PC Rebuild/Upgrade - what do you think ?

[JasperCat]

I am setttling in on the idea of the following rebuild - somewhat
budget minded. My PC use is primarily flightsims, games, and surfing.

I have :
P3 Slot1 1.0 gz ( 100mhz FSB )
640MB SDRAM

Replacing with:
Athlon XP2000 ( will get XP2100 if available )
Asus A7S333 SiS 745 Chipset
512MB of PC2100 DDR266
This case:
Enermax Mid Tower
or this one - can't decide :
Antec Full Tower

Keeping :
10GB 7200RPM, 20GB 7200RPM
GeForce 3-64MB ( to replace w/GF4 later in the year )
19' Dell Trinitron flat CRT
W98SE ( keeping this for various reason, 2nd computer on network that can't run higher OS, old phoneline network that can't run higher OS )

Having this rebuild done by the PC technicians at the store
and probably having them do a OS reinstall.

Any advice or comment on my plans?
Thanks,
Myles

 

[Podolak]

have you ever thought of doing it yourself? I find it more rewarding and even if you are not all that experienced I'm sure you have friends who could help?

 

[WTT0001]

The enermax case is a little cheaper here (might help you or not). I just bought the WB version of that case (different frontplate) and the case ran a bit on the hot side until I shifted both included fans to the back (dropped the temps by 5 degrees). Anyway good luck on the upgrade,

 

[CubicZirconia]

You can't go wrong with a 2000+. How much are the tech's at the store going to charge you?

 

[cholley]

yea, shop for all that stuff at newegg and do it yourself

 

[JasperCat]

The shop is charging $65.00 for the build/transfer of old drives/hardware. It will
be $40.00 if they do not have to reinstall the OS.

Myles

 

[CubicZirconia]

The shop is charging $65.00 for the build/transfer of old drives/hardware. It will be $40.00 if they do not have to reinstall the OS.

25 dollars just to install the OS? You can definately do that yourself. If you need help just ask, someone here has the answer.

 

[Adul]

You want to reinstall the OS. New parts means a lot of changes and you will be much much better off with a nice clean install.

 

[CubicZirconia]

I suppose they pretty much have to reinstall the OS themselves if they want to setup the hardware. Just seems like such a rip. 25 bucks to install windows, that just isn't right.

 

[Miramonti]

I'd recommend the midtower over the full tower. Full towers can be huge and only necessary if you're going to have a ton of drives or whatever, but for just a couple harddrives and a couple cd drives, a midtower is plenty. Having a full tower and only a 300w power supply sort of contradicts itself because a 300w supply means you aren't going for overkill but the large case says you are.

Large cases take alot of fans to move the air in and out of it too, thus the potential need for a larger power supply. This also generally makes it louder too, which can get annoying.

When I built my first computer a couple of years ago I started with a full tower thinking more is better but what a pain in the rear...real heavy too. Never again if I can avoid it.

 

[Miramonti]

W98SE ( keeping this for various reason, 2nd computer on network that can't run higher OS, old phoneline network that can't run higher OS )

I don't know what you're referring to but I'd upgrade to XP if at all possible, and get a second opinion about these issues if necessary. XP is more stable, faster, and ntfs is a better files system, as well as good compatibility for periphs, drivers, etc.

 

[MajinWade]

Do you get any support for the rebuild? If so, It doesn't sound so bad. After all a lot of places charge $25 just for upgrading ram. If time is not a limiting factor, you might consider doing it yourself.

 

[videobruce]

This is your 2nd system, it is time you learn to do it yourself!

You gain experiance especially when it comes time to troubleshoot.

You know just went inside the box.

You can take credit yourself (ego trip if you will).

Save money.


I like Enlight cases. 7233 is my choice, it's a midtower with separate removable side panels. A separate cage for the floppy and 2 HD's that slides out from the front, no need to remove the right side panel. Only bad point, the front bezel has to be removed to slide the sides off!.

I would do with a Via 333 chipset myself and at least a 350W PS if not a 400W!

 

[JasperCat]

Well - I decided to keep my P3-1GZ intact ( my wife gets a nice pc for surfing - and I can set up some
good network gaming ) and have a full new system built for me:

Budget minded gaming machine :

$177.99 AMD Athlon 2000 XP
$ 74.00 Enermax CS-A1QX-02 300w P/S
$ 87.99 Asus A7S333
$ 119.99 512MB PC2100/DDR266
$ 279.99 Chaintech GF4-Ti4600
$ 87.00 IBM Desk Star 40GB ATA100 7200RPM
$ 32.99 52x CD ROM ( I already have a USB CDRW )
$ 12.00 Floppy
$ 105.00 OS
$ 60.00 Build
TOTAL = 1128.20 ( tax included )

THanks for everyone's advice and help.
Myles