My college computer.... some advice?

[Xesh]

I've read through these boards a good bit, and much of what I want is based on that, but still.... I have a few questions. My father has told me that he'll give me $1000 for my computer, but I'm going to put in some cash of my own (a few hundred or more).

RAID - I've been told all the nasty details of RAID, and my question is, will it give me real world performance in normal applications? Is it worth the extra $80 (from 60GB single to two 40GB plus $30 for the RAID support)?

Speakers - I'm going to be living in a double dorm room, so will a 4 speaker system be a bad idea? I'm not sure I'd even have a place to put them. But I do want nice sound quality. I've been told that the Klipsch 2.1 setup is excellent, but at $180 it's a tad expensive. Is it worth it? Is there another speaker system that I can get cheaper that's almost as good? I'm utterly confused.

Monitor - Hitachi CM751... any reason I shouldn't buy this?

HSF - I was considering a Cooler Master EP5-6i11 for $11 - any good? Somebody recommended a Taisol - are they expensive? where can I find one?


My other components tentatively include an Epox EP-8K7A or EP-8K7A+, a Leadtek GF2Pro (bad 2D? should I consider Radeon?), and an Enlight 7237 (is Inwin better?) I plan on buying from newegg, mwave, dell, and buy.com, depending on what's in stock where, etc. Does anyone know where to get a better deal?

Yes, it does seem that my system is turning into the typical AnandTech forum system, but you people seem to know what you're talking about, so I'll consider that a good thing. Sorry about the lengthy question, but it's a big investment, and I want to make sure everything's just perfect. Thanks everyone

- Xesh

 

[Fencer128]

<< I've read through these boards a good bit, and much of what I want is based on that, but still.... I have a few questions. My father has told me that he'll give me $1000 for my computer, but I'm going to put in some cash of my own (a few hundred or more).

RAID - I've been told all the nasty details of RAID, and my question is, will it give me real world performance in normal applications? Is it worth the extra $80 (from 60GB single to two 40GB plus $30 for the RAID support)? >>



If you use your computer for games, office etc then you're really not going to see a huge performance increase from using RAID. The only way it would be of real benefit to you is of you wanted to mirror (i.e. backup) your data file for file on a seperate HD. This will also slow down your performance! So, unless your running something very disk intensive or have critical data, don't bother with onboard RAID.



<< Speakers - I'm going to be living in a double dorm room, so will a 4 speaker system be a bad idea? I'm not sure I'd even have a place to put them. But I do want nice sound quality. I've been told that the Klipsch 2.1 setup is excellent, but at $180 it's a tad expensive. Is it worth it? Is there another speaker system that I can get cheaper that's almost as good? I'm utterly confused. >>



Unless you're really into games (and I play a lot of games!) or play many movies through your CPU just go with 2 speakers, cheaper, less hassle to set up and decent stereo will sound very good anyway.



<< Monitor - Hitachi CM751... any reason I shouldn't buy this? >>



I've no experience of Hitachi - sorry.



<< HSF - I was considering a Cooler Master EP5-6i11 for $11 - any good? Somebody recommended a Taisol - are they expensive? where can I find one? >>



Again - not sure, I would imagine it would depend heavily on your CPU frequency though and whether you want to overclock?




<< My other components tentatively include an Epox EP-8K7A or EP-8K7A+, a Leadtek GF2Pro (bad 2D? should I consider Radeon?), and an Enlight 7237 (is Inwin better?) I plan on buying from newegg, mwave, dell, and buy.com, depending on what's in stock where, etc. Does anyone know where to get a better deal? >>



Any 3D card nowadays gives good 2D. Don't believe all the matrox/anyone else hype about the best 2D in the industry! (Yes, they did once, but now 2D is so good that any card claiming &quot;the best 2D&quot; is trying to make up for bad 3D!). I have a Hercules GeForce2 Pro 64MB and it is beautiful As for the Radeon, I've heard it gives good price/performance ratio but won't knock dead a GF2 Pro. The Enlight case is excellent. I have used many personally and can say they are very good quality and value for money. Don't know about purchasing deals, sorry.



<< Yes, it does seem that my system is turning into the typical AnandTech forum system, but you people seem to know what you're talking about, so I'll consider that a good thing. Sorry about the lengthy question, but it's a big investment, and I want to make sure everything's just perfect. Thanks everyone >>



Don't apologise - No problem!

Andy

 

[NelsonMuntz]

mobo sounds good. video card sounds good. Are you using onboard sound from the mobo? If so, I wouldn't bother with expensive speakers. In fact, Newegg has an Altec Lansing 4+1 setup for ~$65 I think. That would be more than sufficient for the onboard sound and even wold be good with a decent sound card. I don't get PC speakers for more than $150, but that's just me. I wouldn't bother with RAID either in your case. a quick 60 Gb hard drive should be good enough and big enough for almost any applications. the Hitachi monitor is a great one at a good price. I would look for a heat sink fan here. I especially like the Global Win FOP 32-1.

 

[gopunk]

dude, your situation sounds much like mine was a month ago (father chipping in 1000, extensive research, etc). the coolermaster i have, cools great but noisy as hell (delta fan).

newegg and mwave, are both fine merchants, i've bought from them before... what kind of cpu you getting, post the details for the rest of the system!

i have a 4 speaker system and it sounds great, better than any 2 speaker system i've heard. i got the logitech soundman xtrusio dsr-100. not too well known, but they are good speakers. paid... bout 150 i think.

i have the leadtek card, works fine for me, though i've heard that the 32mb model does not perform as well as it should (has 5.5ns memory as opposed to 5ns). i don't play enough games to experience this alleged shortcoming however.

have fun building

 

[Jittos]

as for speakers, dont go for cheap ones. at least get BA4800. it's only a little more than $100.

or you can get monsoon mm2000 for $200.

as a college student, you'll need a loud set of speakers, coz everyone has one

 

[heffe734]

don't buy a coolermaster...the HSF sucks...go with a taisol or better yet...an sk-6...45 bucks @ kdcomputers.com...just ordered one for my friend.

 

[gopunk]

the delta sucks? works fine for me, i'm running my 1.4 thunderbird at 110.

 

[Xesh]

Thanks for all the replies! Any other suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[Jittos]

for HSF, my favorite is Taisol. I dont know where to find it though.

 

[Ben50]

I would suggest Altec Lansing ACS48s for speakers. Its a very nice set of speakers/subwoofer that cost about $80-$90 and will be much less hassle than setting up a 5 speaker system.

 

[HomerSapien]

Get some kick ass speakers, you will always be playing loud if you live in a dorm like the one i lived in. The thing with the delta fan is that it is loud as hell for a fan. It will drive you and your roommate nuts with the first 10 minutes of the computer being on. I have no problems with the 2d on my gts board.