Choosing Between Motherboards....

Greeny · 2004-04-12, 06:18 AM

Hi there,

I am new to this forum as you can see

I am going to build a new computer so i can finally play PlanetSide and all the new games coming soon.. here are the specs

Motherboard: Asus P4C800-E Deluxe "Canterwood"
CPU: Pentium 4 3.2Ghz Northwood Core
RAM: 1Gb (2x512) KingstonX PC3500
Case: Coolmaster Centurion - Black
PSU: Enermax 460W ATX PSU ( Is this powerful enough?)
Graphics:Not 100% sure yet... any suggestions? i want one where i can play games on full settings and one that will last...

CD-RW: Aopen CRW5232 Chameleon
DVD-ROM: Sony DDU1612 DVD-ROM (Black) - OEM
Harddrive: Western Digital Caviar 200Gb ATA Drive 7,200RPM - OEM
OS: Windows XP Home Edition
Floppy Drive

I would be greatful if you guys could check it over to see if eveything is compatable.. (as far as i can tell it is) also do you think anything should be changed?

All feedback is appreciated

Greeny

Electrofreak · 2004-04-15, 01:41 PM

Yeah, everything looks to be pretty good.
The PSU is definately powerful enough, you picked a nice CPU and a great choice with the mobo. As for your RAM, definately a good choice, in fact, I just ordered some of the exact same stuff just the other day (and hopefully it will arrive today!).

That hard drive is frickin HUGE dude! Very nice, however, for that price, I would get 2 SATA drives and run them in RAID 0, it would be even faster, and likely have almost as much HD space. Plus, your mobo has built-in SATA compatability so you wouldnt need to buy a RAID card, just reap the benefits of your nice mobo.

As for a gfx card, I would suggest an ATI Radeon 9800 PRO or XT (depending on how much u want to spend). The GeForce FX cards are pretty good too. I've had both ATI and nVidia, and I have to say I prefer ATI at this point simply because its easier to get modded drivers for, and has a bit more config options (tho its been a while since i had an nVidia, things may have changed). Also, ATI cards tend to run a bit cooler. If you wanna OC a GeForce card, ur prolly gonna need a video card cooler, wheras with ATI u wont.

Hope that helps. Again, u made some really great choices on the hardware. PlanetSide (and whatever else you may choose to play within the next year or so at least) will fly on that rig.

Rbstr · 2004-04-15, 03:12 PM

Nice system man but as Electro said i would get yourself two western digital 120gb SATA drives, and run em in a raid 0 you get more storage better perfomance and just about hte same price.

For graphics card Assuming you hgave enough money for it (and with yours specs it looks so) i would get the 9800 XT. but if your looking for somethign a bit cheaper in the $200 range i woudl get a 5700 ultra of a 9600XT.

no compatibilty issues either.

Acaila · 2004-04-15, 10:02 PM

Fucking kick ass system, with a decent gfx card it will shit all over PS and any other game available currently. You will need to raise your FSB to 217 MHz (868 MHz quad pumped) which in turn will OC your CPU (to 3472 MHz) so you can run your RAM at 1:1 and get full use out of it. That won't be a problem though with stock cooling. If you don't intend to OC to 217 MHz FSB at least, you may aswell buy PC3200.

DeadTeddy · 2004-04-16, 05:22 PM

Acaila, it will still run at 1:1 but only at 200 mhz meaning PC3200. it leaves a bit of room for OC but doesn't really matter.

Acaila · 2004-04-16, 07:06 PM

It doesn't really matter sure, but you want to be precise. What's the point in buying it if you aren't going to run it to maxmimum specs?

Greeny · 2004-04-17, 05:00 AM

Hi there, thanks for your help so far

I don't really want to overclock so i will go for DDR400 RAM instead of the PC3500.

Also i will look into using Raid 0

At current card prices, and the amount of � i have to spend, i will probably end up getting the Sapphire 9600XT, would the 9600XT last me a while ?

About the harddrives an uncle of mine has told me that the paticular drive i had chosen a Western Digital "Caviar" was not very good, he himself is on his third... so i changed it for a Samsung 160Gb.. (i wouldnt have needed 200Gb anyway). After buying all the other components i wont have enough money to buy the 9800XT.. So would the 9600XT be a good choice?

Any other tips/advice you could give?

Thanks