Building a new system any ideas appreciated

[Guest]

I am looking to put the following system together, any information on better products to use in a similar price range, warnings to possible conflicts, or any information would be much appreciated. This is my first "at home" project meaning I wont have a spare parts bin or extra components laying about. Will everything I need to put this bad boy together come with the retail components? Or do I need to get some assembly kit?

*Proposed System*

Case- $160
3D Cool Tornado 1000 Mid-Tower -300w Power Supply

Motherboard- $120
MSI KT7 Turbo KT133 ATA-100,266FSB,133Memory

Processor- $220
AMD Athlon (c) 1.2Ghz 266FSB Socket A (Do Athlon chips ship with a heatsink/fan or do I need to add my own [I will not be overclocking it]?)

Memory- $170
256mb Mushkin High Performance REV2 PC133

Hard Drive- $150
IBM Deskstar 75GXP 45GB ATA-100,7200RPM (may not go 45gig seems a bit large, but definitly ata100 @ 7200rpm)

Video Card- $~300
GeForce GTX of somekind or better cost permitting.(Who's/what's the best?)

Sound Card- $75
SB Live X-Gamer 5.1

DVD/CD- $75
Toshiba M1502-S 16xDVD/40xCD

Monitor- $???
Unsure (Will use a 21" P815 ViewSonic for this setup, though I need another 17" or better monitor for my work computer)

Estimated cost before S&H/Tax -- $1270 (purely estimated prices I attained from various sites, rounded up for the most part.)

Forsee any problems with this config? I am looking to spend under 1500 not inluding the monitor. This is a gaming rig, though I do not need the top machine for the games I play, I would like something that will last a bit in the gaming market.

BTW I am not an overclocker, to much hassle for me. Well I do overclock my Video Card with a software OCer, but that fan was easy to add

Thanks for any help,

The Old Gamer!


<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Rav on 04/03/01 07:03 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[wapaaga]

if you get an oem cpu then you need to get a heat skin

look at crucial ram it is good and cost less

i would wiat for geffroce 3 ro come out becuase it will drive down the price all the other video card that are based on the geforce 2 technology

 

[nicewar]

I'd also consider adding a CD-RW or some other type of device with mass backup capability.
Get a tube of arctic silver for attaching the heat sink.
You can get a 17" KDS monitor for your workstation pretty cheap and they do ok, rated well in consumer reports magazine.
Don't forget some of the peripheral stuff like...Do you already have speakers, good mouse, keyboard, etc.?

"Dave, my mind is going. I can feel it. My mind is going. There is no question about it."

 

[rcf84]

Try get a ALi magik 1 chipset. I hate VIA and you get a VIA have fun trying to get everything work within 3 days.

Intel,SiS,ALi,AMD makes better chipsets the VIA.

!!! Leader of the Anti-via army !!!

 

[ksoth]

ALi magik 1 chipset isn't too great, even if you use DDR RAM with it. I bought the MSI K7T Pro KT133 board, and the thing worked perfectly the very first time I hit the power button. The KT133A chipset for the K7T Turbo mobo is probably just as good. If you really want performance, go for an AMD760 ar Via KT266 based motherbaord that has DDR support. In a recent article at AnandTech, the KT266 outperformed the AMD760 (although there were some stability/compatibility issues with it), but either choice would be good. To save cost on both motherboard and RAM though, and still get good performance, definately fo Via KT133A chipset, which is what the MSI K7T Turbo mobo has. Make sure you get KT133A, not KT133.

"We put the <i>fun</i> back into fundamentalist dogma!"

 

[peteb]

Rubbish.

Built my system in one evening, from the box to fully up. A7V133 no problems.



-* This Space For Rent *-
email for application details

 

[Guest]

Thanks all for the input...

Regarding items such as mouse, speakers, etc... I have a Intellimouse USB optical mouse, some Altec Lansing USB Surround Speakers (dont hook up the USB part though tis worthless). Suppose I do need a Keyboard and NIC but almost anything will work there.

Ok regarding the MoBo and Ram, how much more performance should I expect from using DDR-Ram and the MoBo's that support it. I am guessing the MoBo's are not in them selves "faster" but it is the DDR-Ram increasing performance correct?

What are the price differences in PC133Ram and DDR-Ram? For example I want a minimum of 256mb.

Does the extra speed warrant the cost increase?

I guess what I am saying is if all I see is a 1-2% overall gain in speed with DDR-Ram/MoBo over the PC133/MoBo, I hope it does not cost 40-50% more for said items.

Any other ideas I would love to hear them!

 

[jollygrinch]

i feel like a moron for the price i bought my pc133 ram at last year. just saw in the news here on toms that you can get ddr from crucial (micron) for about 60. thats 128mb. in tom's review <A HREF="http://www.tomshardware.com/mainboard/01q1/010314/amd760-12.html#conclusion" target="_new">here</A>. that you get about 10% performance increse. if you're interested in ddr it might be worth the wait for more boards.

At the core of every system: "I'm sorry dave, i'm afraid i can't do that."

 

[nicewar]

Crucial has DDR at almost the same price as PC133. Going the DDR route would also give you more wiggle room for the future as the DDR memory should be good for a while where as the PC133/PC100 will start phasing out just like all the other past memory types.

"Dave, my mind is going. I can feel it. My mind is going. There is no question about it."

 

[Guest]

$160 is alot for a case. I haven't seen this one, so I suppose you have some reason. $100 should get you a very nice case, shipping included.

Take a look at Tom's latest IDE HD review. The IBM 75GXP has been bested by several drives, at the same or better prices.


In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice.
In practice, there is.

 

[Guest]

putting together a new system myself and going with an IWill kk266 mobo. Just put a Duron 850 together for my mom in law with the same mobo and it's great!!!! Don't forget to get the 4 in 1 driver first though. I really, really like this mobo even if it is a VIA chipset. Read all the reviews on it.

 

[Guest]

I just built a KK266 system also. No problems at all. Well, at least none that weren't self inflicted

I run Linux on it so the 4-in-1 drivers aren't an issue.

In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice.
In practice, there is.