Please give me your opinion on my new computer!!!

[UDMA69]

Hey guys-

I need some suggestions on my new computer. I've already speced it out and I am going for the least expensive possible.

Alps Electronic Black 1.44MB Floppy Drive $12.00

Ahanix Santafe Mid Tower Case $30.00

Artec CDRW 32x12x48x (Black) $60.00

Artec Black DVDROM 16x IDE $40.00

Samsung 40GB 7200RPM ATA100 $69.00

BTC Model 9110 PS/2 Silver 107 Keyboard $15.00

ECS K7VTA3-RAID VIA KT333 Motherboard - RETAIL $70.00

Enhance ATX-1126BTA R300 300 Watt Power Supply $18.50

ATI OEM RADEON 7000 32MB SDRAM NO TV OUT $33.00

NEWEGG SHIPPING CHARGES $24.00

AMD Athlon 1700+ 1.47GHz Processor - RETAIL $90.00

Crucial Tech 256MB DDR PC2100 Memory $65.50

SAMSUNG SYNCMASTER 955DF 19IN COLOR MONITOR $186.00 ... from EMSComp NO SHIPPING!

all for only $713.00 including shitting


Thanks for your help!

Also, this computer is basically for design work and isn't intended for 3D work at all hence the Radeon SDR

 

[RaynorWolfcastle]

Thread title is misleading, it's only a 1.47GHz CPU
Otherwise, that's a nice computer for an excellent price. My only comment is that your gaming experience will be severely limited by that video card.

-Ice

 

[UDMA69]

Well... might as well check out my older rig ... Dual LCD 17.4" Large Negro

 

[UDMA69]

Hmm... PC2100 or PC2700 DDR RAM?

 

[RamzaBeoulve]

Go for a better quality HD manufacturer, like Seagate or Maxtor.

 

[RamzaBeoulve]

Oh, just noticed your update. If your mobo supports PC2700, go PC2700. No point backtracking in upgrades

 

[CrazySaint]

Originally posted by: UDMA69
Hmm... PC2100 or PC2700 DDR RAM?

PC2100. If you're going to use Win98/ME/XP you can boot from the CD and skip the floppy drive. Also, I agree that you can pretty much forget any gaming on that card. If you can swing the extra money, I would recommend you get the 64MB ATI Radeon 8500LE for $87, it will play any of today's games, and next generation games should be playable on it, as well.

 

[RamzaBeoulve]

CrazySaint: I think he's gonna pull his Radeon 8500 from his box and put it in this one.

 

[toadstool]

It looks like you're buying some things from Newegg. If so, i would change your CDRW to a (black) Lite On 40x12x48 for $67. For 7 bucks more, you get a speed increase and also buy from a reliable brand. I'd also check on that power supply. $18 bucks is a good price, but make sure it's a brand recommended by AMD (you can go to their website to check).

Finally, you might want tothink about that video card. Good price, but not exactly future proof. You may want to a few bucks more and get an 8500. It will last a lot longer.

 

[UDMA69]

Hey guys... thanks for your suggestions. I've gone ahead and checked out the AMD web site and the power supply I've got listed is ok so I think everything is ok. The only real thing I am concerned about is the Video Card but considering I have an 8500 in my main system I'll probably just go ahead and pull it.

Also, I'm gonna get the PC2100 DDR and most likely just overclock it. I've also read that the increase of PC2700 ram over the PC2100 ram is around 5% so I am really not worried and the $$$ savings is worth it since I wanted to keep the overall system price at about $500(without monitor.)

Does anyone know if the Artec brand is any good? Is this the same company that makes Artic Silver?

And finally, is the retail heatsink and fan from AMD anygood? I assume I could always throw a Delta fan on it like the the Globalwin Delta-38 (I think) one I've got on my thunderbird.

 

[LongCoolMother]

i agree you should get a liteon cdrw drive instead, $7 is nothing compared to what extra you're getting.

if you decide not to get it, you dont have to pay $60 for a cdrw drive at that speed, search around, there are other ones cheaper and near equivalent to the artec drive.

oh, and for the PSU, you might still want to be careful, because my PSU just died 3 days ago, shocked my mobo so thats dead too. it was approved by AMD as well, i think its just luck/chance.

btw, once u pull ur radeon 8500 into your new system, its gonna be sweet!

 

[RagingGuardian]

You won't be doing much if any overclocking with that ECS board so you may as well stick with pc2100. You may want to get a real video card too. I'm using my brother's box right now with an xp1600+ overclocked to 2200+ and the Radeon 7000 64mb and I can't get any gaming done. I was getting way higher frames with a Duron 1G and GF3 TI200.