where to buy

[Guest]

hi, i am probably gonna build my own computer and i was wondering if anyone knows of good places on the net to get cheap (but quality) computer hardware? The only things i really need to get are:
a processor at least 1 ghz (i'm thinking prolly an amd athlon),
a motherboard that works for that processor,
a hard drive (20 gb is fine, doesn't need to be big)
a power supply
and a case.

so all i need are the big expensive pieces, i already have a cd drive, A:\ drive, video card, sound card, mouse, keyboard, etc. I'm thinking i can get a really good computer for only a few hundred bucks like this.

so anyways, what would you guys recommend for a processor/motherboard etc. and where to buy them?

BTW, i have never done this before, do all cases fit everything or do you have to carefully look them over to find what's right for your system first?

thanks


<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by dummkompf on 07/21/01 11:31 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[tdean]

well, i think a few hundred buck might be wishfull thinking but you can go to www.pricewatch.com and search mobo/cpu combos... you can go to www.crucial.com for your ram. when you are looking for a case, the retailer will more than likely specify if it is recommended by amd for their processors. enlight makes a nice amd case. you will need a lot of cooling so get an extra case fan for that. i have a few aopen ak73 pro a boards and a few ecs (elitegroup) k7vza boards that are all working flawlessly now that i have applied the via patches in the correct order etc. others have had luck with asus a7v boards. there are a lot of options but the ecs k7vza was rated very high by tom and it only cost ~$80. the aopen board is supposed to be a much better board and the price would indicate that... ~$150. i hope that helps.

 

[Guest]

ok i basically have no idea what you said, but would either one of these be good?http://www.dxmarket.com/pcafterhours/dir/19.html

they are made by chaintech, is that a good manufacturer?

and what about the chipet "amd athlon Tbird 1300 socket A 200 mhz bus"? i guess that means it's a 1.3Ghz, 200mhz bus. is $155 normal for that chip? and what can i expect for a 1.4Ghz 266mhz bus? the one I'm talking about is at: http://www.dxmarket.com/pcafterhours/products/CPU-ATH1300200.html

 

[tdean]

ok, well, i just checked toms and a couple other sites where they rate the boards against eachother and chainteck came in dead last for performance in all of them. significantly behind everyone else actually. i'd stay away from them. if you want a good 200mhz fsb board, id go with the ecs k7vza. you can check it out at www.escusa.com. as for the 266mhz fsb boards, like i said, you could go with either the aopen ak73 proa or asus a7v. as far as prices, $155 for a 1.2 ghz 200 fsb sounds high, i was just on www.pricewatch.com and saw several for <$100 (eom versions). not to confuse you, but the oem chips are not as reliable as the retial ones. just take my word on that, thats a whole other can of worms. a thunderbird 1.4 266 retail version (non oem) is ~$210 with the oem versions ~$160. does any of this help?

 

[Guest]

yes it does, thanks. I was just looking around on newegg.com for the last half hour, and they look pretty good. I'll check on pricewatch. I was thinking probably a 1.4ghz, but then i saw that 1.2 is almost $100 cheaper, so maybe i'll get that. One of the boards that I thought looked good on there was the asus A7M266. Basically all i care about though, is one that has 4x agp, supports my processor, and it would be nice if it supports ddr ram.

I really don't care about it being a top-of-the-line pc right now, but i just want to get something that won't be trash 5 years from now, so i can use it most of the way through college (which i won't even be starting for 2 years).

 

[tdean]

the boards i mentioed do support 4x agp, although the difference between 2x and 4x isnt what youd think. as far as ddr, the boards i mentioned do not support that. asus makes a few boards that support that but if you read some of the posts, it seems people are having problems with them. that happens when new stuff comes out.

 

[Guest]

is the video any good on the mobos that have it on-board? And can it be turned off if i decide i want to buy a video card and use it instead?

 

[tdean]

no, the video is not very good and yes it can be disabled onboard or in the bios. you would be best served by picking up an agp vid card. radeon, geforce.... there are many.

 

[Guest]

does anyone here have experience with the Asus A7M266 board and can tell me what to expect? I've decided to go ddr, cuz like i said earlier i want something that'll still be usable in a few years and it looks like they are all going in that direction.