Building New PC!! need advice

[biofobia]

Hello, I am going to build a new system and I wanted some tips, information, and suggestions on hardware.. I already have a AMD XP 1900+ CPU, Lite-On DVD-ROM 16x/48x, Mitsumi Burner 16x/8x/40x.... But I still need to get a Case,Fans,Heatsink,Floppy,HD,Memory(DDR),Motherboard,and a Network Card

Case: I was wondering which cases are better to get, I want one that has efficient cooling, but not too loud (like maybe a harddrive fan,one in back or maybe 2, and maybe top or side panel fans. Most people that I asked said that case is up to me, but i want your opinions of a good and price worthy case maybe $110 or under..also what companies make good cases?.. this is the case i found ( myurl ) Please post your suggestions and tips on good cases that i can pick from

Fans: What fans should i get installed extra? What companies make good fans?

Heatsink: This is one of the main ones... what heatsink should I get.. what company makes good heatsinks too!?!?.. which are better copper or aluminum..etc.. tell me about please advise me on which heatsink to get for a AMD ATHLON XP 1900+ processor and maybe overclock it, i want very good heatsink.. even if it cost like $40

Floppy: I heard sony makes the best floppy drives.. what do you think? *this is not a big one*

HardDrive: From my cousin I heard maxtor makes the best HD's what do you say?... whats the difference between 7200rpm and 5400rpm... does it make a difference.. worthit?.. please advise on which HD to get!!

Memory: Which brand of MEMORY should i get.. i heard corsair or crucial.. i want to get 512mb of DDR memory...dont know which brand to get that is very good and cheaper than rest but at same performance and quality

*IMPORTANT*MOTHERBOARD*IMPORTANT*: This is the biggest i need help with choosing, because i need a good mother board.. i heard ABIT makes the best motherboards for XP Athlon processor and they have 4 DDR slots... i do not understand that much on the chipsets either.. but i was advised on getting the ABIT KR7A-Raid-133 .. What do you say?

Network Card: Which network card should i get? I was told that Linksys makes good network cards, and its only like $15 on Newegg.com


Thank you, Please give me your tips, suggestions, and opionions PLEASE!!!!! Im going to build this pc and need your advice!!

 

[starwarsdad]

If you plan on overclocking your system, the Soyo K7V Dragon+ has RAID and a lot of flexibility for overclocking.

Another solid board for OCing is the Epox 8KHA+. I think most people here will agree (with a few very vocal disenters) that the VIA KT266A is the best performing chipset going for AMD processors right now.

A lot of what to get get depends very heavily on what you intend to do with your box. A RAID setup is nice for video and photo editing (Director and Photoshop), but is a terrible idea for gaming.

What is this beast going to live its life doing?

 

[oldfoof]

Go for the Epox 8KHA+ Great!

 

[skimo]

Case: Antec 830 with 300W power supply. Directron also makes some good ones. The Enlight 7237 is also good. The Enermax you found at Newegg is also good. Power supplies: Enlight, Antec, Enermax
Extra fans: Buy 3 or 4 ball bearing fans and use them IF they don't come with the case. Shoud run you about $5-7 each. See the cases and cooling forum for more info on fans. Some are noisy.
Motherboard: Abit or Soyo Dragon+ (you don't need RAID MB unless you are going to mirror 2 drives) Dragon+ has onboard CMI sound (Really good 5.1) and onboard Network adapter.
Memory: Crucial or Mushkin PC2100 (I'm running 1 gig - two 512 meg Mushkin)
CPU heatsink/fan: Volcano 7+ around $20.
Hard Drive: WD, Maxtor, or IBM 7200 - yes it makes a BIG difference between 5400 and 7200. I use all 3 in my clients PCs. Generally, whatever brand I can get the cheapest.
Floppy: Whatever is cheap: Should be about $11

 

[Buz2b]

biofobia:
The case you linked to looks like a real winner; especially if it has an enermax PS. If that one is "in your budget" then I would look no further. Add a rear exhaust fan, a front intake to enhance the side blow hole and you are in business. Panflo is a good name for fans but they can be pricey. Shop around. YS Tech is ok but be sure to check the db's of each. For a good copper Heat Sink I think either the Thermalright SK-6 or the SVC Golden Gate. Either one will do just fine for you and meet your priceline. It just so happens that they are also a couple of the best around; short of an Alpha or a Swiftech (both cost much, much more). Floppy drives? Just get the Sony, but anything else will work the same; only difference might be in the reliability. 7200 rpm HDD's will generate more heat but can be a bit faster. Would you actually notice the difference? Not likely. Whatever floats your boat here. Memory, go with Crucial. Period. Service, price, convenience, etc all are in Crucial's favor. Same for quality.
Motherboard. Sorry, I would not go with ABIT. They tend to have a high rate of returns to retailers; for whatever reason. I'm not passing judgement, just information. Look to ASUS, EPOX and MSI. Also go with the KT266A for now. Linksys is just fine for a NIC. Just avoid NetGear.

As always, these are merely opinions. I'd like to think they are informed opinions, but I'm sure there are those that would disagree. One other suggestion I would have is to visit/call these people. They have "ok" prices, wonderful product support and knowledgable sales staff. No, I don't work for them but I have bought from them before. They will even put together and test a MB/CPU combo for you prior to shipping. Worth a lot when it comes to piece of mind. Good Luck.

 

[CoDerEd]

Look at my System if you want to get some idea
All I know It's great, stable, and i run it 24/7
it almost never locks up on me( well once a week
is still acceptable). I choose this mobo
because it was the first one i found that offer ATA 133
that can get along with the maxtor ata133.
if you just want to run one HD and two CD(DVD & CDR)
you can get the non raid version,
you can get more information here.

well it's your call, good luck with your choice

peace

 

[Athlex]

Case: that Enermax looks like a winner. Not sure what kind of fans it uses for case cooling, but I replaced the fans in my case (I have an older version of this one) with low RPM fans from bestbyte.net. The fans are made by Top Motor I think. They're very cheap, very quiet, and make using a well-cooled computer quite livable since I run my machine 24/7.

Heatsink: again, I went for quiet here. I'm currently using a Thermalright SK6 with a Sunon 23CFM fan. Nearly silent and it keeps my CPU well under 40°C (I'm not overclocking). If you do plan on overclocking the same 'sink with a faster fan will work great for you. In another machine I also have a millennium thermal Glaciator heatsink. It's a quiet, O/C monster.

Hard drive: Love my IBM 60GXP (it's 7200RPM)

Network card: I'm biased towards 3Com, I've run into too many quirks with Linksys and Netgear cards. Look for a 3Com 3C905C or 3C905CX on eBay and you'll be set with a great NIC on the cheap. If not 3Com, Realtek is dirt cheap and compatible with everything.

Have fun building that machine!

 

[PeterPan2002]

Two weeks ago, I built one for my friend with XP1700+ and MSI KT266A Pro2 , it has a lot of features and instalation was very friendly. I used Volcano 6Cu . It works great now.

 

[DukeChestnut]

OK SO JOO GOT SOME MEAGER OPINIONS... NOW DO URSELF A FAVOR AND TAKE MY ADVICE.

LOOK BELOW

 

[exp]

One man's opinion:



<< Case: I was wondering which cases are better to get, I want one that has efficient cooling, but not too loud (like maybe a harddrive fan,one in back or maybe 2, and maybe top or side panel fans. Most people that I asked said that case is up to me, but i want your opinions of a good and price worthy case maybe $110 or under..also what companies make good cases >>

That looks good, Enermax is a quality company. Consider Antec as well. Personally I've used an Enlight 7237 for ages now. It's a great budget model but with $110 you can probably do better. This is a good case with a great power supply you might want to consider. Remember, don't forget about buying a good power supply--they are VERY important.


<< Fans: What fans should i get installed extra? What companies make good fans? >>

Panaflo L1A is my favorite from a loudness-to-performance ratio. Pabst are supposedly comparable. Sunon and Ystech are fine. Delta makes some unbelievable LOUD fans but they do suck a lot of air.


<< Heatsink: This is one of the main ones... what heatsink should I get.. what company makes good heatsinks too!?!?.. which are better copper or aluminum..etc.. tell me about please advise me on which heatsink to get for a AMD ATHLON XP 1900+ processor and maybe overclock it, i want very good heatsink.. even if it cost like $40 >>

Alpha PAL8045 is the king of Athlon HSFs. Swiftechs are also very good.


<< Floppy: I heard sony makes the best floppy drives.. what do you think? *this is not a big one* >>

Doesn't matter. I've always used Teac, but for my latest system I toyed with the idea of not even installing a FDD. Wimped out in the end, though.


<< HardDrive: From my cousin I heard maxtor makes the best HD's what do you say?... whats the difference between 7200rpm and 5400rpm... does it make a difference.. worthit?.. please advise on which HD to get!! >>

Yes, do NOT use a 5400rpm drive as your primary HDD--it will kill your performance. They are fine for a secondary drive, though. I would recommend the Seagate Barracuda IV (reliable and silent) or the Maxtor 740 (a shade faster and louder than the Seagate). Western Digital has a couple of new drives with an 8MB cache that supposedly offer superior performance, but I haven't used them personally. A lot of people swear by IBM and they are definitely fast, but I have had nothing but trouble with them reliability-wise. Buy at your own risk.


<< Memory: Which brand of MEMORY should i get.. i heard corsair or crucial.. i want to get 512mb of DDR memory...dont know which brand to get that is very good and cheaper than rest but at same performance and quality >>

If buying PC2100 RAM get Crucial. If buying PC2700 RAM get Kingmax. Corsair is also good but very expensive.


<< *IMPORTANT*MOTHERBOARD*IMPORTANT*: This is the biggest i need help with choosing, because i need a good mother board.. i heard ABIT makes the best motherboards for XP Athlon processor and they have 4 DDR slots... i do not understand that much on the chipsets either.. but i was advised on getting the ABIT KR7A-Raid-133 .. What do you say? >>

What do you need 4 DDR slots for? Abit is good. ASUS boards are top-notch, Shuttle boards are great values, Soyo tends to stuff theirs with the most extras. Epox and MSI are also good...there are many quality manufacturers to choose from. Decide what features you need (onboard sound or NIC, RAID, USB2.0, etc.) and look for boards that have them. Look at boards based on the KT266A chipset, there are many good ones to choose from.


<< Network Card: Which network card should i get? I was told that Linksys makes good network cards, and its only like $15 on Newegg.com >>

NICs don't differ much speedwise IMHO. Buy the cheapest possible one and it will probably work. If you can't decide just buy 3com, they are pretty much universally accepted as the "best", though you will pay slightly more for it.

Good luck.

 

[o1die]

For cases, I found a maxtop at newegg for only $49 plus shipping. It comes with 350 watt power supply (both amd and intel approved), 3 case fans, and a front usb connection. I added a fan in front and another one in back for a total of 5 fans (a little noisy, but very cool).