Building new system.....

[Spitfire_x86]

I am going to build a PC for my friend. I plan to buy the following components

Athlon XP 1800+
MSI KT3 Ultra (without RAID)
256 MB PC2100 CL2.5 DDR RAM (Kingston)
MSI 128 MB GeForce3 Ti200
Maxtor Diamond Max Plus D740X 40 GB HDD (7200 rpm, ATA133)

I want suggestions from all of you.

 

[rcj187]

first off what budget are you working too? also what is the system going to be used for?i would put in 512MB and and the TI4400 myself. the 1800+ is a good choice... still the sweet spot for AMD procs. you dont really need a 133 HDD so you could save some money by going for a 100.. believe me you wont see any difference. what sound card will yoube using? what heatsink/fan do u have? get at least one case fan. you should think about putting a cd burner in there too and definitely a dvd rom.. hope this helps

I'm out of my mind, but feel free to leave a message.

 

[tbirdXPplus]

not bad, i say. but more storage(i mean a bigger HDD won`t harm u.) almost all HDDs are 40gigs per plate(both sides), so the 40gig and80gig are identical, except that the 80 gig has one more plate in it. the 60 is a double-sided 40gig plate plus a 20gig single sided plate.

if u`re not gonna use RAID, then u might say that the HDD u`re gonna buy now is all the storage that u`re gonna get. get a bigger HDD.

"Is Celeron good?"
"No. Celeron is bad."
LOL

 

[Spitfire_x86]

I am working on a tight budget.

Maxtor ATA-133 is slightly cheaper than Segate ATA-100 at my local market. I can't find any Western Digital or IBM hard drives here.

My friend already has a cd burner.

 

[Spitfire_x86]

40 GB is enough for my friend. Moreover my friend doesn't have money to spend for a bigger HD.

Does RAID works with two different model and capacity Hard Drives? If it works, I may go for RAID for future use.

 

[chuck232]

I'm pretty sure you need 2 of the same drives for RAID to work, although RAID IDEs are ATA133 therefore giving you better HDD performance.

BTW, where is your friend situated? If you're Canadian or American, you can always order online. If you're Canadian, I'm building a computer too and I may be able to help you with some online stores and such.

:lol: Finally, I get a capitalized title!! WOOT!! :lol:

 

[tersagun]

Of course it can, it's why it's created.
go for raid for sure, it's really handy and not that much money.
otherwise, your comp. seems like ok. geforce is the right choice if your friend don't wants a powerful pc for gaming or if he wants to save his money for a R9700-R9500.
a good pc finaly

<b>Banshee; The best ever produced card in price/performance!</b>

 

[Kzzrn]

If you can, go with a Western Digital hard drive. They have a much lower failure rate than Maxtor does. If you want, you could bump the processor up to a P4 2 Ghtz. It can out perform an Athlon XP 1800+. It's up to you though.

 

[pitupepito]

I have an MSI KT3 Ultra and I think you will be fine with it. You can use the RAID in the MSI KT3 Ultra-ARU only if you have two hard drives of the same kind. You can go to MSI's website and you can check for more information on the specs of both motherboards.

http://www.msi.com.tw/program/products/mainboard/mbd/pro_mbd_list.php?kind=1&CHIP=4&NAME=Socket A

What is the computer for? Is it for Gaming or Word processing? I think that 40GB is enough. Make sure you buy from good online stores such as www.newegg.com or www.googlegear.com. Don't buy from EMS Computing even though they have good prices they are really bad with costumer service.

When you are looking at the Hard drive buy the Diamond Max Quiet Drive is quieter than the one you plan on buying and they both cost the same at www.newegg.com

Hope this helps!

 

[pitupepito]

I have an MSI KT3 Ultra and I think you will be fine with it. You can use the RAID in the MSI KT3 Ultra-ARU only if you have two hard drives of the same kind. You can go to MSI's website and you can check for more information on the specs of both motherboards.

http://www.msi.com.tw/program/products/mainboard/mbd/pro_mbd_list.php?kind=1&CHIP=4&NAME=Socket A

What is the computer for? Is it for Gaming or Word processing? I think that 40GB is enough. Make sure you buy from good online stores such as www.newegg.com or www.googlegear.com. Don't buy from EMS Computing even though they have good prices they are really bad with costumer service.

When you are looking at the Hard drive buy the Diamond Max Quiet Drive is quieter than the one you plan on buying and they both cost the same at www.newegg.com

Hope this helps!

 

[Spitfire_x86]

My friend and me live in Bangladesh (@Asia, beside India). We have very limited number of options to choose. And we can't order things online.

 

[Kzzrn]

What options do you have?

 

[Spitfire_x86]

I can have Athlon XP upto 1800+, Duron upto 1 GHz, P4 Willamette upto 2 GHz, Northwood P4's are still not available. No good cpu coolers found. Have to go with the retail processor stock cooler or an OEM processor with very CHEAP cooler. For DDR RAM only option is Kingston, RDRAM option is SAMSUNG. For graphics card only good brands are ASUS and MSI (Also cheaper brands available, no Leadtek, Gainward, Visiontek). For mobo ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI and some cheap brands (no Epox, ABIT). HDD is only Maxtor and Seagate (no IBM, Western Digital)

Any more information required to explain?

 

[Quetzacoatl]

Hmm...do not, DO NOT get the Willamette, most definately. The best bet for the CPU is the Athlon XP 1800+ in that regard. FOr HSF, you might as well just get the retail stock cooler. DDR, I would get Kingston if you can, they have good sticks. Asus makes some nice video cards, especially some of their deluxe models. As for motherboard, here's a few good models.

Asus A7N266-E For an Nforce board
Asus A7V-333 Via kt333 chipset
MSI Kt3 Ultra Via kt333 chipset

Hmm...I would choose Maxtor between Maxtor and Seagate, although both are reputable companies.

"When there's a will, there's a way."

 

[Kzzrn]

There is an odd quirk with Asus boards you should know about: They do not work at all with Kingston DDR. It's very strange, but it's true. If you are going to go with the Athlon, don't buy nForce boards. nForce sucks, and isn't worth the extra cost. Also, don't go with Gigabyte boards, they have a very high failure rate (so high that a local computer shop I'm interning at doesn't carry them anymore for that reason).

 

[Spitfire_x86]

nForce doesn't suck. It's more stable than KT333. I am personally using a MSI K7N-420 Pro (nForce 420-D) mobo with 1 GHz Duron. It's fast enough and I have never encountered any problems. One of my friends uses same mobo with Athlon XP 1700+. He is also satisfied like me with his mobo. I use integrated graphics of nForce. My friend will not use integrated graphics and don't need a high end sound system. So I didn't recommend nForce for him. Otherwise I would prefer nForce than KT333.