NForce2 based PC. Need input.

Revised Newegg Wishlist

EDIT: Revised my wishlist, please click on the link above to see the new one.

Newegg Wishlist

Here is my list of parts I am planning on ordering next week. I'm not a huge gamer, so the built in Geforce4 FX should keep me going for a little while. I am planning on having no cards in the board at all when i first get it.

Don't make fun of me for the case, it is a good deal from a descent company and I can turn the neons off.

I am just looking for any input any of you have. Does this look like a solid machine? I just bought a 120gig drive for storage and I am going to boot off a 40. I have an old burner (I rarely use it) and a DVD drive already.

 

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Well these are the changes I'd make to this machine:

1. An extra 256 meg stick for 768 megs (just for expansion, I suppose you could add more later, but you can never have too much. PLUS, $66 is friggin' CHEAP!)

2. Seperate video/sound (It all depends on how much you want to spend on this thing. Me, I would spend the extra to have the boards seperate.

THat's all I can think of right now, if I think of anything else I'll be sure to tell you my very unprofessional opinion.

 

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I would consider running PC2700 with CAS2 latency, having both the CPU-FSB and RAM-FSB running at 166Mhz and those in synch also reduce latency, the Nforce2 support that. You could just under-clock that PC3200 your buying and reduce the CAS setting in the bios so you might not need to change that. All in all I was planning to upgrade with the same CPU and Motherboard type.

 

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Those are all things I thought about, but after doing some reading on the NForce2 the integrated video and sound are supposed to be very good. What's great is that I can just buy new stuff when i want an upgrade. I will have plenty of room for expansion.

Regarding the memory: You have to put memory in in a pair to get the dual DDR speeds, so I either have 512 or go to a gig. I was planning on a gig, but it just doesn't seem cost effective right now, maybe later I will upgrade to 2 gig.

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Memory was the part I had to do a lot of reading about. I ended up going with the Kingston HyperX or whatever it was called. It was DDR433 and got great reviews, but now it is out of stock. I found some NForce2 reviews where they said the Corsair memory was supposed to run best. Will this memory run at CAS 2 if it is rated at 2.5?

The memory is supposed to be a big deal with these boards (Especially the ones with the IGP since it uses it for vide memory also), so I am always looking for suggestions.

 

That Corsair should when under clocked to 166Mhz run at CAS2, it should, but nothing guaranteed. If it good enough you could do CAS2 at 200mhz or do CAS1.5 at 166mhz! if you buy the 433 your chances are much higher.
http://www6.tomshardware.com/howto/20030701/index.html

 

Good article WCF thanks for the link.

 

Revised Newegg.com Wishlist

Okay, I made a change after searching around a little. I am going to go with the Kingston HyperX 400 Memory that comes in a pair (Like the good old days! Remember SIMMS?). This memory is rated at CAS2 instead of 2.5 and it is slightly cheaper than the Corsair stuff. I am looking to make a stable system, but I want the ability to play with overclocking it. I have read good things about all the parts I am buying.

If anyone has and reason why these parts should not be put together in the bond of computer building post now or forever listen to me complain about my computer.

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