Which $4,000

[Wiplash]

I am buying a new computer from www.gamepc.com just wanted to now everyone opion on which system to buy and any sugestions to add or change things about them.

System 1:
AMD Athlon 1000MHz OEM CPU (requires fan) - $960
CoolerMaster Dual Fan and Heatsink for Athlon - $25
ASUS K7V KX133 - $175
Crucial PC133 CAS2 256MB - 2 DIMMS - $378
IBM Deskstar 75GXP 30GB - $233
TEAC 1.44MB Floppy Drive - $18
Promise Ultra ATA/100 Controller - $45
Pioneer 16X IDE DVD Tray Loading 40X CD - $170
Plextor PlexWriter 12x10x32 Internal EIDE CD-RW - $310
Elsa Gladiac GeForce2 GTS 32MB Retail - $345
Sound Blaster Live! Value Digital - $62
3Com 2976 v.90 56k Voice PCI - $68
Labtec 1016 - $36
Addtronics 6896A Full-Tower with 350W Power Supply - $178
Keytronic Windows Keyboard - $21
Microsoft Intellimouse PS/2 Mouse - $28
GamePC Oversized Cloth Mousepad - $0
Windows 98 Second Edition OEM - $99
Hitachi Superscan CM771 19" - $500
ZIP 100MB EIDE Internal Disk Drive with 1 disk - $76
Standard 1 Year Parts and 3 Years Labor Warranty with Recovery CD - $45
Assembly, Burn-in Tests, Benchmarks and Drivers by GamePC - $180

Total: $3952.00 (not including shipping, discounts or taxes)


System 2:

Date: 7/11/00
Time: 2:27:11 PM (EST)

Intel Pentium III 933EB Coppermine OEM (requires fan) - $878
Vantec Dual Fan Cooler for Pentium III - $25
ASUS P3V4X VIA Apollo Pro 133A - $120
Crucial PC133 CAS2 256MB - 2 DIMMS - $378
IBM Deskstar 75GXP 30GB - $233
TEAC 1.44MB Floppy Drive - $18
Promise Ultra ATA/100 Controller - $45
Pioneer 16X IDE DVD Tray Loading 40X CD - $170
Plextor PlexWriter 12x10x32 Internal EIDE CD-RW - $310
Elsa Gladiac GeForce2 GTS 32MB Retail - $345
Sound Blaster Live! Value Digital - $62
3Com 2976 v.90 56k Voice PCI - $68
Labtec 1016 - $36
Addtronics 6896A Full-Tower with 350W Power Supply - $178
Keytronic Windows Keyboard - $21
Microsoft Intellimouse PS/2 Mouse - $28
GamePC Oversized Cloth Mousepad - $0
Windows 98 Second Edition OEM - $99
Hitachi Superscan CM771 19" - $500
ZIP 100MB EIDE Internal Disk Drive with 1 disk - $76
Standard 1 Year Parts and 3 Years Labor Warranty with Recovery CD - $45
Assembly, Burn-in Tests, Benchmarks and Drivers by GamePC - $180

Total: $3815.00 (not including shipping, discounts or taxes)

Any suggestions? and especialy how does monitor look? Here link to monitor info http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/000517/ca_hitachi.html ,which system should I get any problems any of you guys see with the specs or company? But the most important thing is which one to get

 

[Burn]

First I want to say that GamePC is very expensive, and then I want to say that you should build it yourself.

But to answer your question I would personally go with the Intel system. Although having a 1000Mhz PC would be kick-butt too.

Also, do you plan to upgrade that system a lot? If you don't plan to upgrade a lot a 1 year warranty is a very short time for a PC of that calibre.

 

[Burn]

Just to confuse you and not answer your question, this is what I would get:

Date: 7/19/00
Time: 2:26:14 PM (EST)

Intel Pentium III 850E FC-PGA cB0 Coppermine OEM (requires fan) - $510
Abit Slocket with Alpha PEP66U Heatsink for FC-PGA - $64
ASUS P3V4X VIA Apollo Pro 133A - $120
GamePC Infineon PC133 256MB CAS2 SDRAM - 2 DIMMS - $358
IBM Deskstar 75GXP 45GB - $293
TEAC 1.44MB Floppy Drive - $18
Pioneer 16X IDE DVD Tray Loading 40X CD - $170
Plextor PlexWriter 12x10x32 Internal EIDE CD-RW - $310
3dfx Voodoo5 5500 64MB Retail - $335
Sound Blaster Live! Value Digital - $62
3Com 2976 v.90 56k Voice PCI - $68
Altec Lansing ACS54 - $79
Addtronics 7896A Full-Tower with 300W Power Supply - $188
Logitech Cordless Desktop iTouch with Wheel Mouse - $91
Microsoft Intellimouse Optical - $55
GamePC RatPad - $12
Windows 98 Second Edition OEM - $99
Viewsonic PF795 19" - $595
ZIP 100MB EIDE Internal Disk Drive with 1 disk - $76
Extended 2 Year Parts and 3 Years Labor Warranty - $120
Assembly, Burn-in Tests, Benchmarks and Drivers by GamePC - $180

Total: $3803.00 (not including shipping, discounts or taxes)

 

[Wiplash]

Well yes it is alot but I can go up to $4,000...oh I would build it my self but VIA motherboards are not so easy to setup and I don't want to bother doing that Thanks for the suggestion on warrenty I am going to bump it up to 3 years.

 

[Burn]

I wish I had $4000 to spend...lol

What I meant by expensive is that they are overpriced. For example the IBM 75GXP 30.0GB hard drive is $233 from Gamepc, but you can get it for $178 from http://allstarshop.com.

By the way the only reason why I say this is because I am poor and usually am penny pinching. But if you have the cash and want a prebuilt system. Those are two SWEET!!! options.

 

[Prodigy^]

every component you list can be found at least 10-20% cheaper on their own, so you're paying way too much for this....and 200 bucks for assembly?!?!? it costed me $25 I think, from the place I bought mine from

 

[konichiwa]

I agree with Burn. From three standpoints. First, it's cheaper. Go buy that same system (or something slightly different) and build it yourself. The first advantage is price. You can find this considerably cheaper than that. If you are willing to overclock, then you have a HUGE price advantage.

Second reason, it just FEELS better to build your own computer. I had an old Gateway 2000 that I bought, and I've made three computers other than that. They are almost identical...I just LIKE mine more. Don't ask me, ask my shrink.

Third reason is sort of similar to the first reason. If you buy everything cheaper, then you might have $500 or more left over. You can buy yourself some games, another hard drive, some SCSI stuff, a 64meg GeForce2, The Platinum Sb Live. See what I'm getting at?

 

[Wiplash]

Wow thanks for all the feed back but just ignore the price Like I said above I would build it my self but I don't want to deal witht the 2 VIA boards and bother ordering all the parts from differnt places So please just concentrate on the specs of the system and which one to get

 

[konichiwa]

If you insist

I would recommend the Intel system over the Athlon, maybe it's just personal preference, but...

The VIA board has got to go. Get an i815 board, they are going to replace BX. VIA still has to make their repuation (with me anyway)

You can get rid of the Promise ata/100 controller if you get the 815 board, otherwise it's gotta stay if you're getting an ata/100 drive?

Everything else looks pretty good. VERY nice system. (/me is jealous)

 

[goldboyd]

i dont want to sound like a di** here or anything, but for 4 grand, that is a POS(both of them). why would you even consider IDE? absolute junk, people will say that there isn't a speed diference, but they've never touched scsi. definately go scsi, depending on how much space you need you can get a 18 gig 15k cheetah for about 600 or a 74 gig 10k cheetah for about 1100. the speed diference will be incredible. and then add a 12x plextor burning and the pioneer dvd and you'll have an absolute beast. but thats just my (correct) opinion

 

[konichiwa]

but thats just my (correct) opinion

ROFL! No, no, I agree with you, that's just a hilarious thing to say.

 

[Burn]

lol goldboyd - I dont think he can put together a SCSI system with a P3 933EB for $4K. He wants top of the line stuff. Even I would rather have 30GB IDE drive then a 8.1GB SCSI. He also wants a DVD drive and burner.

But lets help the guy out with what he wants, and not what we would want. I think we are all jealous..lol

 

[Sillyputty]

People actually buy this stuff? Build it yourself and save $750.

 

[SSP]

I would go with the 1Ghz Athlon system. Personal preference.

 

[ricochet72]

Dont even consider SCSI unless you have a specific use - you WONT see a difference in games, apps, etc. In content management, imaging, prosumer video, etc sure - but on a normal desktop its a waste of money.

Spend the same money on a STRIPED EIDE system if you really want to see a performance difference

------------------------------------------
SCSI on my desktop since 1996

 

[Prodigy^]

"but thats just my (correct) opinion"

lmao

 

[Sir Fredrick]

VIA boards are no harder to set up yourself than any other board. The Asus K7V couldn't be easier.
Build the damn thing yourself and get a truly kickass system.
I usually get my parts from http://buy.com and http://compucheap.com
for $4k you should definitely be able to go all SCSI. And for those who say there's no performance difference, compare loading unreal tournament on an IDE system to loading it on a SCSI system. It has to read a lot of stuff off the HD, so it loads a lot faster on a SCSI system. I'm speaking from first hand experience here

 

[Wiplash]

Oh thanks again for everyones suggestions..scsi would be an option but it does increase the price alot more even if I build it my self. And the price perfromance ratio of scsi compared to IDE is not worth added cost But I am taking everything said into consideration.. but whats even more important is which system to go for And any incompatiblities with the hardware.

 

[Howard]

How are VIA boards hard to setup?

GamePC is way too expensive... If you contacted some of the people on this board they would be willing to get you a better price (Russ @ http://www.compucheap.com/ comes to mind).

 

[Sir Fredrick]

buy.com:
Quantum Atlas V - 18.3GB - 317.95
Quantum Atlas V - 36.7 GB - 608.95
Adaptec 29160 - 269.95
Logitech Cordless Desktop - 65.95
Plextor Performance Pack II (20/8/2 CDRW and 40MAX CDROM) - 383.95

Specialtytech:
Inwin Q500/300W - 124

Compucheap:
AMD Athlon 900Mhz - $529.95
128MB, 7.5NS PC133 SDRAM, Micron Generic - $169.95
128MB, 7.5NS PC133 SDRAM, Micron Generic - $169.95
ASUS K7V for AMD Athlon, Retail - $172.95
Case fan, 80MM ball bearing, 4 pin - $7.95
Case fan, 80MM ball bearing, 4 pin - $7.95
GlobalWin Athlon cooler - $15.95
Asus V7700 GeForce2, 32MB AGP, Retail - $326.95
Creative SB Live! Value - $59.95
Mitsumi 1.44MB floppy drive - $17.95
US Robotics Sportster V.90 PCI hardware, d/f/v - $69.95
Realtek 10/100 PCI network adapter - $17.95
Internal SCSI Zip Drive - $108.95
Sceptre D98A, 19 inch, .26dp - $389.95

3828.05, not including OS (I suggest a 2k/98 dual boot).
Did I miss anything?
So much for SCSI being too expensive - 55 GB of ultra-super fast kickass SCSI storage.

edit: forgot the monitor!

 

[Wiplash]

This is just to bump the post up to the top

 

[lupin]

"And the price perfromance ratio of scsi compared to IDE is not worth added cost"

But bragging right is worth the added cost.

 

[Wiplash]

Another message to bump up the thread. Also I was thinking about i815e but there have been good and bad reports about it so not sure yet I have 3 weeks to make decision

 

[Stark]

http://commerce.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.asp?order_code=591GHZ&customer_id=04&keycode=6W300
1GHz under $4k. It will beat the snot out of those two systems.

 

[Aboroth]

Holy crap!
Another $580 on that Dell system for another 128MB stick of RDRAM.
Just another reminder to myself about why I will never buy a stick of RDRAM.