worth the wait

[Jerums]

I somewhat desperately need a computer here at college. I've been holding off on getting the components because of the all the hype around the 266a chipset. I really want to have a comp so i can do school work as well as play some games.

So, i guess my question is this: is it really worth it to wait for the 266a chipset? is the performance gap that large, and about how long would i have to wait to get my hands on one?

 

[dhlucke]

Are you going to overclock? If you aren't then you should just buy the ECS Sis 735 board. It's $65. Get the computer and enjoy it.

<font color=red>God</font color=red> <font color=blue>Bless</font color=blue> <font color=red>America!</font color=red>

 

[forgettythatty]

I have no idea what you're talkin about. Compared to the nforce, there has been no hype of kt266a. Get the an nforce board if you don't have any components now, and they say it will be out sometime in the end of september.

in fact since I am very in the know right now, I'll tell you all the components for your entire computer:

where to buy:
www.pricewatch.com
www.ibuyer.net
www.pricegrabber.com

www.auctionwatch.com
www.ebay.com

check www.resellerratings.com before you buy.

(end of september supposedly):
Motherboard/Graphics/Sound/Raid Controller/Ethernet:
Asus A7N-266
http://event.asus.com.tw/computex2001/product/mb_a7n266.asp
http://www.reactor.ru/news/june/a7n266_big.jpg
or the
http://www.msicomputer.com/Newsrelease/nForce.htm

(discount with link below)
768MB PC2100 DDR Crucial Memory
http://www.crucial.com/evguide/
(best DVD drive!)
LTD-163 DVD drive
www.jazztechnology.com

(best atapi hard drive!)
IBM 60gxp Hard drive
40 GB $100
60 GB $130
80 GB $200

CPU:
AYHJA Y 1.4ghz AMD Thunderbird OEM

CPU Fan:
Thermaltake 60mm
http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/ther60.html
$8.50

Heatsink:
ThermalRight SK6 All Copper Heatsink - Fantastic! Includes Clip, fan mounts and thermal pad (fan not included)
http://www.kdcomputers.com/Cooling/Socket A.htm
$36

and

Purple anodized AMD shims
http://www.highspeedpc.com/item84.htm
$8

and

NanoTherm Ice or Artice silver 2
$6

Case and power?:
probably somethin like:
http://www.webuildpcs.com/wbpc/CAS012.html
$37

Burner:
the 24x liteon from www.jazztechnology.com
$114

yep. you're on your own for a monitor, speakers, mouse, keyboard.

 

[Crashman]

I wouldn't wait for the 266a. If history is any indicator it will take months for them to work out 90% of the bugs, the rest may never get fixed. Get the cheap ECS SiS735 board.

Back to you Tom...

 

[mbetea]

i'm looking at the k7s5a too. but i'm just wondering about the ram now. if you put 1gb in there do you have to go with registered dimms?

ewww, put that thing away, you're in public!

 

[Crashman]

The issue here is with the number of DIMMS, I don't know if the SiS chipset supports four unregistered DIMMS. It would be difficult for any chipset to do this, stable posted a very detailed reason why a few months back. If not you would have to look for 512MB unregisterd dimms.

Back to you Tom...

 

[Guest]

Hey Forgettythatty (nice name by the way), do you know about any good components for a good 'Musical PC'. I'm a musician, so I wanted to put together a system to run audio programs on (such as sequencers and synths). I thought I would just get a laptop to tie me over until all these new motherboards are released. But I'm not sure if I want to spend the extra money for a laptop. So if you or someone else could recommend some components, it would be really helpful.

 

[forgettythatty]

What is kinda nuts is that this board:
http://www.msicomputer.com/Newsrelease/nForce.htm
has one of the best sound setups ever made for a computer. I think the a7n266 might have the a Dolby Digital 5.1 real-time encoder, but I don't see them say that anywhere, so I'd go for msi's board till more info is known. I am not sure about plugging computers into synthesizers and other instruments, sorry. Find out about the new SB live sound card they're makin (or anybody know about it?!?!) before you but the nforce board, that might hook into those instruments.

Don't spend the extra money for a laptop. All the components above should do very nicely, except the only part I am unsure about is that cheap toolless case.
While way more expensive,
www.coolcases.com has the best air cooled cases and this is to many people the best mid tower:
(Modified) Lite-On Fs020
http://www.coolcases.com/catalog/p16.html

This place has the best power supplies (don't get their ultra quiet models because they don't move any air):
www.pcpowercooling.com
but that place is very expensive and I think the Enermax 465W EG465P-FC is a better deal for like $85. If you want a cheap no name power supply, just get the heaviest one you can find as that is a fairly good way to judge supprisingly.

For music software I am not to up on it, but try finale 2002 and cool edit. use www.google.com to search for it. oh I'll do it...
http://www.codamusic.com/coda/
http://www.syntrillium.com/


someone recommend stuff to hook those synthesizers up to the computer. I don't know anything about that.

 

[forgettythatty]

I picked my name because when I fill out form after form wanting to know where I live and phone numbers and crap, I'm like, "Forget that!"
And I fill it with b.s.

forgetthat as a user name is sometimes taken so I just naturally thought of forgettythatty and it is never taken anywhere.

 

[forgettythatty]

err my heatsink link was old:

ThermalRight SK6
http://www.kdcomputers.com/
$32