Help!!!

[Guest]

I am buying my first pc.I intend to buy AMD processor.Is Thunderbird the same as Anthlon?I want at least 1GHz processor.And I also want to know its compatible motherboard.I don't know what brand is good for hardisk but I intend to buy at least 30GB DDR SDRAM.I want to play 3D game so I think I will need the excellent graphic card.Which is better,ATI Radeon 32MB DDR or nVIDIA Geforce2 GTS 32MB DDR AGP or Hercules 3D Prophet Kyro 4500 64MB?For sound card I have no idea.Give me an advice.For speakers, which of the two ,Altec Lansing ATP3 or ADA305 USB is better?For monitor,is Sony FD Trinitron 17" Flat monitor is good?For DVD/CD-RW Drive what should I choose?I intend to use intranet in my university and web browsing also.So,what networking device should I use?

 

[Arbee]

Well, one at the time :

CPU: All Thunderbirds are Athlons but not all Athlons are Thunderbirds. Confused? - Athlon is the brand name and Thunderbird is the code name of the latest version of the Athlon core. All modern Athlons are Thunderbirds - CPUs with integrated level 1 and level 2 cache and are for socket A. Older Athlons (not based upon the Thunderbird core) were for slot A and had external cache. Nowadays you can only buy the Thunderbird version of the Athlon. And, for the price difference, you may well choose a 1,2GHz CPU.
There are 2 versions of the Thunderbird core - the normal 200Mhz FSB - and the 'C' version - 266Mhz FSB. If I were you I would go for a 1,2 Ghz+ CPU with a 266Mhz FSB.

2 - Motherboard - buy a good socket A motherboard supporting DDR memory - there are several such as Asus A7V266,... check the reviews in <A HREF="http://www.tomshardware.com" target="_new">http://www.tomshardware.com</A> or <A HREF="http://www.anadtech.com" target="_new">http://www.anadtech.com</A>

3 - RAM: 256MB of PC2100 RAM (aka PC266) will be enough. Be sure to buy in one stick - and later you can add some more, if you wish

4 - HDD - IBM are good drives, although others aren't bad either. Buy a 7200 rpm IDE drive. For size, you could go for the 40GB.

5 - Graphic card - a difficult one - the best are Geforce3, but it is also the ost expensive, by far. Personally, I think the 64MB DDR Geforce2 Pro is probably the best value at this time. But it is rather difficult to decide.

6 - Soud card - Creative Labs Soundblaster 5.1 player is a good inexpensive card. There are cheaper (and worse) and more expensive (and better).

7 - Speakers - no idea

8 - Go 19" if possible - The LG Flatron 915FT+ is the best CRT monitor I've seen - but it is just my opinion...

9 - CDRW - Plextor

10 - DVD - Tere are several good brands - toshiba and pioneer.

11 - network - a simple PCI NIC 10/100 (a very inexpensive part)

Warning - choosing components is alway a matter of personal choice and price/quality perception. Also depends upon you personal needs. But the system above would'nt be completely bad.

This was long...



How terrible is wisdom when it brings no profit to the wise

 

[Guest]

Thanks a lot Arbee.I will keep your advice in mind.

 

[Arrow]

Just a friendly reminder - please don't post the same message in multiple forums.

Rob
Please visit <b><A HREF="http://www.ncix.com/canada/index.cfm?affiliateid=319048" target="_new">http://www.ncix.com/canada/index.cfm?affiliateid=319048</A></b>

 

[Guest]

Thank you all.
But 0ne more to ask.What casing and cooling system should I choose?

 

[Arbee]

Choose a good case with quality 300w+ (350w is better) power supply. Enlight seems to have some quality cases, but there are some excelent oem cases. Also check for extra fan mountings (only really necessary if you're into overclocking).



How terrible is wisdom when it brings no profit to the wise