New system build.....opinions or suggestions???

[Doc]

My motherboard fried a few weeks ago and I've been looking at putting a new system together.  I'm not a gamer but I do use Photoshop and 3D CAD modeling software quite a bit.  I'm also converting some old LP's to CD so I'd like a fairly good setup.  This is what I'm considering right now....please feel free to offer suggestions, criticism or opinions as I would like some input on it.

Asus P5ND2-SLI Deluxe
Pentium D 840, 3.2GHz
Crucial DDR2 PC25300, dual-channel, unbuffered, non-ECC
GeForce 6600GT, PCI-E (maybe add a second one later)


I picked the Asus because it has 2 IDE headers and I have 2 ata133 drives right now and may add a SATA drive later on.

Haven't picked a case or power supply yet...still thinking on that.

If someone knows of any pros or cons to what I have listed, please let me know before I start getting them.  Really anxious to get started on it.  Thanks in advance.

I forgot to mention I'm also still running Windows 2000 and using a 19" LG flat panel which has both VGA and DVI inputs.

[honvetops]

you might have done this already but a good start would be to go to newegg.com  and look up each item and check out the reviews that buyers have posted on those items, thats what I do before buying there.....?..

[Doc]

That's all I've been doing the past couple of weeks..lol  There's so many different variations out there, it really gets confusing.  So much has changed that I haven't really kept up on. I'm just lucky I kept this old PIII, 500 MHz machine as a backup or I'd be having puter withdrawal right about now!  

[honvetops]

I get the urge too. I think I am going to hold out till these quad cpu's come out and see all the hoopla first and what they can actually do 1st. If not that great, I am gonna get the conroe e6600  hopefully closer to the 200.00 mark by then.
Building an AMD now for the son but I believe the 65 nm manufactured chips should be  much improved over the 90's right now. Also, hopefully Intel will build a mobo thats half decent by then!  

[EZFrag]

I usually go to www.sharkeyextreme.com. They usually have 3 different guides for building a system. They put out an extreme guide when money is no object. They put out a gamers guide which falls into the middle in price, of the the three. Then they put out a value guide for building your system, which is what I follow. These are just suggestions of what they would put in their system. It has been pretty helpufl to me.

[GX1_Man]

I think that is a good choice. ASUS makes good boards but their tech support has been lacking in the past. Good luck!  

[Doc]

Thanks for the tip, EZFrag.  I spent a lot of time looking at their suggestions.  GX1_Man, let's hope I don't need their tech support much  

Another question......One reason I looked at the Asus board is the 2 IDE headers so I don't have to get a new SATA drive right away.  Anyone have any experience with the IDE/SATA adapters out there?  I usually try to stay away from "adapting" anything but if they work ok I might take a better look at the ASRock board.

Gonna go nose around some more.

[Doc]

OK, now I'm kinda leaning to an Asus P5NSLI and a Core 2 Duo 6300, 1.86GHz.  Seems like I might have more room to upgrade and it still has the 2 IDE headers.  Any thoughts?

[Doc]

Well, here's what I've come up with.

Asus P5NSLI motherboard
Pentium 2Core Duo, E6300, 1.86GHz processor
Crucial DDR2-667 512x2 memory
EVGA GeForce 7600GT 256MB PCI-E video
Cooler Master Centurion 5 CAC-TO5-UW case
Ultra X-Finity, 500W, ATX, SATA, SLI power supply w/ Flex Connect

Anyone see anything that I might be concerned about?  I've never done any overclocking so I'll probably let things as is....at least till I get more familiar with it and start tinkering  

One other question.  I picked this board because it has support for my current drives.  My primary drive is a Maxstor, 80GB, Ultra ATA/133 which I have partitioned off to just keep Windows 2000, SP4 on C, programs on D and some other stuff on E.  I have a DVD/CD burner as F, a CD as G and another ATA drive partitioned as H, J and K for my CAD work, music files (I have a digital piano that I record from and am also turning all my LP's into CD's) and such.  Can I just load new drivers and hook up the Maxstor to run or can I do a fresh install of Win2K on my C partition if that would be better?  I didn't want to get a new SATA drive right away but would that seem like the best thing to do, do a clean install and then work on transferring things and use the ATA's as storage?  

[GX1_Man]

Personally I would never recommend overclocking unless you are just incredibly wealthy and are ready to possibly ruin your new dream system. Many people get fascinated with doing this without realizing what it really is, what it entails, and what the consequences are.

If that setup you listed doesn't bring you joy, you have other issues.

[Doc]

Thanks, GX.  I always figure id it ain't broke, don't fix it..lol

What do you think about the drive issue?  Is it possible I could just put my PATA drives in and let new drivers sort it out?  Then later on I could get a new SATA drive and finish it off.

[Track]

Overclocking isnt a risk if u have good coolers and dont go too far.

Get an E6300, overclock to 2.4Ghz at least with Zalman CNPS 9700.

Get an X1950 Pro at least. Dosent matter what u have to skimp on - u pay the MOST on the graphics card, because its the most important part of ur PC by far. If u but the X1950 Pro, ull need to change ur motherboard.

ur RAM is fine, but u dont need more than DDR2-533.

[GX1_Man]

Thanks, GX.  I always figure id it ain't broke, don't fix it..lol

Well it actually goes "If it ain't broke, don't break it".

What do you think about the drive issue?  Is it possible I could just put my PATA drives in and let new drivers sort it out?  Then later on I could get a new SATA drive and finish it off.

That would be fine AND cost effective.

This is the CPU fan recommended. What do you think?

http://www.quietpc.com/bh-en-usd/products/intelcooling/cnps9700-led

[Doc]

Thanks for the input Track but I've always had good luck with nVidia cards and the reason I picked that mobo was the 2 IDE connectors so I could start off using the ATA's I have now, so I really don't want to change unless there's a really good reason.

I had looked at the Zalman cooler and thought that would work nicely, too, because my case has a side vent and small tunnel.

And, GX, at this point, I don't want to break anything OR fix anything!..lol

Thanks for the input guys.....might take a little while to get everything in and assembled but I'm really looking forward to it, this PIII can't get out of it's own way..lol

[soybean]

A a fresh install of Win2K on your C partition would be better, but you can always try just installing your old hard drive in the new machine without formatting your hard drive first and see how it goes.