Hi guys,
well, i posted a question on this forum a couple of days ago, and I received so much helpful info, that i've screwed up the courage to ask my decidedly newbie question. this is the first time i'm putting together a machine, and i'm totally confused with respect some of the components i should buy. Also, I'm afraid if i spend any more time researching(read: obsessing) about this, my wife will leave me and i'll lose my job, so please help! Thanks in advance for reading such a long post.
System Requirements:
Basically, at this time, the biggest reason for creating this system is to convert my old audio tapes to mp3. It seems a critical component in achieving a good transfer is having a very good sound card, which is why i'd prefer a mobo without on-board sound. apart from that, the only activities are running office applications, listening to music, browsing. No games or other video intensive stuff. Also, don't want to spend more than about $650, at this time(not including moniter)
What i have decided so far:
Hard Disk : IBM 40-60 GB drive@7200rpm
Sound Card : Soundblaster Live!
CPU : Athlon 1.0-1.4 GHz, depending upon 'mobo' (i love saying that word!)
CDRW: On-lite 16x or 24x
Video Card: Any cheap one, even on board video support is fine
Need your advice about:
Mobo: cheap but good. I'm kind of leaning towards the K7S5A, but i'm not sure if that has the KT266A chipset. Please also suggest
if i should go with the KT266A, or the SiS735 or the AMD761. I know this is a loaded question, but that's precisely why i'm
stuck. I'm not planning to use SCSI or RAID, just EIDE devices. If it does have on-board sound, how easy is it to disable it. I
guess having a good number of PCI slots and USB support are also important.
CPU : that would be suitable for above Mobo.
Case: I used to think the case was the least important piece of the puzzle, but i've seen the folly of my ways in the last couple
of days.I've read really good things about the Fong Kai cases here, but are there any others that might be good and
cheap? I'd probably want at least 6 bays(cd-rw, dvd-rom, hard drive, floppy = 4 gone already). Also, it seems that the
choice of case may also depend up the mobo, due to P/S requirements.
Audio/Video Card : any feedback about my choices, and others, would be welcome.
CD-RW: your thoughts about the on-lite, or others.
I know i'm asking to be handfed here, but all advice/admonishments are most welcome.
ryky
well, i posted a question on this forum a couple of days ago, and I received so much helpful info, that i've screwed up the courage to ask my decidedly newbie question. this is the first time i'm putting together a machine, and i'm totally confused with respect some of the components i should buy. Also, I'm afraid if i spend any more time researching(read: obsessing) about this, my wife will leave me and i'll lose my job, so please help! Thanks in advance for reading such a long post.
System Requirements:
Basically, at this time, the biggest reason for creating this system is to convert my old audio tapes to mp3. It seems a critical component in achieving a good transfer is having a very good sound card, which is why i'd prefer a mobo without on-board sound. apart from that, the only activities are running office applications, listening to music, browsing. No games or other video intensive stuff. Also, don't want to spend more than about $650, at this time(not including moniter)
What i have decided so far:
Hard Disk : IBM 40-60 GB drive@7200rpm
Sound Card : Soundblaster Live!
CPU : Athlon 1.0-1.4 GHz, depending upon 'mobo' (i love saying that word!)
CDRW: On-lite 16x or 24x
Video Card: Any cheap one, even on board video support is fine
Need your advice about:
Mobo: cheap but good. I'm kind of leaning towards the K7S5A, but i'm not sure if that has the KT266A chipset. Please also suggest
if i should go with the KT266A, or the SiS735 or the AMD761. I know this is a loaded question, but that's precisely why i'm
stuck. I'm not planning to use SCSI or RAID, just EIDE devices. If it does have on-board sound, how easy is it to disable it. I
guess having a good number of PCI slots and USB support are also important.
CPU : that would be suitable for above Mobo.
Case: I used to think the case was the least important piece of the puzzle, but i've seen the folly of my ways in the last couple
of days.I've read really good things about the Fong Kai cases here, but are there any others that might be good and
cheap? I'd probably want at least 6 bays(cd-rw, dvd-rom, hard drive, floppy = 4 gone already). Also, it seems that the
choice of case may also depend up the mobo, due to P/S requirements.
Audio/Video Card : any feedback about my choices, and others, would be welcome.
CD-RW: your thoughts about the on-lite, or others.
I know i'm asking to be handfed here, but all advice/admonishments are most welcome.
ryky
