Need help choosing components for system upto $1100

[Spac3d]

I don't game, but I do need a lot of ram.... maybe I should just get 768mb of ram now? or should I want a while, get a 512 now, and get another 512 stick in 6 months? I have 256mb right now and it just isnt cutting it.

- How does the Santa Cruz compare to the Audigy? I havent been able to find reviews on these 2 cards.
- I have no idea on which mobo to go with, I dont have a preference for brand. The Gigabyte looked good to me, but I have heard people have had issues, even with revision 2.0
- I want to get a Radeon video card for under $150 - any suggestions? Maybe the new 9000?
- Some people told me to get another NIC because it will make a difference - what are your opinions on this?
- Couldnt find any place that sells the 2200+ retail ... is there a place? I estimated price.

This is what I have figured so far (I already have a burner) and I still have another $350 to spend:

CHIEFTEC Server Chasis (Aluminum Workstation Tower with Plastic Front Cover) Silver w/acrylic window - $129
AMD ATHLON XP 2200+ 1.8GHZ - $235
LITE-ON LTD-163 16X DVD ROM Drive $38
(2) ANTEC 80mm SMARTFAN (keeping my harddrives cool) $30
VOYETRA TURTLE BEACH SANTA CRUZ - OEM $59
MUSHKIN DDR 512MB PC-2700 - OEM $159
WD WESTERN DIGITAL "SPECIAL EDITION" 80GB 7200RPM EIDE HARD DRIVE MODEL # WD800JB $108
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Total so far: $758

Thanks a lot, I know it was a very long post. I will gladly accept any suggestions

Spac3d

 

[SocrPlyr]

save your money on the RAM right now... (IMO you really only need about 384MB right now) also the cost of RAM is high right now so i would just hold off on that...
as for the sound card if you game then go w/ the audigy if just music get a card based on the santa cruz... and if you really don't do either that much... i would just go w/ a 5.1 integrated sound on the mobo...
as for the motherboard get one based on the kt333 chipset (of course), make sure you have USB 2.0 (or firewire, both would be a bonus) just get a big name, i don't know what the "hot" one is now but i would get an asus, epox, or gigabyte (others too, those are off my head) it is up to you whether or not you want an ide raid controller (would you use it?...)
video card... my suggestion is get an 8500 or 8500LE, still better peformers than the 9000/Pro, also get the Built by ATI...
NIC, if yours is a 10/100 and works fine, don't bother
CPU... 66MHz isn't that big of a performance increase go w/ the 2100+ retail (165 from newegg...) the actual performance differential is under 4%
i am assuming that case has a 300W+ power supply in it (if so it is fine...)

if you have any question just post...

Josh

 

[Byte]

There are a lot of nice mobos coming out soon, but if you need one now, the Gigabyte is really awesome, super fast boot, great speed. Or if you don't really trust them go with the Chaintek Apogee 7VJL, almost the same great features, great O/Cing, but no Dual Bios, it even includes rounded cables and break out box. You really can't go wrong with either. I have both, and love them both. I just can't choose which one i like better, if price doesn't matter then maybe you should go with the Chaintek

There really isn't anything special about sound cards now days. I don't seem much difference between my Audigys and Lives. I hear there will be unified drivers laster, but it hasn't come out yet. The coolest one is the Herc GametheaterXP, but performance in games is mediocre. But your not really gaming, are you?

As for NICs, go with whatever brand you like, i like Linksys ones, cuz they generally don't give me problems. The generic $5 ones usually are very picky which PCI slot you put them in and will now work, or crash the computer totally, the new mobos probably are better at managing them though, i hope.

For RAM, i don't know how 256MB isn't cutting it for you, but then again it doesn't for me..... But RAM is kinda expansive now, so it's really up to you.

And the Processor, you should probably get a cheaper one and overclock. You probably won't notice too much performance difference right now and wait for something really worth while such as the Hammers.

 

[Spac3d]

Awesome! Thanks for the replies guys. Let me see...
SocrPlyr: Thanks for the reply. Um.. I am pretty sure I am going with a 512 stick to start off with.... I really could use the ram. I mean with my 256 now, my 1ghz machine runs like a P2 or something. I really need a lot of horsepower... and ther 512mb is the minimum for now.

You said exactly what I wanted to hear about the sound card - I do listen to a lot of music and I do some mixing on my computer, but this machine runs so poorly ( I believe the reason is because of heat related problems / not enough power from PSU) that I cannot really use the machine for anything right now.

About the mobo's, yes I would be afraid to not use one of the big named ones, but after lookng at the Gigabyte, I realized it would be nice to have firewire built in (That being one of the pros to getting the Audigy.. firewire built in).

I read a little about the video cards and it seemed that the 9000 was behind the 8500/LE I was wondering if it was just drivers. Well, you are right, I shouldn't even consider a non Built by ATI in my budget - I dont even game.

You are right about the mhz difference between the 2100 and the 2200. I am unsure if I want to overclock, does the Tbred actually kinder in the overclocking? I havent really read much at all, but that was the reason behind the 2200.

Byte: I really liked what I saw on the Gigabyte for specs/features, but my friend had a terrible time trying to get 2 of those boards to work, so now I am unsure, but maybe I will just take the plunge. I haven't looked into the Chaintek at all, I will go look at it now

I never considered the Herculues, I will defintely take a look, maybe one of these will offer a better feature than all the others and will be the deciding factors.

I thought I was done and then I saw your edit

Actually, I just rememberd I want to buy a NIC so I can have Wake on LAN. That could be a really useful feature for me... that is a definte must have. I will either go with Linksys or Intel (heard good things from a network admin).

Yes, you sold me on not getting the 2200+... you are right, I am just really waiting for the hammer to come out. I will take a screen shot next time I am not in a rush and you can see why people just go :Q when they see my task bar hehe

Thanks all I can always count on Anandtech Forums

Spac3d

 

[Spac3d]

^Bump^ to the top for any more opinions

Spac3d

 

[CelticDemolition]

the 8500 IS faster than the 9000, its not drivers, its just a more powerful card. everyone has a weird naming scheme these days. get whatever is cheaper. or save money and go with a 7xxx series.

i would say get a cheaper cpu, one closer to the sweet spot in pricing (1700+ to 1900+), saving more than $100 and not really losing all that much performance (since you dont game, whats really gonna stress a cpu that powerful?), plus you can unlock or fsb oc and get nearly all of it back anyway.

put the money saved there (and that extra $350 you got just lying around) toward a NICE monitor... its the best thing to invest in for the long run. 19" sony, perhaps...? i think a really really good 21" is still out of your reach, though i could be wrong. id stress monitor quality over the jump from 19" to 21", so go with a big name brand, and sony is probably the best, though really expensive. or did you want an lcd?

yeah, kt333 mobo. ive heard good things about the msi one. but if youre waiting for hammer, you should make sure that your mobo will work with hammer. does anyone know anything about hammers backwards compatibility?

 

[Byte]

As for the gigabyte, i really have no problems, but the Chaintek will be the most comparablye feature wise.
The Hercules has pretty much the most features short of a Audigy Plat or EX, it even has composite output so you can use it on bigger speakers and whatnot. I really like the build and design of the breakout box. Not bad for around $100. BTW why do you want to get a Radeon Card?

As for the monitor, i have a Sony G200 and while its really nice, it's kinda overpriced. My dad recently bought a cheap Envision monitor and the colors just blows away everything i've had before. Text is only slightly harder to read, but at almost half the price, its definetly worth it. THey use a lot of envisions at my school, around 100 older ones and none have really failed yet, so realibility doesn't seem to be an issue. My last Sony 200SX didn't last 3 years. If you planning to do anything with pictures, require real nice vibrant colors, go with envision, if you want sharp text, the sony will satisfy that. I hate viewsonic monitors, we have that at work, they all suck.

BTW i've also tried the MSI KT3 Ultra and it sucks compared to gigabyte and chaintek. It is kinda flimsly made though it has a nice box and is red. It just felt inferior and had bad layout compared to the gigabyte and the chaintek boards. It also seemed to have issues with certain NICs.

 

[Spac3d]

CelticDemolition: I found a Radeon 8500LE for $87 ... I am sure that it will fit my needs, and it seems to have greast peer reviews on newegg - seems to be easily overclockable.

I do do some CPU intensive stuff, unraring, converting movies, programming, compiling, so I think I will still go with the 2100+ or a 2000+ and really try to keep my CPU speed up. I will take a look over at the overclockers forum to see who has had good luck with their AMD's.

Oh, about the monitor, I have had a 21" Sony Trinitron for almost 3 years now... that thing is HUGE and I will not give that up unless I get a simialr size LCD

Byte: I am pretty sure that I am getting the Gigabyte ver. 2.0. I want a radeon because I like to support the underdog, and I like the price of the ATI's.

About that Herculues... I am hooking up a Panasonic shelf system that I have. It was much more efficient than other computer speakers (I got it before the z560's). Right now I use the line out on my sound card to the Auxillary in on my system. What do you think would make the best sound card combo with the shelf system?? I know some cheaper sound cards give it crappy quality, so I guess I should be looking for an excellent Audio Out -> Aux in. I should have thought of this earlier when looking at sound cards


*edit* HOLY MOTHER - That is one SWEET sound card! It looks like a mini receiver... but is that too much for hooking it up to my shelf system?

Spac3d

 

[CelticDemolition]

wow... 8500le for $87... got my card 6 months ago for $150+. sometimes it blows me away how quickly comp stuff drops in value...

nice monitor. didnt know if you had one or not, so i figured id just throw all that out there.

hehe... you SURE you dont wanna unlock that 1700+ and then oc it through the roof? hmmmm? cmon... you know you want to....


byte: hes got a radeon card cuz nowhere else can you get such good 2d quality at such a low price.

 

[Spac3d]

By unlocking do yoiu mean I have to cut the bridges? Or can i over clock it just through the bios? I have yet to do any overclocking yet but I have a basic understanding about the multiplier, etc. What speeds are attainable from the 1700+?

ATI RADEON 8500LE 64MB DDR CRT/DVI/TV <-- $87 but sold out for now

Spac3d

 

[ku]

I also think you should also get 2000+ instead of 2200. You save hell of a lot of money for perfomance margin that's barely noticable. If your mobo has 5.1 sound, I would stick with it. Save 40 bucks or however much those things cost (I wouldn't know, I stay away from soundcards keke). As for motherboard, I've been hearing gigabyte is the way to go but I know how you feel when you hear about all the troubles. Who knows, that was just 1 person. As for video card, definately go with the radeon8500 128mb. 9000 is not worth it. NIC is a waste of 10 bucks if you have one onboard. Go buy yourself McDonalds or something or 2 packs of cigarettes.

 

[Byte]

It's really up to you if you want a fancy sound card. The one included on the Gigabyte is creative i believe, but i hear they are changing it to some sort of AC97 with 5.1, but you don't really seem to need 5.1 do you? You could probably save money on the sound card.

If your not going to game, don't worry too much about a video card. Spend as little as you can. If you want good 2D get a Matrox G400 or so. The 2D quality between a Matrox, Voodoo4, Geforce 4, and Radeon are almost unnoticable unless you have a 21" screen, then you might notice a few difference between text. The older Radeon and Geforce 2s had some pretty crappy 2D. The radeon for $87 is not too bad, wait for that if you can.

It's up to you which GA-7VRX you want, the P version has RAID and LAN for a few bucks more.

BTW what kind of monitor are you planning to get?

 

[Spac3d]

Byte: I am going to be using my 21" Trintron monitor. I am pretty sure I am going to be going with the 8500 for $87... sounds perfect for me.

Do you know which sound card will sound the best with my shelf system? I would much rather spend money on a nice soundcard and get excellent sound straight to my shelf system then just use the one on board.

With dropping the CPU down to a 2000+ or so (even with the major price drop of 2200+ oem this week) I would have an extra $100 in my budget... so I am still I believe somewhere about $300 below my budget. I was also thinking of getting a tv tuner card because I have always wanted to have TV on in the background (now I always have a tv running for background noise) and I am moving and will loose my tv So I am contemplating between an AIW Radeon and a Radeon then getting a very nice TV tuner card (the VisionTek) that looks like it has some really cool features and it has good reveiws. that would mean Video card + sound card + TV Tuner = ~$300 hehe but I am pretty entertainment based and that is what this machine will be for.

I am defitnely going to be doing maybe another week of research before I make the plunge, I need to make sure each component is going to work well for me.

Thanks again,

Spac3d

 

[CelticDemolition]

By unlocking do yoiu mean I have to cut the bridges? Or can i over clock it just through the bios? I have yet to do any overclocking yet but I have a basic understanding about the multiplier, etc. What speeds are attainable from the 1700+?

okay, so you know that speed in mhz equals the multiplier times the front side bus speed. fsb is the same for all the athlon xps, they just change the multiplier to get the higher speed. normally, the multiplier cant be changed by you, unless you connect the five L1 bridges on the top of your cpu (and do it properly.. hehe), then you can alter it from on your mobo. most motherboards out now support custom fsb speeds and multiplier adjustment; however, you should make sure the one you want does it well. what i meant above is to buy a 1700+ (the recent steppings are all good ocers), unlock it, and turn the multiplier up to basically turn it into a 1900+ or better. totally doable with adequate cooling, and it'll save you a little bit of cash. you can also mess with the fsb if you want, but thats riskier since it affects more than just your cpu. ive corrupted hard drives and stuff like that. it'll give you a bigger speed boost, though...

up to you. its really not all that big a deal to unlock a cpu. not dangerous if you do it right. go to www.hardcorecooling.us and buy the unlocking kit they have there; thats the one i used, worked flawlessly. but i can totally understand if you dont want to attempt it and just buy the faster processor. it is a fairly large investment, and some people just dont like to mess with it. good luck with your purchase!

 

[Byte]

How good are the speakers you have? Why don't you just try the onboard sound and see how satisfied you are, if you aren't it's never too late to upgrade

Also i've tried all the TV tuners and they are all far from perfect. You can try to get a AIW Radeon as it's less of a hassle, but may cost more. They have the Avermedia ones at compusa for like free this week, it's worth looking into for free. Its a little buggy, but gets the job done. I forgot if it works with other TV Tuner software though such as cyber link powervcr, which is super expensive anyway unless you kaza it
ATI just release 7.6 for it's TV Wonder so it's a lot better than the older crap, but still far from perfect. The Matrox Tuner is very nice, but hard to find and expenisve and the Visiontek one is just way too expensive, and has basically the same chips. The newer Radeon has a Digital Tuner which is slightly better than the old ones, but it's arguable. What i would do is just get the free one at compusa and see how happy you are with that.

 

[Spac3d]

Byte: I remember using my brothers system with his built in sound card... sounded like trash. Then I bought a decent sound card and it really came to life. There is little question about if I am going to get a sound card IMO. I also have a few decent computer speakers lying around from this or that.... I think maybe Ill hook them up and have a 6.1 setup That should be interesting and the Herculues will let me play with it pretty well IMO.

http://www.prodcat.panasonic.com/sh...ts=True&active=1&ModelNo=SC-AK300&CategoryId= is the link to my sound system so you can get a better idea (my browser at work is old and when I click the http button, it doesnt do anything... )

The reason I wanted a sound card is because we will only have 1 tv in my apt, and if I wanted to watch a show, I reasonably could. I also like the idea of having a TIVO like product because I am rarely around from 8-midnite... my mind is either being ... altered hehe or I am working out. I like the TV tuner that is listed @ newegg.com in the bottom middle link (when I try to go to newegg.com rigth now it re-routes me to Washington's Transit Website :Q).

Damn, Byte, you do know your hardware

*bump*

Spac3d