Provide Comments on my Computer Blueprint

[GillianChung]

Hello!  I'm new to the forum!  The prices are in Canadian dollars, if anyone is from Toronto, i hope it'll help.

 

Right now, I'm still saving some money to get a cpu that would last me a few years down the road. (Cost is from eskynet, and price as of today for anyone interested =) )

 

I've been eyeing the 8IRXP motherboard by Gigabyte since I could use its LAN and also have the ATA 133 RAID, sound, and USB 2.0 available for future technology. It's been getting many awards and even ranked number one in a japanese magazine. (239.99)

 

For memory, I've been told to use 2 256 MB DDR instead of 1 512MB, but I want to save 2 out of 3 RAM slots in that motherboard. Is that a good idea? (235.00 for 1 512 DDR)

 

For a harddrive, I wanted to get a Seagate 80 GB 7200rpm, but i'll probably settle for a 60gb because of money. I'm also thinking of just getting a Maxtor 40Gb, but I still prefer Seagate because of its brand and I heard that it is quiet. Any ideas which one is better? (If I had the money, the Western Digital 100Gig Special Edition 8MB Cache is outstanding) (keit has the 60 gig 7200 ata 100 seagate for $169, eskynet doesn't have seagate ->please reply if you know if keit is a good vendor or not, i'm interested in knowing because of its great prices)

 

That's the setup I have for now, with a Pentium 4 1.6 Northwood, only $250. Stock overclock is an average of 2.4 ghz from overclockers.com, that's an amazing price for $250.

 

Now that's $1028 including tax but you have to pay cash (not recommended to pay cash, credit cards have more insurance over items). Well, that's going to get you top performance in Ram, Cpu, Board, and Hard Drive. Wondering why I didn't get the Video Card right?? I got it in computer fest (from what I saw in this forum, people didn't like it. Well, I got 2 50 pks of smartbuy silver 80min. from alpha there for $16 which is not bad. I spent some time looking at the cases and actually attending the forums, and I would recommend it to anyone who has never gone before to see it. It was a bit packed even for a friday, but it was my first time and i enjoyed it.) Anyhow, I got a powercolour ge force 2 mx 400 64MB RAM with tvout for $99 there, not the best price, but is around 10 bucks cheaper and is still a very good price/performance card. This is my initial CPU setup. Quite expensive, but pure quality. I know many people here are AMD buffs, but I like the new northwoods and Intel has been known for stability and a cooler CPU. Let me hear what you think! Memory prices have gone up, but I didn't get the chance to snag the DDR when I could before Christmas ^.^;;;. Oh well! I will add the rest of the secondary peripherals below.

[GillianChung]

whoops, the sound I said I could use for future technology is false. my bad. it's good that the Gigabyte motherboard has sound, but is not recommended because it would lower your cpu's performance. the dual bios is another good gigabyte innovation, in case you have a virus attack, you get boot up your system with the other bios and restore the old one. also, you can restore your old one if the flash bios failed and ruined your bios. it's a really nice feature that is overlooked because most bios don't encounter problems (but when they do........).

 

Ok! On to my secondary periperals. I need a floppy drive 1.44, and I have posted in the spare parts that I need it. A Mitsumi costs $15 at New Legend but I would accept the same type of floppy drive from any kind soul who has a spare =)

 

I bought my LG 16x10x40 at Future Shop. Well, you might be thinking "LOL HE IS DUMB" but hey!!!! Future Shop has a $25 rebate on this amazing and cheap CDR and well, THEY PRICE MATCH. Yes!!! I brought my computer paper, showed the sales, and he said, NO PROBLEM =) well, I think he knew it might be OEM so he didn't give me the 5% discount off the difference so I didn't say anything. But it turns out my CDR is way cheaper than any OEM, I'm getting a retail, waiting for the rebate, and well, enjoying this great CDR. It's stable with any sort of media I've tried, (the Japanese Sony cds, Memorex, Smart Buy, all a-ok, probably lost just 5/100 disks due to discjuggler's horrible program, but never lost one to nero or clonecd) I've wondered if anyone has done what I did. I paid the extra money for the warranty for the CDR for 3 years in which I can send in to Future Shop and get a totally new one without hassle, and I get great service. I hope you like this strategy, if you like the retail box and software and cords just like me, its a good try! (By the way, the future shop was the one on hwy 7 and warden, across from the hotel and mc donalds.)

 

Ok, one with the DVD. I've been eyeing the 16x Pioneer DVD Slot for a LONG while, because of it's pure beauty. I've heard that it emits a lot of heat from urban and others as well. I want to know one important thing though, there are different verions of the 16x. is this one the 106s?? because the 105s is the same looking thing but VERY LOUD and even hotter! because these are likely oems, it's not as easy to catch, so if someone had bought it and know it, please tell me =) The price for this at Keit is 104.65 (inc. tax cash only) and $120.75 (tax and cash only) at New Legend. Looks like a huge difference. Is it a risk???? I heard that cheap doesn't mean good so I welcome your comments!

 

Last but not least, I'll need a sound card.

The SB Live 5.1 Audigy seems like a good fit because of Firewire, a new technology that I believe will expand. It's just double the price of a 3 year old 5.1 live technology, so it's worth your money, trust me! ($99 at New Legend, $95 at Keit, again Keit wins! 99.36 at ekynet) Tell me if you have other good card suggestions. This is an oem card and it's good because it provides the same type of audio as the mp3 or xgamer except they have a lot of software.

 

I have the modem, lan card, speakers, monitor, keyboard, mouse, printer, already covered.

Give me any comments you may think of, whether is good or bad, i know it's quite expensive for a build but compared to the prices and quality of many of the "systems" and configurations of multinationals and local stores, this is one that is pure quality, power, and upgradable. I'll post my final comments below.

[GillianChung]

sorry for such a long post, it took me a long time to do the research and i hope it'll help out anyone in need of a good but below $2000 stable quality cpu.  wrote it in notepad and saved it for the forum  =)

 

stock cooling for the northwood is adequate, but if you are building the cpu yourself, I highly recommend arctic silver 3 or 2, (3 being slightly better and slightly more expensive...saw it for $12 on cpu paper, don't remember vendor) and I have to stress quality on POWER SUPPLY. People get power supplies that come with the case and its not good enough.

 

Enermax is what I recommend because the cpu should last you for at least 4 years without much trouble. That leads to my final component, the case.

 

I eyed the Noblesse for quite a while, but today, i looked at eskynet and they don't have it as an option anymore!!!! =(

oh well, for those who don't know, it looks like a black refrigerator that hides those beige drives without having to stealth the drives.

 

Anyhoo, I chose the Lian-Li PC65USB Aluminum 12 bays with window that comes with Enermax 350W for 330.63 at eskynet. IT IS NOT CHEAP!!!! but I don't have to throw the crappy power supply and buy a new one because this already comes with a quality supply and hence the hefty hefty price. Check it out on the web (use google or your fav search engine), its a pretty good case but you need to stealth your drives. It has lots of slots for a mid tower and the window looks beautiful if you put neon lighting in it. Lian-Li is known to produce the best cases around so you should expect the best from the best. I didn't include it because some people don't give a dang what case they have, but be careful of cutting yourself in those cheap cases. It's expensive and its up to you what case you want. Whatever you do, change your power supply. It'll save you time and your cpu its life.

 

You won't believe it, all this without arctic silver and seagate (i chose maxtor 40gv 133 7200 rpm) from the quote at eskynet, UNDER $1500!!!! $1428 is the quote i got from ekynet. Well, that's not including TAX (I HATE TAX!!!!!) and Cash only (again, use credit card for insurance) but hey, for a 2.4ghz capable northwood p4 computer with all the best bells and whistles, you just can't beat that. add about $300 for a good cdr like mine, and video card and you are totally set for a cool looking cpu. (if you still need something like a nic, modem, speakers, and monitor, then i suggest you buy a system. you won't get the top of the line stuff as you would here, but you'll get a ready to use system that has all the bare components) Without the case, it'll save you another $300, but prepare to spend at least $150 (at least get the enermax and 350w for good upgradability).

 

Wow, that's my blueprint, post your blueprints up as well.

 

I separated my posts into different sections because I want to tell you this, Intel is going to have huge price cuts soon, and their new FSB motherboards will be coming out in Spring! That's why the mobo, and CPU can still wait although its a perfect time now to get the very highly demanded P4 1.6A.

 

I guess you guys want the dates of Intel price slashes, well, HERE YA GO!

14 April

and

26 May!

MARK THESE ON YOUR CALENDARS.

Pentium 4 2.26 (FSB 533) will feature $423 in spring, but only $241 on May 26! While the Pentium 4 2.2 (FSB 400) will be dropping from its original $562 to $423 in April to $241 on May! It's the fastest cpu for Intel right now but not in these coming months! For those who want the best, Pentium 4 2.53 (533) is coming out on the May date at a $637, around the same price as the 2.2 right now, but with an increased FSB. It's your choice if you want to wait, since Intel's Northwood seems to be the best thing to come close to matching and beating an AMD right now!

 

Hope ya all enjoyed my rant on this CPU blueprint and I hope I can give you all a better insight next time! I'm new to this forum so hope ya don't mind all my postings on the same thread, and give your suggestions and comments. Take care for now and thanks for reading!

[GillianChung]

Found a website to backup my claims of Intel prices, remember, these are in United States Dollars! Still pretty impressive if you look at the price drop in May, seems to me like Intel finally wants to eat up AMD by first, getting into DDR, and second, to introduce the Northwood. Check the site for yourselves!

 

http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/story.html?id=1015342615

[bass_freak]

Hmm.. I am getting 3x256 consair cs2 sticks of ram to fill up all my slots, and plain to switch them out for 512s when prices drop, if you fill up all your slots, thats more ram bandwith you have, altho this is not the best way always, get a 512 and then buy antother down the road if you wish, i recomand 2x256, as this is all you will need....then get a 512 down the road to give that gig of ram for bragging rights Northwood....do i hear an overclock...can't wait to have my northwood guide up on the site.