[drwho]

Hello to All
This is my first post on this forum, I hope I'm posting this message in the right place.

I've been wanting to build myself a new computer centered around one of the A64 processors for sometime now, and have come up with this setup. I would appreciate any comments or suggestions anyone might have on what I'm planning.

OS - XP Pro SP1
Case - Kingwin KT 436B-WM
PSU - Vantec "Stealth" 520W
Processor - AMD Athlon 64 3800+
Heatsink - Thermalright XP-120 120mm fan
MB - Epox EP-9NDA3+ Nforce3 Ultra (Socket 939)
Ram - Geil Ultra Series DDR400 (512MBx2)
Video Card - Gigabyte X800 XT PE (256 MB)
HD - Maxtor Ultra 80 GB (ATA 133), Maxtor Ultra 120 GB (ATA 133)
OD - Liteon SOHN-1213S 12x DVD/RW

This system is one I'm planning on building sometime in the middle of October, for one main reason, the cash is not available, but will be in October. Also, I realise that some of the hardware I'm planning on using is not available on the retail market yet, so I'm content to wait. Thanks in advance for your comments or suggestions.


drwho

[Vampyromaniac]

yeah that should pretty much kick some ass wish I had that kind of money

[Judas]

you picked a good set of components that for sure.. 3800+ .... dual channel memory controller.... 1mb cache.... mmyep...

[Dark Lord]

everything looks very very nice.
quck question though, do you mind linking to that HS? i dont seem to find it on thermaltakes site. i wanna see this thing for my self, 120mm HS? that just dosnt even seem feasable to attach to the cpu...

[pr0digal jenius]

http://www.pccasegear.com/prod1532.htm

its thermalright, not thermaltake


and that system will FLY, but may i ask why your not using SATA on the HDDs? ...or getting matched drives for RAID 0 even?


other then that, i wouldn't change a thing (wanna trade computers? )

[Judas]

Originally posted by pr0digal jenius
http://www.pccasegear.com/prod1532.htm

its thermalright, not thermaltake


and that system will FLY, but may i ask why your not using SATA on the HDDs? ...or getting matched drives for RAID 0 even?


other then that, i wouldn't change a thing (wanna trade computers? )

that's an idea... dual cpu's for a single 64bit athlon.... hmm... not sure who's getting the deal...

[drwho]

Thanks for the replys, guys, I appreciate it. I also stand corrected, the XP-120 is made by Thermalright not Thermaltake. Here's the place where I purchased the XP-120 from.

http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/thxpforinp4.html


As for the Sata and Raid setups, I have no familiarity with them, what is involved in using them? One more question while I'm here. The Ram I have picked out, would it benefit me anymore to get something like PC4000 instead of the PC3200?



drwho

[Judas]

PC4000 might prove to lengthen the lifetime of your components... and if you get bold enough, you might try overclocking which is really in need of good ram when you start doing that.... As for Raid arrays, Today there almost a must.... Not much that you have to know about them... they provide amazing results though..

[pr0digal jenius]

get the fastest ram your PC supports in dual channel mode.

As for SATA, all you have to do is buy SATA hard drives and use the SATA ports instead of the IDE ports,
and for RAID (i think your mobo will do raid, the spec sheet was inf rench tho ) that just requires setting up RAID with the utility in DOS, making the setup diskette with the motherboard driver CD on a different machine, and inserting it when you setup windows and press F6 at the proper time...it isnt hard at all, but if your really new ata system building, RAID isnt for you.

But definately look into SATA (PS - in my experience western digital and seagate make the best drives)

[drwho]

Here are the specs of the EP-9NDA3+.

Key Specifications

NVIDIA nForce3 Ultra
Supports Socket 939 based Athlon 64/Athlon 64 FX up to 3600+
2GHz Hyper Transport
4 DDR DIMMs for DDR-266/333/400 with dual channel architecture
1 AGP 8X; 8 USB 2.0 ports; 5 PCI slots; 2 1394 ports
8CH Audio; SPDIF Coaxial & Optical output
2 PATA ports compliant with ATA-133
4 SATA ports with 150MBps with RAID 0, 1, 1+0 support
Gigabit LAN (With Firewall function)
Smart Fan, Cool n’ Quiet, Auto Jack Sensing, Magic Health, Power BIOS, Magic Screen, Magic Flash, USDM, P80P

Do the hard drives have to match, in other words do they need to say the same size (120 GB) or what is involved. I hope you guys don't mind helping out an amatuer in computers. I really appreciate all your help in these matters. I'm glad I found this forum, you guys are great.



drwho

[GutterPunk]

very nice set up i want it

[drwho]

Ok, following your suggestions, I've just ordered two Seagate 120 GB 7200.7 Sata drives from an online computer store. The price was $83.95 a piece. Thanks for your help.

Quote

"For SATA hard drive users, Vantec Stealth Power Supply included 2pcs SATA hard drive adapters (4 to 15 pin connecters). Just simply connect the 4pin connector (white color) to power supply and 15pin connector (black color) to the SATA hard drive."

I just replaced the PSU on my current computer because it was starting to fail, I guess I'm reaping some benifits from this purchase.


drwho

[Matth]

You might like to consider the Pioneer DVR-108 - the price premium for their latest model (OEM version) is nothing like what I would have expected, which makes up for the fact that the 16x is a small zone at the end, so the drive is not much quicker than a 12x - but compared to the Liteon, Pioneer's media compatibility is usually a lot better.

The Liteon 1213S does not review as well as even their own previous models, the reading of test CD's being a lot worse - this might be typical of the way they release with firmware that's barely better than beta, and the media list in the 1213S firmware is shorter than the not particularly impressive list for the 812 / 832 models.

[pr0digal jenius]

if your goign to spend the money for a pioneer, get a Sony or a Plextor isntead, as plextors are far and away the best damned burners around, and sony's are rock solid and a good bit cheaper then most top end competitors

[Matth]

Sony are mostly rebranded Liteons these days:
http://www.blankdiscshop.co.uk - UK prices, though their server seems to be on the blink a little ... Pioneer 108 - £69.99
And the NEC 2510A - cheap, and with herrie's hacked firmware, it can be a good writer with a wide range of media support.

Before choosing a writer, I'd consider some firmware hacking support essential...
The Liteon's are well catered for, but only in tweaking existing codes - Codeguys have a firmware editor than can adjust speeds, and replace strategies - though it means hacking and reflashing every time, the path for uprating the speed (more usually on +R) is:
1. Try the media at normal speed - it's got to be at least "usable"
2. Add the speeds, try again - if it overspeeds well, job done
3. Switch strategies - the Yuden T02 seems to be the best developed 12x strategy, and often improves overspeed results with any media - if there is a higher speed version of the same media, swapping to that code is worth a try.
4. If result still poor switch back - if less adventurous, stick to the "recommended" strategy swaps if you use them at all.

For the Pioneer 107, there is hacked 8x4all firmware
For the NEC, there is Herrie's hacked, better and more media support.

I would never consider an unhackable drive, though I'd consider before actually doing it.

The BENQ is also reckoned to be a reasonably good writer - the 822A has an OFFICIAL DL upgrade promised.

If you need +R, -R and DVD-RAM, then there is only one choice, LG's triple format - or perhaps quad format, in the DL version.

[phongtruong12]

how much will that rig cost you in total?

[drwho]

Hmm....I suppose I cound rephrase the title of my post and call it a major upgrade instead of new build, because I won't be building this computer from scratch. I already have the computer case, and 520W PSU, and after looking at the prices of new memory, I've decided to keep the memory I'm already using in my current computer, which is 1024 MB of Twinmos Twister PC3700. I'm roughly figuring around $1600 for all components on my new computer. At least that what I'm figuring at this moment.



drwho

_______________________________
Current Rig

XP Pro SP 1
Kingwin KT 436B-WM w/Vantec "Stealth" 520 W
NF7-S rev 2.0 B 18
XP 3200+ slk-900A w/TMD 70mm
Tmos Twister PC3700 (2x512)
Tyan Tachyon G9700 Pro
Maxtor 30 GB Dbak Plus (system)
Maxtor 60 GB Dbak Plus 9 (storage)
Liteon DVD 16x
Liteon 48x12x48 cd-rw