Nforce Boards, msi or abit??

[skoonen78]

Hey.. So my friend is FINALLY upgrading from his p2 400mhz to a new computer for his birthday and he asked me to build it for him... He want it under $1000, under $900 would be best, so I did a quick look on newegg and this is pretty much what i picked out

MSI Nforce Mobo w. Dolgy Digital 5.1 Integrated Sound & Nic $100
512 Kingston 2100 DDR Memory $127
AMD Athlon 1900 XP Retail $132
Maxtor 120gig hd w/ 2meg buffer $156
Lite-ON 40x12x48 CDRW $86
Abit Suluro Geforce 4 4400 $255
Enermax Case $99

total $956... He says he doesnt need the suparfast geforce4 (hes just being cheap) but the 4200 models arent out yet, so I just threw that in there for referense... His b-day is May27, so it should be out by then.

Anyway, my question. Is there any problems w/ the MSI nforce board? I picked it out over the Abit because 1) it was $13 cheaper, and 2) it uses the integrated nic option, which abit didnt list.

Also, how good is kingston ram? Is there another inexpensive brand i should be looking at? I would of gotten crucial or cosair but those were alot more. Hell i wanted to put a gig of memory in it, but hes like wtf do i need a gig of memory for.. He can always add that later tho.

Last 2 questions.. Do you see any problem components? and is there any reason I mgiht wanna go with a cheap sis board and sb audigy card instead of the nforce board?

Thanks

 

[batorok]

I'm feeling opinionated tonight:
consider the asus nforce 220-d board, the A7N266-VM for 76$, you don't need the dual channel ddr if you're using the geforce 4. And definitely wait on the 4200, it will be enough until the dx9 cards are cheap in 9 months. Heck, if he's not a hardcore gamer he can use the onboard video and save a bunch of $ and/or wait for the dx9 parts come this fall.

Memory, I have usually used crucial, had good luck with kingston too. the price difference isn't that great, but kingmax is supposed to make nice stuff, and Corsair has a good rep but a bit more $.

Shave off 20$ and get an xp1800, those 66mhz don't make much difference.

The maxtor drive, I like maxtors, but would strongly urge you to consider a 7200 rpm unit, much of the slowness in a modern pc is the drive...the seagates 7200s are cheap and quiet, less than the maxtor with fluid bearings. Consider a dual drive setup, with a 7200 rpm main drive and a 5400rpm "storage" drive for stuff like mp3z, ghosted images of the main drive, and games.

avoid the amd sis boards, they're picky with power supplies and the leadtek board (the only decent one) is expensive when you tack on an audigy...you could consider the refurb shuttle ak31 rev3 boards for 45$, nice board, but no onboard nic.

I have lots of opinions on how to spend other peoples $$$$

 

[CrazySaint]

If you're gonna go with an gF4, you might also consider the Abit NV7-133R board, which runs on the nForce 415-D chipset (same as 420-D but IGP-less), and includes USB 2.0, RAID, and onboard LAN. Also strongly consider getting an OEM CPU (I suggest 1800+, too) and spending the money on a ThermalRight AX-7 or SVC Golden Gate heatsink and a good, quiet 80mm fan (maybe a Panaflow or Vantec "Stealth") instead of the AMD HS/F.

 

[skoonen78]

Neither nforce boards I listed have onboard video, since geforce2 speeds suck on new games. My friend isnt a 'hardcore' gamer, but he does play a fair ammount of quake3. He thinks he doesnt need top of the line, since right now he plays w/ a tnt2 16meg pos, and he might be right. But the way i see it, you can still get a damn fine card for the money and it will last a while.

As for the harddrive, i could of swore it was 7200 when i picked it out, but i double checked, and its not.. SO ill prob substitute that for the 80gig Western Digital 7200 drive w/ 8meg cache for $130 (maxtor 80gig 7200 w/ 2meg is 120... i say spend the extra $10).

And the cpu... Well I wanted atleast 1900 ... Plus since were prob not buying the parts till may 20something, it should be cheaper... Hell Intel just announced their new p4 w/ 533bus, so an AMD pricecut could very well happen soon . But do I really need an aftermarket heatsink if I dont plan to overclock? My friend definately doesnt want to overclock, hes just like that, so why spend the extra money?

 

[batorok]

you want the aftermarket heatsink for noise reasons....