Building comp for my bro (mid/high performance gaming)

[GBRRICCI]

My bro sent me an email from his air force base in United Emerates asking me to build him a completely new computer for gaming.
he doesnt know a lot about computers but he told me he wants it to be quiet, sound card for 5.1 speakers, flat panel monitor, wireless keyboard/mouse, and good for gaming. also the case needs to be black because of his boots (black streaks might look good if he did it in a certain way)

from that info i automatically thought:
-mid tower case
-amd athlon xp
-ati9600 (asked about this one, thanks for the info --> ati 9700 pro)
-zalaman heatsink + silent fan
-vantec stealth case fans
-logitech cordless elite duo
-western digital 80GB 7200rpm 8mb buffer
-sony/viewsonic flat panel minimum 17"
-gigabyte mobo with nforce2 chipset (dual channel ddr, onboard 100mb lan)
-creative sound blaster audigy
-sony (or some other good company) dvd rom & cd burner
-corsair 2x256MB pc 2700-3200
-any floppy drive ( i have a LS120 :afro: )

---------------------------------

i looked for all of the hardware on newegg.com:

Case: POWMAX Case with Side Panel Window (Black), Model "CP03294HL-5" -RETAIL

Mobo: GIGABYTE nForce2 Ultra 400 Chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket A CPU, Model "GA-7N400-L" -RETAIL

Processor:AMD Athlon XP 2800+ "Barton", 333MHz FSB, 512K Cache Processor - OEM

Video Card: POWERCOLOR RADEON 9700PRO Video Card, 128MB DDR, 256-bit, DVI/TV-Out, 8X AGP, Model "EVIL COMMANDO 2(XF97-C3G)" -RETAIL

DDR: Corsair Value Select Dual Kits 184 Pin 512MB(256MBx2) DDR PC-3200 - OEM

Hard Drive: Western Digital Special Edition 80GB 7200RPM IDE Hard Drive, Model WD800JB, OEM Drive Only

Keyboard duo: Logitech Cordless Elite Duo USB/PS2 104keys --RETAIL

Flat Panel Monitor:

Sound Card: Creative Lab Sound Blaster Audigy ES PCI Sound Card, Model "SB0162" -OEM

Heat Sink: Zalman CNPS6000-Cu Pure Copper CPU Cooler for Socket A/370,Retail

total price of entire system: 1287 + shipping + tax

Any feedback would be cool

[amd_man2005]

Looks great! :thumb:

[GBRRICCI]

thanks:cheers:

[Wiggo]

The one thing that I can see wrong with that is the HSF. It cools no better than the standard retail HSF and is no quieter than one either. :thumbs do

You'd be much better off with a Thermaltake Silent Boost.

[amd_man2005]

Oh, my bad, I thought that was the CNPS7000 line, I agree to get the TTSB

[GBRRICCI]

yah, the silent boost was what i was first thinking, i meant to put that one on but forgot :confused:

[Dyck15]

You could get it a bit quieter as well if you go with the Seagate Barracuda instead of that WD. Couldnt find it on newegg though.

[GBRRICCI]

probably but it the computer doesnt have to be that quiet lol

[Mista K6]

Well, if he really wanted silent he should just go with a Maxtor, those are silent (I have 2, you cant hear them at all). Also, how good are powmax power supplies? You might want to look into that.

[GBRRICCI]

yeah, i'll probably just buy a diff power supply and use the one that comes with it for my modding projects.

[Dyck15]

Well, if he really wanted silent he should just go with a Maxtor, those are silent

Yeah, but he also would like reliability. I mean I doubt they have repair shops on the base

[Soulburner]

Yeah, but he also would like reliability. I mean I doubt they have repair shops on the base

Agreed.

I buy WD because they are the best. Damn quiet too.

I run a Raptor and a 80gb SE 8mb cache drive.

[Mista K6]

Dude, maxtors are some of the most reliable going. I've run 3, one for 4 years and two for a year, and nothing has ever gone wrong. My old WD crapped out after a year. I think each of the major 3 manufacturers (Maxtor, WD, Seagate) has bad ones here and there, given that Deskstars are a brand that really does suck. However, I can definitely tell you that Maxtors are the quietest, and if you dont like quiet, you can turn off acoustic management and get a boost in speed. : peace2: Mista K6

[Beefy]

Dude, maxtors are some of the most reliable going. I've run 3, one for 4 years and two for a year, and nothing has ever gone wrong. My old WD crapped out after a year. I think each of the major 3 manufacturers (Maxtor, WD, Seagate) has bad ones here and there, given that Deskstars are a brand that really does suck. However, I can definitely tell you that Maxtors are the quietest, and if you dont like quiet, you can turn off acoustic management and get a boost in speed. : peace2: Mista K6

I wouldn't say most reliable, and I wouldn't say quietest.. but there's nothing wrong with them. :) I've got 2 x 120GB SATA Maxtor drives in my PC now, as well as a 30GB and 60GB Maxtor drive in my other PC. I didn't go out of my way to choose Maxtor drives, it's just what was available locally. Haven't had a problem.

[The__tweaker]

From what I've noticed the Seagates are among the most quiet drives. I've never had anyone die on me either, at least not yet..

My recent builds with 80Gb Seagate discs are very quiet, and with the best performance I've seen with 2Mb cache ata100 drives.

I get over 12.000 in pcmark when well defragmented. :)