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Advice on hardware with me building a NEW PC!

B

biofobia

Member
Hello, I am going to build a new system and I wanted some tips, information, and suggestions on hardware.. I already have a AMD XP 1900+ CPU, Lite-On DVD-ROM 16x/48x, Mitsumi Burner 16x/8x/40x.... But I still need to get a Case,Fans,Heatsink,Floppy,HD,Memory(DDR),Motherboard,and a Network Card

Case: I was wondering which cases are better to get, I want one that has efficient cooling, but not too loud (like maybe a harddrive fan,one in back or maybe 2, and maybe top or side panel fans. Most people that I asked said that case is up to me, but i want your opinions of a good and price worthy case maybe $110 or under..also what companies make good cases?.. this is the case i found ( myurl ) Please post your suggestions and tips on good cases that i can pick from

Fans: What fans should i get installed extra? What companies make good fans?

Heatsink: This is one of the main ones... what heatsink should I get.. what company makes good heatsinks too!?!?.. which are better copper or aluminum..etc.. tell me about please advise me on which heatsink to get for a AMD ATHLON XP 1900+ processor and maybe overclock it, i want very good heatsink.. even if it cost like $40

Floppy: I heard sony makes the best floppy drives.. what do you think? *this is not a big one*

HardDrive: From my cousin I heard maxtor makes the best HD's what do you say?... whats the difference between 7200rpm and 5400rpm... does it make a difference.. worthit?.. please advise on which HD to get!!

Memory: Which brand of MEMORY should i get.. i heard corsair or crucial.. i want to get 512mb of DDR memory...dont know which brand to get that is very good and cheaper than rest but at same performance and quality

*IMPORTANT*MOTHERBOARD*IMPORTANT*: This is the biggest i need help with choosing, because i need a good mother board.. i heard ABIT makes the best motherboards for XP Athlon processor and they have 4 DDR slots... i do not understand that much on the chipsets either.. but i was advised on getting the ABIT KR7A-Raid-133 .. What do you say?

Network Card: Which network card should i get? I was told that Linksys makes good network cards, and its only like $15 on Newegg.com


Thank you, Please give me your tips, suggestions, and opionions PLEASE!!!!! Im going to build this pc and need your advice!!
 
Welcome to Anandtech!

Case: If you're not into case modding, then any old beige case will do. If you want some cool ones, Antec/Chieftec and Lian-Li make some pretty cool ones. The case that you have is pretty cool because it has the fan slot already made on the side and the top.

Fans: You can get any old 80MM fan (or whichever one fits), but I've read that Panaflo makes the quietest ones. Some other companies are Sun-On, Antec, Delta, and a variety of generic manufacturers.

Heatsink: If you bought the retail CPU, then a heatsink should come with it. I really don't know which one to suggest, but I've heard of Blue Orb for cool looking fans. Be sure to get some thermal paste in between the CPU and the heatsink (Arctic Silver II is a popular maker of thermal paste)

Floppy: Get the cheapest one you can find...it doesn't really matter.

Hard drive: Western Digital, Seagate, IBM, Maxtor are all good manufacturers. WD makes fast drives, Seagate makes quiet ones. Opinions will vary from user to user. A 7200RPM drive will spin faster than the 5400RPM drive (RPM=rotations per minute) so it will allow you faster seek times. You should get an ATA100/ATA133 drive capable of 7200RPM. (ATA100 and ATA133 tell you how much data can be transferred...ATA100 = 100MB/sec, and ATA133 = 133MB/sec).

Memory: Crucial, Kingston, Mushkin, Corsair are all good companies. You decide

Motherboard: Personally, I'd stay away from Abit motherboards because I've had bad experiences with them. Epox 8KHA+, Asus A7M-266 or A7E-266, Soyo Dragon+ are popular models (I'm not that familiar with motherboards that can support your processor because I'm still running a T-bird 900 😛)

Network card: Doesn't really matter, get the cheapest one you can find.

Hope this helps 🙂
 
After about 2 months of extensive research reading every review I could find and forum posting and lots of great advise, I have settled on the following harware to put in my new system (see details below) and will have it on Friday. Whatever you settle on, good luck.

Antec 1030 Enermax SPI Case Black Med Server Tower
4 x 80mm case fans, 2 for case intake lower front, 2 for exhaust upper back.
Enermax EG 365 P-VE Whisper Series (Fan Control) 430w Atx Power Supply
AMD Athlon XP 1800 CPU
Alpha socket 370/fc-pga Heatsink/Fan PAL6035MFC
Arctic Silver II Thermal paste
Abit KR7A 133 Raid Motherboard
Thermaltake Chipset Blue Orb Fan 15mm (15CFM) on MOBO chipset
512 MB Major DDR PC 2100 RAM
MSI GeForce 3 TI 200 64 MB VID CARD AGP with TV out
Thermaltake Chipset Blue Orb Fan 15mm 1(5CFM) on Video card
ATI TV Wonder PCI TV Tuner Card
2 X WESTERN 60 GB 7200 IDE ATA 100 (Hard Drives installed on Highpoint RAID but NOT as RAID array, both masters)
2 X Hard Drive Coolers (One Mounts in the 5.25" bay and has a detachable front grill w/3 X 15mm fans other is a horizontal mounting 120mm fan on top of Hard Drive)
LITE-ON 32X IDE CD-RW Retail
Pioneer DVD-116T 16x
Creative SB Live Audigy Sound Card
1.44mb Floppy Drive
D-Link DFE-538tx 10/100 pci wol Ethernet Card
PS2 Logitech Cordless Keyboard & Freedom Optical Mouse
4 port D-Link Dl-701 Gateway/Firewall Router
Windows XP professional edition
 
That's about just like my setup. except I have the 1900 XP and Supermicro 750a case and a GF3 not TI 200
I went with a PC Power 450w Power supply and a Netgear router.
I have the KR7A Raid board not 133, it wasen't available at the time I built.
I just installed a WD 120JB hard drive with 8 meg cache and it's very fast.
You''ll like the Abit board as mine has been rock stable after tweaking the Bios and video drivers.
I'm using Pauls modified bios the latest ver of HTpoint drivers also.
You can get the Bios and drivers Here
Good luck with your new system
 
I finally decided what Im going to get except I still cant decide what HEATSINK to get... its the hardest part... I want a quiet one, but i want one that is cool so i can maybe overclock in the future..

i decided to get a


Sony Floppy Drive ($9)
Corsair 512mb DDR PC2100 ($168)
Abit KR7A-Raid-133 Motherboard ($142)
Linksys Network Card ($15)
Maxtor 80GB 7200RPM ATA100/133 ($132)


If some one disagrees please let me know... but i still need a heatsink and cant decide... tell me if all that hardware if compliant with each other and if its a good price and if you could get cheaper somewhere else and if its quality hardware for the price or if there is any equal to or better hardware for lower price!
 
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