Building a new computer, any recommendations?

[dxkj]

I was thinking of building this computer, but I havent been able to keep up with recent changes, events etc, is this a good combo?


Gigabyte GA-7VRXP
Athlon Xp 1800
PC 3200 DDR 512MB
IBM 60.0GB 60GB 7200RPM
Nvidia GeForce3 Ti 500 64MB AGP DDR

those are just the basics.... Im not looking for the end all system, just an upgrade from a 900mhz Athlon with a Geforce 2 GTS etc


thanks for your help in advance

 

[CrazySaint]

Motherboard & CPU look good. Unless you plan on unlocking your CPU, decreasing the multiplier, then cranking up the FSB that PC3200 is way overkill for that setup. If you were going to get a 1600+ and OC it, then the PC3200 might not be a bad idea. Stay away from IBM HDs, they somewhat less reliable than a tinfoil spacecraft. Unless you got a killer deal on that gF3 Ti500 (killer deal = less than $70), it is probably overpriced. You can get an Radeon 8500LE for $90 or $110 depending on whether you get the 64MB or 128MB version. Btw, if you can live with that gF2 GTS for another 4-6 weeks until the Radeon 9700 and 9500 come out, you could probably get a really sweet deal on either an 8500LE or a Ti4200.

 

[Boonesmi]

looks like a nice system

personally i would make 2 changes
1. i wouldnt get an ibm harddrive (they seem to have a higher fail rate then most other drives lately)
2. i would get the epox 8k3a+ motherboard

 

[dxkj]

Yeah, I'm evil, I was thinking of overclocking 😱) working on finding a decent case right now, I;ve spent my time modding a bit, but at this point dont have the time and just want to get a nice cool case, but we will see...


ok, will junk the IBM, I have had bad experiences with them too, but the price was tempting on it.....


thnx

 

[AnAndAustin]

😉 Yup, SktA offers excellent perf for the price! AthlonXP1800+ is excellent, and you will ghain most speed from raising the FSB to around 145/290mhz and XP2000+ speeds which should be doable without increasing the voltage (I'd always avoid that). Don't forget a good HSF if you plan to o/c, Volcvano7+ on the medium setting are easily among the best for price, effectiveness and compatability. RAM-wise, 512MB is a very good amount, PC2100 is ALL you need with SktA, PC2700 will give you a bit more headroom but running it in 266+333 (FSB+RAM) makes little sense as on KT333 you only gain about 3% perf while on other chipsets you tend to lose perf! If it costs much extra to get anything faster than PC2100 CL2.0 I'd say forget it. 80GB should be very little more than 60GB, and as already covered, forget IBM drives.

😱 GF3TI500 was great, 8 months ago, now GF4TI4200 is far better in ALL respects and would be a HUGELY better purchase. Rad8500/LE and GF3TI200 are great for the price, but if you plan on gaming you really don't want to be making compromises in the gfx card dept. Whichever gfx card you buy, make sure it is 128MB, 64MB will become VERY limiting VERY soon and is NOT a good buy on a new gfx card. Other things to consider is a decent case with good ventilation and case fan mounts, a quality 400W+ PSU (Antec, Enermax, ToPower, Flower or Sparkle are worth the extra cash), a dual fan PSU is also nice to have. CDRW are incredibly cheap, fast and flexible, well worth factoring in, just avoid Sony and Philips and you're sound. DVD-Writers are not worth it yet, there are many competing standards, drives and blank media are pricey too. 19" montiors are comparatively VERY cheap and well worth the extra expense, I'd take a cheaper 19" over a high end 17" any day. Speakers, get a subwoofer, but 4point surround doesn't cost a whole lot extra either. Modem, 56k PCI is standard, consider a hw version if you plan on gaming online (sw use your CPU and have minimum CPU req). Soundcard-wise, avoid SB Live, they are now very cheap but have way too many compatability and CPU usage issues, much better buys are Hercules Fortissimo II, SB Audigy, Turtle Beach Santa Cruz and Philips Acoustic Edge ... all are great, but the Philips AE can produce 4 point DIRECTIONAL surround sound from a steroe source, great bonus for gaming! Printers (rec Epson 1440dpi or HPDJ 2400dpi) and scanners (any USB) are excellent value and add greatly to your computer's abilities.

😀 Do consider the P4A 512k 1.6ghz and 1.8ghz, unlike the SktA CPUs they o/c fantasticly often reaching the 533FSB and giving 2.1ghz and 2.4ghz respectively, the 1.8ghz at 533FSB and 2.4ghz gives IDENTICAL perf to a true (and very expensive) P4B 512k 2.4ghz ... very nice for the price. Since Skt478 mobos cost about the same as SktA, and now P4's are VERY happy (and fast) with PC2700 they no longer cost a whole lot more, certainly wirth considering.

 

[AluminumStudios]

I recently built an Athlon XP2000+ system with an Epox 8k3a+ motherboard and am VERY happy with it. I've heard good things about Gigabyte recently, but don't have any expereince with them.

If you are looking for a good case check out Antecs. I recently bought an Antec "SOHO" server case and it is great! Very well ventilated, accessible, and not too loud. Chieftec cases are the SAME designs and cost less, so you might want to check them out too.

I wanted a fast, stable, system without overclocking so I bought an XP2000+ from Newegg. It was an AGOIA stepping, so I decided to try and OC it, so I bumped by fsb up just a little to 139. Now it's running at 2100+ with no voltage or temp increase. I bought a Volcano 7 and it seems really decent as well.

 

[AnAndAustin]

😉 Some info on SktA mobos for you:

😱 Brand makes relatively little diff so it is chipset you should look out for first and foremost, but each type has it's downside. VIA (KT266A, KT333) are slightly the fastest and are definitely the best for tweaking and o/c'ing. KT333 is almost identical to the KT266A, only diffs are 1/5 PCI divider for 333FSB (AMD say will never use on SktA and most KT333 can't handle 333FSB anyway), and allows 266+333 (FSB+RAM) operation, but only gives 3% extra perf over 266+266! VIA do have the most quirks, esp with SB Live soundcards. nForce (215, 220, 415, 420) are very stable and reliable, have great onboard sound (D versions sport Dolby 5.1), great LAN and the GF2MX200 onboard gfx (220 & 420) will suffice while you save for something better. Biggest downsides are a little bit pricier, poor for o/c and finally PCI bus although better than VIA may cause probs with PCI RAID. Don't worry about getting dual-channel RAM support (415 & 420) as it's only beneficial when used with onboard gfx. The SiS (734 & 745) like nForce are also very stable and reliable, biggest downsides are poor o/c and slower operating at 266+333 (FSB+RAM) than at 266+266! As said, chipset dictates almost all features and perf so don't pay too much for any particular brand. nForce2 will be available very soon and may give the all round stability, perf and tweaking that SktA needs ... so might the imminent VIA KT400 too.

🙂 You may not need tweaks or o/c'ing options though, AthlonXP2000+, 2100+ and 2200+ hardly o/c at all and as such you would be much wiser going for stability and compatability offered by nForce or SiS, nForce would be better if you want the onboard goodies (sound, LAN, GF2MX). Of course you need to figure in if you want o/c'ing tweaks when the newer Barton AthlonXP CPUs come out, maybe they will o/c better?

 

[Boonesmi]

i dont think amd ever said they wont make 333mhz(166mhz fsb) chips

for that matter i thought i read where they plan on going to 333mhz(166mhz fsb) pretty soon with the athlonMP cpu's

 

[AnAndAustin]

😉 AthlonMP are unlocked and as such you can choose the FSB speed and multiplier at will, if your mobo can handle 166/333FSB (few can) then nothing should stop you from running for eg 9.5x166 instead of 12x133 (both give 1.6ghz). Since AthlonMP are 167% the price of AthlonXP however, it doesn't make much sense. AMD had many miffed users when they switched from 100/200FSB to 133/266FSB, and since SktA & AthlonXP is definitely going to be the budget end of the market (Competing with the new Celeron1.7ghz+), it makes no sense for AMD to shift to 166/333FSB, esp since benchmarks I have seen suggest the actual perf boost is not huge, even with DDR333-PC2700 RAM!

 

[Boonesmi]

most kt333 boards support the 1/5th pci divider (meaning you can run a 166mhz fsb and keep the rest of your system in spec)

but im talking about cpu's that amd may be releasing that are actually designed for a 166mhz fsb (and no where does it say amd will continue to leave MP chips multiplier unlocked)

 

[Boonesmi]

by the way i was only saying the MP could change to 333mhz pretty soon, not that the XP wont also change (it may or it may not, to early to know)

the performance boost of going from 133mhz fsb to 166mhz fsb and keeping the memory running synchronous with the fsb actuall does give a pretty good system performance boost

here is a link to an article that explores the advantages of a 166mhz fsb... you can look at all the benchmarks, or just read the "conclusion" 🙂

 

[AnAndAustin]

😉 Cool Boonesmi. I did point out that KT333 mobos do offer the async option of 266+333 (FSB+RAM) as well as the 1/5 PCI divider to ensure PCI runs at standard speed at 333FSB, however most KT333 CAN'T handle a 333FSB even with 1/5, since these are the ONLY 2 diffs between KT266A and the more expensive KT333 I don't think it's really worth it. IMHO I don't think AMD will change the FSB for the AthlonXP/MP CPUs, but it is still very possible. The links I keep to hand regarding 333FSB o/c'ing (with the req CPU unlocking) are these:

AthlonXP2000+ with 166mhz bus & 166mhz RAM:
REVIEW START: AnAndTech 1595
166/166 PART: AnAndTech 1595 P12

X-Bit Labs:
AthlonXP running 166mhz synced RAM & FSB
If you read between the lines, 133FSB+PC2100=100% (standard perf) 133FSB+PC2700=102% 166FSB+PC2700=105% in real apps and games.

😱 IMHO X-Bit Labs are doing a bit of a newspaper thing, scooting around the true perf in order to get people reading and talking, when you look at it 333+333 (FSB+RAM) is only 3% faster than 266+333, as such it wouldn't be worth AMD alienating so many users by switching to 333FSB, esp with SktA becoming the budget AMD solution (Skt370 style).

 

[Boonesmi]

the price difference between kt266a and kt333 is very small, its only about a $10 difference.

plus the kt333 has a newer/faster memory controller (comparing the kt266a with fsb/mem at 133/133 vs kt333 with 133/133 the kt333 is slightly faster)

also MOST kt333 board can run at 166mhz fsb (for example asus/abit/epox/msi.. none of them have problems running a 166mhz fsb) so they would have no problems running an athlonxp (333) if one was to be released

in my opinion its not really worth it to upgrade from a kt266a to a kt333, but.... if buying a new board there really is no reason to go with the older kt266a

spending a couple $$ more gives you 1. more features 2. faster performance 3. much better overclocking ability 4. much better future upgrade potential

 

[AnAndAustin]

😱 Price diffs vary from country to country, but even US $10 extra is still 20% more on the cost of your mobo. On pricewatch the KT266A id $57 while the KT333 is $71, that's 25% more. Of course the KT333 is better, but for most of us the few extra, basicly unuseful features are not worth paying any extra for. A KT333 using 266+333 (its best feature) is still only 3% faster than a KT266A running the usual 266+266, and when you compare KT333 266+266 vs KT266A 266+266 there isn't even 1% diff, hardly worth 20-25% more cash, esp with SktA ever-nearing the end of its life. I wasn't aware KT333 came with any more features than KT266A, may be some do use a newer south bridge, does that give USB2, ATA133 or AGP8x? The KT333 is no more o/c'able than a KT266A, the 1/5 divider is handy, but I don't know many people who'll risk their CPU just for what equates to 3% more perf by running 333+333. As for the future upgrade potential, it is VERY minimal, only valid if AMD go 333FSB and even then I know I've read a few articles showing many KT333 mobos can't handle 333FSB (the 333 relates to DDR333/PC2700). Sure KT333 is better, but I don't think it is worth it for most people, perhaps if you are running an XP2000+, XP2100+ or XP2200+ you may then want the 266+333 option (even if it only gives 3% gain) as those CPUs don't o/c, so you need 266+333 to get the most out of them. Even then most people would be better off with nForce or SiS735/745 as they are far more stable and less problematic chipsets, just generally very lacking in the tweaking and o/c'ing dept.

 

[Boonesmi]

many people want to run a 166mhz fsb (im one of them 🙂 )

and with a 1/5th pci divider you dont need to worry about damaging your system because everything stays in spec


plus going by the cheapest price on pricewatch isnt very accurate, cause many of those stores have low reseller ratings, and its a gamble to buy from them

going by the prices at reputable stores (ie mwave or newegg)
personally i love epox boards so if i was buying a new board today i could go to mwave and get a 8k3ae (kt333) for $72 + shipping... (thats a good brand motherboard and its dirt cheap)

or look at the ecs board at newegg...ECS K7VTA3-RAID (kt333, onboard LAN, onboard RAID) and the total cost with shipping is only $74
the cheapest kt266a board at newegg is the old revision of the shuttle (its not even the newer kt266a board) and its total cost with shipping is $68

so paying $6 more you get a kt333 board which also has raid and lan 😀

ive probably built over a dozen systems based on kt266a boards, and they were very nice systems... but with the current price and features of kt333 boards there is just no reason not to buy it.
the point is the kt333 is better then the kt266a... and the price premium for the kt333 is marginal

 

[AnAndAustin]

😱 I'm in the UK so I use pricewatch.com as a quick and easy source to rough US pricing. Of course neweeg are well-reknowned and if the price diff between the much slower KT266 and KT333 is small then the KT333 is way better, the KT266A is very nearly as good as the KT333, for most people it is 100% as good. As with anything, it comes down to price, the KT333 is very good, if not much more than a KT266A then it's a great buy. 😉