Need opinions on a new rig

[Hellfire_WZ]

I'm gonna be completely refitting my old computer over the next few months, and while I'm pretty sure of what to get (and what I'm doing when it comes to putting it all together!) I'd just like to run it past you guys to see if I can do any better, and more importantly if I've made any cock-ups. What I'm spending here is pretty much my limit (I'm using my student loan here!), though I'm willing to go a few quid extra if need be. Some of the prices don't correspond with the websites given, they're the cheapest I've found them.

Sunbeam Samurai ATX gaming case - £46.94
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/copy_of_Sunbeam.html (getting the silver one)

Q-Tec 550W power supply - £23.44
http://www.qtec.info/products/product.htm?artnr=13025

Abit ATX Socket A motherboard with VIA KT600A chipset - £41.71
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Abit.html (fourth one down)

MSI ATi Radeon 9800 pro TD128 (I'll be overclocking this to 9800XT spec) - £146.47
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/9700_to_9800_Series.html (seven down)

Arctic Cooling Rev.3 VGA silencer - £6.20
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_Other_Coolers_57.html (at the top)

Akasa AK824 Copper Base CPU heat sink (with blue LED to show off!) - £11.69
http://www.akasa.co.uk/spec/coolers/spec_ak_824cu_bl.htm

AMD Athlon XP 3200+ (current CPU is Athlon XP 2400+) - £132.20
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/amd_athlon_xp_barton.html (down the bottom)

2x 512MB DDR400 PC3200 RAM - £90.00
Seller on eBay. Can't remember the brand

I'm using the optical drives, HDD and sound card from my old computer. I might upgrade the sound later when I've got more money.

All that lot comes to £498.81 inc. VAT. Any opinions or recommendations would be very useful. Cheers. :wink:

[infoxicated]

Is your old mobo a VIA chipset?

I royally screwed the pooch back around easter time when I upgraded my innards to an Asus A7N8X-E (http://usa.asus.com/products/mb/socketa/a7n8x-e-d/overview.htm) with an Nvidia N Force 2 chipset. The difference in HDD drivers meant that when I plugged it all back together, the system couldn't boot from the hard drive.

It was an absolute nightmare to get sorted - one I just wasn't expecting, having had VIA boards since whenever.

The kit above seems to be brilliant spec - I would check on the brand of memory, though - seems a shame to be getting such nice componants and then plugging in shitty memory.

I sorted myself out with some lovely Corsair matched pair - only 512meg, mind, but I was on a bit of a budget at the time. Wish I'd spent more now, though, as it'll go to waste when I do upgrade with there only being three slots.

[Hellfire_WZ]

Yeah, the old one's a VIA, flashed only recently actually. I'm planning on getting all components up to the processor on that list before Xmas, and the processor and memory after because of split payment of my loan. Should give me some time to review the RAM chips, the ones on eBay actually looked pretty dodgy. I've got half a gig of PC2100 at the moment, which should hopefully last until then. I know it'll bottleneck the graphics card, but it should perform better than my 9000 pro is at the moment.

The main worries were the PSU and graphics card. Because my current mobo is SFX form factor, it can only house a small PSU, currently a pathetic 200W. And I swear the cooling system is screwed. I checked the BIOS when I flashed it, and the CPU runs at a steady 60-65C. The thing is set to shut down at 70! Mind you, the case is pretty crap, and I don't think much of the stock heatsink. Hopefully I'll see some improvement with the new setup.

I'll check out the Corsair memory, they've got it listed on Overclockers.

Thanks :wink:

[infoxicated]

Yeah, the Corsair is just great stuff - I never bought branded memory before I got the Corsair, but now I know there's difference I don't think I could settle for some of the back of a lorry stuff again.

I love the grin factor of testing a new system on Sandra - just seeing those bar graphs outstrip the old ones by a mile makes it worth the wonga :)

Scan have it on offer on their Today Only page today:

http://www.scan.co.uk/todayonly/

[Wamdue]

Thats exactly the computer I got. I got a dragontech case instead tho.

Works like a charm to me, No problems so far.