Your opinion on my new system

Looks jacked. You might want to look at the Abit KT7-RAID and getting 2 identical hard drives so raid 0 can be setup on that system. It will fly.

"upgrading is no longer an option...it's a necessity"
Visit www.elitehunters.com
--SoulReaper =)

I planned on making some modifications later on. Until now I always built my own systems, but I'm sick of the hassle. Which is why I'm giving Gateway a try.

I planned on getting the IBM Deskstar ATA100 50gb or so. Not sure I want to swap the whole motherboard. I could just get an Adaptac RAID controller, and go that route.

Huh, I don't know, but does Adaptec make IDE raid controller? If my memory is right then the answer is no. This means that if you go on this way you'll have to buy yourself two scsi HD to go with your raid adapter...

Think about it.

Yeah, that's what I meant. SoulReaper suggested getting an ABIT KT7-RAID with 2 SCSI drives...however instead of replacing the motherboard, I could just get an adaptec RAID controller and 2 RAID drives. Maybe 2 Seagate Cheetah's - 9.1gb ultra160 at 10k rpm. which would be around $450 not including the controller. Which isn't too bad for the performance it would probably offer.

I'd buy another 128Mb Ram for 256 total. I consider 128 the minimum these days, and it looks a bit stingy on a system of your power.

Also ditch the sound card and get a Soundblaster Live! Value - very cheap but much better. And have you considered a DVD-ROM drive? with tv-out on your graphics card you can experiance the excellence of DVD.

It'll kick ass whatever you do anyway!

I'd rate RAID as less important than the above, and SCSI Raid is a bit of a waste of money. Get a Promise IDE raid controller and another hard drive, rather than an expensive controller and 2 new expensive drives.

It sounds like you got a pretty good system there, although i agree you should get a sb live! card. They are cheap on www.pricewatch.com ($30 or so), and definitely worth it! The only thing is that DDR support just came out from MICRON PC. I am a PC Tech at best buy, and I can tell you these machines ROCK and, at only $1,400 for the 1Ghz model, kick ass in price, too!! These Micron cases have two extra big case fans built into the case for superior cooling and longevity! Also the case is great to work with, tooless, easy access slide locks. Plus, with DDR, you will have a system that kicks much bootang for awhile to come. I had the pleasure of telling a lady the other day she officially had THE FASTEST computer in wichita! One thing I didnt look at was the bundled video card, you might have to get that seperate. If you go to Best Buy, you can custum build your own DDR Micron. You might be able to do this at www.bestbuy.com, not sure if that's up yet.

um... looks great, but i didn't see it anywhere... what kind of mobo are u getting?

cxg, I agree..I will purchase a 2nd 128meg stick in a few weeks.

Also, I got my brother to switch his sb live! x-gamer with my pci 128, he doesn't play games so he didn't care. Don't ask me why he bought it if he doesn't play games.

I would consider DVD, but I have a playstation2, so I don't really need a 2nd dvd player. Later on, if PC games and apps start to come on DVD then I will purchase one.

I'll probably end up just buying a 2nd 20GB IDE drive, and spending money in other areas such as a really nice 22" flat screen CRT monitor.

Meshiaia, DDR sounds great. Once it's been out for a while, and has improved some from initial releases, I may just have to upgrade to it. For now, I'm just going for the widely available / safe route.

jojo, mobo is Abit KT7

No, SoulReaper did NOT suggest that because the KT7-RAID offers you IDE raid, not SCSI raid.... I'd go for the KT7-RAID mobo if I were you... Especially since you're thinking about getting another 20gb HD...

cool

Thread necromancy is bad k. :roll: