New Athlon Computer, looking for comments =)

[etalns]

Hi, I'm currently building a computer for a friend of mine. Here are the following specs

Case:Antec
CDRW: Sony 24x10x40
DVDioneer 16x
Floppy Drive: Generic
Hard Drive: Maxtor 40 gig
Ram: 256 MB stick pc 2100
Motherboard: Epox
Processor: AMD Athlon xp 1800+
Sound Card: Creative Labs
Video Card: ATI Radeon 7000
TV tuner: Tview TV Tuner

My current subtotal is $846. I was wondering if anyone had any advice or suggestions etc? Any help is greatly appreciated

 

[soulm4tter]

for what are you going to using the computer?

what epox board?

what creative sound card?

i suggest more ram and possisbly a better video card.

 

[predprey]

I would suggest a bit more ram perhaps

Also perhaps the ati 8500 DV might cost a bit more but get more performance and all that he wants.

 

[AGodspeed]

I assume you want close to a top-of-the-line AMD system:

- Athlon XP 1800+ (1.53GHz) Palomino: $148 shipped
- MSI K7T266 PRO2-RU (KT266A DDR chipset) Motherboard: $124 shipped
- ATi Radeon 8500: $173 shipped
- Turtle Bearch Santa Cruz: $67 shipped
- Seagate Barracuda IV 40 gb: $88 shipped
- 256MB of Crucial PC2100 DDR DRAM: $96.29 shipped
- Lite-ON 24x10x40: $95 shipped
- Teac 1.44MB 3.5 Inch Floppy Drive: $13 shipped
- Full ATX Inwin Case with 300W PSU: $70 shipped
- Toshiba 16x DVD-ROM: $57 shipped

(excludes monitor, speakers, mouse, and cables).

Total: $931.29 (includes S&H)

There are many other motherboards to choose from, so you'll have to tell me if you need a lot of features, whether you're into overclocking, and exactly what you're going to be using this computer for.

Good luck!

 

[etalns]

Well, I actually live in Canad,a tlhoguh I have Ingram Micro as a distributor for me and they will meet/beat all prices I can give them by 10% (as long as it isn't under their invoice price).

In regards to teh video card, would it be better to go with a GEFORCE 4 TI 4600?

 

[TiatYoungUk]

Argh!! dont go with the radeon 7000, its a complete pile of the preverbial, i have one (not by choice i might add) i should know. They are basically mobilaty radeons for the desktop pc, i.e no t/l its not even a gpu. The 2d isnt normal Ati standards either, with only 300mhz ramdac ('proper' radeons 350mhz, 8500 400mhz)

Dvd playback is quite good though.

 

[etalns]

What about a Geforce 4 MX 440?

 

[TiatYoungUk]

<< What about a Geforce 4 MX 440? >>



That would be faaaaaaaaaaar better than a radeon 7000, although it still aint great, as its not the most future proof card. if the budget will extend far enough a geforce 2 ti200 would be a much better bet, especially for gaming or if 2d and dvd is more important then a radeon 7200 or a 7500 would be better.

 

[mchammer187]

consider a Northwood 1.6 A / ASUS P4B setup it it cost you roughly the same (within $50)


and video card i would go with a GF3 Ti200 or Radeon 8500

GF4 MX = trash

also sony burners suck arse (well at copying SAFEDISC 1 / 2 / 2.5 ) to make game backups with clonecd if you care
and it also does not read audio / regular subchannel data

i would try to get a liteon 24x /plextor/ or a yamaha

 

[jeffrey]

Change the Video card to what works into your budget from the list below.

Radeon 8500
Geforce 3 TI200
Geforce 3
Geforce 4 TI 4400

 

[billyjak]

Definately get a different video card.

 

[etalns]

My geforce 2 is 64 mb btw, if that really changes anything =) I dont have much of a problem with FPS (or so I think)

 

[microAmp]

<< GF4 MX = trash >>