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New computer
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Posted by: Swilo
For graduation my parents are actually going to give me something. It's money to buy a new comp, somewhere around 2k. I have picked out some parts and was wondering if people would give their opinions. This computer is for college in fall.
Intel P3 1000MHz 256k L2 133 MHz socket 370
Asus CUSL2-C Black Pearl Special Edition
512MB Mushkin CAS2 RAM (two 128MB REV3 and a 256MB REV2, it's all the board can hold)
60 gig IBM Deskstar 60GXP (Why are they cheaper than 75GPX if performance looks the same?)
Voodoo5 5500 (I know it's a dead monster, but I've always wanted one and it's cheap. Know where I can get a 6000?)
SBLive! x-Gamer 5.1
Pioneer 16x DVD Slot loading
Plextor 16/10/40A CDRW
Teac 1.44 MB diskette
Samsung 900NF (Cheaper than comparable models of other brands)
MS Optical Explorer (The one with the thumb buttons)
Dual boot Win98/2k (I heard it's best combo for gaming/work)
I still need a keyboard, a case, a power supply, a TV Tuner card(So I don't have to worry about sharing TV and VCR with roomate), surround 5.1 speakers, and some non-stock cooling. Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance 
Posted by: Canis Lupus
Looks like a sweet system. But here are a few comments:
1.) Why use different REV memory sticks? Since you're gonna be building it from scratch, why not make it two 128MB and one 256MB sticks of REV3? Or maybe two 256MB sticks of REV3?
2.) I don't know if the Voodoo 5500 is a good idea, but it's your cholcce. It will not have any new drivers anymore, and its game support will not be one of the priorities of game designers. Still a good card for most of today's games, but what about future games?
Oh, and 3dfx didn't get to make an actual shipping model of the V5 6000 before they folded...
3.) Dual boot Win2K/Win98 is nice, that's what I have right now.
4.) I used the WinTV Tuner card in the past and they seem to be good. You can also consider an ATI TV Wonder, which is probably the best TV tuner solution...
5.) I can suggest some more parts for you, but I have to go to work, heheeh ... hope this helps...
Posted by: Swilo
The board has three slots, which I assume should all be filled, and I didn't see any REV3 256MB chip listed on their website. The V5 5500 is just something I want (I know about the drivers and stuff), till I can afford a GF3 or whatever else comes out that's better. For anybody with other suggestions the case should be mid to full tower and the keyboard can NOT have any of this "50 extra useless internet shortcut keys" stuff, just a waste of my money and their time. I'll have to look into the ATI TV Wonder or the WinTV.
Posted by: Chako
Laggy is quite right about not being able to get a 6000. They were never made. Well I got one of those Voodoo 5’s and I was not terribly impresses with it. For one thing, it is power hungry, requiring the card to be plugged into the power supply. As a consequence, your case will get very warm really quick. You can roast marshmallows on it. The picture quality has that 3dfx hallmark bluriness. You will notice this right off if you are used to nvidia or ATI or well..anyone else’s hardware. It is also very slow in comparison to almost everything out there. Why would you want to buy this card, mine is collecting dust! Spend your money on something better that you can get actual driver support in the future for it. Oh, and what do you define as cheap? I paid $100 Can for mine just so I could try it out…well…that was 100 down the drains.
You do not need to fill all 3 slots. You can safely go with 2 256Meg sticks and have no problems.
Posted by: Swilo
Yes, I'm quite aware there will be no support, and I also know it pulls power and heats nicely. The only other card I would think of settling for is a GF2 GTS or better, none of this MX value stuff, and the good brands of those cards are a little too pricy. Right now I use a V3 3000 PCI, so I'm used to any blurring, which I never knew existed, and I don't know of any other 64 MB card that can be bought for ~$100 US.
Posted by: Chako
Take a look at the Kyro 2 from Hercules. It is a 64 Meg card, has no heat problems, has better graphics (trust me on this, once you see the difference you will never want to go back to 3dfx). Beats a GTS on some benchmarks although it is designed to compete with the MX cards, has very good driver support (I hear they are updating them quickly anyhow), scales nicely with the higher cpu's, and last but not least....would make a good interim card till you can afford a geforce 3 or whatever will be out there on the market at the time your ready to upgrade.
Posted by: Spider
Speakers: Klipsch Pro Media 4.1
!!!
-
Though they run for about $300
Posted by: Swilo
Spider, that's a slight problem, the $300 thing. I'll look into the Kyro II, though I've never even heard of them before.
Posted by: JANNA
Two things i would change...
first i would get an actual intel motherboard if ur getting a P3 i bought Vindica a intel 815 with built in intel 10/100 Lan port and its been flawless for her. ive never been a fan of asus and ive seen a lot of trouble arise from those boards.
second i think u should really not get a voodoo. game makers dont code for that chip anymore and there are no drivers for it to correct a lot of the problems that continue to arise. i kow that the everquest community is still cursing the fact that there is no support for the voodoo cards. the kyro vid chip faces the same set of problems. i would definately spend a little extra on a decent gforce 2. with a little patience u can order a 64 meg version if thats what u really want. voodoo has always had abyssmal picture quality and performance. i have an ATI Expert98 pos vid card i use in my hardware test/HD format system that outperforms most voodoo5 cards and its only got 8 megs ram heh. if what ur loking for is a card to play the old voodoo games ur better off hunting up a used diamond monster2 8meg voodoo add in card and using that in addition to a real 3d card.
also i prefer viewsonic perfect flat monitors. i ahvent seen anything under 3500$ that looks better than one of those. my PF790 19" i saw on sale at a local shop recently for 249$ which makes me a tad mad since i paid 349$ for the one i have :/
Posted by: Swilo
The motherboard is based on the Intel i815 chipset, and many people have said that Asus makes a good motherboard. I've already decided not to get a V5, all but 1 person has told me otherwise, and the only reason I wanted it was it is $110. Kyro II is only $120, and some websites have it whallopping the GF2 MX in benchmarks, and rivaling the GTS in moderate resolutions. And my monitor choice has no problems for me. For a 19" monitor, it will do 2048x1536 resolution at 69Hz. Considering right now I'm on a 13" with a max res of 800x600, this is a big jump and makes me quite happy, and viewsonic monitors only go up to 1800 in their 19" models. I still need a case, power supply, keyboard, and am hoping I can get those klipsch speakers.
Posted by: Chako
Yes, the viewsonic monitors are very nice. I shall play devils advocate and say this…have you thought about an AMD thunderbird instead of Intel. Either choice is excellent, and you can’t go wrong with either. Another thing is this…have you looked at the Soundblaster Live Mp3 version instead of the gamer version…same cards only different software (depends on what you are looking for…chances are you might have the bundled games already). If money is tight, you could save some by going with a Live value card instead. The Asus motherboard you chose is a very nice one. You must have read Tom’s hardware review for it I take it. As far as speakers go, I like Altec Lansing speakers…they are cheap and have very good sound. Speakers are a personal thing…you should try several before buying the ones you want. Another thing to consider is this….try and get a keyboard with a built in USB hub in it. I know you do not like the Microsoft Internet keyboard due to all the useless buttons (I agree…they are useless but I do love the volume keys), but it does have 2 USB ports on the back….perfect for attaching a USB mouse. I do not know about other keyboards out there, but it is a nice feature. Have fun putting it all together…whatever you chose, I am sure you will like it.
Posted by: Spider
Blasphemer! Nothing compares to Klipsch!
Posted by: Chako
I have never heard them, but I am sure they are all that everyone keeps saying they are. However, I cannot see myself paying more then $150 for speakers...to me they are just not worth it. I have the same speakers that Bishop has with his AlienWare puter. Altec Lansing 4.1 speakers with a live card is a good enough combo for me.
Posted by: Swilo
AMD = Evil
After all my overheating and general crashing experiences with this K6-2, I don't know if I'll be buying an AMD chip for a while. Never been to Tom's hardware for this motherboard, but I've seen some of his reviews for other things. I'll have to look into the software differences between the cards. the USB ports on the keyboard sound nice, but those extra buttons...Do they always have to be activated? Speakers, I want Klipsch, anybody who ever had a set would swear by them.
Still need a case and ppower supply though...Something without screws and rolled edges so I don't cut myself would be nice.
Posted by: Null Actor
AMD isn't evil, they are just for the advanced user. *shrug*
Posted by: Canis Lupus
I kinda agree K6-2's suck ... but I never had a problem with my K7 yet 
Posted by: MK
2k? Sheist! Put a down-payment on a car
Posted by: Chako
Never had a problem with my old K6-3. Same can be said about my new K7.
Some people have had problems with Intels also...they are not immune to making crap decisions or crappy products either. I personally would not touch them due to all the screw ups they have made recently. Can we say RDRAM, 820 Chipset (Memory hub fiasco), PIII built in ID tag, PIII 1.13G, poor availability of their higher end CPUs, P4 lackluster performance. Heck, the 810 was designed for cheap OEM sales to low budget system makers. The 815/E is also designed or targeted for that market. At least it comes with an AGP bus, but it still comes with built in sound. The VIA chipset based motherboards even give you more features then Intel chipsets. The problem is so bad right now, that many are still buying BX based motherboard…an architecture that is over 2 years old because it is faster then the current Intel motherboards. The problem is that Intel is still trying to get people over to RDRAM (I will be fair and say I have heard no problems with RDRAM and the P4’s ), and many have accused them of crippling the 815/E that supports SDRAM so that it doesn’t make RDRAM based motherboards such as their higher up 820 and 840 look bad. I don’t think I could support a company that has made so many bad business decisions. 3 years ago, I would have gladly went Intel, now…no way.
The 1G PIII is a fine CPU though.
Posted by: Null Actor
K7s give you no problems as long as you don't get a raid board. The raid controllers on most of the athlon boards tend to be awkward to get set up. The highpoint controller tends to have some big problems here and there. Everything else is plug in and go.
Just remember, for the price of that P3 1000, you could probably get an athlon 1200+.
Up to you in the end though.
Posted by: Null Actor
Here, you can get a K7 1333 (266mhz bus) and a good motherboard for the same price as a P3 1000 and a cheap motherboard.
If you want the most bang for your buck... well, you'll know what to do
But I do agree that the entire K6 series was shit... everything about them was bad. They were okay at their best, but never good. The athlons are completely different. Way less headaches too.
Posted by: JANNA
i tend to find here that the much higher costs of K7 MB do not in anyway offset the slightly lower cost of the AMD CPU compared to the price/performance/cost of intel stuff. the difference in price between MB/CPU costs of intel vs AMD are generally +-12 to 15$
i put about as much stock in benchmarks from these huge websites like anand and toms as i do in beleiving that cows can pilot starships. i use those sites to learn what is out there not to learn how well it performs. right now anything over 800mhz is about 2 times as much power as a person needs to run any game out there except D2 which wont run anyway
my personal choice right now is intel nova likes amd both systems can have problems and both can run trouble free it all depends on what board u use and what hardware ur willing to give up as a choice to build a comp. the trick is knowing what works with which board.
the reason i like intel is that they work with just about any hardware u care to toss in the case granted u are using an actual intel MB. AMD are a bit more sensitive and are subject to the whims of the billion and one K7 board makers whom AMD has no control over in their implementation of the K7 chipset. Intel has the same problem with MB makers as AMD but intel also makes their own boards which AMD does not.
nova is right tho the AMD is for a more advanced puter builder who doesnt mind the headaches involved in putting a AMD together and keeping it running. me i prefer that when i turn the last screw in the case and install windows i never have to open it or reinstall until a new doo-dad or OS i wnat to try comes out. as far as RAID is concerned i would not buy a MB with built in RAID either intel or AMD. if i HAD to have it i would buy an Adaptec add-in RAID controller. think about this... a good RAID controller can run more than the cost of a motherboard, built in RAID only raises the price of a board by about 30-40$. u get what u pay for in the computer world is very true.
u may find a AMD in my house when Dell starts selling them my rule on hardware nowadays concerning choice of CPU is if Dell doesnt sell it im not going to buy it when i go looking for a new cpu
Posted by: Swilo
Found a candidate for case/power supply combo.
Overkill?
I'm would go with the 300 watt version cause the 400 watt version is ~$200 and the 300 is only ~$130.
Posted by: Canis Lupus
Hmmm, not overkill IMHO ... it's actually enough to tide you by for a few years ... I'd recomend the 400W version if you can afford it, although that would be one LOUD ****er
Posted by: Chako
Nice case...you know....you just have to fill all those drive bays if you buy that fellow!
Posted by: Null Actor
Hey janna, just so you know, that price comparison I quoted I took prices straight from a local puter dealer (the cheapest one in edmonton).
And if you to to pricewatch, you'll see the same trend as in my post.
Posted by: Null Actor
And plus janna... when you go from 1ghz to 1.33ghz, there is quite a performance gap if you use any app at all that depends on cpu speed.
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