Advice on a new system

[coopns]

I am looking to build a new system and wanted some people's opinions.
I don't need the "very best" of everything, just some good quality products. I don't want to blow the bank either. Just not sure where to start.

Thanks.



Coop

 

[jlanka]

Too broad. Probably best to do a search through this forum and read some of Tom's reviews, then come back with some more specific questions.

<i>It's always the one thing you never suspected.</i>

 

[FatBurger]

I'll help you get started, but give me a dollar amount and what you're going to be doing with your computer.

<font color=orange>Quarter</font color=orange> <font color=blue>Pounder</font color=blue> <font color=orange>Inside</font color=orange>

 

[Guest]

at least we have to know what's your budget.

 

[coopns]

Details....

I would say $500 - $800 (maybe a hair more). I am just talking about the box and fixin's inside (no monitor, keyboard, no OS or speakers..)

Thanks.

Coop

 

[knowan]

Here's my suggestion for a value box. Please note that all prices are approximate and have been purposefully rounded up.

Ecs K7S5A Mobo - $60
sound - on board free
NIC - on board free
256 DDR 266 RAM stick - $60
AMD Athlon XP1700+ - $115
GF3 Ti 200 video card - $140
mid tower case with no PS - $20
Enermax 350 watt power supply - $55

Total: $450

The CPU, RAM and video card are what the average new system uses. The motherboard is a bit dated but still works within 5% of a top-of-the-line mobo. The power supply is a good one and will last you through many upgrades.

For a bit more you can get a better mobo and/or a better sound card and/or more RAM. For a bit less you can get a Duron CPU and/or a worse powersupply, but be warned that the ECS K7S5A can be picky about it's power source.


--------------
Knowan likes you. Knowan is your friend. Knowan thinks you're great.

 

[AMD_Man]

Knowan, aren't you forgetting something? What happened to the floppy and hard drive, as well as the optical drives?

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

 

[coopns]

Just what I was looking for, thanks. Nice prices, where did you get them?

Also, could you explain chip set? Is it just the configuration of the board? It is not the board itself, it is not the CPU it is the config of the board? So it can handle a Intel CPU or take DDR ram?

Thanks.

Coop

 

[camieabz]

The chipset is how the layout and working of the board is.

Thats a gross description, I know folks, but it'll do.

Chipset =

memory type, quantity.
Slots & ports.
Integrated stuff.
CPU type.
Mobo and cpu speeds.

<b><font color=blue>The Cisco Kid</font color=blue></b>

 

[FatBurger]

Think of it this way. All your computer components are cars, trying to get this way and that. The motherboard is the road, where the cars are driving, and the CPU is a traffic light, telling the cars when they can do what they want. The chipset is basically the person that sits on the street corner and changes the lights (if such a person existed in real life).

Basically, the chipset has a big part to play in your system's stability, as well as deciding what features your motherboard has.
Examples of chipsets with <font color=blue>manufacturer</font color=blue> and <font color=red>model</font color=red>: <font color=blue>Via</font color=blue> <font color=red>KT266a</font color=red>, <font color=blue>SiS</font color=blue> <font color=red>735</font color=red>, <font color=blue>Ali</font color=blue> <font color=red>Magik 1</font color=red>, <font color=blue>Intel</font color=blue> <font color=red>i850</font color=red>. Hope that helps.

<font color=orange>Quarter</font color=orange> <font color=blue>Pounder</font color=blue> <font color=orange>Inside</font color=orange>

 

[knowan]

You're right, I forgot the drives. I also forgot to add a Heat Sink. Silly Me.

So let's add on the following:

Volcano7 Heatsink/fan $20
generic Floppy drive $10
Maxtor 40 Gig 7200 Hard drive $80
80 mm case fan $5

Add this new $115 to the $450 from before and we get $565. That's within his $500 to $800 price range, plus he's still got some extra money to play around with if he wants to get better components.

As for where I got my prices, I visited pricewatch.com, then inflated the price a bit. I inflated on purpose in order to represent either buying local or paying the shipping charges.

--------------
Knowan likes you. Knowan is your friend. Knowan thinks you're great.

 

[Rob423]

Geforce 2 is probley good enough, lower the Graf and spend more money in the memory and MOBO/CPU area... SoyoDragon and xp1900..

if my limit was 500-800 i wouldn't buy a computer, i would wait till i have atleast 1,000 to spend. but then again thats me i always go with the top of the line.. but these days, top of the line lasts 5-6 months, and then your outdated again..

rob,

Once you go AMD, You never Go back!!

 

[rickd59]

I just ordered the following parts today:
<font color=blue><i>

ASUS P4T-E without Audio -Intel 850 chipset (Retail) - $156 (MWAVE)
Intel Pentium 4 1.6A GHz 512K CACHE - RETAIL BOX - $148 (NEWEGG)
SEAGATE 80.0GB EIDE UATA/100 7200RPM 8.9MS HARD DRIVE (OEM) - $138 (NEWEGG)
Antec 1030 Tower Case 300W SmartPower PSU - $88 (NEWEGG)
Toshiba DVD116 16X Internal CD/DVD-ROM Drive (OEM) - $50 (NEWEGG)
Turtle Beach SANTA CRUZ PCI SOUND CARD W/ DIGITAL SIGNAL (Retail) - $61 (NEWEGG)
SONY 1.44MB FLOPPY DRIVE (OEM) - $9 (NEWEGG)

</i></font color=blue>

All of that came to $700.11, including shipping. I still have to get RDRAM (which I will get tomorrow) and a Video Card (will get a cheapy until Ti4200's come out).

Add in the GeForce2 64MB Ti-450 (~$93.00 from Newegg) and 256 MB Samsung RDRAM (~$85.00 from Newegg), and you have a pretty decent sustem near your high end (grand total of $878.11). The nice thing about this is that when P4 3.0 GHz processors are about $100 (in about 1.5-2.0) years, yu can just throw one of those in to replace the 1.6, and you get a nice boost, for almost nothing. You could also cut cost by reducing the size of the HDD, getting a cheaper sound card (Hercules Fortissimo 2), change DVD to CD-ROM and/or buy a cheaper case. Hope that helps.

P.S. - No, I don't work for Newegg or Mwave. :lol:

-Rick

 

[arsend]

Here is bad news about your upgrade option, by the time the 3 Ghz comes out, they will have a completly different chipset, and a different socket as well, so I would recommend getting an AMD processor, as that socket standard should continue to be used for the next year or two.

If it works for you then don't fix it.