How Does This System Look?

[owensdj]

I created a list of components(shown below) for someone who wants to build his own computer. Does anybody see any incompatability problems with the system I'm recommending? Any changes I could make that would give them a better machine? I was able to find all of these components for a total of $1836, not counting shipping. Is that a good price compared to buying a top-quality pre-built with the same specs? Thanks for any advice you can give me.

1.4GHz AMD 266MHz TBird/Asus A7M266 Combo
256MB PC2100 DDR Memory * 2
ELSA Gladiac 920 Graphics Card
Turtle Beach Santa Cruz Sound Card
US Robotics Peformance Pro Modem
IBM 60GB 60GXP 7200RPM ATA100 Hard Drive
Pioneer 16X Tray Load DVD-116 ATA
Teac 1.44 Floppy Drive
Antec SX830 Workstation Tower Case w/ 300W PS
Antec 80mm Case Fan * 2
Viewsonic GS790 19" Monitor
Altec Lansing ACS-33W w/ Subwoofer
Microsoft Internet Keyboard
Logitech Optical Mouse
Windows 2000 Professional

 

[owensdj]

No suggestions at all?

 

[odog]

seems a little expensive, but overall a seriously kickass system.


my only gripe, the speakers are a little under powered for such a kickass rig.

 

[fitzhue]

Looks pretty good. The only suggestion I would have is to buy better speakers. Four speaker surround setups are very common and are available at reasonable prices. The Boston Acoustics BA4800's come to mind. I also hope your friend won't be overclocking, because the A7M266 has to multiplier adjustments, AFAIK. You also didn't list a heatsink. A good popular one would be the taisol CGK760092, you can get one at KD Computers

 

[agg123456789]

well my only sugestion would be to drop from a 1.4 GHz to a 1.33 or 1.2 because the 1.4s are at such a price premium right now....


just my 2 cents.....


agg123456789

 

[w74656]

drop the CPU to a 1GHZ AXIA or 1.33 AHJYA depending on what you need
also, if you have the Santa Cruz, go for a better set than the ACS33s, maybe the ACS56 or BA4800
if you have a old comp that you don't use, you can take the FDD (if working) from that one since they pretty much statyed the same for the past 6 years or so
I would take another mobo because the A7M266 has a 2 phase power and comes at a premium because of the Asus name, maybe the EPoX 8K7A or MSI K7 Master if you are going for the 760 chipset

 

[LuNoTiCK]

What about the epox motherboard instead? I also think it would be a good idea for the ba4800's if you dont mind spending a little more. I dont think you will be overclocking since you arent building the computer for yourself, but if you are maybe get the taisol cgk 760 heatsink like fitzhue, or the swiftech mc370 which is probably better. I'm not sure about the digital like only the 105s had digital not the 115, I'm not sure if the 116 tray load has it, but I'm pretty sure.

 

[OneOfTheseDays]

Ok drop the 1.4ghz, and get a 1.2ghz tbird. Get an epox 8k7a motherboard, i would also drop the geforce 3 and get a pro for half the price. your friend doesn't need a gf3 right now and he should wait until prices go down. Also does he really need a 60gb hd??? Get rid of the pioneer 16x and get a toshiba 12x or 16x, his ears will thank him for that. Also, you can buy an iiyama 191A 19" for $339 at computermart.com. Get rid of speakers as well and get the ba4800's. This should could the price a couple hundred bucks and offer similar performance.

 

[Smapty]

why not one sttick of 512 instead of 2 256's?

 

[owensdj]

Smapty, that's a good idea, but 512MB DDR memory sticks aren't available yet, at least not from crucial.com.