My BadA$$ Budget System

[UNCjigga]

Hi all! I'm lookin to use my Christmas money to build a new budget-performance system to take the place of my current one.

Here are the specs and prices (but no vendor plugs, sorry!) Prices quoted reflect shipping costs but not taxes.

MicroStar K7T Pro2A - $139 (Retail boxed) SHIPPED COST!
AMD Thunderbird 800 - $125 (local shop OEM tray-no fan)
256MB PC133 - $129 (Micron -8E chips, Crucial PCB, CAS3)
Geforce2 MX w/TV - $129 (Hercules)
Enlight 7237-300w - $85 (Retail boxed)
IBM 75GXP 20GB - $129 (OEM)
Toshiba DVD 12x - $99 (OEM)
SoundBlaster Live! - $0 (brand new OEM Live! Value w/spdif digital out--worth $40)
Accessories - $30 (Cables, heatsinks, fans, etc.)
Sony 3.5" floppy - $0 (Better than Mitsumi, hehe!)
3com 905A NIC - $0 (Cannibalized from old sys--thanks hans007!)
3com 56k ISA modem - $0 (Cannibalized--thanks again! DEATH TO ALL WINMODEMS!!!
--------------------------
TOTAL: $865!!! (forgot the floppy drive originally, lol!)

So whaddya think? All the hardware is reputable, and I think it will be fun to build! Do you think I can do better or should I just go for it?

Also, which 17" monitors would you recommend (or do you know of a good quality 19" under $500?) I've grown accustomed to Trinitron tubes, and I'm currently thinking of a monitor based on FD Trinitron technology (same as the Wega TV tube?)

Any other recommendations to round out the system are welcome. Like any good name-brand CD burners (8x-12x) under $200, etc.??? Any help is appreciated. Please post all replies in this thread.

 

[LXi]

Everything looks great, except you probably should be able to get the K7T Pro2A a little cheaper than $139.


<<Also, which 17&quot; monitors would you recommend (or do you know of a good quality 19&quot; under $500?) I've grown accustomed to Trinitron tubes, and I'm currently thinking of a monitor based on FD Trinitron technology (same as the Wega TV tube?)>>

Samsung SyncMaster 700NF ~$280. For 19&quot;, Samsung 900NF, $440. Both top of the class monitors in their respective size.

 

[UNCjigga]

I found the K7T Pro2 a little bit cheaper ($99-$109) but the Pro2A is priced a little bit higher right now because it uses the 686B southbridge (with ATA-100 support.) In a few weeks this price difference should disappear because the newer southbridge chip costs the manufacturer about the same price as the old one, and production of the older board should cease while the newer board takes its place.

 

[bonkers325]

MicroStar K7T Pro2A - $139 (Retail boxed) ..... get much cheaper try to find
AMD Thunderbird 800 - $125 (local shop OEM tray-no fan) ......... ok price
256MB PC133 - $129 (Micron -8E chips, Crucial PCB, CAS3) ....... ok price
Geforce2 MX w/TV - $129 (Hercules) ....... ok price
Enlight 7237-300w - $85 (Retail boxed) ....... ok price
IBM 75GXP 20GB - $129 (OEM) ..... to much can get a 45gig for abotu $150 ibm 75gxp
Toshiba DVD 12x - $99 (OEM) ..... ok price
SoundBlaster Live! - $0 (brand new OEM Live! Value w/spdif digital out--worth $40)
Accessories - $30 (Cables, heatsinks, fans, etc.)
Sony 3.5&quot; floppy - $0 (Better than Mitsumi, hehe!)

 

[LXi]

No... most of the Pro2s have been phased out long time ago. The regular K7T Pro goes for around $100, the Pro2As should be about $115(United Micro.com).

A quick search for &quot;MicroStar K7T Pro2&quot; gives me a lot of results for Pro2A, only Mwave.com is still carrying the Pro2 based on 686A.

 

[hans007]

you can get the kds av195tf (i have my long KDS thread, about my experience with them after my value monitor, great customer service). But anyways its a sony tube FD trinitron, its $427 at onvia.com. Lots of people here will vouch for it, i'm personally upgrading to that, after my disaster with their visual sensations line. That a pretty nice computer, i figure you'll need a nic or modem maybe a burner ? I think ctx also uses the FD trinitron tube in some monitors, and you can pick those up at sams club sometimes.

 

[UNCjigga]

You may be right about the hard drive...but the price I was quoting was my discounted price at a local shop. I'll have to see if they can order the 45GB for a comparable cost...otherwise I'll shop around online! I don't really need 45GB--maybe the 30GB 75gxp will be a good compromise... (or maybe I'll just be greedy!)

Oh, if you can let me know what price to look for on that MSI motherboard I'd greatly appreciate it.

Thanks!

 

[LXi]

I've been trying to tell people to stay away from KDS VisualSensations... now they learn the lesson.

 

[LXi]

For hard drive, if all you need is 20GB, I recommend going with a Quantum Fireball Plus LM which is about $115. The Maxtor DiamondMax Plus45 30GB is only $137. Both excellent drives.

The right price for the MSI K7T Pro2A should be somewhere between $110-120, anything above $125 is kind of a rip off.

 

[UNCjigga]

Thanks for the heads-up on mobo prices--I will definately save money where I can! I'm still in the process of consolidating equipment bought online to as few vendors as possible (pay a few bucks extra on parts to have it all shipped together--save on shipping!)
I wanted to keep vendor plugs out of this thread, but there's no avoiding it now! Any recommendations/testimonials for online vendors?

 

[UNCjigga]

Crap, I just realized the MSI board I want has no ISA slots, so my beloved 3com 56k ISA won't make it! I definately WILL NOT pay the price premium for a PCI gaming modem just to save a little CPU drain, but are there any other alternatives to the dreaded winmodem? The experiences I've had with AMR are horrifying, and I doubt CNR is any better (besides, CNR 'modems' don't exist and I probably wouldn't want one anyway!)

 

[LXi]

Zoom makes PCI hardware modems, it goes for like $50-70, very nice modem.

 

[hans007]

Pick up an epox 8kta+ / 8kta2, that one has an ISA and its actually cheaper, only like $105.

 

[Chuffmaster2k]

With that kind of a system you will not notice a difference w/ a winmodem. I am running a winmodem (viking) w/ the lucent chipset. I connect constantly between 44 and 45.2k. I play a lot of counter-strike and my average ping is about 200. Good luck.

 

[RossMAN]

Whatever monitor you get I would suggest buying it from Amazon.com using their $50 off $200 coupon, unfortunately you just missed free shipping ($30 savings on a 19&quot; monitor).

Or Onvia has a $50 off $500 coupon with free shipping, they have great prices and free shipping.

Check out the KDS 195AVTF, SONY, ViewSonic or Samsung monitors.

 

[Noriaki]

According to Modus, the Lucent LT is an excellent modem chipset, it is software based, but it gives ping times and transfer rates as good as any hardware 56k and it will even run on Linux.

I've never used one myself, but modus told me to look at those Lucent LTs, and they can be had for $10-15 apperntly.

 

[UNCjigga]

An update on the mobo: I was told by a vendor that they are expecting to receive their first batch of K7T Turbo boards within the next couple of weeks...possibly even before Christmas!! This board uses the KT133A chipset which runs memory AND FSB at 133MHZ (giving you 266MHZ DDR!) but only requires standard PC133 SDRAM. Their is a significant price difference, but I believe that's because a RAID controller is on-board. I may just wait for this board instead!

 

[ledzepp98]

BEWARE!!!!!!!!!!!! ok, i looked at the micron website and check this out (it's a decent sized pdf file sop it might take a bit to download). it doesn't seem that any -8E chips are officially pc133 (there is a chart on the bottom of the first page, although i could be misinterpreting it)

 

[tavin64]

for burner i recommend the sony 8x/4x/32x IDE drive. Its for around $150 right now and its very fast. These drives on the benchmarks burn cdrs faster than the plextors and hp and yamaha.

 

[LXi]

uncJIGGA:

Thats good news indeed, the K7T Turbo is the rumored Abit KT7-RAID killer. It's a very nice motherboard with RAID feature.

 

[jimmygates]

IBM 75GXP 45GB OEM= $149.99 + free shipping at Onvia. Add tax if your in Washington.




-Jimbo