How does this system sound to you? Be honist!

[A2KLAU]

I am planning on building this system in maybe 2-3 weeks time so no hurry yet but just want to see what you would approve of:

These already bought so no need to coment on these:
30.7GB IBM Deskstar 7200RPM (Already bought)
ASUS DVD-Rom 8X Chipped
ASUS 8X4X32X CD-RW
Sony Floppy Drive
Logitech iTouch Combo, Cordless keyboard and Cordless Mouseman Wheel
Iomega Zip 250 Internal

Stuff I am planning to get:
Abit KT7 not raid (No need for it)
AMD T-Bird 850
Fong Kai FK-320B (Black) 300Watt PSU

Need suggestions for these:
Sound Card
Speakers 5.1 preferably
Graphics AGP card (Be reasonable I like games but too high price)
And other stuff which I have forgoten to mention...

Thanks for any replies I get!!!

SKY.

 

[cyclistca]

It sucks . First I would go with a faster CPU. AMD prices are so cheap these days.

Motherboard
- I have an A7pro which is an ASUS A7V without the ATA 100 controller. Very happy with it. There is also another board that a lot of people recommend. Sorry don't remember the name right now.

Sound card
- Can't go wrong with a Sound Blaster

Graphics
- Geforce 2 GTS or MX minimum. I would go for the GTS. Hercules makes a nice card.

 

[Moving Target]

Get a GeForce GTS and some Klipsch ProMedias! You would have a sweet system

 

[MetalCat]

If its the games your after 850 chip will mash most things with a decent gpx card you don't need any fast. I woulden't get caught in a game of one up manship.

 

[arod]

I would get the MSI K7t2 pro-a board (most stable in reviews + the led thing is sweet)

Video Radeon 32 DDR about 140 most places.

Sound SB Live Value & klipsch promedias (i have both and love them) about 300 for both

 

[BigLance]

Video Card

The Radeon from ATI will beat the Geforce GTS in almost every 32bit game/ benchmark. Especially at high res, I don't know about you but most games now doays are 32bit not 16 bit. This is what changed my mind from getting a Creative GTS to a Radeon 32 or 64MB DDR, not sure which yet- they are both smkoin' fast !

Sound Card

I have an X-Gamer (Sound Blaster LIVE!) and it rocks, you should be able to get one for like $50-65 or so. Also, the SB LIve! Value is really the same card with less cool software (Somwthing to think about!). Also check out the new Phillips Acoustic Edge, suppost to rock also !

For 5.1 Suuround Sound

Hook to home theatre 5.1 system
If that does not work, look at Klipshish for one, there are many other good Computer speaker manufactures if thats what you want to do...

Good Luck, have fun building !

 

[Czar]

Just about what everyone has been saying, then I´d skip the coardless POS, it will be great to begin with but when the batteries start to run out then you will hate it so much.

Then I´d get a 60-80gb disk also for storage, but thats just me

 

[dadx2mj]

I would dump the Abit and go for an Asus mobo much better quality. If you are not a hard core gamer go for the GeForce MX. I have the Hercules Prophet II MX got it for $108 great card for the money.

 

[AMB]

Motherboard

I have always liked my Abit KT7, it been stable enough, to run during a 10-hour day without any problems at all.

Although I would still like to recommend the Abit, there is the new MSI K7T 2A, which is meant to be good.

It is up to you with what you choose. Tough decision for me...

CPU

I would say a 850 is enough, though, going near 1000MHz would do no harm, if you have the money, that is. I would prefer to spend extra money on peripherals than raw speed.

Case

Yes, that case is amazing. I have been trying to find it for ages in the UK. It comes with a 300W athlon approved PSU, what more could you want.

Sound Card

I'd recommend a Sb Live, I have the platinum, and actually use the Live Drive II, but either go for the X-Gamer, MP3 or Platinum

Speakers

In the UK, you can get hold of Videologic easily, they are my preferred manufacturer over the years, I have the Videologic DigiTheatre, which is Dolby Digital 5.1, it is very good for how much it costs.


Graphics

I have always like Hercules and Creative.

I'd go with either a MX or GTS, for the MX, I'd go with the Creative DDR, and for the GTS, It would be a tie between Hercules and Creative

 

[Viperoni]

<< The Radeon from ATI will beat the Geforce GTS in almost every 32bit game/ benchmark >>



The Radeon is a great card, and it's visual qualiy (2d and 3d) is a nice contrast to GTS's/GF's/TNT's
I'm doing a group buy on 64mb Radeon Engineering Sample's in the FS/T forum, interested?

 

[nortexoid]

If i were u i'd buy an Epox EP-8KTA3 motherboard using the KT133A chipset...or, the DFI AK74-AC using the same chipset...i wouldn't purchase the Soltek crap reviewed here. People have successfully gotten the Epox to work at 155MHz FSB overclocked...

the cpu is fine (although i find the best bang for the buck is currently the 1ghz t-bird, unless u're planning to massively overclock...then any t-bird should essentially get u beyond the ghz barrier depending on cooling methods.)

video card - geforce2 mx, although i've always wanted to get an evil kyro simply because of its uniqueness (tile-rendering) and relatively good performance. But if u want a mroe powerful vid card, then i'd suggest any of the following - radeon 64mb ddr, gefroce 2 gts 32mb ddr, or voodoo 5 5500 64mb ddr. The voodoo is cheapest of the lot, with the geforce 2 slightly higher and the radeon the most. In order, i would choose the geforce 2 gts first, then the radeon, then the voodoo, especially if u're running win2k, where the radeon performs dismally.

 

[A2KLAU]

Well my hard drive is an ATA100 I think, so I need a mobo which does ATA100, I think the Asus does it too... Well it is slightly more expensive and stuff ut I'll see... And the AMB if you want to find the Fong Kai in the UK go to www.overclockers.co.uk they are a UK site (Obvious with the .co.uk) And they are pretty good! I use them to buy some of my gear! I am a UK guy too! And for the CPU the 850 I am going to OC, sorry for not mentioning it. BTW how high can I OC the 850 safly on a ASUS or Abit, and the reason why I liked the Abit one was that it had full control using the BIOS and not the Dipswitches, which are fiddly.

SKY.

If I left anything out please tell me!

 

[nortexoid]

ooops..

asf or sound card - aureal superquad 2500 w/ cambridge dtt2500 (or fps2000) speakers...

that way, u don't spend a fortune and get excellent quality sound...
also, a3d 2 sounds much better than EAX, and the sq2500 supports them both...
and has win2k drivers as well...who cares if they've been bought by creative.
creative makes crap sound cards...live bay breakout box? - big deal, get a frontx
box for a different card.

phillip's makes another good 5.1 sound card that doesn't need an external dolby decoder,
as do other sound card manufacturers.

 

[AMB]

SKY2KLAU, thanks, I already know about OcUk, I had been waiting about six months for that case, and I decided to buy a new one, two weeks before OcUk released it

 

[AMB]

I find Dabs the best for hardware OcUk doesnt have in stock.

I'd defintly go with the DigiTheatre as you do live in the UK

 

[A2KLAU]

Oh descisions descisions... Thanks for the help so far! And I am now revising my list a little!

SKY.

 

[A2KLAU]

Which DigiTheatre? Videologic or the Cambridge or something like that? Whatever...

SKY.

And no problem AMB nice to help a fellow ANANDTECHER and fellow UKer...

 

[AMB]

<< Speakers

In the UK, you can get hold of Videologic easily, they are my preferred manufacturer over the years, I have the Videologic DigiTheatre, which is Dolby Digital 5.1, it is very good for how much it costs.
>>



He He

Here is a link

That is about £210 from Dabs, or you could buy the DTS, but that is about £410

 

[A2KLAU]

Well... I was hoping for a sound system slightly cheaper, but I will stick with my existing sound setup which is a HiFi. And see if I can a gert a new amp which will support Dolby Digi input and the sound card will support output.

SKY.