Need Opinions

[Guest]

Hi all. I finally decided to break down and buy a new computer, since it seems mine just won’t keep up no matter what I do. I’d like to show you all what I put together and then hear what you have to say. What I’m really looking for is “hey if your willing to spend just a few more bucks and get this, you will really notice it” or “ if you spend and few bucks less and get this, is will hardly matter”. Try to keep it close to the main price. Lets say the limit is $50 for any one thing and $150 more to the total price. Keep in mind that I’m an avid gamer and want to be able to play the latest games for a few years before I upgrade again. Ok here what I’m going with and thanks in advance.

Motherboard: Asus A7M266 $141.95

RAM: 2 256MB strips of Crucial PC2100 DDR $66.58

Microprocessor: 1.2 GHz AMD Socket A Thunderbird w/266 FSB $80.95

Case: Generic Mid Tower ATX w/300w power supply. $40.00

Hard Drive: IBM DeskStar 7200RPM 60 GXP EIDE 41GB $110.00

Graphics Card: E-VGA Geforce 2 Ultra 64MB $189.00

Sound Card: Creative Labs Sound Blaster PCI 512 $31.00

CD/DVD: Artec 16x DVD with 40x CD-ROM playback $55.00

Floppy: Mitsumi 1.44 $5.00

 

[LoveGuRu]

i really really dislike ASUS,MSI is a much better choice, try K7T266 Pro2-RU, it has onboard promise raid setup(0,1,0+1), and all the fetures like -liveupdate which i really like.

get a GF3ti200 for less then the ultra with all the G3 fetures.

40 gigs for the HD is better, specially if you get 2 HD's and put it in a raid setup, that will kick ass.

one stick of memory is better, incase you want to upgrade in the future.

the new athlon XP is a better buy.

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[FatBurger]

Looks good. A couple of things to think about.

1) I'd recommend getting a 1GHz or 1.4GHz Tbird. Most 1GHz can be overclocked to 1.2, and a 1.4 isn't much more expensive than a 1.2. Your choice.

2) Find out what kind of power supply it is. You'll be happy. Enermax is the best, but lots of others (Atec, Sarkle, etc) will be ok for you.

3) I'm not a big fan of Creative Labs' sound cards. Do you already have the soundcard? Otherwise I'd recommend a Hercules Fortissimo II. You can get it for $38 at <A HREF="http://www.newegg.com" target="_new">Newegg</A>.
3)

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[reversi]

Althon XP1600 for about 70 more (its worth it; or even go down to the 1500) Geforce 3 TI200 for 15 dollars less. I would go for 2 256 mb of ram, not 2 258. I would also get better sound, if u have halfway decent speakers. I havent had any of these cards, but i know the Turtle Beach Santa Cruz is well liked. It runs at 70 bucks. I'm guessing that u alreday have a monitor, but i wouldnt try playing new games w/ a 15" which only supports 800 by 600. Not fun

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[AMD_Man]

I agree with Guru for the most part. Get an MSI K7T266 Pro2RU. Don't get a single 60GB hard drive. Two 40GB Hard drives might be out of your price range, so I'd get two 30GB hard drive or, worst case, two 20GB hard drives. Trust me, the speed is worth it. Forget 512MB RAM! Most apps won't need nearly that much. 256MB DDR RAM is more than enough for even Windows XP in all but a few exceptions. Take those 30 bucks and use them to get an Athlon XP. You can get an Athlon XP 1600+ for about $129. Forget the SoundBlaster PCI512. I'd get a Hercules Gamesurround Fortissimo II for the same price. For $190, you could probably get a GeForce3 TI200, which will be faster than the GeForce2 Ultra in future games. And finally:


Please, oh, please, I beg you, don't get a generic PSU. It will cause you so many problems. Get a 350W Enermax or Antec!!!! Trust me, you'll be a lot happier with an Enermax or Antec PSU.

AMD technology + Intel technology = Intel/AMD Pentathlon IV; the <b>ULTIMATE</b> PC processor

 

[LoveGuRu]

lol whats up with you all?
you became a psu fanatics, i dont really think so much about your psu..incase you work for company maybe yes, but a decent psu is fine you dont need to go and buy a psu for 50$!?

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[AMD_Man]

A generic PSU is never decent. I tell you, my old 300W generic PSU was awful. I had random reboots and freezing, especially during stand by. When I installed my 430W Enermax Whisper, all my problems went away.

AMD technology + Intel technology = Intel/AMD Pentathlon IV; the <b>ULTIMATE</b> PC processor

 

[Guest]

Thank you everyone for your replies. I have revised the list some. I decided against dual hard drives for the moment, as it is quite expensive (I’ll think about it but only if you fellows really think it will make that big of a difference, because I already gave quite a bit on the processor). The hard drive I have chosen is very high quality and fast. I am looking for the same advice as before on this new list.

Motherboard: MSI K7T266 Pro-RU $134.00

RAM: 2 256MB Strips of DDR PC2100 Crucial $66.58

Microprocessor: AMD Althon 1600XP $124.95 (need suggestions for a good heatsink+fan)

Case/Power Supply: Enermax 350 2 Fan FM ATX $49.00 (need suggestions for a decent quality full tower ATX chassis)

Graphics Card: Geforce 3 Ti200 64MB DDR Graphics Card $189.00

Hard Drive: IBM Deskstar 60 GXP EIDE 41GB 7200 RPM $109.00

Sound Card: Hercules Guillemot Game Surround Fortissimo II $34.00

CD/DVD: Artec 16x DVD with 40x CD-ROM playback $44.00

Floppy: Mitsumi 1.44 Floppy Drive $5.00

 

[lhgpoobaa]

we have seen the light... or at least the amps lol

we have all had bad experiences with PSU's...
and they are a FUNDAMENTAL part of the computer.
and like what the old proverb says: you put crap in, you get crap out!

Of course i agree with you not everyone needs a 550W enermax...*grin* or even an enermax fullstop, and you your self say "a decent PSU is fine"
but how do you know if your PSU is "decent" or not???
even amongst the limited number of generic PSU's ive seen so far there is a very wide quality range.

so unless you open up the case, check the amps it is rated at, and compare it to say an enermax... how do u really know?

i think this attention is long overdue, and i would like to see a big PSU roundup where as many generic and name brand 300W psu's are lined up and tested.

caveat emptor.

Religious wars are 2 groups of people fighting over who has the best imaginary friend.

 

[mbetea]

it's psu envy! sigh, where is my new mobo and cpu :frown:

 

[Intel_inside]

Creative soundcards are excellent, I would recommend an audigy if you can afford it, otherwise get the sblive value. It's worth the low price.

 

[Matisaro]

Creative soundcards are ok, I just got the turtle beach santa cruz and it sounds much nicer than my sb live.

~Matisaro~
"The Cash Left In My Pocket,The BEST Benchmark"
~Tbird1.3@1.5~

 

[LoveGuRu]

i really didnt have that many problams with it(not that im aware of anyway), although i have 4 towers + 1psu on the table(connected to a mobo with no case), i had no problams so far, i bought the tower with the psu from a good company got a good tower and a good psu(so it seems..).

your just being peranoid, next you would want all the jumpers made from gold..

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[FatBurger]

ROFL
Creative takes great hardware (the DSP), plops it on a PCB and cripples it with crappy drivers. You call that a good card?

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