Please (help with/review) my new AMD PC build....

[Darth Joules]

I need a little help, here are the parts I have already for my new PC
which I plan to overclock:

AMD Athlon XP 2800 Barton (week 39 don't know if its locked)
Swiftech MCX478-V heatsink with Delta 92mm HHE fan (@ 80CFM and yes
it's noisy)
Philips CD R/RW
IBM Deskstar 180GXP 60Gb HD
Panasonic Floppy Drive
Iomega internal Zip 100 drive
Lian-Li PC65B modded with 7x 80mm fans
Rounded cables

And these are the parts I plan to buy:

Chaintech 7NJS Zenith Ultra (or the non-Ultra version)
Sparkle GeForce FX5700 Ultra Platinum
Corsair Twinx 2x512MB XMS3200 Pro
IBM Deskstar 180GXP 60Gb HD x2 (or 120Gb x1)
Akasa Fan Controller Pro
Antec TrueBlue 480 PSU (or Enermax 460W ATX Power Supply)
Swiftech MCX159-A (northbridge cooling)

A few questions about waht I am going to get....

What's the difference between the Corsair Twinx 2x512MB XMS3200 Pro
and the Corsair Twinx 2x512MB XMS3200LL DDR? And which is better? I'm
not that keen on the new heatspreader on the Corsair XMS series.
Those LEDs, are they any use what so ever? Is OCZ PC3200 1024Mb
Platinum DDR (2 sticks) any better than Corsair?

Also would PC3500 DDR RAM work on the Zenith Ultra (or non-Ultra)
eventhough they are spec'd at taking up to 400Mhz DDR RAM?

Which is more reliable and quieter as a PSU the Antec TrueBlue or the
Enermax?

Which is the better mobo the Zenith Ultra or the non-Ultra version?
Both board are identical expect the Ultra version can go beyond 200Mhz
FSB (as far as I know the non-Ultra can't yet). And the Ultra version
has the N-Force 2 Ultra chipset, but is it better than the standard
N-Force 2 chipset on the non-Ultra board? So is the Ultra mobo worth
the extra cash for having the N-Force 2 Ultra chipset?

Please let me know what you all think and any advice you can give me.


Cheers,

Darth Joules

 

[kony]

I need a little help.

Get the Ultra and the Antec, plus whichever memory you want. You
might visit a few forums to see what results others have had with the
Zenith boards and various memory modules.


Dave

 

[DosE]

(e-mail address removed) (Darth Joules) wrote in

I need a little help, here are the parts I have already for my new PC
which I plan to overclock:

AMD Athlon XP 2800 Barton (week 39 don't know if its locked)
Swiftech MCX478-V heatsink with Delta 92mm HHE fan (@ 80CFM and yes
it's noisy)
Philips CD R/RW
IBM Deskstar 180GXP 60Gb HD
Panasonic Floppy Drive
Iomega internal Zip 100 drive
Lian-Li PC65B modded with 7x 80mm fans
Rounded cables

And these are the parts I plan to buy:

Chaintech 7NJS Zenith Ultra (or the non-Ultra version)
Sparkle GeForce FX5700 Ultra Platinum
Corsair Twinx 2x512MB XMS3200 Pro
IBM Deskstar 180GXP 60Gb HD x2 (or 120Gb x1)
Akasa Fan Controller Pro
Antec TrueBlue 480 PSU (or Enermax 460W ATX Power Supply)
Swiftech MCX159-A (northbridge cooling)

A few questions about waht I am going to get....

What's the difference between the Corsair Twinx 2x512MB XMS3200 Pro
and the Corsair Twinx 2x512MB XMS3200LL DDR? And which is better? I'm
not that keen on the new heatspreader on the Corsair XMS series.
Those LEDs, are they any use what so ever? Is OCZ PC3200 1024Mb
Platinum DDR (2 sticks) any better than Corsair?

I've heard good things about Corsair. Not sure about those LED's, look's
as if they are more just for show but I would assume they do have a
practical use. Usually recommended to go with name-brand memory for good
quality and reliability, so don't skimp

Also would PC3500 DDR RAM work on the Zenith Ultra (or non-Ultra)
eventhough they are spec'd at taking up to 400Mhz DDR RAM?

PC3500 is just another name for the speed of the RAM. More than likely if
the motherboard you are looking to get just recently came out in the past
few months, it supports the fastest DDR RAM there is, which would probably
be the 400MHz (me thinks DDR500 is out and about now as well).

Which is more reliable and quieter as a PSU the Antec TrueBlue or the
Enermax?

Either one of these would be more than suffiecent, however you can
probably find a quiet PSU for a decent price with some snooping around.
Although with your grocery list it doesn't seem like price is much of a
factor.

Which is the better mobo the Zenith Ultra or the non-Ultra version?
Both board are identical expect the Ultra version can go beyond 200Mhz
FSB (as far as I know the non-Ultra can't yet). And the Ultra version
has the N-Force 2 Ultra chipset, but is it better than the standard
N-Force 2 chipset on the non-Ultra board? So is the Ultra mobo worth
the extra cash for having the N-Force 2 Ultra chipset?

Ultra chipset has more of a feature set than the standard N-Force 2
chipset. NForce 2 chipsets have the equivalent onboard video of a GeForce4
MX I believe. And if that isn't good enough, your mobo will more than
likely come with an 2x\4x\8x AGP slot for whatever fills your desire.
NForce Ultra chipsets support dual-channeled memory slots and DDR speeds
all the way up to 400MHz. For a good article on comparisons of different
nforce2 ultra 400 chipsets go here:

http://www4.tomshardware.com/motherboard/20031107/index.html