Many topics RE parts for new system...
 

Hard Drives: I want quiet, but fast. Currently have two 60GXP 40gb drives; way too noisy. I want at least 80gb. I've heard the Seagate IV is quiet. How about the WD big fast drive... the one w/ 8mb cache?

Pentium IV: 1.6A or 1.8A= northwood, which is what I want, correct? Also, I looked at intel's site, and found that the OEM chips are different from the Boxed chips. Different P/N scheme, and they seem to be rated at different temps. http://processorfinder.intel.com/scr...5&PkgType=5369 OEM chips seem to run cooler. Any thoughts?

RAM: I'm probably going DDR, and I've read good things about the Corsair chips. But which do I want? the 3000C2 or the 3200? http://www.corsairmicro.com/main/products.htm If I get RAMBUS, where do I get the 1066 chips?

Mobo: Asus p4s533 do you know of anything better? something w/ USB 2.0 preferably.

AGP: I need a budget card for my girlfriend's PC. Bang for the buck is the word of the day. GF2MX400, or GF4MX420? There is a significant difference in price. Is the difference justified? (she doesn't game :) )

The Maxtor Fluid Dynamic bearing HD's are very quiet. Quieter than my 40gb 60gxp's. Try those.

the barracuda's are really quiet, you can't hear them at all.

get the 1.6a, they overclock the same as the 1.8a's (generally) but the 1.8's cost more

the p4b series are overpriced. get the p4s533 if you're after asus in particular, or the p4t533 for rambust. the new iwill rambust board isn't bad either.

for ddr get corsair pc3200, for rambust get samsung original pc1066

for agp, just get a g550 or something else thats cheap and provides great image quality

HDD: Ever heard of Fujitsu's ?? So far, they (for the most part) have been the quietest drives I have worked with. Have yet to hear the newest Maxtors though. Have had very good luck with them too.

when was the last time fujitsu came out w/ a new drive? can they compete?

also, I'm having a guy in town make me a few 5 x 7" aluminum plates, 1/4" thick, and I'm going to place them b/n my HDs and sandwich them together. I'll stuff foam in the cracks. I someone do something similar somewhere....

I just picked up a Maxtor, quiet as a whisper...

It made my wife complain that her PC was still louder than mine, so I swapped her CPU fan.

Btw the Maxtor with fluid dynamic bearing is only 3 dB quieter than the regular version.

I've never liked Fujitsu's, but I haven't seen one in a few years. They still beat JTS though...

Fujitsu is still alive and very well kicking :) There SCSI drives were directly competing with the Seagate Cheetas there for a while. What I like the best is that most of the time Fujitsu HDD usually run about 6-8dbls lower than other drive at the same spindle speed. Even better most Fujitsu's will out perform any other SCSI drive at overal data transfer while still remaining quite. Cant even tell they are on most of the time :)

agp card
 

MX is crap, gf4mx is a lowsy gf2.

get the gf4 4200, at least its a REAL gf4 chip.
also the original gf3's are under $170 as well.

this needs to be between $40~70. it's not for me. :)

If you have to choose between a GF2-MX400 or a GF4-MX420, I'd pick the latter: you get performance, EXCEPT for games, because compared to a GeForce4 Ti4x00, it is missing the latest features.

I'd have went for an ATI card myself, but I like GeForce4's just as much. An ATI Radeon 7500 could probably be had for cheap, heck even an 8500 (LE 64 MB)

ATI Radeon 32Mb AGP4x Video Card can be found for about $37 @ Newegg.com Or you could even go for a Radeon 7000 32mb w/ TVout connector for about the same price. If you are not looking for 3D speed but solid 2D quality and performace, go with one of those.

yep, ATI has always had great 2D image quality. even the radeon VE would be sufficiant.

I've not used ATI in years... hmmm.

whatever I get, it should be decent at everything.. movies, games, 2D, etc. It should also be compatible w/ everything and have good driver support. Like I said, this PC's not for me... I won't be around to work on it.

the 7500 is only like 75 bucks at newegg...

Powered by the RADEON 7500 graphics processing unit (GPU) High performance 3D graphics featuring ATI’s CHARISMA ENGINE PIXEL TAPESTRY and HYPER Z technologies RADEON 7500 display engine enables many combinations of CRT (VGA), digital flat panel (DVI), and TV displays.Hydravision Multiple Monitor anagement Software provides a flexible, user-friendly interface for multiple display settings Supports DirectX 8.0® and openGL - NO DVI to VGA Adaptor Model#: RADEON 7500(S) -OEM Special

http://65.119.30.151/productimage/14-102-210-02.JPG

Go with the Radeon, you won't be disappointed (unless you are expecting GF3 3D stats in games) I used the ATI Radeon 32mb that I talked about eariler to replace a GF2 MX200 that would keep crashing a system and it works MUCH better than even I expected.