Building a Athlon computer

[TaiChi56]

I am looking at building my own computer. I am going to use a Asus A7N8X Deluxe nForce2 AMD 333FSB LAN S-ATA 1394 6-ch ATX motherboard, an AMD Athlon XP3000+ Barton 512K 333FSB Socket A CPUT Retail, Kingston 512MB PC3200 HYPER-X NONECC Memory, Chaintech GEFORCE FX5200 8X AGP 128MB DDR W/TV-OUT &DVI, and a CPU FAN SPEEZE Fan for AMD Athlon XP SOcket A Upto 3200XP 5T321.

This is being sold in a bundle. My question is:
1. Would this be a nice setup for $568.00?
2. Would this system be quiet? My present Athlon is noisy.
3. What suggestions do you guys have for this setup? How many fans so forth.

Just looking for advise. Thank you.

The secret in education lies in respecting the student. {Ralph Waldo Emerson}.

 

[ceh4702]

Look up the prices at

http://www.newegg.com

If you have to put it together, then the prices should be about the same. Pay attention to what they charge for shipping.

Usually there is no shipping charge for many items like Motherboard, CPU, Memory, Maybe Hard Drive and maybe optical drives.

A case on the otherhand you usually get a shipping charge on. Sometimes you can buy something for more money and pay less if there is no shipping charge to pay.

If you do not like my post feel free to point out your opinion or my errors.

 

[CitrixEngineer]

For Athlons I like to have at least 2 case fans - but my current main machine has 5 (yes, it's noisy!).

The important ones are;

1. Lower front of case, blowing inwards.
2. Upper rear of case, exhausting.

You can also buy round IDE cables, which help airflow a great deal - up to the tune of 5C (my current CPU temp is 37C, ambient 35C, and the machine has been on all day). I have two intakes, two exhausts and an intake in the side of the case directly above the CPU. This is tuned down (using a variable control) to match the output of the PSU fan, so that I have more or less equal pressure in my case (if you have more air going in than coming out, or vice versa, that will cost you a few degrees C).

That said, temps of 55C are quite normal. Mine is just very cool

TIP: Buy a good case that has been designed for good airflow when buying AMD. If it doesn't say it is designed for good airflow, it probably isn't. Antec, Coolermaster, Lian-Li and Thermaltake are good off-the-shelf choices.

 

[CitrixEngineer]

Should add: you can buy quiet fans if you hunt around. Check the db rating. You can also buy acoustic insulation fairly reasonably - or you could go the silent Watercooling route - but that's not cheap.

 

[Tatted]

Im runing that same system that you want to set up other then the CPU fan you have I prefer the the Zalman Silent Soket A / 370 CPU Fan, CNPS3100+ its quiet and clean. i might actually think about pushing the RAM to a gig or so, its great at 512 but 1024 with todays prices are Ok you have to remember that the FSB of the AMD chip is only 333 so unless you are changing the barton to a barton 400 later you are going to be limited to 333 on the RAM also. BUT...they set up is great. and for the money. cant beat it.

yeah I have my A+, Network +, SAIR, MCP, MCSE and one of them lil things you know a CCNA but the real question is, Buddy can you spare a dime?

 

[SYAR2003]

One other thing .
Get a psu with a sucking 120mm fan in the bottom (inside cabinet)
sucks the warm air straight up from the cpu area .
The Fortron-Source with 120mm are great.
(great improvment in the cabinet overall cooling)

 

[TaiChi56]

Thanks guys. I think I will go with a Pentium 4. The only reason is the noise. I am tired of listening to the one I have. I have a DELL Optiplex GX260 at work. You never know it is on. It runs nice and quick. I just do not like putting the money the DELL wants.

The secret in education lies in respecting the student. {Ralph Waldo Emerson}.

 

[paparazi]

It is entirely feasable to build a high end AMD system that is quite.
It just means careful sellection of 3-4 components.

Power supply: Zalman, Enermax

CPU Cooler: Zalman, arctic cooling copper slent 2

Case: Any fitted with the larger 90-120mm fan appetures (the larger the better as larger fans can be quieter for the same air flow)

Graphics card: ask for an FX5200 with passive cooling instead of an active fan (passive means no fan but a bigger heatsink) I'm pretty sure that someone makes the FX5200 with heatsink only.


These are just a few suggestions.
Building a quiet AMD XP system is not difficult, it just requires low noise components.

There are some useful tips and products here:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/

Martin

Replying helps further our knowledge, without comment leaves us wondering.

 

[Freestone]

Regarding cooling and fans and such, here's AMD's own take on it.

The long version:

http://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/content_type/white_papers_and_tech_docs/23794.pdf

Short and sweet:

http://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/content_type/white_papers_and_tech_docs/cooling_guide.pdf