Just bought a system. I'd like to join the team. Gimme some opinions...

[dorokhin]

I finally shelled out 1,911 bucks and got a new computer. :banana:

The specs are below. I'd like to join the Xtreme 3d Team. What kind of 3dmark score could I expect with this rig. Are there any relatively cheap cooling components I could get that would give me a solid improvement in performance (don't suggest a 200 buck water cooling system but if there's a way to spend 40 bucks or so and make it faster, please tell me). :toast:

The Rig:

Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 Processor (Northwood) 2.26GHz, 533MHz FSB, Socket 478 (No Memory) Retail . $242.00
Corsair CMX512-3200 512MB PC3200 400Mhz 64Mx64 184 DIMM Unbuffered Cas2.5 Memory Retail . $199.00

Lian-Li PC65 USB Case with window
Green Cathode Lighting

Video Card: VGA MSIGF4 TI4400 128MB DDR SDRAM@ 1
$229.00
Mobo: Epox I845G|4G4A+ 6-CH EP 1
$138.00
Sound: VTB|SANTA CRUZ DSP PCI Sound Card 1
$59.00
HD 80GB|WD 7200RPM 8MB WD800JB% 2
$228.00
Monitor: SMSNG|19" CRT 955DF WHITE 1
$225.00
DVD|LITE ON 16X LTD-163 RTL 1
$38.00
CDRW 40X12X48|LITE ON LTR40125 RTL 1
$69.00
Speakers: ALTEC LANSING 4100 4.1 4 PC SPEAKER 1
$101.00
Keyboard 1
$7.00
MOUSE MS|INTELLI OPTICAL Ver. 1.1a 1
$21.00
Floppy 1.44MB|ALPS DF354H068F BEIGE OEM 1
$8.00
POWER SP|431W(P4)ATXEG465P-VE(FC)RT 1
$83.00
CABLE FLOPPY- 18" RD PT S GREEN RT 1
$6.00

[Jupiler]

system looks ok to me ;)
Perhaps you might wanna consider the ABIT BD7 II Raid or IT7, i've heard many good things about these 2 boards.
I heard the Epox is having some minor problems.

[JBELL]

well wow!! you should be able to do well with that sys!

you got all the right gear for overclocking

[dorokhin]

Hey Jupiler; from what I've read in reviews, Epox has cleaned up their act with this mobo...

Can anyone with a similar system tell me what kind of performance I could expect?

:banana:

[NoStra]

I would change dat Epox board for an Abit..

[dorokhin]

bah...there's no reason to change. The reviews of this board show it to be the highest performing board for any DDR based system and also show it to be faster than Rambus800...This just seems to be a "get this cause I know its good and haven't heard anything about what you're buying" :stick:

[shadco]

dorokhin

IT7 mem bandwidth (http://mywebpages.comcast.net/ddr333/it7/IT7175-234mem.jpg)

Did they get theirs that high in their review?

Shad

[dorokhin]

*sigh*...First off, yours are tweaked. Not stock. I'm quite sure that you can tweak the Epox just as much. the review had it just over 3000 and it could go higher if someone bothered to tweak it. Your ABIT scores just under 3000 without tweaking. I supose once i get the motherboard i can give you my actual tweaked results but your arguement seems asinine to me since the 4g4a+ is clearly faster that the ABIT at stock and is considered also to be the best overclocker made to date. As much fun as it might be for you to play deil's advocate, you don't seem to be presenting much of a point considering those tweaked results aren't too high for the Epox to reach.

Second of all: ABIT is the dumbest manufacturer in the face of this world for removing normal ports. I see no reason to switch to USB mouse+keyboard because ABIT is too cheap to put in a few extra bucks to add those ports.

the ABIT mobo is just about the worst motherboard I could have chosen. Its not faster than the other mobo's, not better for OC'ing and lacks standard ports. As for benchmarks, Read THG: http://www.tomshardware.com/mainboard/02q3/020708/index.html

Giba-byte wins the i845E shootout, ASUS gets second. Abit? They said it was good and placed it 3rd amongst the 845e's!! That isn't bad but its nothing to write-home about.

[dorokhin]

and don't forget: http://www.tomshardware.com/mainboard/02q2/020520/i846eg-12.html

845G gives a noticeable 3dmark improvement (200 3dmarks) over 845e since "the new i845E does not come with the DDR333 support of i845G" -THG

[Jupiler]

I don't know about this but :
1. the ABIT board always placed in the top 3 in benchmarks, gigabyte at the bottom.
2. gigabyte wins the shoootout because it's very cheap and has a lot of features

I'm not arguing about your choice (not at all ;)) but I read that some had trouble with the 4g4a+. Heck, I have the 4bda2+ and I love it. I was going to buy the 4g4a+ but after reading more about it, I decided to wait and see if a eventual bios update might resolve things.
It's true that ABIT are among the most expensive around (they took the crown from ASUS hé;)) but they're very good, specially if you consider oc. Isn't that why we are here? :)
Anyway, good luck with the system and post some results as soon as you get them. I really like to know how the board works out.

[shadco]

*sigh*...First off, yours are tweaked

Geeze dorokhin

I was just trying to give you a data point.

I hadn't read the review so I didn't know what it said.

Tom That's the guy who would have had everyone buying Soyo Dragon +'s as the best overclocking boards back in December isn't he?

Oh well I wasn't trying to rattle your cage.

Shad