Building a new system...need some major advice

scsi stud

Senior member
Feb 14, 2000
222
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0
Good afternoon,

After spend most of my time trying to figure out why my machine keeps getting weird on me in Win2k (some things stop working, new problems begin, etc etc), I've decided to buy some new parts. Here is my current PC specs:

-Celeron 300a @ 450Mhz
-Abit BH6
-256 MB PC100 RAM (although I think one of the sticks is bad, might be why my computer is crapping out)
-Diamond Fireport 40 UW-SCSI adapter
-Seagate Cheetah 10000 rpm 4.5GB UW-SCSI HD
-Quantum Atlas 7200rpm 9.1 UW-SCSI HD
-Plextor 32x SCSI CD-ROM
-Plextor 12/4 SCSI CD-R
-Diamond Monster Sound MX300
-2 Voodoo2's (in SLI mode)
-Creative Labs Graphics Blaster TNT (original Riva TNT chipset)

Now, I am using Win2k now, and I certainly do -not- want to go back to Win98 under any circumstances. I've been thinking of an upgrade, so here is what I have so far. Next to each part, I'm going to have my question in parenthesis, so if you all could help me out in any way, I would truly appreciate it.

-AMD Athlon Thunderbird 1Ghz
-Abit KT7 (no RAID since I run SCSI and plan to disable my IDE ports to free up IRQs)
-128MB (or 256mb) (Mushkin PC133 RAM (I want the good stuff, I am really clueless when it comes to memory, such as what CAS2/CAS3 is, etc etc.. any sort of recommendation is appreciated. Also, should I take my current 256MB RAM and put it into the new machine, or just go ahead and buy new RAM?)
-SB Live (I want to replace my Monster Sound mx300, should I get the SBLive Value or 'regular'? What is the difference? I am really trying to keep my spending low.)

Now, here are my other questions I have:
-I definitely need to buy a new graphics card, I am contemplating between: Geforce2 MX, Geforce2 (any flavor, there are so many, I have lost track), and a Voodoo5 5500. My question is: What would be the best card (for its money) for this system? I am a long-time fan of 3Dfx, so I am leaning towards the V5 (it also has FSAA), but then again, the GeForce I heard is faster and supports T&L. I'm really not a Quake'er or UT'er, but I still want to play any game reasonably fast (i.e., without choppiness and at a pretty high res).

-Will my Diamond Fireport 40 work with this new system? I have heard of some small incompatibilities with hardware and AMD rigs, so will this card work? I really don't want to buy a new SCSI adapter at this point.

-My current case is not 300W, so I think it's probably 230 or 250, not sure. Will this be enough for all this hardware? I certainly hope so.


Last thing -- along with the advice/recommendations that I will receive (hopefully :)), can you also point out some good stores that sell the parts I need at a fairly good price?

I really appreciate any help you can give. Thanks!
 

gplracer

Golden Member
Jun 4, 2000
1,768
37
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I went from the identical system that you have to the one you want. The soundblaster live has more inputs than the value. It is has an interface that goes in one of the drive bays in the front of the case. If you do not plan on recoding using instruments or similar things you do not need it. I got the value. Also, I have a voodoo 5 and it is a good card. I have no problems at all. Although, the geeforce is a little faster. It depends on what kind of game that you want to play. I play grand prix legends and when I bought my card, it was only glide. Well it did opengl but not very well. That is why I bought the voodoo. Now it does direct 3d. I would have bought the geeforce if that was available at the time. I have heard that the fsaa is better with the voodoo but i have never seen a good comparison live. Your power supply might be enough. I got a 300 watt just to be sure. Onvia.com has antec 300 watt power supplies for about $37 shipped. I got one so I would not have to worry about it. Be sure to get a t-bird with a copper core. What are you going to use it for? My duron is almost as fast as the t-bird and it is only about $50 now.
 

scsi stud

Senior member
Feb 14, 2000
222
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0
Thanks for the advice. Well, see, I'm not sure on what CPU to get -- I've heard that the Durons are very well-priced for their performance. I like what I did with the 300a, overclocking it to 450, but the thing is that I haven't kept up with the hardware market for like 2 years now, so I really don't know how to overclock, especially with AMD cpu's. All I know is that I want at least 1 Ghz of speed. What should I get then?
 

PCResources

Banned
Oct 4, 2000
2,499
0
0
Don't get the Abit board, get a MSI, ASUS or Tekram board instead, there are just too many stability issues with the Abit boards.


Patrick Palm

Am speaking for PC Resources