New at building computers...this is my first

[NivekC4]

This is the first computer that I am going to build. So far i have a Maxtor 30.7 gb hd, a plextor 12/10/32 burner, and 128 stick of Kingston Value PC133 RAM. I was wondering if anyone could suggest a good chip and motherboard to build on. I am not particularly looking to overclock, so I was going to look into a chip that was around 1Ghz - 1.4 Ghz. I didn't know whether to wait for the P4's to drop, or to go AMD (and if i go AMD, do i go Duron, Thunderbird? Which is better, i'm not really sure...)

I'm also probably going to buy a Geforce MX graphics card, sb live sound card...

Also, if anyone could recommend a case, and a decent price for one, i would greatly appreciate it since i am having trouble on picking one out.

Thanks

Nivek

 

[Jeff H]

Nivek, the questions you're asking are good ones, but really need to be framed by two considerations: how much $$ do you want to spend, and what are you going to do w/ this system?

Right now the considered best Athlon/Duron board is the MSI KT7 Pro2A. They are a bit difficult to get, as demand is outstripping supply, but that should even out soon. For the $$ it's sure tough to beat the Duron. If you want to go Intel, then the i815EP chipset based boards look like the way to go. Right now the P!!!-700 is the overclocking chip of choice. Even if you don't overclock, that chip is pretty sweet price-wise.

Your choice of video card and sound card is good. Look at either the Asus or Hercules MX cards. The 5.1 SBlaster Live MP3+ or Gamers cards are good options. Don't scrimp on speakers; get some good ones that do justice to your sound card.

RE cases, there are many good choices, including the Antec, Enlight and AOpen cases. Check out Multiwave.com for Enlight or AOpen cases.

 

[Nessism]

Even though I'm an all Intel guy up to this point, I recommend going with a 1Ghz AMD Thunderbird since they can be had for less that $200. For the motherboard, their are lots of good choices - check out Anandtech's KT133 Motherboard roundup.

Check prices on the top three or four boards and go from there. To check prices use Pricewatch.
For a video/sound card it is hard to beat the Geforce MX and Live as far as compatability and price/performance ratio goes.
Finally, for the case, go for the Antec SX830. It's built like a tank and is one of the very best values in a case. Onvia has it for $80 shipped.

Good luck

 

[stonythug]

Yo man, I just built my first system this weekend too. I got the MSI K7T Pro2A, same cd-rw, a maxtor 40 gig hard drive, the Creative Annihlator 2 GTS, and a duron 650. Everything came together great. Put in all the pieces and voila. I've got the Antec SX1030 case which is the exact same case as the 830 except it has additional slots for hard drives and cdroms. These are only internal differences, but in reality the case is the same. I highly recommend either of these cases. They are truly awesome and all the space made putting all the pieces together very easy(watch out they are a little big). If you want a good comparison of them check out Apu's hardware page, I don't know the url, I think it's like apushardware.com. As far as your cpu goes, if you're not planning on overclocking and you have the money, I'd just go for a T-Bird. I just bought this duron to experiment with overclocking and to kill time until the tbirds prices fall(luckily I made the right decision since I almost bought a Tbird last week, right before this huge price cut). If I wasn't planning on overclocking though, I would definitely go for a tbird, they're so cheap and not really that much more than a duron(especially compared to a Pentium. You could get 2 1 GHZ TBirds and a Duron 800 for less than one Pentium 1 GHZ). The MSI board is supposed to be known for it's stability which is important for a first time builder(atleast it was to me). I don't know after reading thesse forums and reviews, it was easy for me to decide to go AMD and it was easy to decide on the MSI board. The cpu choice is a lot based on what you want to do and how much money to spend. Check out sharkyextreme.com for a good cpu price guide and they usually have comments about what they think is the best bargain. Good luck

 

[NivekC4]

Thanks for the advice...I was wondering if i would be disappointed if I went AMD as i was when i went Celeron with my last computer. Can anyone explain to me the difference between AMD's Tbird, Duron and Pentium's P4? Will i see a performance difference? Graphics? Speed?
Thanks again, things are beginning to become clearer in my mind now, and I will check out those cases...thanks again
Nivek

Edit: I looking to keep this computer under $1000, and i've already spent about 270 with the burner, hd, and RAM...

 

[paulip88]

Sure no prob. But first my recommendation:
MSI K7T Pro
TBird 1GHz (or faster if you want to dish out the extra money).
Note that this recommendation is made because you say you don't want to overclock. This is why I recommend the Pro and not the Pro2A. The latter is also great, buy it if you think you might want to OC in the future. I say the 1GHz TBird since you say you want a 1GHZ+ system, obviously.

On to the other questions...
No, you will not be disappointed by the performance of AMD chips. The TBIrd and PIII are comparable in terms of speed. The Duron is 5-10% slower and the Celerons are about 22% slower (this would explain your disappointment).

The P4 is an entirely different beast. I'm sure that it has a lot of potential, but right now its tought to come across many applications that use the P4 correctly. This is why its gets smacked by PIIIs and TBirds on several benchmarks.

What will be faster? Everything should be faster (at least on a top level). The PIII is a bit better at gaming and the AMDs are a bit better at general graphics apps.

 

[Nelmster]

The PIII is a bit better at gaming and the AMDs are a bit better at general graphics apps.

I'm pretty new here, but I've done a LOT of research (will be building in about 6 months). I THOUGHT P!!! was only faster on ONE game...Quake3. Am I way off, here?

 

[paulip88]

You could be right. Its not like any of the performance differences are that great anyway (except FPU where Athlons rock). Besides, you can clock a TBird higher than you can a PIII.

 

[Zuluwarrior]

mobo kt7pro2a (don't ask, just buy it)130

cpu retail box 1ghz tbird 199

memory mushkin 128meg 89 bux

case antec sx830 86 at onvia

harddrive (send back the Maxtor for a REAL harddrive, the IBM 75gxp
30 gig is like 130 at buy.com

cdrw (why splurge on gettin 6 minute burns instead of 8) and
make another piece of your grand system suffer, get the plextor
8x burner instead for around 115 bux and apply what u save to the
monitor which is the most important piece anyways. or get Sony
8x4x32 for 98 at buy.com after rebate.

Cd reader (any decent name for 40 bucks or so) I like Teac myself

Graphics card, Guillemot 32meg SDR GeFORCE for 129 in their online store
(best price online is like 228)and this one has the tv out!!!!
Elsa cards are good too.

Sound Card, SB Live MP3 or X Gamer (around 60 bucks at staples etc)
Why spend more when the live can be had for this!!????

Speakers Yamaha 80 watt system or Klipsch 2 channel for mucho buckies
Klipsch is the holy grail but at 199 it's pricey, Yamaha 80 watt is crystal
clear, loud as hell and can be had for around 80

that takes care of the grand

I'd advise maybe slicin around 60 out of the cpu and goin with an 850
slice around 30 out of the graphics card and gettin an MX

other than that, most other pieces are Mandatory, meaning 1000 dollar computers
are hard to build yerself and be happy, specially when you suck up a quarter
of it with a high powered burner.

bump up to 1200-1300 and get a 17 inch monitor that's GUUD insted of a cheesy 19
that'll make ya wanna throw up!

Sony, NEC, Mitsubishi are all pretty good.
Stay away frum the cheapies

good luck

 

[MaddDogg2020]

Nivek - Go with AMD. Get an ABIT KT7 non Raid MOBO and stick in a 900 Tbird.
The KT7 has the Soft Menu and is great once u decide to get into o'clocking. For KT7 info try this site:http://go.to/kt7faq for a wealth of info. As for a sound card I would say the new Philips Acoustic Edge for $76 from www.officeexpress.com beats the SBLive card hands down - especially if you are into 4.1 or 5.1. Use the ASUS AGP-7100 Pure GeForce 2MX from www.tcwo.com and u won't be disappointed. As a side note: the SBLive card has a 50-50 chance that it will cause u a problem with the KT7 - check the ABIT KT7 sound forum at www.apushardware.com. Unlock the L1 bridges on the tbird chip before u put it in so when u do decide to o'clock u won't have to pull it out again. Good luck.