I am building a 1.2 Gig Athlon rig (that processor's so cheap!
) and have more or less decided on the config but there are still a few troubling issues and would appreciate it if you guys could look it over.
1.2 Ghz Athlon 266 MHz FSB
IWILL KK266 - combo available at Frys for $219+tax
It has been a very hard choice, To DDR or not to DDR but I decided that I am not a very active "upgrader" and by the time I decide to upgrade this system, much better DDR boards will be available for cheap. The current crop of DDRs do not perform THAT much better than the KT133A boards which have been around for longer and are mature. Moreover, most DDR boards have the restriction of two DIMM slots which make getting more memory expensive. I know people are arguing that as more applications making use of DDR bandwidth those systems will outperform the SDRAM systems but I don't think i'll be running anything that intensive on my home computer.
It's not really so much a question of money as the DDR option will cost me about $30 more only. it's more a question of stability and there are still problems with most of the DDR chipsets. I'd rather wait till they are sorted out.
The next choice was to go Raid or not and I decided that since I was not going to do any heavy duty DVD ripping, video editing and the works, a 40GB 7200 RPM was good enough for me. The choice b/w Mobos was really between the ASUSV133, ABIT KT7A, IWILL KK266 and Epox 8KTA3. While they are all pretty comparable, the deal at Fry's convinced me to go IWILL.
512 MB PC133 CL2 Crucial RAM
@100.28 + free shipping from crucial there was no reason not to go w/ 512MB.
Matrox G450
@88 from newegg.com Since I'm not a hard core gamer, this was the best value for money I could find. The Radeon is a good competitor but since I will also be running Linux, driver support was a bit of an issue.
Turtle Beach Santa Cruz
@59.20 shipping included from Dell, this was the cheapest non-refurb I could find. SB Live was out due to the various issues that have been raised recently.
IBM 40GB 60GXP 7200RPM
@110 + tax+shipping from newegg.
Pioneer 116 16x DVD
From the Hot Rod - $63 at mwave.com
Liteon 12/10/32 CDRW
$95 at mwave - I had heard about a mail-in rebate for this on some forum but don't know if it is still on. Any ideas?
Superpower Zephyr-101XP
@75 from mwave. Again a tough choice between the 201XP, IWILL S500 and ENLIGHT7237. I decided to go for the 201XP and then decided to upgrade to the 101 for $10 more. Ideally I would have loved to go for the Antec SX1030 but I'm on a budget.
Pulse 424 Speakers
Supposedly the best sub $50 speakers, for $40 at Frys.
Creative Modem Blaster DI5655
@23 at newegg.com
Linksys NIC
@10 from Frys. thinking of buying 2 a setting up a home network with ye olde Celeron 333@375
Floppy
Generic for $8-10 from anywhere
HSF, Thermal paste etc. for $15-20.
Total = $925 + some tax
I already ahve a monitor. And yes the OSes I'm going to run are Win2K for work, Win 98SE for any little gaming I may do (mostly AoEII) and Linux.
All comments will be appreciated.
garo
) and have more or less decided on the config but there are still a few troubling issues and would appreciate it if you guys could look it over. 1.2 Ghz Athlon 266 MHz FSB
IWILL KK266 - combo available at Frys for $219+tax
It has been a very hard choice, To DDR or not to DDR but I decided that I am not a very active "upgrader" and by the time I decide to upgrade this system, much better DDR boards will be available for cheap. The current crop of DDRs do not perform THAT much better than the KT133A boards which have been around for longer and are mature. Moreover, most DDR boards have the restriction of two DIMM slots which make getting more memory expensive. I know people are arguing that as more applications making use of DDR bandwidth those systems will outperform the SDRAM systems but I don't think i'll be running anything that intensive on my home computer.
It's not really so much a question of money as the DDR option will cost me about $30 more only. it's more a question of stability and there are still problems with most of the DDR chipsets. I'd rather wait till they are sorted out.
The next choice was to go Raid or not and I decided that since I was not going to do any heavy duty DVD ripping, video editing and the works, a 40GB 7200 RPM was good enough for me. The choice b/w Mobos was really between the ASUSV133, ABIT KT7A, IWILL KK266 and Epox 8KTA3. While they are all pretty comparable, the deal at Fry's convinced me to go IWILL.
512 MB PC133 CL2 Crucial RAM
@100.28 + free shipping from crucial there was no reason not to go w/ 512MB.
Matrox G450
@88 from newegg.com Since I'm not a hard core gamer, this was the best value for money I could find. The Radeon is a good competitor but since I will also be running Linux, driver support was a bit of an issue.
Turtle Beach Santa Cruz
@59.20 shipping included from Dell, this was the cheapest non-refurb I could find. SB Live was out due to the various issues that have been raised recently.
IBM 40GB 60GXP 7200RPM
@110 + tax+shipping from newegg.
Pioneer 116 16x DVD
From the Hot Rod - $63 at mwave.com
Liteon 12/10/32 CDRW
$95 at mwave - I had heard about a mail-in rebate for this on some forum but don't know if it is still on. Any ideas?
Superpower Zephyr-101XP
@75 from mwave. Again a tough choice between the 201XP, IWILL S500 and ENLIGHT7237. I decided to go for the 201XP and then decided to upgrade to the 101 for $10 more. Ideally I would have loved to go for the Antec SX1030 but I'm on a budget.
Pulse 424 Speakers
Supposedly the best sub $50 speakers, for $40 at Frys.
Creative Modem Blaster DI5655
@23 at newegg.com
Linksys NIC
@10 from Frys. thinking of buying 2 a setting up a home network with ye olde Celeron 333@375
Floppy
Generic for $8-10 from anywhere
HSF, Thermal paste etc. for $15-20.
Total = $925 + some tax
I already ahve a monitor. And yes the OSes I'm going to run are Win2K for work, Win 98SE for any little gaming I may do (mostly AoEII) and Linux.
All comments will be appreciated.
garo
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