opinons on my new pc?

[athalus]

well, my new pc is finished and w/a few minor adjustments will be up and running on a permanant basis this weekend. so i decided to post what i have and get your thoughts on it.

case: antec performance plus 2 300w ps - $75
mobo: gigabyte ga-8pe667 ultra - $155
processor: pentium 4 2.4b 533mhz retail - $184
ram: 2-256mb crucial ddr333 - $158
video: albatron 128mb gf4 ti-4200 retail - $145
sound: creative labs sound blaster audigy 2 - $130
modem: compusa v92 - $30
hd: wd 100gig 7200rpm - $100
dvd-rom: pioneer 106s 2 - current machine
floppy - $10
mouse: logitech dual optical - current machine
keyboard: ms multimedia natural - $15
monitor: nec fe700+ 17" - my current monitor
total cost: $1002

planned upgrades(by then end of this year):
-400w antec ps
-dvd-r drive either the pioneer a04 or the new sony multiformat drive (cnet did a review on this drive. it does all the current platforms. we shall see when i see a good review on it. there's a hint thg)
-plextor cd-rw


oops! i forgot to mention the os: windows 2000 pro and as always my addiction diablo 2
<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by athalus on 11/01/02 08:52 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[snotling]

Nice Toy.
did you consider a Radeon at some point?

 

[athalus]

yep, the 9700 (non pro)or the 9500pro but they won't be out for awhile yet and i have some things comming up that could put me out of action for 4-6 weeks so i decided to get a gf4 ti-4200 instead, which was the only thing i was missing in order to put it together.

my big addiction is diablo 2 and it runs great. my other games include dungeon siege, warcraft 3 & star wars galactic battlegrounds. i also plan on getting tron 2.0, c&c generals when they come out. i'm also planning on making my own dvd's once i decide on the drive.

 

[snotling]

We're getting of topic here now.

I'm not much of a gamer, but right now I'm addicted to "Medieval total war" (it's great in 1600*1200!). I did not like the unreal 2003 demo so my Radeon 7500 all in wonder is sufficient and it's great for multi-display, tv capture, dvd playback... IMO that's more fun than 230fps in some ultra violent game!

What's important is if it a "Gaming" or "leisure" Machine, is that you have fun with it ant I believe that you paid the right price for what you have.

win2k is also a great Operating system, those who snobbed it in favor of Me don't know what they missed. On my part it will bed a verry sad day when I switch to XP a day that will come much too soon I fear as I need to use it in order to "support" it over the phone.

 

[bluprint]

How did you settle on that mobo? I'm about ready to put one together myself, very similar to yours. P4 2.53, about the same memory..

There are so many mobos available it's hard to settle on one. Mainly, I would like to find one with the best DDR memory support. (built-in LAN and maybe sound would be nice also).

 

[athalus]

i had been looking at gigabyte boards for a few weeks and had settled on a board that was reviewed by thg. however the board was a test mobo and not available to the public.

i then decided to get one w/the new 845pe chipset. i saw a review of the gigabyte board on www.anandtech.com and decided to take a chance on it. since then they have reviewed several others from asus, epox, albatron, and msi and the gigabyte is consistantly in the top 5 in gaming and general performance which is what i'm looking for. add to the fact that it only cost $148 at newegg (last time i checked) and it has everthing i was looking for raid, usb 2.0, built in lan, easy to overclock feature, dual bios etc. i don't like on board sound, so i put an audigy 2 in it. if you wonder how good the sound is i saw a thread in the sound card section about on board sound vs the audigy. in the end though it was actually a very simple choice for me.

like i said about i just put it together last week but what i've seen so far makes me feel real good about it.

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by athalus on 11/01/02 03:35 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[CMRvet]

Nice PC, but you should consider a more powerful PSU I think that 300 W are very in the limit for that system.

<b>(<font color=yellow>as good as it looks</font color=yellow>)</b>

 

[athalus]

i will be getting a 400w when i put in the dvd-rw but for now it's running fine. right now i'm more interested in getting the pc tweeked to my liking and spending alot of time w/on it so i can make sure its stable.

 

[jihiggs]

where are you getting the ms natural keyboard for 15 dollars?

how do you shoot the devil in the back? what happens if you miss? -verbal

 

[athalus]

best buy had it advertised for $50 w/a $25 mail in rebate plus i had a $10 coupon.