Custom Job..Opinions

Lydesia

Would love to get some opinions from the fine heads here about a custom PC i want to build.

Antec Sonata Miditower, Black w/380W PSU
Samsung 19" LCD Syncmaster 913N TCO03 Monitor, Silver, 8ms
Trust Multimedia Keyboard KB-1150, PS/2, Retail, UK
Logitech Click! Optical Mouse, USB
Gigabyte GA-K8NF-9,nForce4-4x,Socket-939 4xSATA, GbLAN, Firewire, PCI-Express
AMD Athlon 64 3500+ 2.2GHz Socket 939, 512KB, BOXED w/fan
TwinMOS PC3200 DDR-DIMM 1024MB Dual Pack Kit w/two matched PC3200 DDR DIMMs
Sapphire Radeon X700PRO 256MB GDDR3, PCI-Express,Tv-Out, DVI-I, Full-Retail
Western Digital Caviar SE 320GB SATA 8MB 7200RPM
NEC DVD±RW burner, ND-3550A, 16x, Dual, Black OEM
Sony Floppy Drive, 3,5" 1,44MB Black Floppy Drive Internal
Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP2 Software English OEM
Creative Inspire T6060 (5.1 Speaker system)

Opinions/Changes?
Comes to 1535.91, i would like to cut it down 100 quid though. :'[
Shopping list from Komplett here : http://www.komplett.ie/k/shoplist.asp?mode=edit&ShoppingListId=298177

SouperComputer

looks like a sweet rig.

Personally, id go for a 3000 CPU, get PC4000 RAM and overclock. In any case, id ditch the boxed cooler, they aren't fantastic.

also, do you NEED XP Pro? Ie join a domain, encryption etc etc.....

also, make sure you budget for some good quality case fans

Lydesia

Thanks man, cool.

I might ditch the cooler and go with a seperate heatsink and antec, problem is im building it for someone else and the warrenty is only covered by AMD if tthe original heatsink is used. I dont want them coming knocking at my door...

Lydesia

SouperComputer wrote:

also, do you NEED XP Pro? Ie join a domain, encryption etc etc.....

He insists on XP pro but i agree, its not that needed.
Any fans you would recommend? Is there not fans in this case? :'[

Voodoo2

Bigger Power Supply need also so id say 380w is kinda on a limit there, id be going for a 450W min

SouperComputer

Well if its for a customer/friend then I guess OC'ing is not an option.

PSU wise, you proably know this already, but Wattage of the PSU means nothing.

Id still go with a OEM chip and a decent (quiet) cooler, in all the years of owrking with computers Ive yet to have a CPU go bust in a machine. It does happen, but very rarely. If hes into gaming, id still stick with the 3000, an maybe spend the extra cash on a snazzier PSU. Fortron, Be-Quiet and Seasonic make great PSU's that dont make too much of a racket.

im not sure if that case you chose has a case fan, ideally you want a fan at the front, in front of you HD's and a 120MM rear, somtimes the fan on teh PSU is sufficent, but be sure to cover over the holes that are not being used to ensure good airflow\pressure.

Col_Loki

Firstly that 380w PSU is an Antec and should be able to handle that system pretty nicely.

The Sonata Case comes with a 120mm (big fan) on the rear of the case, this will run pretty slow and quiet and should be fine for some airflow (no need to go overboard, since not overclocking).

I would probably go with a 3200+ CPU, and get some decent low timing Ram Pc3200 (no worse than 2.5-3-3-7).
Personally id go with an Abit motherboard like this one.... http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=311965&view=detailed , have had a few problems with MSI/Epox boards and as a result i lean toward Abit (have had loads of them without one problem).... just my opinion btw.

XP Pro is quite a bit more expensive than the home edition and i doubt he has any use for it TBH......