Advice on New PC (Building from Scratch)

[dintin5]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for the advice you all have given on various issues.

Based on all your information, I've come to the consensus that buying a custom pc from companies like Cyberpowerpc or Ibuypower entails a lot of risks that I am not willing to take. The time one saves from doing this is lost by unforseen issues because during assembly the buyers are not there.

I would thus like some advice on building a new computer. I have already in my possession the following:

512 mb pc2100 ram, a workable cd-rw drive, Turtle Beach Santa Cruz soundcard, a monitor, keyboard, and mouse.

My budget is around $600-700.

Being a college student I have opened my old comp and installed various parts to it (ram, cd-rw), but have never built a computer from scratch.

What I need is basically the best bang-for-the-buck products. I do not care about cosmetics as much as processing power. The system is to be AMD based and can either be KT266 or 333 based.

What this pc will be used for is basically gaming (ya college students use their pc's to do work lol). Some word processing and AutoCad will be done on the side as well.

The stores I will use will probably be Newegg and Mwave, although I am open to other suggestions.

Please post your recommendations on motherboards, cases, PSU, video cards, assessories (cables etc), and a dvd-rom.

Sorry for this long post...I will be much obliged for your help!

[Thud]

If you want bang for your buck on an 266A mobo, look here: http://www.techimo.com/forum/t28422.html

An Abit KR7A-RAID for $60.10 shipped....I don't think you can beat that with a stick.

Add an XP 1900+ for $117 (shipped free) from Newegg.

That'd be a good start....I'lll have to do some looking around for the rest.....

Welcome to TechIMO.

[dintin5]

Hi Thud,

I've been eyeing the KR7A CompuGeeks for $59 deal too, however, I've read reviews on Anandtech that the MB is giving issues when using AMD XP 1800+ or 1900+ processors. The main problem is that the MB's bios needs to be flashed before full compatibility is insured.

Should I risk such a board from a less-than-newegg vendor such as CompuGeeks?

Thanks : )

[Thud]

Should I risk such a board from a less-than-newegg vendor such as CompuGeeks?

For that price? He77 yeah!!

Actually, I've ordered gobs of stuff from the Geeks, and have never had any problems at all. If Newegg and Compgeeks have the same item for the same price, I order from the Geeks.

I've never heard of any compatibility issues with the 1800 and 1900, but it is very possible that it might require a BIOS flash. That's not a big deal, but it can be a little spooky the first time you do it.

If you don't want to go that route, my next suggestion for a value-packed mobo would be the ECS K7S5A. Newegg has them for $59 shipped. Onboard sound and LAN, can use either DDR or SDRAM, and supports all XP's. Not an overclocker, but a good stable board.

[dintin5]

Hi all again,

I've just purchased the ATI Radeon 8500 AGP at buy.com for $136 shipped. Considering they will start to sell like hotcakes when the ATI 9000's ship, I thought this would be a great time to pick one of these up.

Was this a good idea?

My next steps are the case, cpu, motherboard, psu, assessories.

Thanks for all your help!

[Redwolf]

Well, I would have gone for a GF4 MX for a GF3 Ti (better drivers, linux support, they play games the ATIs can't). Plus, The Nvidia cards have a better bang-for-the-buck. It may be too late to return or cancel, but I'd highly reccomend an Nvidia.

Yes, get an AMD XP mobo and CPU. They have a much more bang-for-the-buck.
Get a Volcano 7+ for a Heatsink, and some good ole Artic Silver for goop,

[dintin5]

I based my purchase decision of the ATI Radeon 8500 AGP 128 mb on ATI's new Catalyst driver which sets the 8500 on par or beats the GF4 TI4200 in many cases. Thus theoritically I am getting $170 performance at about 35 dollars less.

http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MzEyLDE=

I'm probably taking a risk going against the crowds, who are purchasing the GF4 MX's like hotcakes, but I believe in the 8500's hardware superiority and ATI's up and coming driver updates.

Plus I get a Nostromo Speedpad N50 (whatever that is) for free .

Hopefully I'm right hehe.

[Redwolf]

Oh, you didn't mention the free pad!

I'm so antiATI because they rarely get the drivers right, oh well....My friend has one and it works just fine for him. If you wantyed to spend an extra $50 you could get a GF4 4200 that OC like nothin else man!

[dintin5]

Hi everyone,

After much struggle I've decided to cancel my 8500 Radeon order from Buy.com and wait until the 9000 or 9700 come out. Hopefully by then both the ATI and nvida cards will slash their prices.

[Emc2]

good decision with the video card. For cases, newegg has some nice cheap ones that have 9 bays and front USB ports...pretty generic, boring cases, but you can't beat $27.50 + $15.00 shipping for a AMD-ready case (300W ps)