[The Claw]

 I'm gonna be building myself a computer pretty soon, hopefully at cut prices 'cause I've just found a wicked source of parts nearby that's really cheap.
 Anyways, I would like you guy's opinions on it, see if there are any probs, your recomendations etc. Here they are:
 300W ATX case
 Asus A-7-266 motherboard
 1.4-1.5 Athlon DDR processor
 256MB DDR ram
 Geforce 3
 16 speed DVD
 16*10*32 CDRW Rewriter
 Creative Audigy Soundcard
 Cambridge soundwork 5.1 surround sound speakers
 60GB 7200rpm +2MB buffer Hard Drive (IBM)
 Modem V90 56k
 Firewire card
 19" flatscreen moniter


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Chickens? Where? Where BOOM!!
 Folks... we have a very special guest for you tonight... I would likje to introduce:
 MR HORN :-Linkin Park
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Cover me! I'm gonna make a trifle! - Me while paintballing
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[Blue Lion]

 

Originally posted by The Claw:
Modem V90 56k
 

 :P:P

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 RECIPROCITY
 
 Fastest Man Alive

[Thorn]

 

Originally posted by The Claw:

 Cambridge soundwork 5.1 surround sound speakers

Not saying that theyre bad, but there is a much better set out there made by Klipsch, cant remember the exact name, but its not hard to find them..

[Unidan]

 

Originally posted by The Claw:
I'm gonna be building myself a computer pretty soon, hopefully at cut prices 'cause I've just found a wicked source of parts nearby that's really cheap.
 Anyways, I would like you guy's opinions on it, see if there are any probs, your recomendations etc. Here they are:
 300W ATX case
 Asus A-7-266 motherboard
 1.4-1.5 Athlon DDR processor
 256MB DDR ram
 Geforce 3
 16 speed DVD
 16*10*32 CDRW Rewriter
 Creative Audigy Soundcard
 Cambridge soundwork 5.1 surround sound speakers
 60GB 7200rpm +2MB buffer Hard Drive (IBM)
 Modem V90 56k
 Firewire card
 19" flatscreen moniter

 

[Vertigo1]

 

And then you're gonna give it to me, right?  

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"You know you've played Freespace too much when you're driving along trying to use countermeasures to shake off pursuing highway police." - Top Gun

Material Defender Studios

[Mystical]

 

Originally posted by The Claw:

 Asus A-7-266 motherboard
 

Hey,

What motherboard are you getting?  Are you getting the A7M266 or the A7A266

Both support DDR, but the A7M is generally more expensive (even though it has the same features as the A7A) but the A7M supports ONLY DDR, whereas the A7A supports DDR and Normal RAM.  They say the A7M is slightly faster than the A7A because it only supports one type of RAM, but the FSB is the same and pretty much I'd recommend the cheaper, A7A-266

What are you paying for that M.B. by the way?

Thanks
~Mystical

[The Claw]

 

Originally posted by Mystical:

What are you paying for that M.B. by the way?

I'm not sure yet, I have to go to the computer fair on sunday to find out. My Dad's friend reckons I can get most parts about half price there, but I'm not sure until I see it  
 I have to admit my ignorance of the motherboard, I have yet to get around to researching several aspects of this setup (it being recommended by a friend).
 Bearing in mind your comments, I might well go for the cheaper version  
 This is one hella way to blow your savings  

------------------
Chickens? Where? Where BOOM!!
 Folks... we have a very special guest for you tonight... I would likje to introduce:
 MR HORN :-Linkin Park
 Project coordinator of Alternate Reality: The Chickens Cometh
Cover me! I'm gonna make a trifle! - Me while paintballing
Please fondle my bum - Monty Python

[Sandwich]

 

Originally posted by The Claw:
256MB DDR ram

Bump that up to 512 or so - it's cheap!  

 

Originally posted by The Claw:
Cambridge soundwork 5.1 surround sound speakers

Go for a set of Bose, they rock the house - literally!  

And most importantly: from the looks of it this is, at least in part, a gaming machine. So do yourself a favor and either dual boot Win98/W2K, or run XP. If you touch WinME, I will have a fit.  

Seriously, think what OS you're going to run on this machine. Just don't make it ME...  

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America, stand assured that Israel truly understands what you are going through.

"He who laughs last thinks slowest."
"Just becase you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you."
"To err is human; to really screw up you need a computer."
Creator of the Sandvich Bar, the CapShip Turret Upgrade, the Complete FS2 Ship List and the System Backgrounds List (all available from the site)

[Thorn]

 

Originally posted by sandwich:
Win98

Pffft!!
98 blows monkey knuts...
Its slow as hell, it monkeys up a lot, it gives you an insane number of errors (ever get 43 fatal exception errors at once?)
ME is a lot faster, especially on the net..
Playing something like Quake2 on 98, average ping 1500, on ME 250...

[Kazan]

Lose the nVidia Board

[WarpStar]

XP doesn't sound like it'll be worth it, it's too much of a resource hog.  98 still works with everything  

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The universe is a big place and an even bigger mystery

Webmaster SubSpace Zero

[jonskowitz]

 

Originally posted by WarpStar:
XP doesn't sound like it'll be worth it, it's too much of a resource hog.  98 still works with everything  

Not for long if what I've heard is true.

XP isn't 'backwards compatible', which means that anything written to use it's OS won't work on 95, 98, or even ME.  

This means we'll all have to run out and buy a new copy of something we already have, great isn't it (see my last post in th 'this is so damn funny' topic for my opinion on monopolies).

[Setekh]

Check out the AthlonXP, the 1.53Ghz model is the fastest x86 processor around on most things  

[Ryx]

Also consider ATI's Radeon 8500. It seems to have driver issues right now, but later on...

As for the mobo it seems wrong somehow to have one based on an Ali chipset. i'd go for a board based on VIA's KT266A chipset, but that's me. If your getting a Athlon XP make sure the mobo supports it (out of the box or BIOS upgrade).

btw The Audigy card does have a Firewire port.  

[The Claw]

So wait... you mean if I use XP on my new system, I won't be able to run any of my old games? Or do you just mean that new games won't be able to run on ME and '98?

[Ryx]

 

Originally posted by The Claw:
So wait... you mean if I use XP on my new system, I won't be able to run any of my old games? Or do you just mean that new games won't be able to run on ME and '98?

Relax!
The clever marketing ppl at AMD renamed 'Athlon 4' to 'Athlon XP'. Athlon XP - Windows XP - Detonator XP... See  

[aldo_14]

Get as much RAM as you can cram into it.... after all, it's dirt cheap and it can't hurt, can it?

[wEvil]

Id dump the flatscreen monitor and go for a CRT instead.

The Athlon XP is *THE* fastest processor you can get at the moment.  Overclocking it is a little hard unless you've got a steady hand and a conductive pen, but ive heard reports of the core hitting 1.8ghz.

512 mb DDR RAM should be enough..consider not only PC2100 but also the next one up (cand remember what that one is) - i know its available in places.

Motherboard wise you might want to consider the Epox board or the Abit KG7...these boards have generally got the highest level of performance/speed out of the crop.  Plus the abit board has 4 DDR slots instead of 2 or 3.

Hard drive wise the maxtor diamondmax +60 or the IBM GXP60 are both excellent buys.  My experience with Western Digital harddrives is that they wear out pretty fast. Seagate are best avoided unless you go SCSI.

Upgrade the PSU to 350 watts...you'll probably need it.

GF3 is a bit of a waste of money at the moment..but its your decision.  IMO the graphics card bizz moves so fast now any investment you make will turn to poo 6 months down the line.

Firewire...do you need that?  or can you make do with USB?  your choice.

Audigy soundcard?  if its anythign like the 1st revision SBlives then avoid.  Maybe a videologic Sonic Fury might be worth a look.


If you do rendering ..and want to go into that stuff on a PROFESSIONAL level, get a dual machine.  Since most game engines arent even multithreaded dual processors wont help you much, but most 3D apps are and will benefit greatly from 2 processors (2 ahtlons mind you..P3's have a crap bus and p4's...well...are laughable really)

Hope this helps.
All in all..you can put together a monster system for about £1300 these days (minus software licenses - bleh) ..which isnt too shabby at all.



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AARGGH!!
My Normals' Flipped!!

[The Claw]

 

Originally posted by Ryx:
The clever marketing ppl at AMD renamed 'Athlon 4' to 'Athlon XP'. Athlon XP - Windows XP - Detonator XP... See

 I was actually on about Windows  
I dislike Bill Gates. Just thought I should mention that.

[WarpStar]

 

Originally posted by jonskowitz:
Not for long if what I've heard is true.

XP isn't 'backwards compatible', which means that anything written to use it's OS won't work on 95, 98, or even ME.  

This means we'll all have to run out and buy a new copy of something we already have, great isn't it (see my last post in th 'this is so damn funny' topic for my opinion on monopolies).

Microsoft, they can't stop until they've taken everyone's money.  And that new copyright registration crap of theirs is HORRIBLE!



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The universe is a big place and an even bigger mystery

Webmaster SubSpace Zero