machine listing

[Guest]

tell me ur thoughts.... this is almost finalized... if u know of any imcompatibilites or conflicts plz tell me....

(already bought)(is this enough wattage, should i have gotten 400w?) 300 watt atx form factor case big tower
amd thunderbird 1.1 gig processor
asus a7v motherboard (is this a 8 ide/eide board)
256 0r 384 mb pc133 sdram
toshiba 12/40 dvd rom drive
realmagic hollywood plus dvd decoder
plextor 12x10x32 cdrw drive
(2) ls 120's 2x superdisks one as A: one as b:
either:
ibm deskstar 75gxb ata/66 7200 rpm hardrive (is this in ata/100?)
or
maxtor 7200 rpm 45 gig hard drive (depending on available funds)
not sure on speakers. defintely 5.1 tho
creative labs sblive! x gamer platinum 5.1
3com 3c905 10/100 mbit fast ethernet
64mb hercules geforce 2 ultra ddr tvout( or should i got voodoo 5)
interworks video cooling and optimization
some sorta network card for my home netowrk, not sure on type yet
and as to the os, well im not quite sure. im defintely dual booting linux and some form of winbloze. i wanna do gaming mostly. what win version should i go......





also im not sure if my case is amd or p3. its a 812a. thas all i know. i got it at a pc show really cheap...
<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by bighead78 on 11/18/00 07:28 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[RavenPrime]

Sorry for the duplicate. I clicked the wrong cont. button.

James<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by ravenprime on 11/19/00 00:21 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[RavenPrime]

Looks like my system but I only have a 900MHz T-bird.
The A7V does have room for 8 IDE devices.
You can do without the DVD decoder card. A software decoder with the geforce2 ultra is just as good.
If it is ata/66 it is ata/66.
Get a ata/100 drive. It may not be significantly faster but faster is better and the price is the same. Maxtor now has a ata/100 drive and the 15GB is only $99US at Bestbuy. The IBM deskstar ata/100 is $103US at 15GB at buy.com.
Why two ls120 drives? Get one and one floppy. You cannot boot from the ls120 drive if it is connected to the ultra/100 slots. Only a hard drive can boot from there.
I am happy with my toshiba 12/40 and I love my plextor 12/10/32.
I have the SB Live X-gamer ($77US) and its output is excellent combined with my Altec Lansing ACS54 speakers. No one has been able to convince me the platinum version is worth the extra $200.
For games, Win98SE definitely, Win2k maybe. I have WinMe. Turning off all that system restore crap was a hassle but o/w I have not noticed a difference or improvement over Win98SE (except for being able to buy it for $49).

James

 

[Guest]

lemme get this right...... the geforce 2 comes with a software decoder, is that what ur saying? well, i need a huge friggin drive for what im doing. so it has to be 45 gig or bigger. i was thinking the ibm, cuz their fast. but if im forced to get a ata/100 7200 rpm maxtor, thats fine... is your x gamer a step up from the mp3+ ? i got the decoder card from setups already made (pcgamer, alienware,falcon northwest, and hypersonic), so i just was building off what they had. are ur speakers 4.1 or 5.1? and u know of any good dual booting software and the bes linux os.....
also what about the wattage..... is 300w enough. my tower has mondo room for expansion tho. and whats the largest the ibm deskstars come in fr gig size?
<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by bighead78 on 11/19/00 09:40 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Guest]

what about dvd burners? are they too new ya think?

 

[TazMo]

ATXcases are ATX cases and will work for p3 or Athlon. The thing with the Athlon is that it uses a lot of power and needs a bigger power supply than what used to be standard. Old standard was 235watts or 250watts. Your case should be fine, but the more devices you have the more power needed and you do got a lot of stuff in there.

I'm not sure what parts are being moved over or which ones you already have, but if you have a slot I would use the DVD decoder. You have a fast enough computer to use software, but most people prefer the hardware solution.

Soundblaster Live! cards are all the same they just bundle different software with the cards and call them different names.

DVD/CDRW combos are a pretty new kind of a cool idea and they seem to work pretty well, but the latest CDRW's are very refined and hard to screw up (burn a coaster) I go that route. I like PLEXTOR. I also like SCSI, but that's another issue.

The Geforce2ULTRA is the choice for pure gaming pleasure. I prefer the ATI Radeon64MB because its more versatile. It's very close to the Geforce2ULTRA in 3D performance and the Radeon has better image quality as well as video in video out functions and better hardware DVD.

Anyhow know known issues stand out and your components seem top notch.
Your system should Rock.

 

[RavenPrime]

Let me clear up a few points and say I agree with what TasMo said.
The Geforce2 ulta may or may not come with a software DVD decoder depending upon who you buy it from. The Geforce2 (and I am sure the ultra is included) has some limited hardware DVD decoding capabilities and with the proper software can decode DVD as well as any dedicated hardware decoder card--admittedly this is arguable. If you already have a DVD decoder card and an open slot, use it.
My speakers are 4.1 not 5.1--for me thats plenty.
I haven't seen a comparison of IBM vs Maxtor but considering that IBM makes most of the hard drive components for everyone else, IBM drives are probably better.
IBM deskstar 75GXP 45GB should be ata/100, if it says otherwise I would investigate a possible typo or look elsewhere.
The difference between SB Live MP3 and Xgamer is the software. The platinum version adds "LiveDrive" for people who compose their own music or want front in/out audio ports on their pc.
Get a 300watt PS, 250w may be good enough but why risk it for $25US or less especially if you are going to load up your system.
Sorry I can't help you with dual booting or Linux. I am stuck with Winbloat. I have heard they are coming out with a new version of Winbloat next year, a WinNT(2K) personal edition--no more Win9x. Also, the more I use WinMe, the less I like it, go with Win98SE or Win2K.
As TazMo said, "Your system should rock"!

James

 

[Guest]

i havent been able to find the ib drives u emtnion on pricewatch. also would i be able to use my stereo speakers 9(awai) going line out form sound card, to line in on the stereo?

 

[RavenPrime]

When I watch my DVD movies, I have a 24 foot audio cable going from my line out to my Laser Disk input on my receiver and it sounds great.
The IBM drives are on backorder everywhere. Check www.ibuyer.com or www.buy.com

James

 

[igottaknife]

BEWARE OF CHEAPY RAM. BUY THE GOOD [-peep-] AND SAVE YOURSELF THE HEADACHE!!!!

This new forum sucks

 

[Guest]

i must of forgotten to mention the brand, whoops. i was planning on kingston ram.

 

[Guest]

what would be faster: two 45 gig ibm;s in raid, or going scsi's....

 

[RavenPrime]

Make sure your ram is CAS 2 not 3. There is a significant difference in performance. I went with Crucial.

James