About to pull the trigger.. Comments? Criticisms?

[CLTEK]

Well, kids... Here she goes. Pending the 'Spousal Approval' of said purchase, this will be the first system I've put together from scratch. So far, the best prices I've beena ble to find were at Newegg.com.

Here we go...

INWIN Full Tower Case Mode with 300Watts Power Supply $80.00

inwin 80mm case fans (3) $30.00

AUDIO CABLE $2.00

ASUS A7V133 is based on VIA® Apollo KT133A Rev 1.04 $119.00

MSI Geforce 2 MX-400 (NV11 PRO)$100.00

AMD Thunderbird 1.2GHz 266MHz $191.00

Kingston 256MB PC133 $83.00

MITSUMI Floppy Drive 1.44MB $9.00

Western Digital 3.5 40GB ATA/100 54K $100.00

US Robotic 56K V.90 Data Fax Voice Modem Hardware PCI $60.00

Sony 52X Max EIDE Internal CD-ROM Drive CDU5211 $33.00

High Performance Silicone Compound, CPU Thermal Paste. $3.00 ($1.00 ea)

Cooler Master EP5-6i11 AMD Socket A Processor Fan with Heatsink $11.00

Subtotal: $821.00
Shipping and Handling Charge**: $ 56.86
Grand Total: $ 877.86


This would include everything aside from a great big fan I'm gonna put in the front of the case, the monitor and the souncard. The monitor, I will purchase locally as I'd rather pay the taxes on something near my home than the shipping for something that weighs over 50 lbs.

The sound card is more than likely going to be an Audiophile 2496 from MIDIMan. The lowest price I was able to find on the net was $189.00 from soundchaser.com. Anyone have any suggestions for a better price?

After scouring the internet for some time, the only thing I'm not hip on is the video card. I saw on T's H that the MSI cards were rated fretty high for 'user' cards.

Anyone got any questions, comments, criticisms, or guidance?

Respectfully, Cory http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

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Age and Treachery will forever triumph over Youth and Skill.

[tjaymadison]

Should be a honey of a system. The only thing I'd do is check the current ads at CompUSA, BestBuy, Staples, and Circuit City for things like the memory, HD and CD-ROM, sound and video cards. Sometimes after rebates or included "freebies", you can do better. You pay tax, but save shipping, so I guess that has to be factored in. If there are minimum shipping/handling charges, you might come out ahead. Be sure and verify that the power supply is "AMD approved" just to protect yourself in the event of CPU problems or warranty returns. Just remind your other (better?) half that you could be wasting this money on frivolous things like food, car payments, etc. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

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"When I nod my head, hit it with the hammer."
(Moe, holding nail, to Curly, holding hammer)

[Paleo Pete]

Keep yourself grounded while handling components. Turning in your chair can create enough static electricity to damage components.

Put it together on a tabletop first, bare bones-motherboard, CPU, memory and video card. Power up just long enough to see a picture. It's a hassle, but if you put it in the case and get no picture, you instantly know you have a ground problem and need cardboard washers between board and chassis. No major troubleshooting required...

Then add components one at a time, make sure each works before adding another, starting with floppy drive. If you have problems at any point, you know exactly what the cause is...the last component you installed.

Don't even think about powering up at any time without the CPU fan connected. Those things will fry in 7 seconds. (I think that's what Randy said...our resident AMD wizard...)

Don't turn on an ATX power supply without at least the motherboard connected, that have to be under a load.

Make sure you have a clean, write protected Start Up disk. If you turn the machine off it can try to write garbage on the disk if it's still in the drive.

Lock the cat out of the room. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

Good luck, sounds like it should be a nice machine.



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So many idiots, and only six bullets...
Note: Please post your questions on the forums, not in my email.

Computer Information Links (http://www.geocities.com/paleopete/)

[Randy_tx]

If that is indeed a 266 mhz FSB AMD Athalon cpu......then doesn't it REQUIRE DDR memory...read this:
http://www.amd.com/products/cpg/athlon/index.html
You might want to re-check to be sure the motherboard you have chosen will even work with that cpu.

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Will XP save Me ?

[This message has been edited by Randy_tx (edited 04-24-2001).]

[CLTEK]

Thanks guys! Keep it comin'!

Randy:

It's the chipset that determines the hows, whys and wheres of the memory. The KT133A chipset doesn't support the DDR in either PC1600 or PC2100. My stand on it is such that, at present, there is less than a ten percent performance gain for the FAR greater than ten percent price difference in the cost the DDR technology. I can get a SDRAM board for a hundred+ dollars. The DDR boards are $200+... Not to mention the fact that the prices of DDR sticks are still high as well as in short supply. That will change in the near future however, as more DDR begins to hit the market.

The performance of the 266 chipsets (VIA, AMD, and ALi) is still questionable to me. (Not saying I'm a big supporter of benchmarking either) I can't really justify the additional expense for an increase in performance that is so minute *I* am unable to perceive it. Know what I mean? We'll see what happens when the previously talked about "Double Your Bandwidth" hype becomes a reality for the next round of systems. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

LOL... I hope this comment doesn't start a flamewar around these parts. [Cory>>> Donning (SP?) flame retardant suit] http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

Talk atcha guys later.

Much love and respect... Cory


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Age and Treachery will forever triumph over Youth and Skill.

[Randy_tx]

I'm not big on the DDR memory EITHER! But, you described the CPU you were going to buy as a 266 FSB version of the Athalon 1.2 Gig That's what I'm talking about...will it even work on the mobo you have chosen??? My understanding of that chip is it will only work with DDR & a mobo which supports a 266 FSB.

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Will XP save Me ?

[bassvax]

Remember that on that mobo it comes in a couple of diff flavors, with on-board sound and without (maybe with & without on-board video also) so choose the one you want. I went with on-board sound, but disabled it by jumper AND in the BIOS (very important to catch both) and installed the Soundblaster Live 5.1 Platinum ($199). The RAM you choose will be of the upmost importance on this board (very finicky).

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One of these days I'm gonna cut you into little pieces...

[hiredgoonz]

Unless you already have one, have you given any thought to a CDRW instead of the CDROM drive? Just a thought...

And I don't know if you plan on doing any gaming (I would assume so...you ain't gonna need a 1.2 Ghz Athlon for Word) but the Geforce MX isn't really a cutting edge card...you should be able to get a Geforce2 Ultra for a little more...

And another thing...I don't know what OS you're going with, but if it's 2000 or XP, I'd go ahead and get another 256mb of RAM...2000 is hungry and XP is more so...imagine that, a MS OS that wants alot of hardware http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

[This message has been edited by hiredgoonz (edited 04-24-2001).]

[CLTEK]

Guys!!! Guys!!! LOL!

Sorry about not getting back to you all. My AOL server wouldn't let me open a single webpage yesterday. Today? A new bundle of fun. I'm getting booted every 5 minutes. So, I'll try to make it quick. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

Randy:

Here are a couple of places that I was getting the information regarding the 1.2/266 co-operating with the SDRAM. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif
http://www.asus.com/products/Motherboard/socketa/a7v133/index.html http://www4.tomshardware.com/mainboard/01q1/010104/amd-133fsb-05.html

From what I understand the user gets a little more horsepower from the 266(133)MHz FSB. And you can still use PC133/PC150 RAM.

MLAR, Cory


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Age and Treachery will forever triumph over Youth and Skill.

[CLTEK]

Bassvax:

I'm going for the A7V133 without either one of those extras. After my go around with onebaord sound on my first two computers... Never again. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif What do you mean by 'The RAM I choose"? How 'finicky' is the board concerning the RAM? What are your experiences with the board? Uh-oh... If you have the inclination, please send an eamil in my general direction. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

MLAR, Cory

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Age and Treachery will forever triumph over Youth and Skill.

[CLTEK]

Hiredgoonz:

Already have a CDR. It's external and it only burns at 8x. But it works for the time being. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

I don't think I could get away with using the Ultra video card but I've heard tell of them being bus hogs and creating problems to the audio production environment that I'm shooting for. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/frown.gif So I opted to look at the low-mid range of cards for two reasons... Less money and less stress on the cpu. And in turn, I sacrifice visual performance... I know. If you know of any other cards that would kind of fit into the pocket that I need with better performance without providing any more weight for the cpu to lug around, your suggestions would be more than appreciated. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

Hey!!! I only got booted TWICE! LOL

Respectfully, Cory

MLAR, Cory

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Age and Treachery will forever triumph over Youth and Skill.

[diurnal]

Hey the best deals are at TCWO.com. They have the greatest prices and there service is great never had a problem with them. Also if you get RAM go to crucial.com thier ausome as well.

[Randy_tx]

One thing about the Via chipset........It DOESNT get along with Nvidia TNT2 video cards........the best choice I have found is ATI video cards (any will work with it).

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Will XP save Me ?

[Bad Omen]

Wrong!!! It does work very good with VIA chipset mobo's. If you have the right drivers http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif . Only problem is to find them.
Anyway, you may be interested in Asus DVDe-612 12x max. Otherwise, I recommend Asus S500 50xmax cd-rom, instead of that...Sony.
Take care! Most of MSI video cards are not equiped with coolers. You should visit www.overclockers.com (http://www.overclockers.com) (I'm not familiar wit those hyperlinks).
Good luck. Otherwise, you gota good price on that machine.