Starting from scratch...

[nuthinspecial]

The wife bcuked for $2000 for a new system and I have to start with the mobo. This is my first time building my own PC so bear with me. I'm mostly a gamer but my wife is a teacher, so the rig has to be a bit versitile. Do I go with a Pentium board or a AMD board. I've always had a pentium without problems but I hear the new AMD line is a bit faster. I'm leaning towards the Leadtek Winfast K8NW or the Abit AT7-Max 2. Any thoughts or help would help...

 

[ScrapSilicon]

Originally posted by: nuthinspecial
The wife bcuked for $2000 for a new system Any thoughts or help would help...

..wondering what bcuked is ...

 

[nuthinspecial]

bucked. I have typing issues. You know, big hands.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

After looking at reviews and reading tons of stuff, I've found a fondness for asus and chaintech boards; however, I still haven't built my computer as I'm having a lot of indecision about what to get and also waiting for the reported amd price drop.

 

[mechBgon]

How about using the $2000 to build two computers, one for her and one for you? LMK if you want suggestions on how to divide the spoils

<--- *thinks this would make nuthinspecial a lot of honey points

 

[mechBgon]

Well, having way too much time on my hands, I went and cooked up a shopping list: list

You get an Athlon 64 3000+ with 1GB of PC3200 memory, VIA Envy24 8-channel hardware-accelerated audio, and a 128MB Radeon 9800 Pro. She gets an AthlonXP 2500+ with 512MB of PC2700, onboard nForce2 6-channel hardware-accelerated audio, and onboard dual-head GeForce4 MX video. Both of you get Windows XP Professional, identical cases, decent 19" Viewsonic G-series monitors, Logitech keyboards & cordless mice, Lite-On DVD-ROM/CD-RW drives and your own personal coffeemakers. Errr, wait... I had to leave out the coffeemakers I was overbudget by about $250 already. Also I left out speakers, didn't I

Bottom line, she gets her PC and you get your PC. Hers would be a natural for an upgrade to a second monitor for academic stuff (think anniversary present here).


~ wanna play some UT2003 Demo, honey?

 

[nuthinspecial]

Mech, I had actually considered that. Her B-day is in May and it would have been an early gift but better early than never. Thanks for the suggestions. I actually had it broken down a bit like that but with Intel chips.

 

[Vette73]

Go with a Athlon64, UNLESS you are doing some crazy Video editing.

I have the Athlon64 board Mech talked about, K8X800 ProII, and it great!!! The sound is awesome, and everything else works great.