Help me finalize my new Gaming Rig specs!

[paxus]

Hello, all. This board has proven invaluable in gaining the knowledge to put together my next machine. Below are my specs for the components that I am ordering. Everything links to NewEgg where I am buying all of these components. (after specs I list my questions re: specs).

Graphics: Sapphire ATI RADEON 9700 Atlantis PRO 128MB

Processor: Intel Pentium 4 / 2.4CGHz 512k socket 478 Hyper Threading Technology 800 MHz FSB

PSU: Antec Power supply True480 with Blue LED Fan

mobo: ASUS 800Mhz FSB Model# P4P800 Deluxe Retail

Speakers: Altec Lansing 621 2.1 Speaker System

RAM: (2x) CORSAIR MEMORY XMS, Low Latency 256MB 32MX64 PC-3200LLPT With Platinum - Silver Heat Spreaders.

Keyboard/Mouse: Logitech Cordless MX Duo

Hard drive: Western Digital Raptor 36GB SATA WD360GD 10,000 RPM 8MB Hard Drive OEM

CD/DVD: Lite On Black 48x24x48x16 CDROM/CDRW/DVD Combo Drive

Case: CHIEFTEC Server Chasis - Aluminum Workstation Tower (BLACK)

Ok, so this brings my total to $1335 w/o shipping. My questions are:

1) Do I need to get any SATA cables or controllers separately? Notice the WD Raptor drive is OEM...I am unsure of any extra cables or accessories I may need.

2) The onboard audio on the Asus P4p800 is "AD 1985 6 Channel Codec". Um, is this good? I ask because I am buying the Altec speakers for $110, and I need to know if I should be getting a separate sound card. I am no audiophile; I just desire decent sound.

3) The Chieftec case comes with 2 rear mounted fans and 1 side panel fan. It looks like there is room for 2 intake fans. I assume these are 80mm. Can I get some clarification on this? It looks like the case has room for 5 fans, and it already comes with 3 fans. If this is true, I should just buy 2 more 80mm fans, correct?

4) The Intel P4 2.4Ghz is retail and comes with heatsink fan combo. Should I use this or buy an aftermarket HSF? If I should go aftermarket, please recommend one so that I can just go ahead and get it

Thanks for your help, gurus.

[jankerson]

1) Do I need to get any SATA cables or controllers separately? Notice the WD Raptor drive is OEM...I am unsure of any extra cables or accessories I may need.

The motherboard comes with SATA cables.

2) The onboard audio on the Asus P4p800 is "AD 1985 6 Channel Codec". Um, is this good? I ask because I am buying the Altec speakers for $110, and I need to know if I should be getting a separate sound card. I am no audiophile; I just desire decent sound.

Try the onboard audio first before you decide to get a soundcard.

4) The Intel P4 2.4Ghz is retail and comes with heatsink fan combo. Should I use this or buy an aftermarket HSF? If I should go aftermarket, please recommend one so that I can just go ahead and get it

The stock HSF is fine unless you are going to really overclock the CPU. If not then it is fine.

[coyote81]

I have a question about your Hard Drive, your using the very fast 10,000 RPM Sata drive which is the exact one I was going to get. But my friend pointed me to the direction of a Seagate Ultra 150 120GB hard drive that only cost about $20 more. Also this Seagate hard drive is very fast as well, although not as fast as the Raptor.

I would skip right by the stock Heatsink and Fan and go get the SLK700 or SLK800 (make sure you get the one for pentium MoBo's)

The motherboard comes with SATA cables.

This is true.

3) The Chieftec case comes with 2 rear mounted fans and 1 side panel fan. It looks like there is room for 2 intake fans. I assume these are 80mm. Can I get some clarification on this? It looks like the case has room for 5 fans, and it already comes with 3 fans. If this is true, I should just buy 2 more 80mm fans, correct?

Yes you should buy two more fans, what I'd suggest is going to xoxide.com and completeing the look of your system with a few more led fans of the same color as your PSU. You can even get 2 cold cathode kits for around $11

[sam_fisher]

paxus you can get led fans, ccfls, and all kinda case mods at newegg dude.

your system looks like it should pretty much kick ***. you ought to be able to oc the bat piss out of that P4 c. as far as the onboard audio..i would keep it if it were me. the research i've seen on that audio chipset is that it performs almost like a fortissimo 3, which is only 2-4% more taxingon the cpu than the SB audigy..you won't even notice in your games...


sam...

Edited for language

[sam_fisher]

..Edited for language..


give me a break

[Dr. Data]

You will want to check on the power adapter cables for the SATA drive also.

I have been looking at very simliar setups myself and I would like to add that you could also get a pair of 80Gig 7200 speed ATA-100 drives and run them at RAID 0.

It may not be faster but just looking at value, its 160G versus 36G.

If money is not an issue then I would suggest getting a pair of the Raptor 36Gigs and running them at RAID 0 for 72Gigs total.

From what little reading I have done, the Abit IS7 appears to be a better value. Check out the round up over at Anandtech.

[seamonkie]

yea, your gonna need to get a power adaptor for that sata drive, for some reason all manufacturers managed to forget to add this lil bugger. and check to see if the motherboard comes with sata cables, otherwise your gonna need to buy those too...

[Buddyboy]

u need more ram!

[paxus]

Originally posted by Dr. Data
I have been looking at very simliar setups myself and I would like to add that you could also get a pair of 80Gig 7200 speed ATA-100 drives and run them at RAID 0.

It may not be faster but just looking at value, its 160G versus 36G.

If money is not an issue then I would suggest getting a pair of the Raptor 36Gigs and running them at RAID 0 for 72Gigs total.

Yeah, very good point. In the end (10 minutes ago) I opted for 2 80Gb WD "Special Edition" 7200RPM with 8Mb Cache hard drives. They were $92 each, but now I can run them in RAID 0 (no fault tolerance) and have 160 Gigs.

Turns out, money was somewhat of an issue

Additionally, I opted for the ViewSonic 19"CRT P90F -- $300 and capable of 1600x1200 rez @ 87Hz. Nice for running games. After all, why get a good video card and a crappy monitor?

Thanks again for your help, duders.

[sam_fisher]

Originally posted by Buddyboy
u need more ram!

you'd only need more ram if you going to be decoding dvds all day or anything like that utilizes that much ram.
(2) 512 sticks of xms 3200 plat. is pretty dang awesome. corsair is the only ram i use for anything, whether it be value select for workstations or xms for servers and gaming machines...
512 is just the right amount for hardcore gaming. besides the video card has 128mb on it.. in my opinion you can't go wrong.

[sam_fisher]

if you do get an IS7 board, youi can download a beta bios that enables PAT and boosts the board's performance to almost that of a P4C800. i love my IS7, i use it for my HTPC and can hook it up directly to my sony rcvr via the onboard optical out.
sweet board for the dough. i highly recommend it.

ABIT IS7

if you're thinking about going with the IS7, check out the Asus P4C800 Deluxe. i've got this board, and its truely awesome. its the fastest out there. the canterwood cs owns.

Asus P4C800 Deluxe

there's not a big price dif between the two anymore.
in my opinion abit and asus are far superior to other board makers.

i can't wait to see your benchies on that box. if you plan to benchmark it.



sam.

[jankerson]

Originally posted by Buddyboy
u need more ram!

512mb is the ideal amount of ram for Win 2k, and XP.

Unless you are doing alot of Photoshop work or as Sam said:

you'd only need more ram if you going to be decoding dvds all day or anything like that utilizes that much ram.

Other than that 512mb is plenty for a gaming rig.

It is going to be a sweet machine when you get it done.

[coyote81]

How to Speed up Your RAM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Top Performance with 1 GB of RAM or More

Another important performance criterion is the amount of RAM installed.
Image and video-processing applications get an enormous boost from more memory.
Readings taken with Content Creation Winstone prove that Windows 2000 and XP systems
don't really take off until they have 1 GB or more of RAM. The benchmarks show how heavily
system performance depends on the amount of memory. Indeed, 512-MB RAM is the bare minimum for
fast Windows XP systems. Long gone are the days of Windows 98 and Me, when 512 MB was the most
memory that the majority of systems needed.

The maximum amount of RAM depends solely on the motherboard and its chipset.
For more information, go to the "Memory Support" table below.
In x86 systems, however, the maximum memory allowed is 3.5 GB, no matter how much RAM has been
installed.
The CPU simply cannot address any more memory. The remaining capacity is reserved to control the
PCI circuits.

You should install as few RAM modules as possible. Reducing the number of chips on the
module will also enhance performance and stability. The modules generally consist of eight or 16 chips.

The number of memory modules you use will have a direct impact on your command rate.
The command rate specifies the number of clock cycles the memory controller needs to activate the
modules and chips. If you've filled all your memory banks, you'll generally have to increase the rate
from one to two clock cycles to keep your system stable. Unfortunately, that will also impair performance
by up to three percent.



This is a review from
Tom's Hardware that I found about tweaking your memory.