Your Opinion

Sandrock · April 2003

<div class="IPBDescription">On A New PC</div> I'm getting about $500 for my graduation that I'm going to be putting towards building a new PC. I was browsing prices and I think I've came up with a pretty decent system, and I was just wanting everyone's opinion of the system and the prices. Please be aware, this system wouldn't be built for at least another two months, and I'm sure prices will change by then, so I'll probably upgrade a few things here and there.

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>
Motherboard - Biostar M7VIT (VIA KT400 chipset) w/ AGP8X - $60.90 - <a href='http://www.partspc.com/store/product2816.html' target='_blank'>Info</a>
CPU - Athlon XP 2600 333MHz FSB - $147 - <a href='http://www.smksuperstore.com/2175/viewitem.htm' target='_blank'>Info</a>
Memory - 512mb PC3200 DDR400 - $55 - <a href='http://www.pcboost.com/store/viewitem.asp?IDProduct=5840' target='_blank'>Info</a>
Hard drive - Western Digital 80GB 7200RPM w/ 8MB Data Cache - $96 - <a href='http://www.memorylabs.net/wd800ab80eid.html' target='_blank'>Info</a>
Videocard - Gainward GeForce4 TI4400 128MB - $158 - <a href='http://www.buyxtremegear.com/gainward700tv.html' target='_blank'>Info</a>
Video Heatsink - Thermaltake G4-VGA CoolMod & memory heatsinks - $13 - <a href='http://www.openlinx.com/english/product/product_description.asp?product_id=861' target='_blank'>Info</a>
Soundcard - Creative Labs Audigy IEEE1394 - $57 - <a href='http://store.yahoo.com/hoct12/939.html' target='_blank'>Info</a>
DVD - Panasonic Black 16x DVD-ROM - $28 - <a href='http://www.ussa.com/ussaonline/product.asp?dept%5Fid=14006&pf%5Fid=100%2D140%2D1002862' target='_blank'>Info</a>
CD-RW - Artec Black 48x24x48 CD-RW - $44 - <a href='http://store.yahoo.com/3btech/ar48cddrivbl.html' target='_blank'>Info</a>
Case - Chenming Aluminum Black ATX w/ Window & 430W Powersupply - $89 - <a href='http://www.openlinx.com/english/product/product_description.asp?product_id=1023' target='_blank'>Info</a>
Monitor - Samsung Black 19" Dynaflat CRT - $199 - <a href='http://www.pchertz.com/customer/product.php?productid=16790&cat=325&page=1' target='_blank'>Info</a>
Fans - Three 80mm Quad Green LED Crystal Case Fans - $3.99 Each - $11.97 Total - <a href='http://www.openlinx.com/english/product/product_description.asp?product_id=841' target='_blank'>Info</a>
12" Green Cold Cathode - $9 - <a href='http://www.openlinx.com/english/product/product_description.asp?product_id=462' target='_blank'>Info</a>
Black Super Multi-Function Panel & Temperature Monitor - $34 - <a href='http://www.frozencpu.com/cgi-bin/frozencpu/frt-10.html' target='_blank'>Info</a>
</td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'>

Also gonna throw in some rounded IDE and floppy cables. And some tie wraps to keep everything else neat and tidy.

Whole package should cost just over $1000, minus shipping charges.

What does everything think about the system, the prices, the brands, and the vendors?

One last question - Should I get a <a href='http://www.openlinx.com/english/product/product_description.asp?product_id=199' target='_blank'>Thermaltake Volcano 9 CoolMod</a> for $24? Or should I spend a few bucks more for a <a href='http://www.openlinx.com/english/product/product_description.asp?product_id=1006' target='_blank'>Thermaltake Volcano 11 Xaser Edition</a> for $28. I really like the CoolMod and how it will add some contrast to the green light in the case, but the Volcano 11 provides better cooling.

Tell me what you think.

Rion · April 2003

I think you should gimme that for my birthday <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'>

DY357LX · April 2003

Yeah i'd love a machine like that. Especially after
reading that Half-Life reccomends 2ghz <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif'>
My 1400mhz AMD ATHLON ain't gonna be happy

airyK · April 2003

first off dump that motherboard and go for a nforce 2 chipset board, get the 4200 instead of 4400, the 4200 easily overclocks past the 4400 at a lower cost. and get the 2500 + barton around or cheaper price but it has 256kb more l2 cache . all the rest is fine!

FlatlineUTD · April 2003

Looks like a good system and I wouldn't mind having it, but personally I'd ditch the mobo and get a Soyo SY-KT400 Dragon Ultra.

You'll definitely be happy with a Samsung monitor, btw. <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'>

<b>EDIT:</b> I'd be wary of some of those vendors. Typically, if you can't find a *working* phone number on their site, don't use them. The prices may seem better at first, but if you've got a problem, some vendors are going to make you jump through hoops to get your money back. I'm assuming you used Pricewatch to get those prices, so check the Pricewatch user reviews of each vendor.

Wheeee · April 2003

soyo has terrible quality control and the highest return rate of any motherboard manufacturer.

I got a new PC just this week, and this is what I paid for it

Pentium4 2.4B (C1 stepping) $159
512 MB PC2700 Kingston HyperX (CAS 2) RAM $80
Sapphire Atlantis Radeon 9500 Red PCB (128MB) $165
300W Sparkle P300-ATV Power Supply $27 -- <b> Don't forget to get a good powersupply </b>
ATX Tower Case (Generic) $18
Albatron P845PEV Mobo $82
Zalman Heatsink/Fan $32

Make sure you get a good HS/Fan if you're going for athlon. Those guys generate lots of heat, and tend to burn if you don't keep em cool.
Make sure you get a good powersupply. Antec, sparkle, or enermax are generally considered the best. Make sure you get enough wattage on the power supply to run all your stuff, since Athlons draw a lot of current, especially if you're going to overclock the ram or CPU/bus.
If I were you, I'd get a Radeon instead of a GeForce, since Radeons have full DirectX 9.0 support, whereas nVidia is strangely lacking. Stay away from SOYO.

Before buying your stuff, make sure to research hardware compatibility and stability issues - <a href='http://www.overclockers.com' target='_blank'>here</a> is a good place to start.

Good luck, and God speed.

FlatlineUTD · April 2003

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Wheeee @ Apr 22 2003, 10:34 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> soyo has terrible quality control and the highest return rate of any motherboard manufacturer.  </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> 
Never heard that before - where'd you read it?

I got a Soyo board because 95% of the people with an AMD machine that I talked to highly recommended them above all other brands. They've never had problems, and in the years I've been using Soyo boards, I haven't either.

Ahnteis · April 2003

I'd personally recommend my MSI KT400 mobo if you can't afford an nForce2. I've had 0 problems with ith.

Talesin · April 2003

Note my prior thread on a $600 Alienware killer for a proper parts list that's already been made into a working machine.

I'd go for a Soyo Dragon (Platinum or Deluxe), or an ASUS mobo (Notably the A7V8X with that same KT400 chipset, but an integrated RAID controller, better BIOS support for obscure options, and GREAT stability). Avoid the nForce chipsets, the RAM handling has proven to be dodgy for a number of people. VIA has its own problems, but they're mostly well-known and easily avoided with proper foresight.. and don't run the risk of torching your RAM.

I'd go with an ATI vid card over the nVidiot stuff.. you can get a Radeon 9500 Pro 128 right now for quite a bit less than your quoted, if you know where to look.. and the 9700 will be dropping (STILL beats out a GFFX) with the introduction of the R9800. They're great cards, and actually give performance.. instead of hyping themselves up with marketing. The drivers rock now that they've had time to really WORK on them (not playing catch-up any more, after all), and their Linux support stomps all over the Detonator stuff, including kernel-level integration of the DRI/DRM interface.

More cooling is always better. Go for the Volcano 11, or wait for the LED mod for it to come out.. might have already by the time you're set to buy the parts. The last thing you want is a machine that's heat-dissipation limited.

Definitely go for a good PSU, I'd recommend the Tiger 350W (which is in my current machine) or an Enermax 400-450. Again, you don't want your machine going flaky because it's borderline on the PSU's abilities. Had a dual Ath MP that started dying, and it was all due to the PSU being rated too low to support them /and/ the video card.

Usually you don't need to go anything higher than the stock cooler on ATI cards, even if you're overclocking slightly. If you're going for extreme overclock, you might need something like an Orb.. but the low-profile cooler on the R9500 Pro keeps it running nice and smooth.

RAM looks fine (might wanna bump to two sticks though, the A7V8X can handle both at 3200), case... well, if you have time, a dremel and a steady hand, might want to mod it yourself. Save a few bucks, and your case doesn't look like every other one of the same model.
DVD/CD-RW.. there are already integrated units out there.. bought one for Hivemind (alienware killer) that's 52x48x52x16. Only ran about $50, off the shelf at Fry's.
Sound card looks good, though I prefer the Live series over the Audigies.. Live has full Linux support, while the Audigy interface spec is closed. Creative have been very... tight-lipped about them, to the point of outright denying assistance to non-profit programmers. The A7V8X already comes with integrated firewire ports, anyway.

Wheeee · April 2003

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Talesin @ Apr 23 2003, 12:46 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> More cooling is always better. Go for the Volcano 11, or wait for the LED mod for it to come out.. might have already by the time you're set to buy the parts. The last thing you want is a machine that's heat-dissipation limited.
 </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> 
Except that Thermaltake is a bastage and noisy as a jet taking off 500 meters from you (heh, almost).

I'd recommend the Millenium Glaciator myself.

Sandrock · April 2003

What does everyone think of the Western Digital hard drive? I've heard that Western Digital is kinda subpar quality. I looked for a Maxtor, but I couldn't find one with an 8mb cache.

FlatlineUTD · April 2003

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Sandrocky @ Apr 23 2003, 12:34 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> What does everyone think of the Western Digital hard drive? I've heard that Western Digital is kinda subpar quality. I looked for a Maxtor, but I couldn't find one with an 8mb cache.  </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> 
I swear by WD drives. The only problem I've ever had was when my dad fried our home PC's drive. But it was still under warranty and WD shipped out another ASAP.

Xanieth · April 2003

I personally would recommend the Asus A7N8X, not the A7V8X. nForce2 chipset > VIA's crap.

And Western Digital drives = teh winnar.

roachems · April 2003

i'd go with a ATI video card. I have a Radeon 8500LE and i love it.
but thats my opinion.

Wheeee · April 2003

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Xanieth @ Apr 23 2003, 02:14 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> I personally would recommend the Asus A7N8X, not the A7V8X. nForce2 chipset > VIA's crap.

And Western Digital drives = teh winnar.  </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> 
A7N8X board has issues with some types of PC3200 RAM. make sure you read up before you decide. nForce2 chipset also has big compatibility issues with nVidia video cards - which is quite ironic and puzzling (although nVidia said that they were working on the problem)

Talesin · April 2003

WD drives rock all over the place, or at least the ones with the 8MB of cache. Perfect for home-use.

And the nForce chipsets have more, stupider, and harder to circumvent bugs than the VIA stuff does. Why I go for the A7V8X.. VIA's never done me wrong, nor had any problems which did not already have existing workarounds.
Which is better... drek put out by an ailing video card manufacturer, based solely on name alone (when they can't even break into the arcade segment of video processors, held out by PowerVR, among others) and containing unknown bugs that they can't even get to work with their OWN graphics hardware... or a stable chipset with a few, well-known bugs with documented workarounds for a great majority of programs?

In any case. Most Thermaltakes come with fan speed controllers. 'Low' is usually all you ACTUALLY need (unless you're overclocking, at which point a little noise is no problem) which is so quiet that at times I have to check the LEDs to make sure that the computer is on, masked by the noise of my laptop's cooling fan, or even very quiet music. In either case, it's the one that's SURE to keep your system coolest, compared to the Volc 9. So as noted... my advice is to spend the four extra bucks and go with the Volc 11. You'll thank yourself later.

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