Building a New PC

[Stormblade]

Hey all,

I'm building up a new PC hopefully an awesome one. I'd like to hear any ideas on what I should change on my system and why. Please, only technical type reasons not just preferences.

Case : SuperMicro Case (SC760-A)
CPU : AMD Athlon 1.2 Ghz
MB : Asus A7V Motherboard
Video : Asus AGP-V7700 Geforce2 GTS Deluxe
Memory : PC133 SDRAM DIMMS (256 megs+)
Monitor: Viewsonic 21" Monitor (Not sure which Model Yet Price req around $600)
RAID : FastTrak100 ATA100, 7200 RPM
HD : IBM Deskstar 75GXP 45 Gig ( 2 of em to start off )


Case : http://www.supermicro.com/PRODUCT/Chassis/sc760A.htm
CPU : http://www.amd.com/products/cpg/athlon/index.html
MB : http://www.asus.com.tw/products/motherboard/socketa/a7v/
Video : http://www.asus.com.tw/products/addon/vga/agpv7700d/index.html
Memory : http://www.crucial.com
Monitor: http://www.viewsonic.com
RAID : http://www.promise.com/Products/ideraid/ft100page.htm
HD : http://www.storage.ibm.com/hardsoft/diskdrdl/prod/ds75gxp40gv.htm

Here's an interesting review on the Fastrak100 vs SCSI based
http://www.gamepc.com/reviews/hardware_review.asp?review=cheetahx15&page=2

I have no clue as to CDROM. I'm not going SCSI this time around so the Plextor 40x is out and I don't know the good IDE CDROMs to get.

 

[Rigoletto]

I don't know why you need our advice, you seem to have so much money to blow that it's not a big loss if you make a misjudgement. Also, you include way too much tech details but no purposes. I am underwhelmed by your grand purpose for your computer... probably to play Quake III and store a jukebox is it?

 

[Bling Bling]

Nice specs man!

Here are my suggestions/opinions:

Case: Go for an Antec one. They are the best. You have a great system, so why not just get a bad ass case as well. (Supermicro is good though.) Onvia has good prices for the Antecs.

CPU: damn. that's fast.

MB & Raid: i'd say get the Abit KT7-Raid. I'm not sure what raid the board has, but if it's a gimpy one, then stick with what you have. However i'm pretty sure it's a good one.


Video: That's a good card. You could go for the ATI 64MB DDR Radeon too.

Memory: Get infineon, micron, or crucial. they are the best hands down.

Monitor: dizzzaaamn boy!

HD: good choice. remember, you do need 2 to raid. also, i've heard maxtor's are really good for raid. i would pick the desktars personally though.

CD-ROM/DVD: for a regular cd rom, get the TEAC 540e. Simply put, this drive is amazing. It does everything well, and it only costs like $40-$45. Excellent buy. However, if you want a DVD, go for the Pioneer 105s slot load (16x/40x), the Toshiba 1024 (it's 12x/40x), or the new Toshiba 1524 (16x/48x).

CD-RW: Plextor 12/10/32A. No contest here. you could go for the 16x yamaha, but i'd say the Plexi is better because of Burn Proof. The TDK Cyclone(?) is another lower priced alternative the Plextor (they have the same specs), but c'mon.....it's a Plextor! You can't compare!


Anyway, those are my opinions.

EDIT: what the heck is your budget and what are you gonna do with this rig???

 

[LXi]

Change that mobo to MSI K7T Pro2, excellent motherboard.

I would also recommend going with either the Samsung SyncMaster 1200NF or the KDS AV-21TF, both expected to be cheaper than ViewSonic and they look awesome.

Oh yea, I also recommend getting the Kingmax PC150 RAMs, they're fantastic.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Ah, Pure Technology Lust. I can't say that I discourage it. God knows if I had the money I'd build a system like that as well. As long as you're going high end, I would recommend a Kennwood TrueX drive. They now have a TrueX 72X CD-ROM drive and I believe that the minimum transfer rate is somewhere around 40X. I think AnandTech did a review on Kennwood's 50X TrueX drive a while back, but I'm not completely sure. Anyway the TrueX drives are absolutely amazing and anything less wouldn't belong in the system you are building.

Aaron Meyer

 

[LXi]

TrueX is only good under one condition, if it can read the CDs, I dont know but it seems to me like 50-70% of the times it couldnt read one damn in the CD.

 

[Rent]

I'm with LXi... My TruX is currently collecting dust while my UltraPlex wide spanks it around.

 

[Dulanic]

You going to get alot of arguements over the MB.... if you want Raid and are too lazy to flip a dipswitch to OC, which is very easy to access, get the KT7-RAID. If you want ATA100 or more than 4IDE devices get the Asus A7V... also A7V is best performance wise. If you want to same some money get the MSI.

 

[Dulanic]

Its weird... people have problems with a True X... I have a True X 62X and it has read EVERY SINGLE CD I have EVER put in it. The only thing it ever did bad for me was one audio CD I had to eject and insert it a few times... and that was only ONE time.

 

[Akaz1976]

i am with LXi on monitors. tho i would go with 1200NF purely on the fact that its a newer model. If u decide to go with viewsonic any ways then the model u are looking for is AV21TF

 

[Galadala]

Good choices.

Although you might want to try using alot of cooling for your computer.

Especially at 1.2 Ghz!

 

[Akaz1976]

Mushkin Rev2 for Ram, i have heard good things about it.

 

[mikepeck]

I second the vote for Mushkin Ram.. high quality stuff there!

 

[ares32585]

I too would recommend the Kenwood 72X True-X CD-ROM Drive. It works perfectly fine for me and is super fast!
I would go with either Crucial or Mushkin memory, usually the Crucial is a little cheaper...I think. I personally buy Crucial.