Building new computer. Please advise!

[whargoul]

I'm building a computer for a friend of mine. He wants to spent NO MORE than $1500. That is an absolute maximum!(I made him raise it from $1000 already anyway.) Intel based system, no AMD.

Here are my choices:
CPU: 1.4 GHz
Ram: 256 MB
Motherboard: Abit TH7-RAID i850. (Unfortunately this Mobo got on- board sound. If you know any other Mobo with Raid,
8 eide channels + no on-board sound, post it.)
Case: No preference. Price is the factor here
Nic: 10/100. No preference. Price is the factor
Modem: As above.
Video Card: Gainward CARDEXPERT GeForce3 PowerPack !!! w/tv out
Sound Card: Sound Blaster Platinium 5.1 (This position can be
downgraded if total cost of the system exceeds meantioned
price)
Hard drive: 2 40 GB IBM UDMA 100 7200 Deskstar 60GXP Ultra
CD Drive: He wants DVD and cdrw in one. I saw Samsung CDRW/DVD combo
8x4x32 for $122
Floppy Drive: One of those 120MB drives compatible with floppy disks.

Rules:
1. AMD vs Intel... I dont care. Dont post it.
2. Post your choice system with links or at least general price range
and if no links, then major online e-tailers.
3. Explain why, if you can.
4. Will update as needed

P.s. Mods if my thread doesn't fit this forum, please suggest
different one, or move to were it belongs. Please dont lock it.

 

[TunaBoo]

Personally I would take a dual p3 if I were too closed minded not to use AMD when it is clearly the better choice.

 

[QuestionsandAnsweres]

just curious why not AMD?

ohh ya get a GAME THEATER XP sound card. =)

 

[Shmorq]

Most motherboards come with onboard sound, but it shouldn't be an issue since you can diable it.

For ethernet, I would go Linksys since it's cheap and gets the job done.
The Hercules Game Theater might be the better sound card, but it's really up to your friend.

And how about a monitor and speaker? Not to mention a mouse and keyboard. Are these included in your budget?

 

[DDad]

Well, that's close to the systems I'm building for a local school, so maybe I can throw in my $.02 worth. Some of this is just personal preference

Enlight 7237 case w/ P4 340 watt PS (seen in price from $60-75)
As far as MB- the systems I'm building don't require a RAID, and have had problems with Abit's in the past. I settled on the Intel 850GBal (with integrtated Audio and LAN). Best Price on Pricewatch is $175. Got to have RAID- add 35-40$ for a controller card
P4 1.4 - Pricewatch price is in the neighborhood of $160-180
IBM 40 gb 60GXP- Newegg has them for $105
EVGA Geforce 2 Ultra 64mb No TV $212-This is what I chose. Personally, I don't feel that the extra $100-150 is worth the amount of difference at this time. Plus the fact that Newegg has a special with $15 off when purchased with IBM drives (Please remember, I'm talking 20 systems here, fairly substantial savings)
I'd personally recommend going with a seperate CDRW & DVD. He can end up with higher performance on both drives for about the same price. Plus, if one goes bad he still has a "spare" to use with CD's. As far as seperate drives- I use the Afreey 10X DVD ($35-40) and the Liteon CDRW 12X10X32 (85-90)
A lot of this is due to personal preference, and of course to the needs of my customer, so it may not apply here

Edit- Later thought
I forgot one thing- What OS, and what software does he intend to use? Be sure and factor that in with the budget

 

[drewski]

another vote for separate CD/DVD & CDRW. that way he can burn direct from CD/DVD and not just from his HDD

DDad - just curious what this school is doing with GF2Ultras. seems a bit excessive to me, but don't know what they're doing with them.

 

[Raspewtin]

i agree with seperate dvd / cdrw - looks like you made some good choices. btw do those 120 mb floppy drives connect via IDE or over floppy interface?

 

[tekker]

looks good so far.
maybe buy some parts of the for sale and trade for cheaper

 

[tekker]

<< Well, that's close to the systems I'm building for a local school, so maybe I can throw in my $.02 worth. Some of this is just personal preference

Enlight 7237 case w/ P4 340 watt PS (seen in price from $60-75)
As far as MB- the systems I'm building don't require a RAID, and have had problems with Abit's in the past. I settled on the Intel 850GBal (with integrtated Audio and LAN). Best Price on Pricewatch is $175. Got to have RAID- add 35-40$ for a controller card
P4 1.4 - Pricewatch price is in the neighborhood of $160-180
IBM 40 gb 60GXP- Newegg has them for $105
EVGA Geforce 2 Ultra 64mb No TV $212-This is what I chose. Personally, I don't feel that the extra $100-150 is worth the amount of difference at this time. Plus the fact that Newegg has a special with $15 off when purchased with IBM drives (Please remember, I'm talking 20 systems here, fairly substantial savings)
I'd personally recommend going with a seperate CDRW &amp; DVD. He can end up with higher performance on both drives for about the same price. Plus, if one goes bad he still has a &quot;spare&quot; to use with CD's. As far as seperate drives- I use the Afreey 10X DVD ($35-40) and the Liteon CDRW 12X10X32 (85-90)
A lot of this is due to personal preference, and of course to the needs of my customer, so it may not apply here

Edit- Later thought
I forgot one thing- What OS, and what software does he intend to use? Be sure and factor that in with the budget >>



whats a school doing with that

 

[DDad]

Well, I dunno, that was what was spec'ed out. I understand they are going to use these for some Autocad apps, and some specialized landscaping apps.
I also suspect the system was spec'ed out by a quake player, but can't prove it.......

 

[Athlon4all]

Personally, I belive that P4 isn't worth buying unless it's 1.7 or 1.8GHz. I'd also get seperate drives. If you go up to 1.7GHz, then that's gonna add $150 to it, but I really think u should. 1.4 has trouble competing with a 1GHz Athlon/PentiumIII. Oh and make sure u get PC800 RDRAM, performance will suffer big time if it's PC600. A quick search at pricewatch showed the cheapest LS-120 drive was for $65 and it was made by NEC.Your best mobo option is probably TH7-RAID, it was cheaper than the Asus P4T, and a Intel 850 board+PCI RAID card. Just a reminder, u will need a special case for the P4, And I agree that I'd get a GF2 Ultra or, if u really need to save some money, a GF2 Pro for $150 is a great value, nearly providing GF2 Ultra performance for $60 cheaper, but yeah I'd at most get a GF2 Ultra.