New PC. What do ya think?

[Zodiac]

Been working on getting the stuff together for a new PC, Sentrosi has been a huge help but I wanted to see if anyone here sees any conflicts, has any comments, suggestions, warnings, or whatever. This will be my first custom rig. Hope i'm not missing anything.

Motherboard - MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum nForce3 Ultra Athlon 64(FX)

CPU - AMD Athlon 64 3500+

RAM - PDP SYSTEMS Memory Dual Channel Kit 184-Pin 1GB (512MBx2) DDR PC-3200 - Bought

Harddrives Seagate 160GB Barracuda 7200.7 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive x 2 Gonna do the RAID0 thing.

Video card - eVGA nVIDIA GeForce 6800GT Video Card, 256MB - Bought

Optical Drive - Plextor 12X DVD+/-RW Drive

Mouse/KB - Logitech Cordless MX Duo USB/ PS/2 - Bought

PSU - Aspire 520W 12V Black Triple Fan Aluminum Power Supply

CPU Heatsink - Thermalright SLK-948U (No sure on this yet, seems a little pricey for someone not over clocking.)

CPU Heatsink Fan for above Heatsink - 92mm Panaflo H1A Fan (BX) w/ RPM Sensor

Consitering this Heatsink/fan insted - http://www.xoxide.com/thsibok8aopa.html

Cases I am still trying to decide between (leaning towards the Samurai)
Thermaltake Tsunami
Raidmax Samurai

Getting two SATA power connectors (those drives are OEM), Artic 5 thermal paste, generic sony floppy drive, and XP Home. Don't need a sound card, speakers, or monitor. I'm currently looking at different headsets.

[Electrofreak]

VERY nice. Everything I see is excellent. Great choices on everything. If you aren't overclocking though, you might as well just use the stock fan and heatsink, getting a better one won't really help in any way (unless you get an extra-quiet one.)

Also, personally, I'd get the Thermaltake case. You are getting a nicer case and better quality for less than the RaidMax. The Thermaltake comes with a nice window fan to blow on your 6800 (which will need that cooling) and it has a nice window to showcase your components (which will be worth showing off). The RaidMax is an ok case but it is simply not as high quality as the Thermaltake (IMO). Take the Thermaltake, I don't think you will regret the decision.

Your computer will actually beat mine, that is until i get my heatsink and fan I'm ordering tonight and OC it

(ok no, your setup will STILL beat mine. I envy you bastards with the new systems... )

[Rbstr]

great system there, can't wait to get my 6800gt in

[Electrofreak]

hey rob, what case do you think he should go with?

[Zodiac]

Originally Posted by Electrofreak

VERY nice. Everything I see is excellent. Great choices on everything. If you aren't overclocking though, you might as well just use the stock fan and heatsink, getting a better one won't really help in any way (unless you get an extra-quiet one.)

Also, personally, I'd get the Thermaltake case. You are getting a nicer case and better quality for less than the RaidMax. The Thermaltake comes with a nice window fan to blow on your 6800 (which will need that cooling) and it has a nice window to showcase your components (which will be worth showing off). The RaidMax is an ok case but it is simply not as high quality as the Thermaltake (IMO). Take the Thermaltake, I don't think you will regret the decision.

Your computer will actually beat mine, that is until i get my heatsink and fan I'm ordering tonight and OC it

(ok no, your setup will STILL beat mine. I envy you bastards with the new systems... )

haha thanks. I'm only getting a heatsink different then the stock one because I read that the 3500+ ran hot. And at some time later , when I actually know something about computers, i hope to be able to over clock it. i decided to go with the cheaper heatsink (maybe hmm) and get the Thermaltake case, it'll look good with the blue UV from the PSU.

Don't worry, you'll have years to catch up to this thing, I plan for this PC to last a VERY long time.

[Electrofreak]

I have the aspire 500w powersupply, and indeed, it is a very attractive little PSU. I hear that the one you are getting (the 520w version) has 3 fans as well, which is definately nice. Cooler PSU = more stable voltages, which is important for overclocking.

Seriously, great choices on everything. I personally would have gotten an x800 because I'm a biased fanATIc but the 6800 will definately do the job. Also, good point on the heatsink. That Thermalright SLK-948U is one of the top-performing heatsinks that will definately let you overclock that sucker pretty well. On the other hand, the Silent Boost K8 is also a nice heatsink/fan combo, and while its not designed for extreme overclocking, it does cool better than a stock heatsink, is quieter, and has developed a good deal of respect from the hardware community. Both good possibilities, kind of up to you as to which you should pick.

[Corrosion]

Well you really put your comp down with the 150Gb chipset Electro.

[Electrofreak]

bah, I bought it back in December when the 250s werent even out yet, gimmie a break

[Zodiac]

Changed a few things. GEtting this optical drive insted. I don't really burn DVDs so I don't really need the plextor. This one is a thrid of the price and faster with CD-Roms. http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProduc...factory=BROWSE

note: thanks Corr

[HunterKiller]

nice comp.

[Zodiac]

Took out one of the seagate HDs for now at least. I learned that RAID 0 will barely speed up gaming and I don't use alot of other beefy apps that could benefit from a RAID setup. I'll save that hundred bucks for some birthday lobster. yummy.

edit: if things go well, pics in a week or two.

[Daleon]

Since your getting the MB from zipzoomfly get the cpu there also. $367 vs $389, saves $22, both are retail.

Defintely the Tsunami case for teh win. Love that case.

Good decisions overall on ditching the plex and extra HD if there not gonna benefit you. Though personally having a dvd burner to me is really nice, use to backup xbox games, ps2, movies, etc. (cough legally ofcourse)

I'd prolly switch to a bigger drive though since your going with one. Top choice would be:
Maxtor 250 SATA 16meg that puts it into Raptor performance $230
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/Produc...uctCode=100719

If thats to much

WD 250 SATA 8 meg $157
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/Produc...tCode=101220-1

This makes it easier to partition 2 big drives, keep one for storage and one for os so you can wipe your system when ya need to.

The HS is about as good as it gets on air, so mind as well get something good now that you don't have to upgrade later.

That ram looks like rather nice stuff, good deal.

Only thing I can think of to add would be something like a VGA silencer for the video card, but stock on the GT is still good.

[Sentrosi]

I hate Thermaltake. Anytime I see their cases I feel like I'm right in the middle of a NASCAR Computer Tech Pit Area. If you like the Tsunami, go with the Coolermaster Wavemaster, the original company with that design.

[Zodiac]

Update: My funding got nerfed at the last fucking minuate so it will be a number of weeks before I can get anything besides the RAM, video card, and KB/mouse i ordered yesterday. Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I'll keep them in mind.

[Electrofreak]

I planned on spending $100 on computer stuff, and just ordered $199.97 worth of stuff from newegg.com. This is why I try not to shop online too often.