new rig

[Torro]

Looking to put together a linux machine just to play around in the os
Little to no programming
Probably no serious gaming, word processing, etc etc
just playing for now, but would like the option to do this stuff in the future

budget $200
how's this?

case - Pro Source Koala (Silver/Black) Mid-Tower Case w/350W Power Supply, Front Panel Auto-Changing Neon Lights & Side Panel Window, Model 508U-BS-WF - Retail $32
cpu - amd athlon xp 1700+ - $50
MB - Asus Motherboard for AMD Athlon XP Processors, Model# A7N8X-VM Retail $103
memory - Buffalo Technology 256MB PC2100 DDRAM Micron, Samsung or Infineon Chipset Memory Module $40

overall ~ $230

i also plan on buying a switch so i'll just need my one monitor
where can i cut corners?

 

[DaveSimmons]

> where can i cut corners?

Some 750-1GHz Duron bundle from FS/FT?

 

[Shadowvlx]

You might consider switching out the Asus mobo for a Soltek NV400-L64. Newegg has it for around $76.00. Anand did an article on it sometime in August.

 

[Ionizer86]

Just to let you know, my bro got a cheap case with a window and some changing lights etc (the fancy stuff), but in order for a case to have that kind of stuff, it sacrifices quality very badly. I'm not sure about the case you're looking at, but my bro's case is very flimsy, the front firewire and sound are via header (rendering them useless since they didn't use loopback), and his power supply sucks (It's made by Powmax, it's very loud, and it makes the room very hot, unlike quality PSUs).

You can drop more $ by buying some cheap 2100 ram at Office Max ($10 AR 256 2100).

 

[Ionizer86]

You might consider switching out the Asus mobo for a Soltek NV400-L64. Newegg has it for around $76.00. Anand did an article on it sometime in August.

Looks like Torro's getting this for the integrated GF4 MX440. In that case, you'll also want to look at the EPoX 8RGA+ since it may offer a lot more features at the same price point.

 

[jd103]

If your not to comcerned about onboard video how about this setup from Newegg:

In-win Micro ATX Case w/ 300W Power Supply, - Model IW-V500G.300FU2D Retail -$37
(small plain biege case but has USB2 and power supply has good specs)
CRUCIAL MICRON 256MB 32x64 PC 2700 DDR RAM - OEM -$46

Bundle special- $99
Biostar Motherboard for AMD AMD Athlon/AthlonXP (Palomino, T-bred and Barton)/Duron Processors, Model M7VIZ - Retail
(supports FSB 200/266/333, Onboard video, sound& lan, 3 PCI slots, 1 APG 4x/8x slot)
AMD Athlon XP 1800+/266 FSB Processor CPU 1800+/ 1.53GHz -0.13 micro Thoroughbred Core Retail

You could just set the fsb to 166 and have a 1.9 GHz cpu

$220 shipped - $20 bundle special= $200 even

 

[Bovinicus]

If you need to save some money, definitely go with a cheaper motherboard. I love Asus motherboards as much as the next person, but there is no need to buy such a high quality motherboard on a system intended for "playing around" with Linux. A Biostar nForce2 motherboard would work perfectly fine for you. That will save you about $40 right there. If you want something a little higher quality, then Albatron boards seem to be very nice. Also, I really like EPoX boards. The 8KHA+ is still in my main system.

Don't forget, you're going to need a video card too... Just get some piece of poo. Newegg has Radeon 7000 32MB cards from Transcend for $35. You can use the money you saved on the motherboard for that. =)

Also, if $200 is a really strict budget, you can always go with a nice 1.3GHz Duron retail CPU. This package comes with a heatsink/fan combination and will only run you $40. That's another $10 saved if it is worth it to you.

 

[xSkyDrAx]

I agree with Bovinicus, the motherboard seems a tad overkill for a 'test' system, just go with something cheaper and the duron sounds good. Maybe something with integrated graphics? Cause i doubt you do any serious gaming on this. That would probably drop your price to ~200.

 

[Torro]

cool
changed....

case - In-win Micro ATX Case w/ 300W Power Supply, - Model IW-V500G.300FU2D Retail
$37

cpu - amd athlon xp 1700+ -
$50

motherboard - Asus A7N266-VM AA (AMD Assured Version) NVIDIA nFORCE 220 Chipset 266/200MHz FSB Motherboard Micro ATX- Retail (this seems to be a high end board, why is it 1/2 the price of my previous board. I also know most of you suggested a different board but this board was the cheapest i found with decent onboard graphics. Ionizer was on point
)
$65

Officemax 512mb pc2100
$20

total ~ $170
whaddya think now?

 

[jd103]

If you want to go with an NForce MB I think it would be better to spend alittle extra now and get a NForce2 board vs the 1st version. The ASUS board your looking at is the first version of the NForce line with gf2 MX video, also only supports 200/266 fsb cpus and memory so your limiting your future upgrade possibilities. The NForce2 version MBs have gf4 MX video, supports cpus and memory up to 400 Mhz fsb so you would be able to upgrade in the future all the way up to a AthlonXP3200+ with DDR 400 memory. I did a search on Newegg for the cheapest NForce2 MB with video and found this:

Biostar Micro ATX Motherboard for AMD Athlon/Athlon XP Socket A Processors,NVIDIA nForce2 IGP Chipset, Model M7NCG 400 - Retail

Its $74 + free shipping, it will also fit your InWin Micro ATX case. I think it would be definately worth it to spend the extra $9 now for this MB that would let you upgrade in the future and has better onboard video

 

[Torro]

Ok, I also just realized that my other setup has a msi k7n2g (or something like that)
everyone is always b**tching about the msi boards and it has been giving some problems lately so i figured i'd just use this in my 2nd setup instead and buy the a board for my primary setup
i also have a Leadtek geforce 4 ti4600 graphics card so onboard graphics is not an issue anymore
pci slots are however - tv tuner/scsi adapter but i dont like putting my pci devices too close to the vid card and too close to each other( but i can live with onboard sound/audio)

any recommendations on a mb?
Edit: Or do you all think i'm being picky and 3 slots will be enough?
edit: ^bump

 

[Torro]

^bump

 

[Torro]

^ last bump for motherboard

is the shuttle the board i should get?

 

[Torro]

final rig:

amd athlon xp 1700+ $56 (bought&shipped already)
AN35N-Ultra MB $61 (figured i didn't need the SATA with the epox case)
Codegen 6082L-C9 (Silver/Blue) ATX Mid-Tower Case w/ Clear Side Panel, Front Light-Up Panel - Retail $39 (will my mb fit?)
standard grade 256MB pc3200 from pcboost - $50.75 (where can i get better deals on memory?)

just over $200