I am building a computer for a friend of mine who wants DA BEST stuff (or second best, if 1st is ridiculously expensive) he can get for something between hmmm... maybe $2000-$3000. Anyway, i got all the specs but i need a second opinion since i'm new to this. I'd like to get some advice about what is the best hardware around that i could get him. (Note: He isn't an overclocker so it isn't gonna be overclocked 'til next year at least)
 
Here are the specs:
CPU:  AMD Athlon Thunderbird 1.3GHz, 266Mhz bus
Mobo:  (Am I blind or is there no board that include an AMD 760 chipset, AGP 4X (prefferably Pro), 2x OnBoard ATA-100 RAID, PC2100, PCI 2.2, USB 2.0?)
RAM:  256MB Crucial DDR SDRAM PC2100 2-2-2
Graphics Card: ASUS GeForce2 AGP-V7700 GTS Deluxe 64Mo DDR  or  ATI Radeon 64Mo DDR (in/out) (not sure between those two... might go with the GeForce)
Case:  Mid Tour ATX 350 Watts
HD:  IBM Deskstar 75GXP 75GB
Floppy Drive: Panasonic LS-120 2X
DVDROM:  Pioneer DVD-116 16X (slot or tray, not sure yet, any suggestions?)
CD burner: Plextor PlexWriter 16/10/40A
Monitor(Flat): 19" NEC MultiSync FP955 .24 1920x1440@73Hz, 22" MultiSync FP1350X .25-.27 1920x1440@76Hz
  19" Viewsonic P95f .25-.27 1920x1440@77Hz, 22" PF815 .25-.27 1920x1440@?
  19" Samsung 900NF .25 1600x1200@76Hz,  22" 1200NF .24 2048x1536@75Hz
  (He absolutely wants a 19" or 22" and doesn't want a Trinitron cuz they always display two or three horizontal lines in the screen)
Printer: Hewlett Packard 952C 2400x1200 8.5ppm  or  HP 960CSE 2400x1200 12ppm
  Canon 6200 2heads
Scanner: Agfa Snapscan E50 1200x2400 42bits USB
Sound Card: Sound Blaster Live! DE 5.1 (does it need 1 or 2 IRQs?)
Speakers: Cambridge SoundWorks Desktop Theatre 5.1 DTT3500 Digital (4x7W, voice 21W, sub 30W)
Modem:  US Robotics Internet Call Modem (PCI, semi-hardware)
Headset: Plantronics HS1 (Gaming/Multimedia Stereo Headset)
OS:  Windows Millenium Edition
NIC:  3Com EtherLink 10/100 PCI (3C905B-TX-NM)
Hub:  3Com OfficeConnect Dual Speed Hub 8
Keyboard: Logitech Internet Keyboard (would it be better to go with iTouch?)
Mouse:  Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer
Accessories: Microsoft SideWinder Game Pad Pro
  or Microsoft SideWinder Force Feedback 2
Surge Protection Bar: (I have NO idea)
Fans:  ThermalTek Volcano II for the cpu, 1 case-in in front and 1 case-out at the back
 
Please help me, I really want to give him the best.
 
"Byte, Kilobyte, Megabyte, Gigabyte, Terrabyte, Pentabyte, Exabyte, Zettabyte, Yottabyte..."

Wow...
that's all i have to say about that setup. The only thing i would possibly upgrade on that is maybe give him some 15000rpm hdd's and a better soundcard/speakers. Go for Boston Acoustics or Altec Lansing. The keyboard, go with Logitech for sure but they have a new brand out, i have the Itouch at the moment (cordless) and it kicks ass but the new ones have more functions i hear... Also, try going with the GeForce 3 if you can fit it into the ol' budget, it's THE best chipset available, and it kicks the ass off everything. Other than that get the Geforce 2 Ultra coz they cain. Also, another thing you might wanna consider is, does this guy know a lot about computers? Or is he sorta a newbie? Coz Windows ME is [-peep-], it's slower and takes more space than any other windows version. Go with 98SE coz it the most reliable version they put out. 2000 is not stable enough for games, and ME is too damn slow coz of all the "user friendly" stuff it has. Trust me, i used ME on my 1.1ghz and it was, fast... but when i installed 98SE on it instead it was lightning fast, it's hard to imagine the difference it made, games ran better, programs loaded faster, probably because i had more free ram of course..
 
But it's your choice (definately go with a faster hdd than that coz they're getting reeeeally fast realllly quick)
 
AMD Tbird 1.1Ghz & SuperORB
Asus A7V
128MB PC133 SDRAM
Winfast GeForce2 MX
Win98 SE

i would advise going for 2 of the 30.7 gig ibm drives rather than for the 75 giger and set them up in raid for a nice performance boost
 
ive been building a few boxes recently but nothing that nice, im saving that fo the holidays, hehe, anyway all flat monitors have the two horisontal lines, they are there to stabalise the picture, got them on my 22 inch lacie beautiful monitor, you dont notice them an hour after you start using it, i hadnt seen em for a week before i read your post
 
where did all my money go, ahh... [-peep-], forgot that i lived in london

First off, get a trinitron.  Your friend won't notice the lines after the first day of use. The quality is just that much better.
 
Second, don't get winME. It's a nightmare waiting to happen and it's slow.
 
Third, the 1.3 Ghz isn't out.
 
My brother has those speakers with a trinitron, and that alone makes his computer put mine to shame.  Games look and sound so awesome. If you get the GeForce3 your friend will never leave his machine with this combo.
 
That system is going to kick some serious @$$.
 
"I think I brained my damage"

If your friend doesn't want to overclock, the Asus A7M266 mobo will fit the bill (this board doesn't allow changes in multiplier). Otherwise, I would wait for the MSI MS-6341 K7 Master or the new VIA KT266 chipset mobos since you'll be waiting for the 1.3 Tbird anyway.
 
I don't believe there is any 2-2-2 DDR SDRAM currently available...fastest is 2.5 right now.
 
Go with the GEforce 3.
 
As was pointed out, all flat screen monitors have the horizontal lines (both Diamondtron (Mitsubishi) and Trinitron (Sony) tubes use this). Personally, I only notice them when I'm specifically looking for them. After a good 10 hours of researching 22" monitors I decided on either the Mitsubishi Diamond Plus 200 or the Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 2060u. The Diamond Pro supports higher resolutions but is a little more expensive.
 
Recommend the Soundblaster Live! X-gamer 5.1. I have that and Cambridge Soundworks and it's an awesome combination.
 
Mouse, I would go with the Razor Boomslang 2000 if he's into gaming. Otherwise the Intellimouse Explorer is good although mine died after a couple months.
 
If he's not going to overclock, go with the JMC "Arctic Breeze Plus". This is a temperature-driven HSF that is quieter than most. If he wants to overclock and cares about noise, go with the TaiSol CGK742092. If he doesn't care about noise, go with the Global Win WBK38. In all cases get Arctic Silver II.

1. I'd love to put 15000 scsi stuff but it blows the budjet away... and i can't put two hard disks cuz he already has 4 ide accessories (the LS-120 is ide too)
 
2. Better sound card/speakers do too... anyway altec lansing doesn't do any 5.1 systems.
 
3. Windows 98SE is now the os i'll put in it.
 
4. The guy doesn't want any cordless keyboards so the best one would be the iTouch.
 
5. The GeForce 3 is too expensive (the whole puter would be priced around $3500 here without the card) and the ultra doesn't have the in/out ports that he wants.
 
6. The guy says he REALLY doesn't want a trinitron tube because he's seen the lines and hates them (and i don't think all the flat tube have those lines, you'd have to verify that)
 
7. I'll put te 1.2Ghz in it then
 
I'll post my revised list tomorrow, i want other replies before...
 
"Byte, Kilobyte, Megabyte, Gigabyte, Terrabyte, Pentabyte, Exabyte, Zettabyte, Yottabyte..."

i didn't see that last post so here's my reply:
 
1. The A7M266 is discontinued, i might go with the A7V266 with the KT266 chipset. But the MSI you said doesn't have all the things I stated before (ata-100 raid, agp 4x pro...)
 
2. You are right, i didn't check if crucial had any PC2100 memory and it expects to have some soon. If they don't have any CAS 2.5, i'll try to find some elsewhere.
 
3. The Live! DE 5.1 is better than the X-Gamer 5.1 or MP3 5.1. In what ways? I have no idea but it's newer so i think there must be something better... (anyone knows what's new in it?)
 
4. He's not a gamer (yet) so he'll go with the Intellimouse Explorer (mine didn't die yet and it's been almost a year...)
 
5. He's not an overclocker (yet) and I think the Volcano beats the three HSF you said (Arctic Silver II is the way i'll go) and doesn't cost that much. Anyway a temperature-driven HSF must be expensive (i gotta cut in the fat a lil').
 
6. Is there any tube that isn't Trinitron? I just realized that ViewSonic is...
 
Thanks a lot, keep replying
 
"Byte, Kilobyte, Megabyte, Gigabyte, Terrabyte, Pentabyte, Exabyte, Zettabyte, Yottabyte..."

Get a PCI Raid Controller and don't worry about the motherboard having one.  Now you have a bigger choice of motherboards.  Not to mention that you could do a Raid 0 on four drives and still have your zip (but why) a cd a dvd and a cdRW.
 
Opinions are like assholes, everyone has one and most of them stink

The A7M266 isn't discontinued, it's just hard to find due to high demand. The MSI MS-6341 K7 Master does support ATA-100 but also has optional support for Ultra 160 SCSI. Frankly, I think RAID is a status symbol and the sacrifice in reliability isn't worth the small gain you get in speed.
 
If you want to know about HSFs, check out the reviews at <A HREF="http://www.hardocp.com/reviews/cooling/roundup0101/" target="_new">Hard OCP</A> and <A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.html?i=1361&p=1" target="_new">Anandtech</A>. Also, check out <A HREF="http://www.ocaddiction.com/reviews/cooling/volcano_vs_vantec/amdresults.html" target="_new">this report</A> today that specifically shows the Volcano II to be inferior to the Vantec and GlobalWin HSFs on a Tbird 1@1.2 cpu.
 
If your friend absolutely doesn't want a Trinitron or Diamondtron tube (with the lines) he'll have to settle for a shadowmask monitor. There are plenty of monitors out there with shadowmask instead of aperture grill, but you won't be able to get a flat screen. LCD's offer flat panel but those are probably out of his price range.

If you can wait a month you should be able to get a 1.3 266 FSB..make sure you get retail..so it's copper middle.
 
Also for graphic card/video card I reccomend Hercules  3d Prophet II w/game Theatre XP...It retails for around 599...and should prolly drop during the month.  It's so cool, besides having a Great GeForce2 Ultra (don't get 3, not worth it, and most things wont be optimized for a while)..you get the Game Theatre XP, great sound card and like Game hub..Allows you to plug in USB ports, speakers, game controllers right on this front hub.  Goto www.hercules.com...they sell game Theatre with the card in a bundle...Besides that, looks great, I'm doing something like that w/out all the DVD CD-RW extras...Also like someone said, get a Trinitron...My dad has a Dell 20 19in UltranScan P990, I figure it has to be great, so I'm tkaing it from him ...Also motherboard, while you wait, get yourself a K7 Master...it's best AMD 760 chipset board.
 
=Quantum
 
=Quantum
AO Admin
The Dr.Twister Network
http://ao.drtwister.com

mjdunn: yeah, that'd be a solution.... thx, any companies in particular i could look for?
 
Xerin: Ok... cuz someone told me that it was discontinued, but if you say so... And about the HSF i heard the Volcano and it is quieter than most HSFs the guy is not an overclocker so noise is an issue.
 
QuantummDTN: That combo is out of range for the computer i'm building, and anyway the guy's not a gamer (yet) so it wouldn't be useful. And the card he wants is the Deluxe, not the Ultra cuz he wants to have the video in/out on the card.
 
"Byte, Kilobyte, Megabyte, Gigabyte, Terrabyte, Pentabyte, Exabyte, Zettabyte, Yottabyte..."

Hey looks like you got plenty of advise so far but let me sugest the hitachi 771 or 772 19" flat and does not have the line that your friend hates so much thay make a 20" also but I do not know the model # for that one.  
 
SANDMAN

fagget all zet, buy yerself a nice, comfortable chair, then tink aboud zee puter...
 
"akuna mutata" braza...

thx sandman, i didn't know what monitor to take... this help me a lot
 
thx pumba, i'll be on the lookout for these.... comfy, comfy chair
 
although, i'm not sure yet about the mobo, they aren't aged much and i dunno if they are good or not, any experiences with the amd 760 or kt266 chipset?
also, i don't quite understand how you can plug two hdd's on one ide channel... can someone explain?
 
"Byte, Kilobyte, Megabyte, Gigabyte, Terrabyte, Pentabyte, Exabyte, Zettabyte, Yottabyte..."

If you want the best system, than AMD and some other listed components  would only be considered in the middle to low end category.
For the amount you mentioned, you would be able to get the following-------
ASUS  PENTIUM 4  1.5 GHZ MB w 1.5 GHZ CPU  
 
2x 128 Meg  800 mhz RAMBUS (this is dual channel for 3.2 GBPS bandwidth)
 
2x 15,000 rpm Cheatah 18 GIG Ultra 160 scsi Drives (3.8 MS  
one for OS and one for software, can operate concurrently for close to 180 MBPS sustained ! )
 
Geforce 3 64 meg video
 
Kenwoood 72X Multilaser CD or Toshiba 16\48 DVD
19" Viewsonic P95f  
CASE -COOLER MASTER 201 www.coolermaster.com ALL RAW ALUMINUM GIANT HEATSINK !
 
Altec Lansing Digital 5.1 speakers
SB LIVE platinum 5.1
 
WINDOWS M.E with DD3d 8a both P4 compiled !!
 
this will outperform any AMD system with similiar components
RAMBUS has superior maximum bandwidth expecially dual channel where both ram modules are effectively operating at 1600 mhz concurrently  
 
also with P4 compiled software like dd3d 8a, there is a trememdous speed gain.  
P4 has dual FP units operating a 3 GHZ or 2x, and can handle more operations
also P4 has a cache prediction rate of 95% thanks to a table that is 8x times larger than P3 or AMD
it has a 20 stage pipeline and 8 way cache as
well as a 400 mhz memory bus compared with 200-266 for AMD
 
any 3D app using P4 optimization will outshine anything
the spec mark for the P4 is 550 and its FP is 540 !
currently the fastest CPU around
do you friend a favor get the P4, it will be upgradable past 2 GHZ this year !
we build thousands of high end systems for clients and test alot of hardware like TOM does, so I am speaking from hands on knowledge
hope this helps you
 
CAMERON
<A HREF="http://www.4CyberImage.com " target="_new">http://www.4CyberImage.com </A>  
 
CYBERIMAGE
Ultra High Performance Computers-

Cyber, thx for the info but...
 
1. The thing is that the guy wants an afordable system, not a $6000 machine, this is not a company machine we're talking about here. P4's are expensive, Rambus is too. Maybe THE VERY BEST system isn't what he needs.
 
2. You are saying that 2x128MB of Rambus provide 3.2GB/s of bandwidth, but isn't rambus bandwidth 1.6GB/s? And memory doesn't work concurrently, right?
 
3. You said that P4 has a cache prediction rate of 95% but ANY processor has a cache prediction rate of 95%! And what do you mean by 8x times larger table? What table?
 
4. You said that any 3D app WITH P4 OPTIMIZATION will outshine anything... but the thing is, NO app has that optimization yet and it'll take a while for them to have that because P4 optimized code is very different compared to P3/AMD optimized code. I need a machine that has performance with TODAY'S apps, so AMD beats the crap out of the P4.
 
5. The guy needs a DVD so he'll take the Toshiba SD-M1502. I heared good things about it too.
 
6. GeForce 3 is WAY out of the price range of a normal consumer. I may wait for it to be available though since it'll drop the prices of these -->. The guy wants Video in/out too so i had to eliminate any other choice than a Asus AGP-V7700 GeForce2 GTS Deluxe (maybe TV).
 
7. The guys wants at least 60GB and wants to be able to swap drives with friends too so i had to eliminate the SCSI drives which are expensive anyway. (I know the MSI K7-Master-S has the scsi controller on-board though but i mainly dropped scsi because of the price of the hdd's)
 
8. The guy absolutely wants a flat tube and doesn't want the Trinitron tubes' lines in the screen so i may go more with Hitachi since Viewsonic uses Trinitron.
 
9. He wants a small silent HSF not a big bulky noisy one.
 
10. The SB Live! Platinum is pricey and anyway the Live! DE 5.1 or MP3 5.1 have the same power for wav output (he won't be doing any midi there). He also wouln't be using the Live! drive much.
 
11. WindowsME has been nothing but problems to everyone i know. Win98SE with all the updates and stuff is what will be in the computer.
 
12. Altec Lansing? OK! But am i blind or is there no Altec Lansing Digital 5.1 speakers?
 
13. There is no 13. 13 is bad luck
 
Please answer, i'd like to hear your answer to this.
 
"Byte, Kilobyte, Megabyte, Gigabyte, Terrabyte, Pentabyte, Exabyte, Zettabyte, Yottabyte..."

I suggest a nice new home in a nice community. Also get him an alarm system and an attack dog.  Make sure there is plenty of lighting, and don't forget some nice earmuffs in case it gets cold.
 
Then you can worry about the computer....
 
"I think I brained my damage"

hahaha who ever said that the A7M266 was discontinued? You better look again.  Rumers are a bad thing.
 
Someday I will stop asking all the questions!

HI,
 
actually the machine is not $6000, but more like in the 3k range..
 
 
2-  each RAMBUS memory stick has 1.6 GPS bandwidth..
on PEntium 4 MB's there are 2 discrete memory channels with 2 seperate sticks operating at the same time for 3.2 GPS
 
3 not every CPU has 95% prediction, P3 has about 89,
AMD has 90 and P4 has over 95.3 %
 
4 many apps do have P4 code reaqdy, like dd3d 8a,
windows ME, windows 2000 , photoshop, max 4 , etc etc
 
more are comming out every day, over 400 software vendors are committed and signed on for INTEL to do this
including many cool games
 
6 I agree Geforce 3 is expensive that is why I mentioned gforce 2 as well
 
 
7 I agree IDE is cheaper , so then he should get 2 x 60 GIG IBM 7200rpm drives so the OS and apps can operate concurrently which adds 50% IO speed
 
 
8 Viewsonic does not use trinitron tubes exclusively,
they most use flat tubes and since panasonic lamkes them for viewsonic and owns the flattube patent then that says it all. viewsonic makes 3 different 19" flats, we are a viewsonic dealer for 6 years Hitachi is also owned by panasonic or Mitshushita same tube man..
 
9 not sure what a HSF is ??
 
 
10 agreed about the SM live platnimum, unless he wants to do MP3, then go for gammer or other versions
 
11 windows ME is much less troublesome that win 98,
the problem is people do NOT follow directions, there are  many cases where you must to a NEW install and not install it over windows 98 depending of what SP 's you have updates etc.
 
it is self healing too and backs up the registry and everything every times it boots and all you have to do to reinstate a crashed systems is a simple command
win 98 does not have this to that extent
ME also has the DOS code out of it so it is 20% faster
 
altec lansing does have digital speakers with 5.1 decoders,
I have some
 
 
 
 
thanks for you input and i most agree I think you just had some questions and neede some clarifications on my part..
enjoy chatting with you
best
CAMERON
 
 
 
 
 
 
CYBERIMAGE
<A HREF="http:// http://www.4CyberImage.com " target="_new">http:// http://www.4CyberImage.com </A>  
Ultra High Performance Computers-

Cyber,
 
1. I am Canadian. Parts are a bit more expensive and you have to multiply by 1.5 too, hehe. (I know.... i forgot to tell you)
 
2. Oh!
 
3. Ah.
 
4. That isn't much...
 
5. I don't doubt that. Sure they will come out... but it can take a while.
 
6. Uhuh.
 
7. I'll try that.
 
8. I meant Trinitron for the flat tubes... (since the guy only wants a flat tube)
 
9. CPU heatsink &