Please take a look at my future rig.

[Guest]

I will be building a system in the next 2 weeks and I wanted you guys to take a look at it and see if there are any incompatibilities or if there was anything I shound change.

CPU: xp1600+ this one seems to be the best value right now

MB: ecsk7s5a (cpu/mb combo 200.00)

RAM: 256 ddr 2100 (35.00)

HD: 60 gig ibm 7200rpm ata 100 (150.00)

VIDEO: still tring to decide if the radeon 8500 oem is better than the gf3 ti 200. I want to spend between 170-225. Are there better choices? what one would you pick? keep in mind I will add a seperate tv tuner card on later if that means anything.

TV CARD: not right now but I am looking for a stand alone card that I can record 1 show a week on a timer for under 100. It doesnt have to have a lot of bells and whistles I just want to occasionly watch tv on my computer and occasionly record a show off of tv on a timer and I want it to be a seperate card. I'm not sure if this card exists.

SOUND: onboard my 2.5 year old compaq 5240 onboard sound serves me right so the ecs will be just as good or better right? will this onboard sound be good enough to hook up my computer to home stereo to listen to mp3's? Im not a sound freak I just want it to sound clear and not have static. MY compaq onboard is great exept when I hook it up to my big home stereo I get distortion and static from my mp3's.

DVD: pioneer dvd 16x4 ide (70.00) this may be the dumbest question in history but this won't have a problem running games on it right? someone once told me pure cd roms were better for running games.

PSU/CASE: cheap case 300w psu (75.00)

OS: win me or xp (leaning towards getting an oem copy of xp for 105.00

I will mostly use this system for gaming (max payne/doom/quake/sports games and stuff like that, general internet surfing and listening to mps (mostly though headphones)
Thanks for any help

 

[Guest]

I'm getting something similar, as in the UK everything is more expensive.. Anyhow, does he (and me) need a case fan?

 

[FatBurger]

CPU: Good choice

MB: Good choice

RAM: Good choice

HD: Good choice

Video card: The OEM 8500 is clocked lower (250/250) than the retail (275/275).

TV Tuner: It's not really a good idea to put Ati and nVidia cards in the same system, they don't like each other. That might (or might not) change your decision there.

Sound: The onboard sound will most likely be the same. There are lots of good soundcards to be had for cheap. Let me know what your $ limit is, and I'll recommend something for you.

DVD ROM: Pure CD-ROMS are faster with CDs, but you'll never notice a difference with games (or almost everything else).

Case&PSU: Make sure you have a decent PSU. Too many go bad easily.

OS: XP is way better than ME.

<font color=green>I post so you don't have to!
9/11 - RIP</font color=green>

 

[Guest]

Suggestion for vidcard gf3 ti 200

Keep in mind that many capture cards have problems with bad driver support for win2k. For this reason alone i prefer win98se
What OS do you use or plann to use for your system?

 

[jollygrinch]

get more ram...windows (any version) hogs the stuff like mad, i'd double it now or in a year you'll do it anyway.

no vestige of a beginning, no prospect of an end, when we all disintegrate, it'll all happen again.

 

[LoveGuRu]

yea i think 512 is a must nowdays.

<font color=green>
*******
*K.I.S.S*
*(k)eep (I)t (S)imple (S)tupid*
*******
</font color=green>

 

[pr497]

everything looks good right now...but like jollygrinch and loveguru said, more ram. a couple of other things too: for the sound card, you can get an OEM sound blaster live 5.1 dobly digital for around $30 (only cause your 2.5 year old compaq one may have some compatibility issue with win xp, if you're getting xp). and second, for the dvd rom, there's a website that has a sony 16x dvd / 52x cd for around $50. both parts can be found at
http://www.essencompu.com

I don't claim to know anything about everything, I just tell people what I know.
-PSB

 

[Boondock_Saint]

512MB of RAM, and do NOT get WinXp; it is garbage.

Every piece of integrated software in WinXP can be easily bested by other programs that ship with CDRW's, DVD's, so on, or are free.

Just go Win2000. It's WinXP without all the extra [-peep-]. I personally prefer it.

:tongue: Have you ever tried cooking an egg on your HSF? Tasty. :tongue:

 

[Intel_inside]

WindowsXP is really not as bad as some people make it out to be, some features, such as being able to have multiple 'users' running simultaneously with their own desktops are quite good. It really isn't much different than windows2000 in the core. Although I agree that the integrated software is nothing special and the security scheme just plain sucks. It is deffinately better than win9x though.

 

[LoveGuRu]

multiple users being able to use dif desktops is nothing new, you could do it with windows 95.

win xp is -crap!, nothing less.

<font color=green>
*******
*K.I.S.S*
*(k)eep (I)t (S)imple (S)tupid*
*******
</font color=green>

 

[peteb]

not having them run concurrently without logging off...

-* <font color=red> Under Offer </font color=red> *-
email for application details

 

[Guest]

Damn, you guys rule. Thanks for your opinions.
Looks like the only things I am not sure on are the sound,video and os.

Even though the radeon 8500 is underclocked is it still faster than the gf3 ti 200?
I think i'll just test my onboard sound and just buy a cheap soundcard if it doesnt cut it.
as for my OS goes i have no idea what I'll do ill ask around at work for a few more opinions

Thanks again

 

[Guest]

One more thing I forgot. Are there any stand alone tv cards that will let you record on a timer? Any recomendations for a tv card are welcome.

 

[Matisaro]

Add the underclocked speed of the oem radeon 8500 AND ati's crap driver support I would go with the gf3 ti 200.


AS for xp, windows xp rocks, it is blazing fast and stable as hell, I ran 2k, I ran 98, me, 95, 3.11 I have copies of ALL of those os's. XP by far takes the cake for ease of use, speed and reliability and compatability!

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

 

[LoveGuRu]

thats BS,XP is crap, besides it has WAY too much of hardware requierments(how do u spell that?), which means that it uses much more system resources.
the built in firewall in XP is:
1.crap
2.stupid
3.hard to manage(stupidly even).

<font color=green>
*******
*K.I.S.S*
*(k)eep (I)t (S)imple (S)tupid*
*******
</font color=green>