I'm a noob to posting on this forum, so I'm not sure if my comp specs show up or not...
Currently, I'm looking to build a new system that will be better than sufficient for now, mostly because I don't wanna upgrade for a while (a year or two)
I also want it to be easily upgradeable if/when I do decide to go through w/ it
I will be keeping a few of my old parts for now and waiting for the prices to go down on some of the newer products before I buy
Anyway, I've been researching this stuff for days, and this is the setup I came up w/ (for my budget of approx. 1k):
CPU: Athlon 64 3500+ Winchester core
Motherboard: Abit AV8 3rd Eye
Memory: 512mb x2 Micron (single channel... not much performance gain from dual)
Hard Drive: Seagate SATA II 160gb x 2 (probly no RAID)
Case: Antec Performance Plus 1080AMG
I currently run an AIW Radeon 8500 128mb and will get a new card when prices go down for current AGP cards...
(I don't wanna bother w/ PCI Express right now, because the technology is new and will probly be improved upon, i.e. AGP, DDR, ATA, etc.)
Sound, I have a Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Gamer on Logitech Z-5300 and am definitely keeping these
My monitor... a Samsung SyncMaster 753DF, which I'm keeping for now...
I'll be keeping my old mouse and keyboard, along w/ my current CD burner (TDK VeloCD 52x)
I may or may not OC this system yet, depending on how satisfied I am w/ the stock results...
If I do, would these parts be able to sustain a moderate OC'ing?
If I do OC, I am considering either the Thermaltake Venus 12 or the Thermaltake Silent Boost K8
Are these good for the price?
Also, I really want the Plextor PX-716SA or the Plextor PX-716A DVD burner
One is SATA and the other is reg. IDE
One thing I noticed is that the PX-716SA is SATA and the Abit AV8 line has only 2 SATA connectors...
Is there any way I can run both SATA hard drives and an SATA DVD burner all at once?
If so, is there some sort of adapter? Is there a loss in performance?
Is the SATA version even worth the time and money, or should I just get the IDE version?
Anyway, would this be a good comp setup?
It may not be the "best bang for my buck" but I did choose these brands with performance, stability, and overall reliability playing major parts in my decision-making process.
Sorry for the long novel, but I just have a lot of questions...
Please, any comments/opinions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
Currently, I'm looking to build a new system that will be better than sufficient for now, mostly because I don't wanna upgrade for a while (a year or two)
I also want it to be easily upgradeable if/when I do decide to go through w/ it
I will be keeping a few of my old parts for now and waiting for the prices to go down on some of the newer products before I buy
Anyway, I've been researching this stuff for days, and this is the setup I came up w/ (for my budget of approx. 1k):
CPU: Athlon 64 3500+ Winchester core
Motherboard: Abit AV8 3rd Eye
Memory: 512mb x2 Micron (single channel... not much performance gain from dual)
Hard Drive: Seagate SATA II 160gb x 2 (probly no RAID)
Case: Antec Performance Plus 1080AMG
I currently run an AIW Radeon 8500 128mb and will get a new card when prices go down for current AGP cards...
(I don't wanna bother w/ PCI Express right now, because the technology is new and will probly be improved upon, i.e. AGP, DDR, ATA, etc.)
Sound, I have a Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Gamer on Logitech Z-5300 and am definitely keeping these
My monitor... a Samsung SyncMaster 753DF, which I'm keeping for now...
I'll be keeping my old mouse and keyboard, along w/ my current CD burner (TDK VeloCD 52x)
I may or may not OC this system yet, depending on how satisfied I am w/ the stock results...
If I do, would these parts be able to sustain a moderate OC'ing?
If I do OC, I am considering either the Thermaltake Venus 12 or the Thermaltake Silent Boost K8
Are these good for the price?
Also, I really want the Plextor PX-716SA or the Plextor PX-716A DVD burner
One is SATA and the other is reg. IDE
One thing I noticed is that the PX-716SA is SATA and the Abit AV8 line has only 2 SATA connectors...
Is there any way I can run both SATA hard drives and an SATA DVD burner all at once?
If so, is there some sort of adapter? Is there a loss in performance?
Is the SATA version even worth the time and money, or should I just get the IDE version?
Anyway, would this be a good comp setup?
It may not be the "best bang for my buck" but I did choose these brands with performance, stability, and overall reliability playing major parts in my decision-making process.
Sorry for the long novel, but I just have a lot of questions...

Please, any comments/opinions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.