Almost done! Help me pick! New Computer.

[firehawk68]

Ok I'm getting closer to buy a new computer now... need some final opions and then I'm off

usage: ill say 90% work, 10% gaming (and i want to be able to run mp3s, avi's, mpgs etc.)
monitor: im going to use a 17" nokia, so i wont run on extremely high resolutions.. i think 1024x1024 or so with 85hz is the highest dont remember...
also note that im in europe, so i dont get the same prices as you, and im buying it from a store so i can't pick any motherboard or any graphicscard cause they wont have it.

Motherboard (i know very little about motherboards, even less than i know about the other stuff ) basically i want it as cheap as possible

my choice (for now):

AMD: ECS K7S5A DDR LAN (about $100)

then there's:
AMD: DFI AD70-SC 266A DDR (about $10 more than ECS) would it be worth the extra $10? no idea...
DFI AM36-EC (same price as ecs k7s5a)
AMD: ECS K7VZA-266 (the cheapest about $85, should i get this instead of the others and save $15-20?)

cpu: my choice: amd 1500+
i can get a 1600+ for $10-15 more, would it be worth it?
a 1700+ would cost me about $50 more than the $1500+

harddrive:
either a fujitsu 40gb 5400, or a $25-30 more expensive 7200.
this im still thinking about. (or a 60gb for the same price as the 7200?!)

graphicscard: originally considered the kyro2. but for $30 more i get a Daytona 64Mb GeForce2 Titanium DDR-TV... i think that's $30 well spent.

MidiTower 300watt (think this will be enough for me)

fan:
either a Athlon XP 1900+ CoolerMaster
or a Athlon 1.4G ElanVital Low Noise (this one is $10-15 more dont know if its worth it, its obviously less noisy but i hope there's other benefits to it as well since my pc will be in the closet i wont hear it anyway)

i will also like to add that i wont overclock anything, (dont know anything about that) so that part is not important to me, and "futureproof" isnt very important either i doubt i will buy much more memory in the future or do other upgrades.

so if you could tell me your choices for motherboard, cpu, hd, memory and fan i would appreciate it. the reason i dont go for a gf3 card is that it's about $70 more over here and considering i wont play THAT much i dont think it's worth it (to me) i can always buy a gf3 when the gf4 comes out and they go down in price..

in general i want to get as cheap system as possible, but i originally considered a duron900mhz a week ago so this system IS more powerfull allready

if i choose between a hd and another, or between 1500+ or 1600+ cpu i'd like it to be quite major differences, if the speed improvement is 5% or less i dont really think it's worth it... (maybe im wrong)

well enough, thanks for any inputs... i've really learned a lot since i discovered these forums... thanks.

 

[HereThereandEverywhere]

For your motherboard, I'd suggest a Shuttle AK31A Rev 3.1...a nice chipset with a VERY nice price...$80 almost everywhere!

From XP1500 to XP1600 is 600 mhz so it's your call...I really don't think it's necessary.

Get the bigger louder fan, especially if noise isn't a factor...cooling is always a big issue with AMD.

Edit: The Shuttle Chipset is KT266A like the rest of the boards you picked (except the K7S5A) but it's slightly cheaper and I've only heard good things about it.

 

[firehawk68]

thanks. but i dont think that motherboard is available over here.
about the fan, is that fan bigger than the silent one? i can't tell!
600mhz more for the 1600 SOUNDS like a big deal, i guess it isnt in reality...

 

[etalns]

I'd say pitch in the extra few bucks for the faster processor, you'll be happier a few months down the road.