Input on my possible new setup?

I admit I\'m one of those people who don\'t care much about their home PCs, since I have a perfectly good one at work!  Ah well, time are a-changin\', and I would appreciate some feedback on some parts I\'m ordering this week.

I\'ll mainly use this setup for surfing, gaming, word processing...no video or music editing or anything like that.  I\'ll never OC.  I\'d like to play Doom3, but I don\'t need it at 3000x5000 at 500fps.  I\'m on a budget here, and I\'ll honestly never get around to getting my money out of it as it is.  Or maybe my objective is to get a cool enough PC to encourage me to check my email more often at home.  So here it is, so far...no parts ordered yet...

CPU:

Intel Pentium 4/ 2.4C GHz 800MHz FSB, 512K Cache, Hyper Threading Technology - OEM   $137

or:

Intel Pentium 4/ 3.0E GHz 800MHz FSB, 1MB L2 Cache, Hyper Threading Technology - OEM   $179

Is the extra $42 worth it?  Is it better to just get the chip and get a different heatsink/fan?  Any suggestions?  Something quiet and cheap would be nice.  Remember, I\'m not gonna OC nuttin, I promise.

Mobo:

Intel "D865PERLL" i865PE Chipset Motherboard for Intel Socket 478 CPU -RETAIL   $106

Integrated audio works for me.  I don\'t really have any questions about this one, but if it sucks, let me know.

RAM:

DDR400 PC3200 512MB  $80

Figured I\'d just start with 1/2 gig.  This stuff is unbuffered, non ECC.  Will that suffice?  Or do I need registered, error checking memory?  

Graphics:

ATI RADEON 9800 PRO Video Card, 128MB DDR, 256-bit, DVI/TV-Out, 8X AGP $205

Geez, hardest part of this whole thing!  Unfortunately, there are several other "sapphire 9800 pro" vid cards at newegg, and I don\'t know the damn difference between most of them.  If anyone would like to tell me, I\'d appreciate it.

I\'m not willing to pay too much more than this for a graphics card unless I\'m going to get 2x more performance for $50 or less.  I am, of course, open to suggestions.

HDD:

Seagate 80GB 7200RPM IDE Hard Drive, Model ST380011A $62

2MB Buffer size.  8MB for roughly $25 more.  Is it worth it/necessary?  Is Seagate crap?

Optical Drives:

Probably 2.  One DVD-ROM and one CD-RW.  Can\'t imagine I\'d use a DVD-RW unless you tell me an NEC DVD+-RW for $66 is any good.  Feel free to recommend/warn me about brand names.

I\'ll have a floppy drive - $10

Case/PSU:

I can\'t decide.  Leaning towards Antec only because of name recognition for PSUs.  I guess I\'m not cool if there isn\'t a window to see my PC\'s innards, so a side-panel cutout would be nice.

Nothing flashy though.  I\'ll probably just browse though newegg some more until something tickles my fancy, but again, I\'m up for suggestions.


My main concern:  No weak links.  I want everything to play well together, to its highest, or nearly highest potential.  I\'ll probably place the order on Tuesday.  Thanks for your help, guys.

Well it loks like you did your research.  I\'d stick with the 2.4C and save your money.  Only thing I\'d change is the motherboard.  The Asus P4P800-SE uses the same i865PE chipset, but is cheaper and better quality.  If you need onboard firewire then go for the Deluxe model for about $20 more.

Getting more than one optical drive is pretty much useless now, since the combo drives perform just as well.  I have this one from Lite-On and dig it.  A bunch of us here recommend that brand.

For a case it\'s just what suits you.  If you want peace & quiet look into the Antec Sonata, or their other premium models.  And yes Seagate is great.

Possible weak links for Doom 3:

- 512mb instead of 1gb
- onboard audio vs sound card (though I heard the CPU handles all audio anyway just for D3 specifically)
- You have something against overclocking

Honestly though it\'s a pretty solid system, hope you enjoy D3.  And what about Half Life 2?

I\'d go with an AMD 64 cpu, it out preforms the pentium in gaming benchmarks.  A 3200+ should be about 180-190.  And as for a graphics card, you can get a 6600gt on ebay for about 200.

also, check ebay out for full on gaming rigs.  The other day I saw a water cooled 3.6g, 1g ram, 6600gt, with a decent mobo and all for 700.  Also, check out these places for deals and pricing;

slickdeals.net
fatwallet.com
xpbargains.com
shopping.com
pricewatch.com

dont listen to that whore.  most of those deals are thrown together using cheap Korean parts.  Just like how my friend\'s Dell just stopped working.. turned out to be the crappy PSU and Dell gave us a hard time sending out a new one.

All can be avoided by DIY\'ing, which is what our little Sara is doing.

dude, I\'ll see if I can find the link, but it wasn\'t crap off name mobos, or cheap ram, or a name brand company that cuts costs with crap parts.  You just have to find people needing money.  You do relize that paying more money for the same parts isn\'t inherently cool

probably think newegg sucks because the prices are lower than bestbuy

don\'t curr about 5% off prices.  don\'t curr about best buy.

A computer is a big investment, especially for us nerds.  Why some people want to skimp on everything they possibly can is beyond me.

If you can find new name brand parts with Newegg\'s service and warranty please let us know.

I\'m just saying, one should keep their eye\'s open, and if they can save some money,  on a good product then do it.

[§ôµÏG®ïñD]

Don\'t Overclock unless you need to, most users don\'t. Infact pretty much all don\'t. Most gamers do it simply to get better benchmark scores, aka benchmark whores. Just pay the little extra to get the speed you would overclock to. I find it a waste for a few frames increased.

don\'t listen to souly, OC as much as you want....just store your tower in the frezer.

that 3.0 will hit 3.6 with stock cooling, btw
and get the Asus P4P800-SE

a NEC 3500 is the win, also

oh, and soully is clueless
3.0 to 3.6 for a few extra frames?
thats cause he\'s been overclocking those amd\'s

and lasty, you get what you pay for (especially in computer hardware).  it\'s not expensive for any old reason.

i\'m running Asus P4P800-SE / 3.6ghz p4 / 1gb ddr / 6800GT at 429/1150 / audigy 2 and my  machine crushes doom3 on ultra quality at 1600x1200.  highest cpu temp?  33C.

Drop the 9800 Pro and get a 6600GT. Roughly the same price, better in HL2 and much better in D3.

Otherwise, your proposed setup looks pretty good Sara.

I\'d pick AMD as my CPU as they\'re better in most gaming benchmarks, but the P4 is cheap enough now at 3GHz.

Go for the 3GHz. A lot of today\'s games are CPU-dependent.. even CPU limited.. so you should be able to see decent gains going from the 800MHz FSB 2.4c to the 3.0e.

[§ôµÏG®ïñD]

So errr, how many cpus have u replaced from people having no clue mm..    0 i\'m guessing.   I\'ve replaced a lot of cpus from morons o/cing their systems to get a very small amount increase in gaming 5 to 10fps on fan cooling... Unless you get water cooling and push the cpus/gpus to there limits its just not worth the trouble.

Holy Crap.  You guys are awesome.  

I found an article at anandtech.com comparing the 9800 pro and the 6600gt.  I\'m sold.  But how do I know which one to pick?

Chaintech, MSI, Leadtek, EVGA, Gigabyte, ASUS, Albatron, Jaton, XFX?

Talk about choices...

[§ôµÏG®ïñD]

I\'d personally go for Leadtek, Albatron, or XFX