building a computer

smack

Hey guys,

I'm building a computer thats gonna cost less than $1000 purchasing mostly of Komplett.ie

I would be great if could some verify if everything is compatible and that i am not missing anything that should be there.

So here is what i have

Q-Tec Midi tower ATX L-MD02, Black w/350W AMD/P4
Article number: 300693

Asus P4P800 SE Mainboard for S478/800mhz I865PE,Dual DDR,SATA,Sound,ATA100, GbLAN
Article number: 124228

Intel Pentium 4 2.8 GHz Boxed PC800 Socket PGA478, 1MB cache, Prescott
Article number: 123708

Corsair Value S. PC3200 DDR-DIMM 512MB Unbuffered, Non-parity, 64Megx64, CL2.5
Article number: 117212

PowerColor Radeon 9800 PRO 128MB DDR AGP, ATI 9800PRO, DVI-I, TV-Out, Retail
Article number: 120304

MSI DVD recorder DR8-A2 IDE Retail DVD+R/+RW and DVD-R/-RW
Article number: 300264

LG DVD Drive 16x/48x IDE OEM
Article number: 108617

Western Digital Caviar 250GB S-ATA 8MB cache 7200RPM
Article number: 118875

So there it is, what do ye all think?

Stephen

Get a better power supply. The one supplied with the Qtec case is bound to be crap. I'm not sure what brands Komplett stock at the moment, but you can't go wrong with an Antec, Enermax or Zalman (very quiet). If on a budget, get a Fortron one.

Dunno if that CPU you're getting comes with a heatsink and fan, if not you're obviously going to need one. And maybe a case fan or two if they're not bundled with the case.

Also, why the DVD-ROM and DVD-RW? I wouldn't bother with the -ROM. I've only kept my CD burner in my own machine because it burns CD-R's much faster than the DVD burner

smack

thanks for the comments.

So go for a case with 400w
The CPU has heatsink and fan included, sorted there.

I choose the dvd-rom and rw cos i will most likely be copying dvd fairly often and this way allows me to burn on the fly.

TinCool

You should think about getting a better heatsink/fan than the stock one included with the chip. Those prescott P4's can get vverry hot.

deckie27

I choose the dvd-rom and rw cos i will most likely be copying dvd fairly often and this way allows me to burn on the fly.

it isn't that easy
With encrytpion and dvd sizes
(most commercial dvd's are bigger than the standard dvdr)

Dec

smack

ya i was thinking the heatsink/fan with the P4 box would be a bit crappy, so will invest in better ones

im talking about copying and burning data dvds , not really going to rip dvds that way at all, maybe in the future

BloodBath

Get the Thermalright sp-94 with a 92mm fan. It's the best p4 heatsink you can get. Don't forget artic silver 5 thermal compound. Don't use the **** you get with it.


I'd advise a good brand psu if you want it to last longer than a year.

Also why not get two 120gb or two 160gb hd's instead of the 250. That way you can set up RAID 0 for almost double read and write times.


BloodBath

smack

thats a much better solution for the HDs, cheers Bloodbath

Motherboard supports
Storage Controller RAID
RAID Level RAID 0, RAID 1
Controller Interface Type Serial ATA-150
Storage Controller (2nd) IDE
Controller (2nd) Interface Type DMA/ATA-100 (Ultra)

so to setup up a raid would i need one serial ata HD and one IDE HD
or am i totally wrong, have never setup a raid before. is there a tutorial u know

Mutant_Fruit

im talking about copying and burning data dvds

Commercial data DVD's are also much bigger than regular DVD+-R's, and until you see cheap dual layer discs, on the fly copying can be forgotten about. Unless of course you'll be copying DVD+-R's on the fly, in that case you'd be grand.

For a raid, you'd be best getting (at least) two identical drives. You cannot raid a 160gb and a 120gb, and you will only get the best performance when the drives are the same model. If they are different models, you'll get slightly less performance. Ideally you'd get all S-ATA drives, as they are faster, and you'd notice the difference once you raid them up.

EDIT: A seperate RAID card is what i'd recommend, because if you change motherboards, i believe you will lose your raid, unless you get a motherboard with exactly the same controller, and its easier to get an identical replacement PCI card than an identical replcement motherboard, especially if you're trying to upgrade.

Prosta

Thought it was impossible to overheat a p4?
If it gets too hot it runs slower.
Any reviews I've read (just the 1 actually as I be watercooled) say the stock heatsink offers about the same cooling as most of the after market stuff.

TacT

ditch the ram and get some better stuff over at www.shop4memory.com for cheaper too.
Don't use the psu that comes with the case, get an enermax/zalman/antec/fortron/northQ/Tagan - NEVER QTEC NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER get a qtec

Interested in a 9800XT then ocuk should have some in soon for about £160-180 inc Vat - see gfx card forum there for info - I'd say 2 weeks and they have em at that price - just a guesstimate.

Follow bloodbath's advice for hd's and yeah - that thermalright hs and a 92mm fan is the way to go to keep that sucker cool. Get some AS5/ceramique too and don't use the crappy goop that comes with it because the prescott just gets too damn hot to not take serious cooling measures into consideration.

Prosta

what is it I should know about my qtec 450w psu that I dont, apart from the noise?

smack

shopformemory.com defn the better option, cheers

but is it ok to put one 512mb dimm into the motherboard

don't they have to go in pairs or is that just SIMMs

Not sure about graphics cards really, is the 9800XT better than the 9800 PRO

TacT

9800pro should oc to xt speeds if you're lucky so should get close IF you're lucky
One 512MB dimm should be fine but I'm not sure what way you need to configure the modules to get dual channel on those boards or if you need to at all.. hopefully someone else can confirm that for you.

It will work absolutely fine with only 1 ram stick but you might not get dual channel - not sure how much perf increase there is with it on the intel boards but the diff. on amd boards is minimal for the most part.

TacT

Originally posted by Prosta
what is it I should know about my qtec 450w psu that I dont, apart from the noise?

It's made of crap components - the fans start grinding and making noise. The voltages are crap - drops loads all over the place on all the lines unacceptably. They like to go pop and take out components with them and are just plain useless in any mid-high end system. It might run ok if you're powering a hd and cd drive with an 8mb S3 and a PII400 if you're lucky though

BloodBath

Thought it was impossible to overheat a p4?
If it gets too hot it runs slower.
Any reviews I've read (just the 1 actually as I be watercooled) say the stock heatsink offers about the same cooling as most of the after market stuff.

You haven't read about the Prescott have you. It's not impossible to overhead either of them. Thermal throttling will kick in if they get too hot but the cpu loses most of it's performance when it does so you need to keep it cool. The heatsink you get with it is fine for stock speeds but if any overclocking is to be done a sp-94 and a 92mm is the only thing for it. I don't know what reviews you've been reading but I know it keeps it about 20c cooler than the stock heatsink does. With a tornado on it it performs just as well as a lot of water cooling setups e.g. the zalman reserator.

but is it ok to put one 512mb dimm into the motherboard

don't they have to go in pairs or is that just SIMMs

Not sure about graphics cards really, is the 9800XT better than the 9800 PRO

Two x 256mb will give you better results as you will have more bandwidth. If your budget can stretch i'd really recomend 2 x 512mb especially if your running windows xp. There's not much difference performance wise between the pro and the xt. Get the pro for now and a year or so down the line you can pick up one of the new cards when they drop in price.

Setting up RAID is easy. There should be instructions in your mobo manual. If not just do a quick google for everything you need.


BloodBath

Prosta

seen numerous reviews with the same last line as this... (the sentance under the graphs)

http://www.tomshardware.com/cpu/20040212/gigabyte_3d_cooler-05.html

But like I said I'm using a Zalman Waterblock
Got a Prescot 2.6 running at 3ghz at a steady 28C.
Fans? BAH!

BloodBath

een numerous reviews with the same last line as this... (the sentance under the graphs)

http://www.tomshardware.com/cpu/200..._cooler-05.html

But like I said I'm using a Zalman Waterblock
Got a Prescot 2.6 running at 3ghz at a steady 28C.
Fans? BAH!

What's your point? What's the purpose of the link? That's not a great heatsink. Read a review on the thermalright sp-94 with artic silver 5 and a 92mm tornado. Even with a stanard 92mm fan it's great.

You should be able to push that Prescott a lot further than 3ghz and no way are you load temps 28c. I doubt your idle temps are even that low unless it's chilled. Up your vcore and go to 3.4-3.6


BloodBath