My proposed system!

[sdsumike619]

Well thanks to everyone that's been helping me all day get this thing figured out!!

Here's a screen shot of my shopping cart on newegg,,, how does it look? I think it looks good for a looow budget system:

[redwudz]

Everything looks good. The only thing I see is the 120MM 'sleeve' bearing fan. I would move up to a ball bearing or double ball bearing version for longivity. With fans, ball bearing models are usually better. And check their RPM. Anything above about 3000RPM can tend to be a little noisy. Check the CFM (Cubic Feet per Minute) airflow and the RPM and the noise levels to compare fans. $1.99US fans may not be such a bargain.

If a case fan goes out, not really a major crisis most times, but they tend to get noisy before they die, and that can be irritating.

[sdsumike619]

If the fans are the biggest problem, i'm not worried about it.. I removed that case/ps combo b4 I checked out.. going to hit Fry's and compusa tomorrow to see what I can find locally =)

[lordsmurf]

Antec Tri-Cool 92mm Double ball bearing fans are what I'm using right now. They have some larger and smaller ones too. They are super quiet, about 2500rpm max, adjustable speeds too. These are sold at Fry's.

I also ditched my CPU fan. I have a Zalman PCI-slot-attachment bracket, with a large fan blowing against it (another Antec, I did not use the Zalman fan that came with the bracket). The CPU is much cooler and the system is much quieter, with the bigger fan blowing over it. Not the tiny, fast, buzzy little CPU fans. These are sold at Fry's too.

I would not trust the free power supply that comes in the case. If you stick a big AGP card, a couple hard drives, and a couple optical drives in the system, then you'll be underpowered at 420W. I'd get a 500W for that. Thermaltake makes some nice ones that are fairly inexpensive. But not cheap quality. Again, hit up Fry's, they have those too.

[rallynavvie]

The first thing I thought of when looking at that motherboard was "Holy crap! It can take a Core Duo chip, an AGP video card, PCI-E, DDR, and DDR2!"

This is not a good revelation, especially since all this different technology is being run on VIA chipsets. Has VIA suddenly surpasses nVidia and Intel on the chipset market with this stunning technology? And all for under $100 no less!

I understand you have an AGP video card you want to reuse. I may have missed some of your other threads on the building of this new system so I may have missed what it's primary purpose will be. Here's the "economy" board I'd recommend:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131578
Now it is PCI-E so you would have to get a new video card for it but if this is a video editing rig then you can just get whatever cheap nVidia card for PCI-E and you're good, cost about $70 more than what you were planning on spending on that crossover board. If you're gaming then there are some good value cards out there for PCI-E that you can save up a little more for. That Assrock board doesn't use PCI-E x16 so you wouldn't be able to upgrade to anything more than an AGP card in the future. Normally I don't worry about "future-proofing" my machines but you're putting a cutting edge processor in there you may as well pair it up with a new video card. That Conroe, though the "cheap" one, is still a fantastic processor. I have something similar in my laptop and I've been amazed with its performance.

[lordsmurf]

I did not even notice that. YIKES!

Chipset
- Northbridge: VIA PT880 Pro/Ultra
- Southbridge: VIA VT8237A

VIA chipset is going to be a major bitch. Best avoid that mess.
ASRock is the Asus cheapo line. I'd avoid that.

[budz]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131578

I don't think that mobo takes Intel Core 2 Duo cpu's. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong.

[TBoneit]

Intel Processor, Intel chipset. Avoid headaches. The VIA and SIS chipsets work OK, however they seem to slow down disc access IMHO when more than one transfer is happening. Example would be a large file from C: to D: and another large file from E: to F:

You not ever plan on that but to me it indicates that the disc controller is less robust. YMMV

Asrock = economy board, go Foxconn or Asus. Think about maybe the new AM2 socket AMDs as a alternative route. Only reason is it is a new Intel design. I remember the early Pentiums with the floating point bug, a chipset that had to be recalled too.

Hopefully they've improved their testing now. Intel is also downsizing it's labor force. Does this mean they are more efficient or lower sales or ??

[Eyedoctor2]

Is it worth it to build? I don't think so.

From Ben's Bargains:

Dimension 9200 Core 2 Duo 1.86GHz PC $529 at Dell Business Enter E-Value code AFFT-dim92min to find the newly released Dimension 9200 Core 2 Duo Desktop Computer for $679. Choose the "No Monitor" option and Core 2 Duo 1.86GHZ CPU to drop it to $529 with free shipping. The specs include:

Intel Core2 Duo 1.86GHz, 1GB DDR2, 80GB SATA, CDRW/DVD Drive # XP Home, No Monitor Option, 256MB nVidia Geforce 7300LE Video Card # 7.1 Channel Audio, Dell Keyboard/Mouse, 10/100 Ethernet, 1-Yr Warranty

So for an extra $129 over your newegg total you get a hard drive, video card, an operating system, a 48x CD-RW / DVD-ROM Combo Drive, and a one-stop warranty.

[budz]

Is it worth it to build? I don't think so.

From Ben's Bargains:

Dimension 9200 Core 2 Duo 1.86GHz PC $529 at Dell Business Enter E-Value code AFFT-dim92min to find the newly released Dimension 9200 Core 2 Duo Desktop Computer for $679. Choose the "No Monitor" option and Core 2 Duo 1.86GHZ CPU to drop it to $529 with free shipping. The specs include:

Intel Core2 Duo 1.86GHz, 1GB DDR2, 80GB SATA, CDRW/DVD Drive # XP Home, No Monitor Option, 256MB nVidia Geforce 7300LE Video Card # 7.1 Channel Audio, Dell Keyboard/Mouse, 10/100 Ethernet, 1-Yr Warranty

So for an extra $129 over your newegg total you get a hard drive, video card, an operating system, a 48x CD-RW / DVD-ROM Combo Drive, and a one-stop warranty.

One stop warranty from someone in India that can barely speak english.

Building your own pc is the better because you can choose the components you want. I have to agree with TBoneit to look into the AMD AM2 processors as a alternative route. The midrange mobo's for Intel Core 2 Duo cpu's are quite expensive. If you can wait a few months maybe the Intel Core 2 Duo cpu's may drop in price. Just my 2 cents!

[TBoneit]

Getting a good brand well built and equipped Mobo for a core-duo can tough right now. The hot ticket MBs seem to be in short supply.

AMDs the supply seems to be better. Maybe because the AM2 stuff isn't that drastic a change from the older 939 socket?

I know I'm happy with my ASUS 3Ghz HT P4 system. OTOH the 4200+ X2 AMD64 system is so much faster and runs so much cooler encoding video (40 degrees centigrade in my testing) versus a 3.2 P4 dual core I tested in January. Core duo is what Intel should have released back then and not rushed out the short lived dual core processors they did come out with.

[ranchhand]

I didn't take the time to review all the specs, but at first glance it seems like a decent, medium range setup. My suggestion is to definitely build it yourself, you will appreciate it the first time something goes wrong and you know your components. I have used only one Asrock board using an AMD 64/2.2GHz/1meg L2 cache with pc3200 Crucial Ballistix, and it performed super and stable. The only thing you want to do with these boards is to definitely flash the BIOS first thing after you get it up and running and stable. Asrock makes constant upgrades, and many times the stock Newegg carries does not have the latest. I had problems with the USB ports crashing at 400FSB until I upgraded the BIOS, and then everything was clean and fast. Asrock has a sweet flash setup - you can flash from within XP with two mouseclicks. It took me literally 45 seconds, and no boot disk was needed.

[rallynavvie]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131578

I don't think that mobo takes Intel Core 2 Duo cpu's. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong.

Just realized that myself. Saw it could handle 1066 FSB speeds but I think it's for P4 EE series chips rather than the 1066 on the new Core Duos.

So you'll have to spend a decent sum on a proper board. I'd still look at the cheapest Asus one you can afford that uses either an nVidia or Intel chipset. At least with Asus you're really getting what you pay for, they cram a lot of features into their boards and I've always had good experiences with their nVidia and Intel platforms.