a tad on the noisy
> side. Have you considered Samsung or Seagate? + The SATA option is
> good for future proofing :)

From Ebuyer: "DiamondMax Plus 9 drives are equipped with fluid dynamic bearing motors for acoustic sensitive applications. This allows the drive to operate with extremely low sound output, an important feature for many applications." It's also a decent price, £94.

> I highly reccomend Crucial RAM, Free Next day delivery and excellent
> quality Ram, I use them all the time to buy RAM for system builds.
>
> Or if you are loaded and want some fast memory, go for Corsair or
> TwinMOS :)

I'll have a look at Corsair and TwinMOS then. I like how the top of the range Corsair stuff has LEDs on it. Would look great in a clear side panelled case. However, it is also ludicrously expensive. Perhaps Corsair Value stuff, maybe stretch to TwinMOS. It all depends on what price they are in a few days. What about Kingston though? Anyone ever used them?

Thanks for all your help folks. I'll start exercising the credit card in the next day or two. Once again ta very much!

Nice!

Unfortuanatly my case is currently overheating at a toasty 37C, This is due to the lack of fans in my case at the moment.

NO Intake fans (will be shoving 4 in soon)
2 Exhaust's
2 Fans on the PSU
1 Fan on the side window
1 Cooler master Aero 7 Lite
1 Northbridge fan

gamezfreak wrote:
> Notorious Biggles wrote:
> It has been a long time coming but the day is finally near. I'm
> going
> to order and build from scratch a new PC.
>
> T'is most rewarding doing it yourself, I built mine last month, and
> was pleased when it worked with no problems when I turned it on :)
>
>

Oh yes that it is I built my baby last month --> She fooking rocks

*Hugs PC

I think adding any more to my system would be overkill. My case temperature is normally about 25 degrees, and if I bump up the voltage on the 'blowhole' fan then it's blowing cold air out within a couple of seconds.

I've got 7 fans in my system at the moment.

Soon to be upgraded to 11 :P

But actually Panaflos don't need to be undervolted; in fact you can overvolt them and the noise difference is still pretty negligible. I'm getting a new graphics card tomorrow, though, so my PC is going to be noisy as hell until I fit a passive heatsink onto it.

I've got six fans in my PC and I can hear my hard drive when it's doing stuff, even though I've got a quiet Maxtor. All my fans are undervolted, though, and all of them are Panaflos, which are infinitely quieter than Zalman's range.

gamezfreak wrote:
> Maxtor Diamondmax Plus 9 160gb Serial ATA150 7200rpm 8mb Cache
>
> Nice big drive, But i've heard Maxtor's can be a tad on the noisy
> side. Have you considered Samsung or Seagate? + The SATA option is
> good for future proofing :)

With the cooling he will be needing for that processor i dont think the HDD noise will be any trouble at all. Infact anyone who uses a decent number of fans in their case probably wont be able to hear the HDD at all.

Notorious Biggles wrote:
> It has been a long time coming but the day is finally near. I'm going
> to order and build from scratch a new PC.

T'is most rewarding doing it yourself, I built mine last month, and was pleased when it worked with no problems when I turned it on :)

> AMD Athlon 3000XP 400MHz FSB version

Excellent processor, Good choice in getting the 400mhz version, but if your a bit tight with the budget, you get get a 2500XP, and with a bit of tweaking they've been known to happily run at 3200+ XP speeds

> Coolermaster Jet 7 fan

I've got the Aero 7 Lite, Excellent fan and i'd imagine the Jet 7's give better cooling performance. On the highest setting they can be a tad noisy, but your CPU should happily run with the Fan turned down to medium/low.

> Sapphire Radeon 9600XT 128Mb graphics card

Yup, Good card, Good Manufacturer, Excellent performance. I've got a 9600Pro and I can run most of my games with all the settings on high. I should imagine the slightly higher clocked XT will squeeze a few extra frames outta your games :)

> Maxtor Diamondmax Plus 9 160gb Serial ATA150 7200rpm 8mb Cache

Nice big drive, But i've heard Maxtor's can be a tad on the noisy side. Have you considered Samsung or Seagate? + The SATA option is good for future proofing :)

> 512Mb x2 chips of DDR 400 MHz RAM. Any recommendations on brands?

Crucial
Crucial
Crucial
Crucial
Crucial
Crucial

www.crucial.com/uk

I highly reccomend Crucial RAM, Free Next day delivery and excellent quality Ram, I use them all the time to buy RAM for system builds.

Or if you are loaded and want some fast memory, go for Corsiar or TwinMOS :)

> What about Gigabyte or MSI boards?

You considered going for the Via KT600 option? The EPOX Kt600 motherboard is ranked very highly in CustomPC, good stability and Overclocking ability aswell!

But if you've got your heart set on an Nforce2, I'd say go for the Abit NF7, no questions.

> The DVD drive will likely be a Pioneer.

DVDRW?

> Can't think of much else. Mainly advice on the motherboard I was
> after. Thanks folks.

I reccomend paritioning your hard drive. That is all.

If you want a 19" monitor get a SyncMaster 957MB from Samsung. About as cheap as the Liyama's at £170 depending on where you shop. It has excellent quality with it being 0.20 mm dpi, where as other monitors similar priced are 0.24 and even higher depending on make.

System seems a good one. I have the NF7-S and can thoughly recommend that board. The Asus A7N8X Deluxe is also great.

With the XP3000 are you sure its 400mhz FSB? As I am sure its only the 3200 that have 400mhz.

Also maybe get a DVD writer as there only £70-100 depending on the model.