Opinions wanted on new system config

[Bumrush]

My Celeron 566 @ 953 is no longer cutting it. It's time to say goodbye to my trusty Abit Bx6R2 board which has made it through 3 CPU upgrades and has never given me any significant problems over the course of 3 years
Now on to my new gaming rig!
Please make suggestions or comments if you think it needs modification

CHIEFTEC Server Chasis (Workstation Tower) Model DX-01WD-420W; Turbo Link Power Supply Front Accessible: 4 x 5.25", 2 x 3.5", Internal: 4 x 3.5". Power SupplyP4) 420 watts Turbo Link 420 ATX 12V- w/2 Case Fan

EPOX 8K3A KT333CE DDR333 266MHz FSB ATA133 Socket A MOTHERBOARD - RETAIL With 2-Channel Audio

GAINWARD/CARDEXPERT GeForce 4 Ti 4200, 3.5ns, 64MB DDR. 1 CRT ONLY No DVI, or TV-Out. Retail.
Specifications:.
GPU:nVIDIA GeForce4 Ti4200 (Ultra 650)
Memory:64MB high-speed DDR 3.5ns
RAMDAC: 350MHz

AMD ATHLON XP 2000+/266 FSB PROCESSOR

MUSHKIN DDR 512MB PC-2700

Arctic Silver's NEW Premium Silver Polysynthetic Thermal Compound

Thermaltake VOLCANO 6Cu+. Heatsink + Dual Ball-Bearing Fan, FAN Speed: 7000±10% RPM. Max. Air Flow: 38CFM. Pure Copper base

ROUND, 24-Inch, True ATA133/100, IDE Cable. 3-Head. ( Black )

IBM 7200 RPM 80GB Hard Drive

LiteOn 16x10x40 CDRW Drive (taken from my old System)

Windows XPP

Thanks!

 

[UDMA69]

Looks good foo... just make damn sure that you have the newer .13 micron Athlon XP because the heat off that lil' sucker could roast an eskimo's nuts!

 

[Antoneo]

Looks good, except

IBM 7200 RPM 80GB Hard Drive

part. Uhh... go Maxtor/Seagate/Western Digital instead?

 

[CubicZirconia]

Looks good foo... just make damn sure that you have the newer .13 micron Athlon XP because the heat off that lil' sucker could roast an eskimo's nuts!

I think you're exaggerating that point waaaaay too much. I'm sure he'll be fine with a regular old XP.

 

[Bumrush]

I'm starting to have second thoughts about the low end Gainward GF4200ti after seeing this article..

http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MzMxLDU=

The Asus 4200ti Deluxe card looks pretty insane. The extra 64megs of DDR memory makes the lifespan of the card a bit longer and it overclocks to near 4600ti levels. Do you all think it's worth an extra $60?? I'm starting to think so...

 

[AnAndAustin]

See my suggestions HERE.

Haven't heard of Turbolink PSUs, 400W+ is great but if it is an unknown brand take the rating with a large pinch of salt, I am familiar with Antec and Enermax but ToPower, Flower and Sparkle are also popular. Dual fan versions are pref too.

Cooler-wise, I'd forget the V6cu personally and get a Volcano7+, set to its medium mode manually it gives fantastic colling and isn't overly noisy in doing so. Also the Thermalright AX-7 is highly regarded as are the ThermR SLK800, Alpha PAL8045 and Swift MCX462. Generally you want to be looking for 20cfm minimum, Papst 26cfm & 19dB is pretty quiet, for extreme o/c'ing 35cfm+ is best. Cooler links:

http://www.dansdata.com/coolercomp.htm
http://www.overclockers.com/articles373/
http://www.frostytech.com
http://www.coolerguys.com

I've heard mixed things about those round IDE cables, but try them out for yourself. Ditto for the IBM HD, the days of the dogs are here. LiteOn CDRW drives are very sweet aren't they .

Gfx card-wise, forget 64MB, you'd be MUCH better off with a 4.0ns 4200-128MB than a 3.5ns 4200-64MB, 64MB is already limiting in some current games but it will be a big bottle neck in future games, with 128MB cards only being a little more they are a VERY wise purchase. It is possible to get 4200-128MB using 3.6ns RAM which brings 300/620 o/c (4600=300/650) but even 4.0ns gets you about 300/550 (4400=275/550) and is excellent value for money. The Asus 4200-128MB Deluxe does come with a guaranteed default clock of 265/550 (IIRC) and reaches 300/640 (usual def is 250/444), for 4600 perf it is well worth the $60 more, wouldn't you pay $60 more for a 4600 over a 4400?

 

[Bumrush]

Austin, your right about the GF4... It makes no sense at all to go with a 64mb card which will be obsolete when next gen games come out. Plus, I have never been able to play with FSAA and would like to do so at 1280x1024, something the 64mb can't handle even with today's games.

 

[CubicZirconia]

I've heard mixed things about those round IDE cables, but try them out for yourself.

Any relatively new cable should work just fine. They seemed to be hit and miss when they first started to pop up, however now it seems they all work fine.

 

[toadstool]

Looked good ..............until I saw that IBM hard drive.


Make sure you polish up on your "backing up" technique.

 

[amdskip]

Congrats on choosing an AMD based system