WHAT MOBO???

[JPWRana]

my friend is askin him 2 make him a pc w/ $800 budget, including monitor, speakers, and printer. I got most of the things down, but had a few ??? such as: He wants a 40GB hd, but i dont know which is best for my buck. 7200rpm is what i want, and i keep on hearing from u guys that ibm isn't the best in the world. Then what should i get. Also, he decided to get an Athlon 2100, but which mobo should i get? there's so many, and im still a bit of a newbie on mobo's. I want the mobo to have built in sound, modem (i dont know if thats possible), NIC, usb 2.0, pci slots dont matter, dimm slots dont matter, i wont be doing oc'ing... ummm i think thats it.

Last thing, if u guys can when recommending me a certain part, tell me from which place i can get it, because i'm gonna want to get it from a place that has good deals and has good customer support/(online or not) store warranty.

Your opinions and criticism will be most happily accepted. Please help me!!!

The greatest risk of all is not taking one!

 

[BigBiggist]

As for the Hard drive, check out the Seagate Barracuda or the Maxtor Quiet Drive. I don't know much about athlon boards but i have heard alot about the Asus A7V333, EPoX 8K3A+ (i think thats the model number) and the MSI KT3 Ultra. These all have support for DDR 333 memory, i know your not overclocking, but they are good boards. Sorry i don't know of any 266a boards, someone else should have some good suggestions though. The best online site for purchasing, in my opinion is newegg. They have great prices and great customer support.

Prices of Hard Drives at newegg.com

MAXTOR Quiet Drive 40GB 7200RPM Model # 6L040L2 -D740X OEM - $78.00
Seagate Barracuda IV ST340016A 40gb 7200rpm EIDE - $76.00
WD WESTERN DIGITAL EIDE HARD DRIVE 40GB 7200RPM MODEL # WD400BB - $79.00

Also if you want to pay $30.00 more you can get a sweet hard drive from Western Digital, here it is:

Blow Out Special WOW, Limited Quantity!WD WESTERN DIGITAL "SPECIAL EDITION" 80GB 7200RPM EIDE HARD DRIVE MODEL W/ 8 MB CACHE - $107.99

Just in case you are interested.<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by BigBiggist on 08/09/02 11:18 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[lhgpoobaa]

hard drives... all pretty similar really. though i too advise against an IBM. if he wants a very quiet drive, i suggest a seagate baracuda IV, or for performance, either the maxtor D740X or westerdigital BB (both come in 40Gb capacities)

as for motherboard, i see you want alot of built in stuff. if thats the case then i suspect a Nforce motherboard will be your choice. they have alot of integrated stuff for only a slightly higher price. Nforce also comes with and without onboard graphics... if you plan to play games i suggest an external graphics card.
P.S. see if you can find any Nforce2 boards, they are even better.

as for online stores, if you are in america and canada alot of people here reccommend newegg.com, allthough not me personally as they dont ship to australia

<b>Before visiting THG i was a clueless noob. Now im still clueless, but look at my nice title!<b>

 

[BigBiggist]

Whoops, forgot some links. Here are two links to tomshardware reviews of KT333 and 266a boards for the Athlon. They should have all the specs listed and the performance tests of the boards listed. Hope they help out some too.

<A HREF="http://www17.tomshardware.com/mainboard/01q4/011126/index.html" target="_new"> VIA KT266a vs nForce</A>

<A HREF="http://www17.tomshardware.com/mainboard/02q2/020509/index.html" target="_new"> VIA KT333 Mobo Roundup </A>


<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by BigBiggist on 08/09/02 11:12 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Crashman]

With an $800 budget, you should consider the best budget priced boards, such as the MSI 745 Ultra, and the less full-featured Asus A7S333.

<font color=blue>By now you're probably wishing you had asked more questions first!</font color=blue>

 

[JPWRana]

I like the Asus board, because mainly the firewire and usb 2.0, something the epox board didnt have, and its 40 bux cheaper than the epox at newegg, since everyone is recommending me newegg. Bigbiggist, why would you recommend me the epox board???

----
oops sorry... i didnt see that it was a refurbished mobo. sorry big

The greatest risk of all is not taking one!<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by jpwrana on 08/10/02 02:27 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[tersagun]

Many people says that WD's "Special Edition" drives are cool, so try to find it.
As board, you can choose MSI745 Ultra like Crashman said, but it has no USB2.0, just 1.1. But except that problem this card is built fro you! It's really a great budget-card.

"Don't necessarily listen to tersagun,he's been advocating AMD systems,he thinks Intel sucks ass.."

 

[chuck232]

$800 for all that may be hard, but the EPoX EP-8K5A2+ is a real good mobo. It's $105, it has USB2.0(I believe), LAN, and sound. IT also performs quite well and is pretty cheap. It's probably one of the best AMD mobos out there.

<i>Past mistakes may make you look stupid, but avoiding future ones will make you look smart!</i>

 

[Spitfire_x86]

MSI KT3 Ultra is now the mobo of choice for Athlon. It is ultra stable, good performer and inexpensive. There are two versions of KT3 Ultra. They are-

MSI KT3 Ultra
MSI KT3 Ultra-ARU (MSI KT3 Ultra + RAID and 5.1 sound)

Both have USB 2.0 ports and onboard Realtek Audio chip.

nForce is good for high quality sound (audigy like) and Onboard NIC. They don't have USB 2.0

If you buy nForce, buy ASUS A7N266-C if you don't need integrated GeForce2 MX graphics. If you need integrated GeForce2 MX, go for MSI K7N-420 Pro

 

[Quetzacoatl]

Phew...$800 is a little tough on the budget...here we go

ECS K7VTA3 $69
AMD AthlonXP 2100+ $155
Coolermaster HCC-002 HSF $24
1 tube of Arctic Silver 3 $6
256Mb Pc-2700 Corsair XMS DDR $117
Antec Sx835 Workstation Case with 350 watt PSU $86
Maxtor 40Gb 7200rpms HDD $78
Samsung Syncmaster 750s 17 inch monitor $129
Pine Technology 56k dial up modem $12
Pine Technology Optical Wheel mouse $7
Keytronic kt-800 keyboard $8
Logitech Z-540 4.1 speakers $54
Ati Radeon 9000 OEM $74

$819 w/o shipping
Prices taken from <A HREF="http://www.Newegg.com" target="_new">http://www.Newegg.com</A>

You can get a $50 Epson C60 at a local shop. Fast, and good usage of ink.



I need my Hammer now to bash some newbies

 

[JPWRana]

thanx quetzalcoatl... more than i needed to know... but more is always better than less. 1 questions though... what are the specs on the mobo? and you forgot the cd-rw or dvd.

The greatest risk of all is not taking one!

 

[JPWRana]

for chuck232, tersagun, and bigbiggist, which mobo then? You each recommend me one that is a $$$ saver and has good aspects. However, my friend is clueless about pc's, so he wont care if its 150% stable or great for overclocking. I doubt if he may firewire, bluetooth, but usb (perhaps 2.0) he will use and the built-in sound.
So which mobo then? the Asus A7V333, EPoX 8K3A+ the MSI 745 Ultra, or EPoX EP-8K5A2+?

The greatest risk of all is not taking one!

 

[Spitfire_x86]

Need some changes:

MSI KT3 Ultra-ARU $115 ($95 for KT3 Ultra)
256 MB Kingston PC2100 CL2.5 DDR $65

or

ASUS A7N266-C $105
256 MB Kingston PC2100 CL2.5 DDR $65

An Athlon XP 2100+ buyer should not get ECS or similar value mobo. Good mobo is the base of tension free computing. Corsair PC2700 modules are waste for this guy, because he is not overclocking and performance difference between my suggested DDR is veeeeeeeeery small (1 to 2%). Kingston PC2100 CL2.5 DDR RAMs are pretty good (I am using personally).

These changes does not increase the cost and gives him a good platform.

 

[Spitfire_x86]

Specs of my suggested mobos

MSI KT3 Ultra: Via KT333 chipset, USB 2.0, ATA-133, DDR333 support, onboard Realtek Audio chip

MSI KT3 Ultra-ARU : MSI KT3 Ultra plus RAID and 5.1 sound

ASUS A7N266-C : nForce 415-D chipset, USB 1.1, ATA-100, chipset integrated Dolby Digital Encoder (5.1 audio)


Recommended Optical Drive

CD-RW : LiteOn 32x/12x/40x CD-RW. Costs $65.

DVD-ROM : LiteOn 16x DVD-ROM. Costs $40

A little interest, why you want XP 2100+? XP 2000+ is very little shower than 2100+ and costs about $30 less.

 

[chuck232]

I'd say the EP-8K5A2+ is the best choice. It's cheap ($105) and has KT333 chipset, LAN, sound, USB 2.0, and RAID. A bit more than the MSI, but is also better. The EP-8K3A+ was tooted to be one of the best AMD mobos out there, but with the new refreshed version of it, the EP-8K5A2+ is almost definitely the best you can get, for now.

<i>Past mistakes may make you look stupid, but avoiding future ones will make you look smart!</i>

 

[JPWRana]

good observation spitfire... i didnt see it that way. perhaps then the athlon xp 2000 would be better... it shaves off some $$$ and he wont know much of the difference. And besides, THG has a video where i can OC it to 2100... so i guess i'll go w/ the athlon xp 2000.

nice thinking

The greatest risk of all is not taking one!

 

[Quetzacoatl]

If you're trying to save some money, forget the MSI Kt3 Ultra board. The ECS K7VTA3 not only has on board LAN, but the Kt333ce chipset, with better overclocking potential if you do decide to overclock. An Athlon XP 2000+ is also a good performer, and you can save from $20-35 depending on your vendor.

As for a DVD-ROM or CD-RW i'd suggest this
Sony 16x DVD-ROM
Lite On 40x12x48 CD-RW

Both run around $50 depending on your vendor, once again

I need my Hammer now to bash some newbies

 

[Quetzacoatl]

An Athlon XP 2100+ buyer should not get ECS or similar value mobo. Good mobo is the base of tension free computing. Corsair PC2700 modules are waste for this guy, because he is not overclocking and performance difference between my suggested DDR is veeeeeeeeery small (1 to 2%). Kingston PC2100 CL2.5 DDR RAMs are pretty good (I am using personally).

ECS IS a good motherboard manufacturer. You probably just don't have any experience using any of their boards. I've built several computers, one being with the K7S5A, which is reliable, as long as you have a reputable power supply. The Corsair XMS is reliable, fast, and he can reuse it in later computers if he wants to. Worth the $30 extra he pays versus generic Pc-2700 ram.

I need my Hammer now to bash some newbies

 

[Spitfire_x86]

Possibly MSI KT3 Ultra2 is based on KT333CE chipset.

 

[Quetzacoatl]

Pop the chipset cooler off one, you'll find it's the CD stepping of the kt333. I just worked with one a week ago at a computer shop. Customer complaining about lockups. I blame it on a bad chipset problem. We eventually decided to get a replacement under warranty.

I need my Hammer now to bash some newbies

 

[sirdiesel]

I would buy a system for 800 bux like this:

MSI KT3 Ultra (special deal in newegg.com) 77$
256 MB Kingston PC2100 CL2.5 DDR 65$
AMD ATHLON XP 1900+/266 FSB PROCESSOR CPU 106$
Coolermaster HCC-002 HSF 24$
SAMSUNG DynaFlat 755DF 17" CRT MONITOR 188$
1 tube of Arctic Silver 3 6$
Seagate Barracuda IV ST340016A 40gb 7200rpm 76$
Any case with min. 350 Watt power supply ca.35$
Pine Technology 56k dial up modem 12$
SAMSUNG 1.44MB FLOPPY DRIVE 8$
Samsung SC152LEB 52X CD-ROM OEM 27$
Maxtop Multimedia 3+1 Beige Bundle with:
Enhanced Windows 2K keyboard, Speakers &
Beige 3 button wheel mouse 28$
VGA LEADTEK GEFORCE4 MX440 64MB DDR
VGA & TV-OUT. OEM BOX 89$

The sum is 741$
so it is pretty cheaper than you can afford.
Maybe you should buy with the rest of money a cdrw and a better speaker