Advice on new system components

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raging_peanut

I'm building a new computer and I would appreciate your feedback on this
high performance setup. This system will not be overclocked, I want it as
stable as possible since it will be on for weeks on end, upgreadable in
order to last a few good years...oh, and looks are important :)
Will be used primarily on internet content creation and animation
(power-hungry Macromedia software), image manipulation, some video editing,
heavy internet use and middleweight gaming (strategy mostly). All components
are from Dabs with the exception of Corsair memory which is from Scan.co.uk
and I have already hit my pricetag of £1300.

Motherboard: MSI 875P NEO-FIS2R

CPU: P4 3.0 512KB S478 800FSB HT

Memory: Corsair TwinX 1024Mb C2 3200 ProSeries (2 x 512MB PC3200 Matched
Pair DDR) with Activity LEDs

AGP: Crucial Radeon 9800Pro 128MB

HD: Maxtor DiamondMax Plus9 160GB SATA150

CD Drive: Plextor DVD+-R/RW 8x Int IDE Retail

Case: Thermaltake LANFire ATX Mid Tower No PSU

PSU: Thermaltake Butterfly 480w PSU Silver

I guess what i'm looking for is if you can identify any bottlenecks, or any
bad personal experiences in setting up a similar machine. Thanks in advance.
 
raging_peanut said:
I'm building a new computer and I would appreciate your feedback on this
high performance setup. This system will not be overclocked, I want it as
stable as possible since it will be on for weeks on end, upgreadable in
order to last a few good years...oh, and looks are important :)
Will be used primarily on internet content creation and animation
(power-hungry Macromedia software), image manipulation, some video editing,
heavy internet use and middleweight gaming (strategy mostly). All components
are from Dabs with the exception of Corsair memory which is from Scan.co.uk
and I have already hit my pricetag of £1300.

Motherboard: MSI 875P NEO-FIS2R

CPU: P4 3.0 512KB S478 800FSB HT

Memory: Corsair TwinX 1024Mb C2 3200 ProSeries (2 x 512MB PC3200 Matched
Pair DDR) with Activity LEDs

AGP: Crucial Radeon 9800Pro 128MB

HD: Maxtor DiamondMax Plus9 160GB SATA150

CD Drive: Plextor DVD+-R/RW 8x Int IDE Retail

Case: Thermaltake LANFire ATX Mid Tower No PSU

PSU: Thermaltake Butterfly 480w PSU Silver

I guess what i'm looking for is if you can identify any bottlenecks, or any
bad personal experiences in setting up a similar machine. Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

I'm no expert, but no one else has answered yet. I haven't built a PC
since the '80s. However, I just came in to ownership of a great deal on
a P4 just like yours. It came with a Intel D865GBF mobo thought.

I've been working on an iMac DV SE (400 MHz) for a number of years. I
love Macs, but have made my living with Windows/Linux/UNIX boxes for
many years. I'm not much of a bigot on hardware or OS (although OS X
would be my favorite). However, my iMac has no upgrade path, short of
buying that G5 I'd like, but can't afford. Quite frankly, the iMac is
getting pretty slow for what I'm now doing in Photoshop.

I've done too much research lately, but am loving it. I like your memory
choice and will probably do much the same. I'm not sure the brand really
matters.

I'm not a gamer and the 2D graphics are on my mobo will probably do just
fine for Photoshop. I've read that your choice is very good, but don't
know about it's memory. I'll probably be sticking to 2.1 sound and also
use the mobo sound for that.

I'm looking to make as quiet a PC as I can reasonably get. So, the
Seagate Baracuda series of HDs look to be a better choice for me. I'll
also go with SATA, but my mobo doesn't support RAID 0. I'm looking very
longingly at the Antec Sonota case. It's a good case designed for quiet
operation. It comes with a good 380W PS and quiet fans.

My P4 came with Intel's heat sink and fan. I've read that it isn't too
noisy. I'll find out.

I've heard for years that Plextor is the best in optical drives. You
can't go wrong here. I don't do moving pictures, so DVD really isn't
important to me. I'd like the extra space for easier backup, but I don't
like the price or speed of the DVD drives today. I think I'll get the
way higher speed CD-RW drive and add the DVD when it's faster and
cheaper.

With my experience using much of the same tools you'll be using (minus
video editing and gaming), I'd say you've got a pretty good system.

Clyde
 
raging_peanut said:
I'm building a new computer and I would appreciate your feedback on this
high performance setup. This system will not be overclocked, I want it as
stable as possible since it will be on for weeks on end, upgreadable in
order to last a few good years...oh, and looks are important :)
Will be used primarily on internet content creation and animation
(power-hungry Macromedia software), image manipulation, some video editing,
heavy internet use and middleweight gaming (strategy mostly). All components
are from Dabs with the exception of Corsair memory which is from Scan.co.uk
and I have already hit my pricetag of £1300.

Motherboard: MSI 875P NEO-FIS2R

CPU: P4 3.0 512KB S478 800FSB HT

Memory: Corsair TwinX 1024Mb C2 3200 ProSeries (2 x 512MB PC3200 Matched
Pair DDR) with Activity LEDs

AGP: Crucial Radeon 9800Pro 128MB

HD: Maxtor DiamondMax Plus9 160GB SATA150

CD Drive: Plextor DVD+-R/RW 8x Int IDE Retail

Case: Thermaltake LANFire ATX Mid Tower No PSU

PSU: Thermaltake Butterfly 480w PSU Silver

I guess what i'm looking for is if you can identify any bottlenecks, or any
bad personal experiences in setting up a similar machine. Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
I've been using Microstar (MSI) Motherboards both privately and in my
business for several years - VERY low failure rates.

Plextor drives - good

Can't comment on the rest

Clive
 
I'm looking to make as quiet a PC as I can reasonably get. So, the
Seagate Baracuda series of HDs look to be a better choice for me. I'll
also go with SATA, but my mobo doesn't support RAID 0. I'm looking very
longingly at the Antec Sonota case. It's a good case designed for quiet
operation. It comes with a good 380W PS and quiet fans.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your comments, A quiet pc is one of my main concerns as well but
looking at the technical specs of each drive, plus this article:
http://www6.tomshardware.com/storage/20030314/index.html I was converted.
Indeed, the Barracuda has a reputation for a silent drive but I have never
owned one and the only specs that they list is 2.5db in idle operation!!
WD's drive 120 SATA is 33db in normal, Maxtor's 160 SATA is 31db! So I don't
think that the noise will be an issue with this drive.
My first choice was the WD.
 
Clive said:
I've been using Microstar (MSI) Motherboards both privately and in my
business for several years - VERY low failure rates.

Plextor drives - good

Can't comment on the rest

Clive
Click to expand...

your ram is a bit tarty (just get crucial DDR2700 or 3200), and the video
card's overspecced - get a 9600 pro for 95% of the performance a third of
the price.. oh, and the DVD drive'd be better replaced with a cheaper
pioneer A106 (better compatibility with DVD players and different media).

personally, i'd get a quick SATA drive like a WD raptor (10k rpm but only
36GB) for the OS and another mainstream 7200rpm for data as well.

ric h
 
I'm looking to make as quiet a PC as I can reasonably get. So, the
Seagate Baracuda series of HDs look to be a better choice for me. I'll
also go with SATA, but my mobo doesn't support RAID 0. I'm looking very
longingly at the Antec Sonota case. It's a good case designed for quiet
operation. It comes with a good 380W PS and quiet fans.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your comments, A quiet pc is one of my main concerns as well but
looking at the technical specs of each drive, plus this article:
http://www6.tomshardware.com/storage/20030314/index.html I was converted.
Indeed, the Barracuda has a reputation for a silent drive but I have never
owned one and the only specs that they list is 2.5db in idle operation!!
WD's drive 120 SATA is 33db in normal, Maxtor's 160 SATA is 31db! So I don't
think that the noise will be an issue with this drive.
My first choice was the WD.[/QUOTE]

For quite PCs, the best site I've found is: http://www.silentpcreview.com/

Clyde
 
Your spending all that money on memory and CPU and feeding with an
eye-dropper like that Diamond Max 9.
Read the HotHardware review dtd. March 20,2003. Don't get sucked in by the
150MHz nonsense.
If you want performance take to SATA RAID 0.
HG
 
I envy your PC and wish I have that amount of money to spend in the future.

The only feeling of the PC, if I am the owner, I would add another cheap CD
drive and another HD. From my experience, two CD drives offer me a great
deal of convenience, such as copy data between CDs. Two HDs offer me a
great sense of safety, in case one of the HDs does fail, in my opinion, two
80g HDs is always better then one 160g HD.
 
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