High-End Thunderbird System Build

[brianafischer]

Hello,
I am building a new system for this fall. I have been researching for the last few weeks and have decided on the following setup:

AMD Thunderbird 800MHz Socket A
ASUS A7V w/no audio
256 MB Crucial PC133 Cas2
ATI All-In-Wonder 128 16MB AGP
2x 17" Generic Monitors
2x Maxtor DiamondMAX 40 30.7 Gig
Plextor PX-W1210TA 12x10x32 CD-RW w/BURN-PROOF
Pioneer DVD-105S 16x Slot DVD
Creative Sound Blaster Live Mp3+
Microsoft Intellimouse Optical
Windows 2000 OS

I need some advice though.

First, im looking for a second PCI video card for multimon support around the price range of $100
(I'm thinking of the Voodoo3 2000 PCI)

Second, im wondering if it is possible to mod the Fastrack 100 to enable IDE RAID as it was with the Fastrack 66.

Any other comments on the setup or advice is welcome. I can't wait to build this puppy!!!

Thanks,
Brian

 

[Quickfingerz]

I like everything but the all in wonder. I would get a better vid card with TV-out support and get a TV-tuner that supported video in and capture methods. It might cost slightly more but It will be much better. Maybe a G400 with WinTV Theater.

 

[brianafischer]

The thing is that I am recycling the ATI All-In-Wonder 128 from my old system. I know that with Windows 2000 you can select the primary monitor without rebooting, so I would be playing video games on the Voodoo3 2000 PCI as primary, and using video editing with the All-In-Wonder as primary.

 

[brianafischer]

I just read that the GeForce MX will be coming out in the PCI version, for around $150. That sounds interesting.

I am really curious about the hack of a Promise ATA-100 controller though, I wonder what the differences are between the PCB layouts.

 

[Crypticburn]

GeForce MX sounds nice, I would really consider taht route if I were you. I already have my FastTrak100 RAID controller so I'm not too worried about that, but I do hope it's a possibility, b/c my friend may be copying my setup and he needs to save some $$$.

 

[Dufusyte]

The Radeon based All-in-Wonder card might be out by the Fall.

 

[SUOrangeman]

I'm looking at something similar when the 760MP/770 chipset arrives. The following has been priced around $3000 without the mouse and mobo:

AMD 760MP Dual Socket-A Motherboard
2 x Thunderbird 800 Socket-A
2 x Socket-A Golden Orb Cooler (TDUFR01)
2 x 256MB PC133 (CAS2? ECC?)
2 x IBM Deskstar 75GXP 30GB (DTLA-307030)
Promise Fasttrak ATA-100 RAID PCI (or onboard)
DVD/CDRW Combo Drive (Burn-proof?)
Zip 250MB ATAPI Internal Drive
3.5" 1.44MB Floppy Drive
GeForce MX TwinView (or Single with onboard video, Video Capture?)
2 x 19" SVGA
Aureal SQ2500 PCI
Klipsch Promedia v2-400
Telex USB Digital Stereo Headset (H-551)
3com 10/100MB PCI NIC (or onboard)
Microsoft Natural Pro Keyboard
Microsoft Intellimouse Optical **2.0**
Full Tower ATX case, 300W power supply (casters?)
4 x Senfu Super Box Starge Units

-SUO

 

[dmcgoy]

IBM Drives are MUCH faster, get one of the 75gxp series...

And get a geforce2 mx with twinview support so that you only need ONE graphics card instead of two....

And i would just get creative sound blaster live! value

and the samsung syncmaster 700nf is a good 17inch monitor for under $300...

 

[brianafischer]

The Radeon based All-In-Wonder looks very interesting also. I don't want to get rid of the multimedia suppport, so I wounldn't want to go with only a GeForce MX, I need those features. The IBM's sound like some solid drives due to the latest anandtech review. I really want to discuss on how to hack the Promise ATA-100 controller, because unless promise changed the layout from the ATA-66 card, it should still be possible. Any ideas?

 

[SUOrangeman]

I'm not sure what drive controllers are on that motherboard, but Promise offers an ATA-100 controller ans well as an ATA-100 RAID controller. Can I assume the hack you are looking for changes the standard controller to RAID?

-SUO

 

[brianafischer]

Yes, I planned on purchasing a plain old ATA-100 promise card, then hoping to modify it using the same method as the Promise ATA-66 to RAID ATA-66 hack (a resisitor and a BIOS flash). I am also curious if ASUS will implement RAID into the A7V motherboard in future updates, because they also use the promise ATA-100 controller on their MB.

-Brian