Building Computer (Parts Compatibility)

W

webdes03

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 4, 2004
Messages
320
Hi, I'm new to this forum, and have found it to be a great resource. Just want to thank everyone for all of the quality information you all contribute here.

I'm getting ready to build my first computer, and I just wanted to post what I'm planning on buying before I actually do it... thought I'd check all of the experts here to make sure I'm not buying incompatible parts.

I have a Thermaltake VA3000 case and a Thermaltake 400W power supply that I already own (has been sitting downstairs waiting for me to put stuff in it). Down the road I'll probably buy a new power supply (this one is new, but it came with the case, and I've heard bad things about PSU's that come with cases, although it is a Thermaltake).

So here's the parts I'm looking at- if you could point out where I might have problems, or things that definetly won't work, I'd greatly appreciate it.

ASUS P4C800-E Deluxe I875P Chipset Motherboard For Intel Socket 478 CPU
Intel Pentium 4/ 3.2E GHz 800MHz FSB, 1MB L2 Cache, w/ Hyper Threading (Prescott)
Corsair Value Select (Dual Pack) 184 Pin 1Gb (512MBx2) DDR PC-3200
CHAINTECH nVIDIA GeForce 6800 Video Card, 128MB DDR, 256-Bit, TV-Out/DVI, 8X AGP
2x IDE Hard Drive
1x DVD-Rom/CD-Rom (IDE)
1x DVD±RW (IDE)

Thanks everyone...
 
Best bet is to give the tt psu a shot, but be prepared to get a new psu if things are unstable, tt psu's don't have the best rep around here, but you might be lucky, PC Power & Cooling makes the best psu's and have a price to show it, Fortron, Sparkle or Enermax also offer excellent psu's at very good prices (in comparison to PC P&C)
I'd stay with a Northwood processor (3.2C) it performs as well as the prescott if not better and won't have any heat issues. I'd also be cautious of the Corsair memory....Corsair makes good stuff, but, the Asus mobo is known for not liking thier memory without bumping up the volts, stick to Mushkin or Kingston, (Mushkin level one for example). And, Normally for your system I'd recommend a psu from PC Power & Cooling 510 deluxe, or Fortron, Sparkle or Enermax of 480W +. If you do go with the Prescott, remember to use Bios 1016 or better and use the latest versions of AFUDOS or Liveupdate to flash...do not use EZFlash. And unless you already have the two IDE HD"S go for SATA HD's (Maxtor 120's are now $109 !) they are faster, their new cables allow for better airflow in the case and they will allow you more flexability with the mobo. Looks to be a nice system you are planing, I think you will really enjoy it !
twajetmech
 
twajetmech:

I currently have one IDE HD.. is it worth buying a SATA drive and using that in addition to my IDE? Or should I just stick with a less expensive/larger drive to ease the setup with my existing HD?

I was only looking at the Corsair ram because newegg had a weekend special on it, I've respec'd with Kingston Dual Channel, 1Gb DDR PC3200 and its only like $18 more, so I'll go with that.

As for the processor... Just out of curiousity... you say that the northwood performes as well... even though the prescott has a 1Mb cache, and the northwood only has a 512k cache? I'm just curious... I'd like to avoid the heat issues that I've been reading about, but want to make sure that I'm not sacraficing much performance by going with the 512k cache.

I've heard a lot of great things about the features of the Asus P4C800-E Deluxe and definetly want to take advantage of all its got... I might stick with IDE HD's for now though (since I already have half of what I want), and upgrade to SATA later.

Thanks for all your help...
 
Hello, The northwood's still out perform the prescott....its not until the prescott is OC'd over 3.6 that any advantage is seen or you get a prescott that is 3.6+, so I'd stay with the northwood and avoid any heat issues. Also, most mobos that are "prescott ready" don't seem to like prescott's above 3.2 and recognize them as 2.8 prescott's....a bios revision will probably fix that, but who knows when that will be out. It's your call as for the SATA or not. personally I'd get an SATA and partition it with 30gigs for the OS and programs and the rest for other stuff like your work, games etc and use the IDE for storage for your movies, mp3's and documents & pics and such. Pair wichever cpu you choose with a Zalman cpns 700a-Cu w/ AS5 and you'll never have to worry about temps...provided you have good airflow in your case. If you are on a tight budget the 2 IDE HD's will be just fine and like you said you can always upgrade later. Good luck and post back to let us know how it all went or if you have any problems.
twajetmech
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top