Can anyone offer comments, suggestions on my selected components...

[joshInAlaska]

Okay, here I go on round two of narrowing down what I'd like to build my next pc with. Although it is my second time posting what I'd like, this is my first time actually building my own system. Like many of you, I'm very excited and look forward to the headaches.

Anyway, I believe that I've chosen everything that I'd need. However, if I missed anything, please let me know.

case midi ci-7004 atx w/sparkle power fsp300-60bt (300w)
motherboard iwill kk266
processor athlon t-bird 1GHz 200FSB Socket A
hsf taisol cgk742092
memory 256mb sdram, pc133 cl2 non-parity ct32m64s4d7e
hard drive ibm deskstar 75gxp 45gb
video card nvidia geforce2 gts 32mb
sound card sb live 5.1
cd teac 12x10x32 CD-RW
dvd toshiba 1502 16x
floppy teac fd-tefd235 3.5" 1.44mb

 

[neuralfx]

thats a nice setup, you might want to look into a couple extra fans, preferably sunon or panaflow, and im not really familiar with that HSF, i know its the same brand hsf's that Compaq uses on the 5000, 7000 (white) series. I have a globalwin fop38, its loud but does a nice job
-neural

 

[joshInAlaska]

Thanks for the info on extra fans. That is my biggest concern with my current selection. An Anandtech review said that it was the quietest of the bunch, but it is slightly larger than most as well. That's an issue that was brought up on the mobo review, that that Iwill KK266 had some tight space around the socket, which isn't appropiate for large heat sink fans. Bummer eh? Anyway, I'm totally open for any further suggestions in that department. Thanks for telling me your choice fans.

J

 

[oldfart]

Nah, he's in Alaska. If it starts to run hot, he can just open up the flap of the igloo!

 

[AndyHui]

I'm a little bit wary of that 45GB IBM drive. They seem to have a bad reputation for failures. From what I have seen, those 45GB drives are manufactured in two places: Hungary and Thailand. The ones from Thailand are OK, the ones from Hungary are very prone to "death". Just a word of warning.

Other than that, your system looks good.

 

[joshInAlaska]

After doing some quick additional research, I've found that a good alternative to my initial choice of hsf is the Alpha PAL6035 Heatsink
w/ Sanyo Denki 60mm Fan. I believe that I'll go with that.

For additional info, I plan to partition the HD, and install a couple of OS's. I'd like Win98SE, and Linux. However, I will most likely make a third partition for Win2K.

I'm not an overclocker, but I'd like to have that option should I attempt to do so. This will be used for work, compiling programs, playing games, 3D-design (modeling, landscape, animation, etc). I'd also like to do multimedia projects, like home movie editing, desktop publishing, etc. As you can see, I'm looking forward to trying a whole lot of things.

J

 

[SiliconVandal]

I have an Iwill KK266 and that Taisol. I love the Taisol, and it fits just fine.

 

[GourmetPC]

I think you made good choices for most of your components, but I have a few suggestions since I am building a new system myself. I would definitely get the newer thunderbird with the 266fsb instead. It will perform better and is available in up to 1.2ghz. I would also suggest getting a geforce3 card instead of the gts (if money is not a factor) because in the long run a faster/better card will keep you happier longer. I am putting together a ddr system w/geforce3 and I am spending that extra $500-$600 dollars because I know I would regret buying anything less a year from now.

 

[eyez]

A lot of people feel that the santa cruz or the acoustic edge is a better card for a bit less money.

 

[Xerin]

I hadn't heard that...is the same true for the 75 gb drive?

 

[joshInAlaska]

I feel the same way about the GeForce 3, but I don't feel like spending the cash though. To be honest, cash is not a factor at all. If I choose to, I can buy that card, but I don't feel comfortable spending over five-hundred bucks on a video card.

However, six months to a year from now, I'll be saying hindsight is 20/20, and I'll be regretting not going for the gusto. So who knows. I'm not even buying the components yet. That won't happen for another four weeks or so. Even then I'll be buying the components a few at a time. So it may not be another three months from now when I'll have everything and I'll be ready to go. So perhaps I'll save that video card decision for last, and I might go with the GeForce 3.

Thanks for the info on that taisol fitting on that Iwill mobo. That was my first choice, so I may go back to sticking with it.

Am I leaving anything out at all, besides a monitor?!?

BTW - Any recommendations for a monitor?

 

[eyez]

I haven't owned an ibm drive in a while, but IBMs are considered top notch. Do a search in this forum under ibm or hard drive and look at the comments for yourself.

 

[joshInAlaska]

Holy smoke eyez! If you've heard that the Santa Cruz and Acoustic Edge are cheaper than the SB Live 5.1, I'd certainly like to know where. After doing a search on yahoo shopping, and pricewatch, I've found them both to be slightly to quite a bit more expensive that the SB Live.

J