Building a Gaming comp, advice needed!

[GimiMyGF4Ti4600]

Okay, I have never built a computer before, but Im not stupid, and I know what componets are compatible with each other.

Motherboard: Shuttle AK37 GTR KT400 http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3973,634863,00.asp
Preformance test: http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3973,634852,00.asp

Ram: Undecided, desperate for advice (best preformance for the buck is what i need) Needs to be DDR333 though

Video Card: GeForce 4 Ti 4200 128mb, If prices change well enough by summer, I'll go with either the 4600 or ATI's 9700 pro./just 9700
Preformance test:
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3973,740895,00.asp

Sound Card: Who gives a crap :-D

Hard Drive: a basic 20-30 GB 7200 rpm hard Drive, I'll most likely only use my machine for one game at a time anyways :-D Plus, this is a VERY easily upgradeable area.

Proccesor: AMD's Athalon XP 2200+ is the winner for the price for me. Of course ill probally step up to the 2400 or more as prices go down, remember, I'm not building it till summer time.
Test: http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3973,478452,00.asp
Standard CD-Rom, fast of course.

Case can be decided last.

Anyways any advice would be very nice, changes, etc. Expecially in the RAM and Motherboard area, those are my two most worrysum areas. My total will probally be around 600 dollars when Ram is added into it (im looking for 512 by the way). This fits my budget nicely. Being a 16 year old, that has plenty of reptiles to take care of, and has too busy of a schedule to have a partime job, summer jobs are the only choice for me, and christmas money of course, that normally is saved for my pets though. UT2003 is going to be my first game btw! UT was kick ass and Tactical Ops was more kick ass, they better make some good mods for 2003. Anyways Feedback would be nice. Thanks. Also if you have similar systems, or even less powerful systems, Id like to hear how they preform, fps, etc.

 

[koomba]

Well as far as the motherboard, i wouldnt suggest any board based on the kt400 chipset. Its not a bad chipset, but The Nforce2 is much much better. Go with an nforce2 based mb, the Asus is a good choice. But there are other nice ones out there too. Memory....id go with the corsair xms series. The pc3200 is a good choice, and if you go with it be sure to get 2x sticks, for a total of 512 or 1024. But with your budget, id go with 2x256, 1024 is probably overkill anyways. And the processor.....spend a few more dollars and get the xp2400, its definately the best bang for your buck. And its a pretty good overclocking too, if youre interested in that. Hope that helps! If you have anymore questions, just reply.

steven

 

[koomba]

Ohh and with the videocard, you might want to check out the radeon 9500 pro. Its around the same price range as the ti4200 you mentioned, and has about the same performance, if not better. But it also has DX9 support, and it tears the GF4s apart when it comes to FSAA and Anisotopic filtering, which will greatly improve the visual quality of the game, as im sure you know. Just my 2 cents thou.

 

[GimiMyGF4Ti4600]

Interesting points there. I've heard the future with gaming and the 9500 doesnt look good, I'll probally spend a few extra bucks this summer and go wtih the 9700 though. I'll do some more research on the nforce boards, i sorta read up on it. Yeah I've heard that ram is good too, I should get the standard right, not get ripped off witht he compressed stuff. Im deffinetly going with the 2400, and yes, I will be over clocking it with my pencil .

 

[koomba]

YEah, good idea. And definately go with the corsair, generic is not good for overclocking, im sure you know. And youre right, by this summer you could probably get the 9700 for ~250 online, if not cheaper. Especially since the new ati card based on the r350 chip will (hopefully) be out.

 

[GimiMyGF4Ti4600]

Also I guess I'll go with the asus nForce 2 board, but i heard its not great for overclocking compared to the other nForce's..so?

 

[GimiMyGF4Ti4600]

Yea, I'm going with a 550 watt power supply and deffinetly a good cooling system for my proccessor, considering i have plans to overclock it. Havent decided on that yet either.

Also, advice on OS? I was thinking Mandrake, linux. I dont want to ever have to touch Windows. Whats a better preformer when it comes to games?

 

[GimiMyGF4Ti4600]

eek, good point, totally forgot about that. Hmm, I'll have to find a way to get it for free then, hehe. Why havent you built a new computer? Its better then my current one, but looks like you could use a new system. What are you running game wise right now?

OH by the way, Im using price watch prices, keep that in mind, cause the Athlon 2400 can be bought for like 130-150 as i recall on there, maybe im wrong ill check in a sec.

 

[GimiMyGF4Ti4600]

Asus nforce 2 motherboard: 73.00
Athlon XP 2400: 139.00
2 sticks of DDR 3200 ram: 108-130, depending if i get the High grade or Atlas stuff.
Radeon 9700 pro: a whopping 268 bucks! why not.
Cooling system: 30.00
550 watt PS: 32.00
30 gig 7200 rpm HD: 61.0

that basicly does it, the rest i can get for free.

Total: 711.00 which i can handle, so now i can go with the 9700 pro

 

[Ecniv]

Go with a MSI nforce 2 board. and I would suggest waiting until the Geforce FX comes out, i bet the MSI geforce FX card will wipe the floor with anything ATI makes, and will have more stable drivers.