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Pearl Jammzz - Oct 8, 2003

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  Pearl Jammzz Oct 8, 2003
Hey, I am looking to build myself a decent machine. This is what I have picked out and I wanan keep it all under $1,000 (minus monitor). If u have any suggestions to change/better price sumwhere/etc. then lemme know....All this stuff is comming from newegg ATM. Also, I dunno about this monitor....andyone have any suggestions? I wanna get atleast 17'' viewable....and not insanely expensive (sony). Here is my list:

case: $159

Thermaltake XASER III V2000A

cdrw: $95

Plextor 52x32x52 PlexWriter⢠Premium E-IDE (ATAPI) CD-RW Drive

hdd: $118

Western Digital 120GB SATA WD1200JD 7,200 RPM 8MB

keyboard/mouse: $82

Logitech Cordless MX Duo

ram: $83

GEIL DDR RAM 512MB PC-3200 (w/ heatspreader)

monitor: $219

Samsung 19" CRT Monitor Model 955DF-T/T

mobo: $123

Asus Motherboard for AMD Athlon XP/Duron Processors, Model# A7N8X

power: $93

ENERMAX EG465AX-VE (W)FMA. 433W

processor: $90

AMD ATHLON XP 2500+ "Barton"

vid card: $135

ATI OEM RADEON 9500 128MB DDR

total money w/ monitor: roughly 1,200

So any suggestions?

 Curtis Oct 8, 2003
Looks OK. Maybe go for the Deluxe model motherboard - has a few extra nice features, though you probably won't notice them.

 Scared0o0Rabbit Oct 8, 2003
2 things, first, you gotta be able to find a cd-rw cheaper than that lol! I mean CD-RW's aren't THAT expensive. Second if you are looking to spend that much on an optical drive... drop the extra $40 and get a pioneer 105 dvd-r/+r/-rw+rw that includes a cd burner in it.

Edit: for example the sony CRX225E1 52x24x52x cd-rw is $40.99. Sony is a good brand for cd-rw's I've owned 2 now with no problems with either, ever.

Edit: I hope you aren't planning on running that thing with a stock HSF (where do you live?)

Edit: Enermax EG365P-VE(FM) 350 Watt power supply. $44.99 I have this exact same one, it costs half as much as the one you have listed and I'm running 3 optical drives and 3 hard drives off of it, as well as 4 spare case fans and a very high powered cpu fan. You don't need the extra wattage, trust me!

Edit: Antec performance plusview model plusview1000amg with side window. It's remarkably similar to that Tt thing, except it's not an overpriced piece of garbage lol. It has front usb and firewire and is a lot cheaper at about $70.

Edit: Consider the thermalright slk-900 for your heatsink (and then pick up a panaflow quiet fan or something for it). It takes those volcano heatsink fans out side, beats them senseless, then rapes them stupid. It's like $38 (a panaflo fan should be like $15). (and yes I've done testing myself and proved it, I got an 8 degree celsius drop in temperature when I switched from a volcano 7+ with a noisier and faster fan to one of these).

 Gallstaff Oct 8, 2003
I picked up this lite-on 3 years ago for 30 bucks and and it's probably half that now. I've burnt many a game on here and it's still doing fine.

 racketboy Oct 8, 2003
buy a slightly slower one like I did off eBay and save a ton

I'd also bump up to 1GB or RAM if you can afford it.

 sizone Oct 8, 2003
get a case that you can mount in a rack. they're way fucking cooler.

also the full moon's hella bright tonight. you should plan to put the thing together around midnight during a full moon and hope that it comes to life.

igor:we need bloood

nanny: i'll get it!

anouncer: but some things did not go according to plan...

 Alexvrb Oct 9, 2003
Yeah, there are a ton of good-quality burners for cheaper than that. Way cheaper. Also, before I make a suggestion for HS/fan, I must first ask: Do you plan on overclocking? If you are, then yeah, a more expensive solution might be in order. If not, the stock HSF should work fine, unless your ambient temp is high. If that is the case, I could recommend something very inexpensive that would work, again if you aren't going to OC.

 ExCyber Oct 9, 2003
The main reason the Premium costs so much is that you're paying Plextor to hack your firmware in strange and interesting ways (like bumping up Mode 1 capacity to 1GB on an 80-minute disc). The hardware doesn't really cost that much, as has been noted by lots of people.

 gameboy900 Oct 9, 2003
Get the Deluxe model of the mobo. The extras are really nice (especially the audio, rivals anything from Creative Labs and others).

Ditch the SATA drive and get a regular ATA133 drive with round cables. Much cheaper and you can probably get a bigger one too for that price.

If you plan on overclocking that cpu I recommend the Thermaltake Volcano 9 heatsink. I run mine at about 3900RPM (nice and quiet) and it still keeps my overclocked (2500+ to 3200+ speed) cpu at low temps. If the noise is really such an issues then replacing the fan with a quieter one would work too.

 Scared0o0Rabbit Oct 9, 2003
that slk900 outperforms the volcano 9 as well (I tested that one as well). I should note that I'm not overclocking... but my house and this area in general has high temperatures.

edit: I've also tested a volcano 11.

 HimuraD Oct 9, 2003
actually, nm. i was going to make sensible comments, but i'd have to repeat most of what sr said. instead, i'll watch this blow up horribly in your face as an overexpensive multicolored Tt nightmare. :smash

 Scared0o0Rabbit Oct 9, 2003
Oh and about the comment of getting a cheaper hdd, the special edition 8MB cache western digital 120GB drive is like $5 cheaper or something than the serial ata lol.

 Curtis Oct 9, 2003

  
	
	

		
		

			Originally posted by gameboy900@Oct 8, 2003 @ 07:47 PM



 Get the Deluxe model of the mobo. The extras are really nice (especially the audio, rivals anything from Creative Labs and others).



...


I found the audio - at least the analogue audio - to be pretty disappointing. Once it's gone to sleep (after a little while inactive), you get all the standard features of a shitty soundcard (ie, it picks up the sound of the HD in the headphones). I believe that the digital audio is where the on-board sound really shines.

The card has poor support for Soundfonts too, if that's a priority for you.

 gameboy900 Oct 9, 2003
The audio comming from the hard drive only happens if you don't mute the input channels. Once I mute the Line In, CD and Aux lines the feedback disappears. There's really little that can be done to prevent the radio interference from registering on these inputs under normal circumstances. With an OS like WinXP you can set CD drives to play audio CD's digitally eliminating the need for the CD and Aux inputs. As for Line In you would generally not need it anyway. For my TV tunner I have DScaler mute it (return to original settings) once I close the program. Haven't had a problem with it since.

 racketboy Oct 9, 2003

  
	
	

		
		

			Originally posted by Scared0o0Rabbit@Oct 9, 2003 @ 08:27 AM



 Oh and about the comment of getting a cheaper hdd, the special edition 8MB cache western digital 120GB drive is like $5 cheaper or something than the serial ata lol.


Best Buy has Seagates 8MB cache hard drives on sale w/ rebate.

You can't beat that deal.

 Pearl Jammzz Oct 9, 2003
Nice, I like that tower.....and ya, a lot cheaper. I am gunan go w/ that (thanks Ã)

I live in utah....my room is on the north side and gets no sun...it's usually pretty cool but when I run my xbox, raido, tv, and speakers for awhile it gets pretty hott in there so I will prob get a nice hsf...

On that sony drive u recommended, it has a 2mb cache...the plextor one has a 8mb one.....what is the signifigance of this? is there any need ofr the bigger one?

on the hdd...if I could get one a little cheaper then cool, that would be nice. I read on the special edition one and lots of ppl have had them fail real quick....and the SATA one (one I mentioned in orig post) sum ppl say is pretty loud and noise is a HUGE thing for me. the pc is gunan be 5 feet away from my ear when I sleep. So any good models that are 120 gig and close quality that are a lil cheaper would be nice.

On the power supply, I am gunna OC the FSB a lil' so I can match the ram speeds and porb a lil more (gotta read up on it more, dont know much yet) so I wanna run a few more fans to keep my stuff cool....so is the 350 gunna suffice? I really have no idea how much the fans take power wise, but I am guessing not much. I just know how much the power supply matters and I dont wanna end up w/ probs.

Also, the mobo I am gettin is the delux one...if u look at the model # it should bringuip the deluxe one, I just didn't write deluxe.

Thanks for the help guys....any more would be appreciated.

 Pearl Jammzz Oct 9, 2003
aslo, a cd/rw/dvd drive would be hella nice if there is a good one for a decent price...

 Scared0o0Rabbit Oct 9, 2003
pioneer 105 oem drive is like $140, good solid drive, I have the A06 (non oem next drive up on the list). The cache is probably just used for buffering, but as of yet I havne't underrun a disc yet burning at 40x on my 40x sony. (I have almost that exact same case, but no side window and no front ports, mine is the older model). It's a really nice case, on the bottom you'll find things that you screw to the sides of your 5 1/4 drives so that you can quick slide them in and out of their slots.

 Curtis Oct 9, 2003
There are a number of quiet HD's you can get. The current kings of silence are from Samsung... (the P80 series). By all reports, you won't hear these devices at all.

Next there is the Seagate 7200.7. I have a SATA version of this drive and it seems pretty good. Certainly in terms of silence it's nice - I can't hear any idle noise over my gernerally quiet rig. I think the Maxtor drives are pretty good for silence - better than WD, but worse than either the Seagate or the Samsung.

For cooling, go with the Zalman 7000A-AlCu. These are great coolers, and you can crank the supplied fan right down for very quiet out-of-the-box temps. I have one on my 2500+ and it does an excellent job at the lowest speed.

 racketboy Oct 9, 2003
I have 2 recent Seagates and I can't hear them at all

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