how does this setup look?

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hutchy

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I'm looking to build (for the first time) a new pc for
myself and I've put together this list of parts that I thought would be good.

-AMD Athlon XP 2600+ "Barton", 333MHz FSB, 512K Cache
-ASUS "A7N8X-E Deluxe" nForce2 Ultra 400 Chipset
-Crucial 184 Pin 512MB DDR PC-3200
-Maxtor 120GB 7200RPM IDE Hard Drive, Model 6Y120P0
-ATI RADEON 9600XT, 128MB DDR, 128-bit, 8X AGP
-Creative Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS Platinum Pro

I'd be greatful to hear any input that anyone has on this
combination of parts. Is everything compatible? Should I
really get more (or less) of something? Are there any
bottlenecks? Would you suggest something different?

Also, I have yet to choose a CD/DVD drive. I'm thinking I'd
like to get a DVD burner. Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance for your comments.
 
what is the cache size on the Maxtor 120GB,

i heard it affects the performance quite a bit, if you run many applicatons at the same time.
 
get an EpOX EP-8RDA3+ motherboard. It's a better board and has the same chipset. Its rated amongst the best for overclocking too. Also, why not get a SATA drive, i don't know if the asus board supports it but the epox does.
 
Overall it looks like a great setup, it should run nicely for you.
I hear the 2500+ Bartons are overclockable to 2.4 stable. Hm... :)
 
dude, your sound card costs more than your video card, get the 256mb version of that card and the get the sound blaster audigy 1.
 
I don't see a massive difference between sound cards, but I suppose if I was editing a lot I would.

The problem that jumped out at me is that your FSB is 333MHz and your memory is DDR400. Your DDR will slow down to accomodate your FSB speed. If you are not planning to overclock your FSB to 400 then I suggest you get a faster CPU or slower memory.

I would personally go for slower memory, get yourself some 512 Mb (2 x 256 Mb) Corsair TwinX, DDR, PC2700LLPT, Low Latency memory.

OR

512 Mb Corsair XMS, DDR, PC3200PT, Cas 3. If you only want to take up 1 DIMM slot.

I also think you should get a SATA hard drive.
 
Thanks everyone for the advice...I'm finding it quite helpful.

I think I will downgrade the memory instead of going for a faster processor (mainly because I'm not made of money). Will one 512MG 333MHz be sufficient?

I'll also reconsider the hard drive and audio/video situation.
 
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