Does this sound like a decent system?

[Raider82]

Dynapower Model# METIS CS-I3ASB.701 (Silver Black) ATX MID-TOWER CASE w/ 300W POWER SUPPLY - 2 x USB RETAIL
CRUCIAL MICRON 256MB 32x64 PC 2100 DDR RAM - OEM
Asus A7N266-VM AA (AMD Assured Version) NVIDIA nFORCE 220 Chipset 266/200MHz FSB Motherboard Micro ATX- Retail
AMD Athlon XP 1800+/266 FSB Processor CPU 1800+/ 1.53GHz -0.13 micro Thoroughbred Core Retail
All for about 200 bucks. Think I could get a better system for about the same price? This is my first computer that I'm building, will be getting all the other parts from another PII 450 system, CD, CDRW, A:, keyboard, mouse, speakers, monitor, and a 20 gig hardrive. I might buy a 40 gig hardrive to go with the new system. What does everyone think? Mainly going to be used for the web, mp3s, school stuff, and the occasional game or two.

 

[compudog]

Sounds great to me. I just put something similiar together and it runs great. $200 doesn't sound unreasonable.

 

[nick1985]

get an nforce2

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Sounds good, but as said before an nforce2 might not hurt, and with its dual channel ram, you could pick up 2x 128mb PC2100 ram

 

[Novgrod]

another recommendation for the nforce 2

and i would try to get a 512 stick of ram (the dual channel doesn't provide that much benefit and you'll notice the benefit of an extra 256 megs), so you could upgrade with another stick later. But i would really avoid a 2 x 128 stick solution.

 

[SpeedFreak03]

Sounds pretty good to me. $200 sounds about right. I'd get an nForce2 board though.

 

[xSauronx]

yeah

check hot deals for a lite-on psu from directron, 300w server psu
i swear youll prolly regret getting a cheapo psu, this lite on is only 20 bucks and has outdone my old cheapo 450w that killed TWO of my hard drives

 

[WraithAkaMrak]

An nForce2 would take up the bulk of that $200. The cheapest I've seen is the Soltek at $79.

 

[Raider82]

Thanks for the replys everyone I really do appericate it! The cheapeast nforce2 with a geforce4 is $105, made by Albarton. Sounds like it's just as good as the ABIT, and EPOX. Anyone have any opinions on Albarton mobos?

Albarton Nforce2 Motherboard for AMD Processors, Model KM18G PRO Retail
Specifications:
Supported CPU:AMD Athlon/Athlon XP/Duron/Athlon XP Barton Processor
Chipset:NVIDIA nForce2 IGP/MCP,Winbond W83697HF
FSB:200/266/333 MHz
RAM:3xDDR
IDE:2 ATA133 channels, up to 4 ATA 133 IDE devices
Slots:3 x PCI slots, 1 x AGP 8X slot (Supports AGP 2X/4X/8X, but no support 1X )
Ports:1xCOM,2xUSB,2xPS2 (see pictures for full listing)
Onboard Audio: 6 channel AC 97 Audio
Onboard LAN: nForce2 MCP 10/100 Ethernet LAN
Onboard VGA: Nforce Intregrated Geforce4 MX Graphics Model#: KM18G PRO

Novgrod so one stick of 512 PC2100 would be good?
xSauronx what case are you talking about I'm looking on newegg.com now and can't find that one. Thanks for the help everyone, you all have been really helpfull.

 

[thraxes]

Well if you are going to use onboard VGA then an Nforce2 wouldn't hurt. Otherwise I would have suggested to get a cheaper KT333 or KT400 solution with 512 MB of RAM (the CPU and the rest of the system don't justify paying for the small percentage of extra performance that you would get) . Whatever you do though get 512MB of RAM. Sell your grandma if you have too, I would consider that amount a necessity if you are going to game a little nowadays.

 

[ExtraMSG]

If you plan on using the IGP as the video card, you should definitely get 2 memory sticks for the dual channel ram. otherwise, the performance would be quite underwhelming. there's a review of the IGP (either here at AT or at tomshardware.com) that basically says, to get decent IGP performance, you have to go dual channel.

Oh yeah, you might want to go 2x256 and then add another 512 later to save money. This way you get dual channel now but still preserve the ability to go up to 1 gb later.