another "i'm building a computer" thread

[basemies]

last night, my computer was acting funny. i shut it down, and it wouldn't turn back on. i tried a couple things to make it work again, but nothing worked. i've been living in the stone age, as far as computers go. my old computer was a p2 400 with 128 MB of ram, a 4 GB hard drive, and a 32 MB tnt2 video card.

i read some other threads on here, and i picked out some of the main things. i need help with a few other things so the computer that i build ends up working properly.

so far, i've come up with these things:

asus A7V8X motherboard
athlon xp 2400 processor
an 80 GB hard drive, i don't know which brands are good.
512 MB of pc3200 ddr ram, i'm not sure which brand is good

that leaves

the case. black or blue would be nice. i'm not sure of the power requirements i would need.
the video card. i don't need anything extremely fancy, preferably something under $75-$100.
a cd-rw drive. anything reliable and cheap works for me.
a dvd drive. same as cd-rw drive.
anything else i'm forgetting.

any help is appreciated.

[Lhadatt]

Comments by me are in bold red.

Originally posted by basemies
last night, my computer was acting funny. i shut it down, and it wouldn't turn back on. i tried a couple things to make it work again, but nothing worked. i've been living in the stone age, as far as computers go. my old computer was a p2 400 with 128 MB of ram, a 4 GB hard drive, and a 32 MB tnt2 video card.

If you really don't need to spend the money for a good machine, then see if you can take it to a computer store to get a tech to look at it. If you have no problem with forking over the cash, then disregard that. ^_^

i read some other threads on here, and i picked out some of the main things. i need help with a few other things so the computer that i build ends up working properly.

so far, i've come up with these things:

asus A7V8X motherboard Yes.
athlon xp 2400 processor Yes.
an 80 GB hard drive, i don't know which brands are good. Western Digital 80 GB Special Edition 7200 RPM 8MB cache.
512 MB of pc3200 ddr ram, i'm not sure which brand is good Corsair (expensive, yet the bestest), Micron/Crucial (very good, standard price). Avoid generic at all costs -- even if they tell you it's got Micron chips, chances are it's not constructed very well.

that leaves

the case. black or blue would be nice. i'm not sure of the power requirements i would need. 350W-400W. Brands: Lian Li ($$$$), InWin ($$), Enlight ($$), a bunch of others. Tom's Hardware just ran a feature on them recently. Look in it before you buy, make sure it's got room to work in and no sharp edges to impale your hands on. Personal recommendation: Enlight.
the video card. i don't need anything extremely fancy, preferably something under $75-$100. Radeon 8500, 9000 or 9100, all around $65-$85. Geforce 3s can be had for the same. Just saw a Geforce 4 TI 4200 64MB for $108 on pricewatch. Avoid SiS and Matrox (only go with Matrox if you want video editing, they have some nice higher-end solutions available). Radeons are good for dual-displays, but for that you may want a single-screen card plus a PCI video card.

Oh, and for a Radeon, BUY ATI. Some of the resellers are ok, look at reviews for the model that you're interested in -- but alot of them are crap in performance and build quality. No one makes a Radeon card as good as ATI, mostly because it's their chip...
a cd-rw drive. anything reliable and cheap works for me. Lite-On.
a dvd drive. same as cd-rw drive. Lite-On.
anything else i'm forgetting.
NIC: D-Link, 3com, Netgear, AOpen/Acer. Linksys NICs can be goofy.
Firewire: Not sure, but a good one can cost around $30.
Sound, if not on-board: Creative Audigy or Turtle Beach.
Floppy drive. Yes, you still need one. Ignore the naysayers. Bootdisks are of God.

Get a casefan and a good heatsink. Thermaltake, Coolermaster, etc. are good, but the CPU may come with one that will do fine if you buy the AMD retail package (longer warranty on that one too). Think about watercooling, since I've heard those faster AMD chips are hot -- but I have no experience with that, as I've not worked with anything that fast yet. Anyone know about this?

[Rich]

Did you just steal the parts from my thread? I jest, nice PC. I just ordered mine yesterday. Unless you plan on gaming, keep the video card, 32MB ain't bad by any means. I use a 64MB and it's a very good card.
And make sure you follow everything Lhadatt says, he helped me through almost every step when I ordered mine. He was a great help!

[Lhadatt]

Thanks Rich, glad to help. ^_^

And he makes a good point about the video card, might as well keep what still works.

[Rumpy]

If you don't what the all out fastest you can take the easiest route and get a gateway or dell. They have some pretty good systems for 600-800. Plus you can take out the monitor to make it a bit cheaper, plus you'll have the entire computer covered if it gets into a problem.

otherwise- check out www.newegg.com for some dirt cheap prices. for cd-rw i can recommend lite-on as well. I've had no problems with mine (42x) and it's fast as hell. I'd imagine you can find a Geforce 3 for pretty cheap now, I'd go with Crucial RAM (excellent service, best prices around and very good reputation). I have a pioneer DVD drive that cost me 80 bucks and it works great. I got a coolermaster case and it looks awesome and works great. Came with 4 fans, but I only have 3 running (the 4th was fucking impossible to reach, I don't know how they tie those wires like that. Mad ninja wire tieing skills).

[Rich]

Here the PC I just bought, you're welcome to modify it all you want. Cost me 650, no video card, monitor, or OS. (on board sound)
http://www.angelfire.com/falcon/aimc...gcart.asp.html

[Lhadatt]

Originally posted by Rumpy
If you don't what the all out fastest you can take the easiest route and get a gateway or dell. They have some pretty good systems for 600-800. Plus you can take out the monitor to make it a bit cheaper, plus you'll have the entire computer covered if it gets into a problem.

Dell, definately. I think Gateway still makes their own custom parts that don't work with anything else. At least with a Dell, you don't get stuck with a non-standard design for everything but the motherboard.

for cd-rw i can recommend lite-on as well. I've had no problems with mine (42x) and it's fast as hell.

They burn just about anything, too. Excellent drives.

I just bought a Lite-On DVD-ROM drive for $40. 16x DVD, 48x CD. It's a bit loud on spin-up, but I can deal with it. RPC1 (region-free play, no crappy R1 limiting) firmware is available for it. Video looks very clean, though most of that is the DVD decoder's doing.

That raises another point. Basemies, if you want a good quality DVD picture, get a Radeon. The Geforces are ok, but ATI is known for having superior playback quality.

[basemies]

alright, that should be enough info. thanks for the help, everyone. and rich, i did use your computer for inspiration.

and lhadatt, i know what you mean when you say that linksys NICs are goofy. i was having trouble with browsing the web and keeping an internet connection in general until i replaced my linksys NIC with a 3com one. the problem was immediately solved.

[Lhadatt]

Originally posted by basemies
and lhadatt, i know what you mean when you say that linksys NICs are goofy. i was having trouble with browsing the web and keeping an internet connection in general until i replaced my linksys NIC with a 3com one. the problem was immediately solved.

The really screwball thing is the rest of their product line is ok. Their cable/DSL routers, hubs and switches are excellent products -- but their NICs suck. Very strange.

[JMET]

Intel nics only please....

Oh, and if you game that 32 meg TNT2 will make you cry...