SoundBlaster Live! Dolby Digital 5.1 Platinum In A Build It Yourself Barebones System $149.99

[peterpur]

There's nothing fishy about this. This is the casing they use to sell Creative-made PCs in Singapore, they're called BlasterPC and a pretty good buy. Check it out. Link

 

[benchmarq]

You guys are right, the price has dropped to $149.99!!! It shows up at the reduced price when you place the order.

 

[Kingofcomputer]

No matter what sb live, none has built-in dd 5.1 decoder.
sb live 5.1 series is just "dd 5.1 ready" or 6 channels analog output, you need to use software dvd player with built-in dd 5.1 software decoder to do the dd 5.1 decoding. the sb live 5.1 is good for cheap 6 channels analog input speakers set without built-in dd 5.1 decoder for watching dvd.

 

[chrisbest01]

I just called and place an order on it, since their website is too slow, and won't let me place an order that ship to my school address.

and for the case, they HAVEN'T COME IN YET. They will be in about 1 week from now. I just hope I get it before Spring break.

 

[chrisbest01]

just got a question, if this motherboard only support 100 mhz fsb, and I have a 866 mhz w/ FSB 133. can I still use my 866 with this motherbaord?

 

[Wei2Cool]

Sure you can, and you will underclock your PIII-866 @650MHz.

 

[phantaszm]

Okay guys
Here's the link to the motherboard manual
Motherboard Manual

Scroll to the bottom where you'll see BlasterPC
The motherboard is called M003

It supports FSB of 50, 66, 75, 83, 100, 112 and 133.

Schweeet huh?

 

[donerb]

<< Scroll to the bottom where you'll see BlasterPC
The motherboard is called M003

It supports FSB of 50, 66, 75, 83, 100, 112 and 133. >>



The manual states that 112MHz and 133MHz settings are for
&quot;overclocking purposes only&quot; (presuming a 100MHz fsb processor).
If one selects 133Mhz settings, and uses a 133Mhz processor
(ala P3-933/133) and PC133 memory, are you getting full performance
out of these components, or is there a hit in performance?

Also, since there is not a UDMA66/100 interface, I assume I could
throw my slow periphs on the regular IDE bus, and throw my 40gb
and 20gb HDs (UDMA 100 and 66 respectively) on a Promise IDE
controller with no problems?

Would like to verify before purchase. If this is the case, I don't
feel so bad about sinking the money now (especially since I'm dying
waiting on the NVidia &quot;Crush&quot; (nee Xbox) chipset to show up in the OEM
market with integrated sound, Geforce2 MX graphics, LAN, and DDR memory
support all for one low price).

 

[Kingofcomputer]

bx mb of course can run at 133,
but agp will be running at 89.

 

[benchmarq]

You can run a 133MHz FSB processor on this motherboard, the only possible &quot;negative&quot; effect is that the AGP bus will be overclocked, and will run at 89MHz instead of 66MHz. This is usually fine with most of todays video cards. This limitation is one that applies to the BX chipset. Read these two articles to learn more:

Intel 440BX 133MHz Motherboard Roundup

BX-133 Video Guide


(thanks kingofcomputer, my typing skills are kind of slow)

 

[chrisbest01]

Thank guys for helping me out about the fsb.

after reading the article, I found out both my cars AIW 128 pro, and my leadtek gf ddr both pass the agp test. so i wouldn't have any problem running it at 133 fsb.

Thanks again.

 

[kxy]

Would this consider a killer deal?

I am thinking of getting a new computer within a year, should I go ahead jump on this deal, and slowly build up the system or should I wait about a year?

 

[donerb]

<< You can run a 133MHz FSB processor on this motherboard, the only possible &quot;negative&quot; effect is that the AGP bus will be overclocked, and will run at 89MHz instead of 66MHz. This is usually fine with most of todays video cards. This limitation is one that applies to the BX chipset. >>



Thanks for the heads-up and BX info. Quick question before I purchase --

Highest Celeron Slot 1 I could find was 400Mhz, so not a great buy.

That said, what Slot 1 PIII should I look at as far as value?

I was thinking a 600MHz-667MHz/133 for $115-140 investment.

OR

Would a 600/100 overclocked to ??? be a better investment?

TIA for you help!

 

[benchmarq]

If you don't want to overclock, and can afford a little more, look at the P3-900 for $199 on the same page as this combo at TigerDirect.

If you plan to overclock, the best overclocker to date is the P3-700 (most of them will do 933). P3-700 prices start at $131 at http://www.pricewatch.com/

 

[benchmarq]

Sorry, not trying to step on anyones toes. I didn't realize that the other thread started by Wei2Cool on this was still alive, so why don't we all just use that thread. Here's the link:

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=40&amp;threadid=361334

 

[Hgabriel]

Killer!

I was just about to build a Home Theatre PC to replace all my Home Theatre components. There is no way I could build a Home theatre for $149.99. I already have a PIII 600 Slot 1 so I got that. And RAM, well you know the prices of RAM.

Excellent deal!

 

[Midnight Rambler]

Amazing - people can now just look at a mobo pic and tell it's junk right away. Can one of these gurus of observation tell us how many layers there are to the PCB? How many 'caps and what are their ratings?

 

[oldtigerdirect]

These are clearly marked as pre-order. We have had an overwhelming demand and wanted to get this special to the public as quickly as possible.

 

[oldtigerdirect]

There are several different areas of concern and confusion which have appeared throughout this thread. In all fairness, we'd like to address them:

1. The retail Live! 5.1 upgrade does include &quot;Optical In&quot; and &quot;Optical Out&quot; connectors, however The Blaster PC Kit includes only &quot;Optical Out.&quot; The &quot;Optical In&quot; port was eliminated due in part, because it was rarely used. The only devices that require &quot;Optical In&quot; are DAT drives and MiniDisc drives, both of which have been replaced by faster, cheaper alternatives.

2. While the Sound Blaster mobo only supports 2X AGP, benchmark testing reveals that the actual performance difference between 2X and 4X is marginal, and in most cases insignificant. The only way to actually exploit the 4X AGP is with the Pentium 4 processor. Only 2% of PC users are actually achieving 4X AGP performance. Your experience with the Blaster PC will not be affected by the 2X AGP as opposed to the 4X.

3. Although the Blaster PC Kit features an UDMA 33 controller speed, ATA/100 or SCSI controllers can be added to the system. Both are inexpensive and readily available.

4. The 200-watt power supply, while criticized, is not only sufficient but provides premium power to this system. In fact, most comparable Gateway and Dell machines ship with just a 145-watt power supply. And the Blaster PC Kit's power supply provides extra connectors to expand your system. TigerDirect has built and tested fully configured systems, adding all optional devices and experienced no problems - in fact there was room to grow! We consider this power supply a main selling point of this kit.

The bottom line is that for the price of Sound Blaster Live! Platinum 5.1 alone, you get the Blaster PC case (with extra drive bays and power supply), infrared reciever, Creative Labs Blaster motherboard, Creative Labs infrared remote control, FM Radio and more---for FREE! We appreciate the comments made by many insightful individuals, and hope that all concerned will take a look at the overall value of this kit.

We hope that individuals will see the incredible value of this offer and make a great new entertainment system: Click here to see the details!

 

[hojl]

Sorry I am ignorant. Does this take a slotkit? I have a abit III slotket and a extra 700 PIII flipchip lying around and wondering if I can use it here.

 

[kingink]

I looked at reseller ratings and boy did this hot deal go cold. Sorry about the thread crap, but the ratings and (mostly) complaints make this as deal as cold as Mt. Washington on a bad day. It still seems like a great system, so don't get me wrong. I just won't be getting anything from TigerDirect or any of their affiliate programs.
Caveat Emptor!
kingink

 

[Sinner]

Tigerdirect if you are going to post in these forums supporting your company it would only be fair to enable a profile or private messaging.

In lieu of that, my main concern with ordering this kit is the customer service of Tigerdirect is horrendous. I ordered a case..that was in stock...almost 4 weeks ago and only received it yesterday. It has been in stock this whole time, the case was ordered 2 yes TWO day delivery and it took almost 4 weeks to get. The shipping ended up having to be re-routed because after 4 days from initial order Tiger still hadn't shipped (on a 2 day shipping order mind you) and with moving it had to be re-routed to the new address. In defense of Tiger the shipping fee was waived..but it doesn't excuse the considerable inconvenience buying from your company caused me.

Otherwise...it sounds like a good deal. I could definitely use this machine with some older drives I have lying around and a 400Mhz CPU.

 

[ll531]

Looks good everything must be onboard, that's the bad point if you need upgrade them MB, I guess you can add ata 100 card. Doesn't say how high you can upgrade processor.

 

[Kingofcomputer]

You can use about same price to buy a plain bx mb, oem sb live, hoontech digit i/o daughtercard, a case. Unless you really need the digit i/o ports on the front.

 

[Fritzo]

I didn't know a BX board would support 1ghz. I thought most of them would only go up to around 700-800mhz.

Now, drop an i815 board in there, and DAMN!