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Author Topic: New tower I'm building  (Read 5707 times)

Offline llDayo

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New tower I'm building
« on: May 03, 2004, 11:09:52 AM »
Ok, I'm planning on getting a new tower in the next couple of weeks from Monarch Computer. I was just wondering on opinions of you guys who possibly know more than I do. Will all the peices fit? Am I getting a decent price? I'm not doing this to brag but I certainly don't want to be spending this much for something that won't work. Here's the details:

Tower: Antec Super LANBoy Aluminum Mid Tower Case No/ PS - $88.00  
Power Supply: Thermaltake W0011 Dual Fan 480W PS - $72.00  
Subtotal with your selected options: $160.00

Motherboard: Intel D875PBZLK i875 ATA/RAID/LAN/USB/DD - $155.00
Processor: Intel P4 478 3.20 800 FSB (HT) - $285.00  
Thermal Grease: Shin-Etsu G675 Thermal Grease - $12.00  
Memory: DDR (400) 3200 - 1 GB (2 pcs 512) Corsair - $289.00
Warranty: Motherboard-CPU Warranty - 3 Year w/30 Day - $29.95            
Round Cables: Round Cables UV Kit 2-24" IDE 1-18" FDD - $29.00
Subtotal with your selected options: $799.95

Grandtotal - $959.95 (doesn't include shipping yet)

The motherboard, grease, and processor will be already put together and the case and powersupply should also be put together. I'll be doing whatever's leftover.

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Offline Pride

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New tower I'm building
« Reply #1 on: May 03, 2004, 11:37:32 AM »
Looks great!  :2thumbsup:

Only suggestion would be to get a MOBO with SATA on it!
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Offline Pride

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New tower I'm building
« Reply #2 on: May 03, 2004, 11:39:17 AM »
Sorry bro, didnt click the link, looks good to me!
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Offline llDayo

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New tower I'm building
« Reply #3 on: May 03, 2004, 11:43:36 AM »
Quote from: "pride"
Looks great!  :2thumbsup:

Only suggestion would be to get a MOBO with SATA on it!


Any chance you could define what SATA does? I noticed in your next reply that everything looks fine so I'm guessing SATA comes on the motherboard, I just don't understand it's purpose, something to do with harddrive storage I think :ears:

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Offline Pride

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« Reply #4 on: May 03, 2004, 12:02:53 PM »
SATA is IDE on steroids.  Serial, A T A

First off, the cables are different.  They are about 1/10th the size of an IDE cable, and can only go in 1 way, so you cant mess it up.

Also, there is no longer a master/slave drive.  You simply tell your bios which HD you want to boot from.

The data rate is no longer 66/100/133, it is 150.  The HD technology is basically the same, it is simply the transfer rate that is faster.

http://www.serialata.org/

Most of the new MoBo's come with 4 SATA ports.  2 of which are usually raid.
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Offline Pride

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« Reply #5 on: May 03, 2004, 12:03:29 PM »
Assume you are pulling vid and aud from your current PC?
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Offline llDayo

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« Reply #6 on: May 03, 2004, 12:50:54 PM »
So using my old harddrives won't matter though? They'll still connect correctly?

And yes, I'm pulling my video, audio, network card (might leave it in though, I think the board comes with onboard LAN but I don't remember), and extra USB port card.

Also, one more question, is a 480W power supply enough? I don't know how to figure that stuff out.

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Offline Pride

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New tower I'm building
« Reply #7 on: May 03, 2004, 12:55:01 PM »
As long as the MoBo has IDE connectors, your old HD will be fine.  

480 is probably overkill actually.  But it is better to have too much, than not enough.

I have a 400 and I am fine, and I have more devices than you it sounds.
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devilduck

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New tower I'm building
« Reply #8 on: May 03, 2004, 02:05:07 PM »
My question for you is,  is this a barebones system that you are having done or are you just ordering the parts and building it yourself?  The reason I ask is that most motherboard and cpu manufacturers have a 3 year warranty with their boxed retail components.  Why are you paying the $30 for a warranty? Otherwise looks good and I agree with Pride, get SATA on the motherboard.  The new SATA drives are getting cheaper all the time.  Plus, if you got the cash to spare get a Western Digital Raptor.  Those puppies scream.  :2thumbsup:

Offline llDayo

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New tower I'm building
« Reply #9 on: May 03, 2004, 02:40:15 PM »
Thanks for the help, pride! Now, I just gotta run this by the wife ;)

Quote from: "devilduck"
My question for you is,  is this a barebones system that you are having done or are you just ordering the parts and building it yourself?  The reason I ask is that most motherboard and cpu manufacturers have a 3 year warranty with their boxed retail components.  Why are you paying the $30 for a warranty?


Good call on the warranty! They have a free 6-month warranty (the warranty is for the motherboard/cpu combo that they'd put together. I wouldn't even need to pay for shipping if something's wrong! However, if nothing happens after 6-months then nothing will probably happen at all to the setup, IMO. I'll just stick with the free manufacturer warranties after that). Thanks for the heads up! The only things that'll be put together will be the cpu/motherboard/RAM as one unit and the tower/power supply as another. The rest I gotta do (which is basically a few screws and some wires, hehe).

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Offline llDayo

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« Reply #10 on: May 04, 2004, 05:07:11 PM »
Alright, I ordered a Translucent case with some little light up fans instead of the case I have listed :2thumbsup:

Now, I'm thinking of switching the RAM from Corsair to Kingston (about $100 cheaper). They're both x2 PC3200 400Mhz 512MB but I was wondering if there's a major difference between the two. If not, then that's what I'd be getting. Thoughts?

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Offline Nimby

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New tower I'm building
« Reply #11 on: May 04, 2004, 06:18:45 PM »
Quote from: "llDayo"
Alright, I ordered a Translucent case with some little light up fans instead of the case I have listed :2thumbsup:

Now, I'm thinking of switching the RAM from Corsair to Kingston (about $100 cheaper). They're both x2 PC3200 400Mhz 512MB but I was wondering if there's a major difference between the two. If not, then that's what I'd be getting. Thoughts?


from what I've seen of kingston ... their "hyperX" memory line is anything but ... sure, it's PC3200 or PC4000 ... but look at the CAS ratings ... 9-4-4?! WTF ... I'd MUCH rather pay the extra $100 and get 8-3-3 from crucial, or ... if you have the money to spend, get 1GB of GieL PC4000 with CAS ratings of 7-2-2 .... that stuff will SCREAM!

also, kingston doesn't guarantee that "packs" of ram (i.e 2x512MB sticks) will be from the same "pressing family" thus, they may not work 100% with dual channel setups ...

I've got 1 GB of PC4000 ram, samsung brand ... it's 8-3-3 and same press family ... couldn't be happier :)
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Offline llDayo

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« Reply #12 on: May 04, 2004, 06:59:11 PM »
Hmmm, I never knew anything about CAS latency. Well, after a little more searching I may get two of THESE.

OCZ Performance Series 184 Pin 512MB DDR PC-3200, CAS latency of 2-3-3-6, Bandwidth: 3.2GB/s. Whaddyatink?

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Offline sully!

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New tower I'm building
« Reply #13 on: May 04, 2004, 07:45:39 PM »
I've heard mixed things about the OCZ stuff. It's either worked fantastically, or failed miserably.

My pick is your original setup with Corsair Twin-X. Yes, it's more expensive, but you will have zero regrets. It performs with no holds barred and overclocks better than any other brand I've seen, not to mention complete stability.
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TekieB

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New tower I'm building
« Reply #14 on: May 04, 2004, 08:34:36 PM »
Quote from: "llDayo"
Hmmm, I never knew anything about CAS latency. Well, after a little more searching I may get two of THESE.

OCZ Performance Series 184 Pin 512MB DDR PC-3200, CAS latency of 2-3-3-6, Bandwidth: 3.2GB/s. Whaddyatink?


I've never had a problem with OCZ (it's in my rig right now)