Building my first... need a little help with some components

[Geocross]

Hey all, I'm building as powerful a black system, but I'm definitely not rolling in dough, so like most I'm trying to keep the cost down. I have a few questions that I would appreciate some advice on:

1. I'm looking for the best 19" black monitor at a reasonable price. Right now I'm leaning towards the Viewsonic 790EB... anyone here of or have a Spectre?

2. I was set on a DDR Athlon Board, but I'm wondering if I could cut corners, get the PC1600 ram and 200mhz bus CPU's and clock them up both up, and how hard is it (how do you overclock RAM)?

3. I haven't got a video card, but I will be purchasing in early March. Right now I like the Radeon 64MB VIVO ($180), or the Prophet Pro 64MB ($280). Ignoring cost, which would you prefer, and if infact you like the prophet, is it worth the extra $100? (ignoring the coming of the Geforce3)

4. I haven't got a MB yet either, but though I've heard reviews from lousy to the best, I really like the Iwill KA266. I don't know how much longer I can wait for these fabled Via 266 boards. Any thoughts?

Please comment on any or all of my dilemas, I really appreciate any input. thanks alot!

 

[Geocross]

bump 🙁

 

[koltzy]

I ordered a KA266 with Micron PC1600 256mb ram, and a duron 700 for some OC'in. I'll let you know how it goes. I'm almost positive the ram can exceed 133, no problem. I'd get a 32 mb Radeon DDR for 84 bucks to tide yourself over a month or two when the Geforce 3 and Radeon 2 come out.
If I had to though, I'd take the 64mb DDR Radeon. The Nvidia's are spec'd for cheaper signal filters, and the DVD decoder sucks ass, (but the gaming IS a wee bit faster). I prefer eye candy at 100fps, than hazy graphics at 105 fps....