custom built, do myself?

[msbrown2]

Well I am building a new PC this summer and not sure what route to take. I can find everything I want on pricewatch or ibuyer.net for CHEAP but tell me what you think. Please suggest different items if you know because I am just trying to go off of reviews and such. I already have a Viper v770 32Mb TNT2 card and an HP 8x4x24 CDRW to put in and a MagInnovision DXT-700 monitor.

MSI K7T266 Pro-R motherboard
AMD Athalon 1.2 GHz 266FSB
Corsair 256MB PC2100 DDR RAM
Mitsumi 1.44"
IBM 40GB Deskstar 60GXP
Sound Blaster Live! Platinum 5.1
Sony 52x CDROM
Antec SX 830 case (300w)

$751 is the total for above.

I was thinking of changing to:
Lian Li PC-60 Case w/ Enermax 450w (add $130)
Leadteak Geforce2 Ultra 64MB DDR (add $235)

$1116 is the added total

Does this look ok or am I lacking in some areas or overkilling in some? Oh and price look good? Sorry about all the questions but this is all the money I will make this summer so I need to make it count.

Oh yeah, I am not an overclocker so don't consider stuff like that.

[This message has been edited by msbrown2 (edited 06-26-2001).]

[randy48]

Nothing wrong with your selects, but consider a good CPU cooler and a couple of case fans! Good cooling/airflow is important for a stable system, regardless if you overclock or not!

Also there is really no bad component (except a PCChips mainboard...IMO), you buy what you can afford and what will perform as you want. There are always Birthday's Christmas, etc to get new upgrades http://www.sysopt.com/forum/wink.gif

[msbrown2]

The Lian Li case comes with 3 fans and is completely aluminum so it dissipates heat naturally. It seems to get stellar reviews across the board but its just so much to pay for a case. I guess my biggest concern is picking the right chipset/motherboard.

[Brangwen]

msbrown2:

First: As regards a case, I sincerely believe that it is one of your most important components of <u>any</u> system. Why should anyone expect to pay $35 for a "quality" case and then expect that it will protect and work well with a thousand bucks worth of "internal" components? I think a case should be an investment that will do a great job and see many different mobos, CPUs, vidcards, etc. before it's replaced.

Second: As far as concerns over mobo/chipset, are you referring to VIA vs Intel, as in Apollo vs BX chipsets? Or mobo/CPU combinations? If the latter, take a look at THIS SITE (http://www.advanceddesignky.com/) for some preassembled combos of mobos and CPUs. If the former, you'll have to read the reviews.

Good luck. I appreciate how tough it can be making these decisions!

Brangwen http://www.sysopt.com/forum/wink.gif

[hallam2003]

post back on what you want to use this system for. to me it would be considered overkill in some places. if your going to use it for everything it's designed for, great, but your spending a but load of money here. your using MSI K7T266 Pro-R motherboard as your motherboard, this is a RAID board, you don't mention using a radi array, and you only have one hard drive listed, so are you going to use this feature or not, you can svae a little by getting the regular board. Also, the Sound Blaster Live! Platinum 5.1 is for some really heavy sound stuff. remember any kind of a speaker set up for this will set you back another 100-200 at least. you can do what i did and hook up 3 three piece sets to it instead of a 5.1 set, but it's still expensive. if you want the aluminun case, go for it, but just thing about how much money your spending here, your previous case is perfectly fine IMO. the G2 ultra might be a good choise, if your going to use it, it's a nice card, and it's got great graphics, but you have to use it if your going to pay for it. just my thoughts, it's your money, spend it how you like.

Hallam

[Ballastboss]

Dump the Mitsumi 1.44" and go with a Teac floppy,$12-$15.
You can't go wrong with MSI.

[msbrown2]

wow, lots of feedback. thanks! Well I mainly do a lot of graphics work and web design. That is of course when I'm not playing EQ or Sogue Spear. Graphics/design software I'm using is like Adobe PS6.0, Microstation, and 3d Studio Max (to name a few). I have no clue what Raid is for. I only have 1 hard drive cause thats all i can afford at the moment. I would eventually like a dual boot and have the linux on a separate drive (of course i don't wanna even think about linux hardware issues yet, thats a ways away). I also do A LOT of audio work. I record a local artists acoustic shows on minidisc then edit them on my PC and produce cds and mp3s. as for the stereo I currently have a Yamaha HTR-5250 receiver with a full surround setup of JBL Studio Series speakers so I am using a $2,500 stereo for sound (I think the Platinum is what I would need to ensure superioir qulity). My concerns over he mobo and chipset were precisely what youpointed out about the RAID and stuff. I really have no clue which is the best for me. I just want the best... My other choice was an Asus A7A266 AliMagik board. But I guess I'm just a typical multimedia/gaming user, nothing fancy like a file server gonna be run from my PC I'm trying to stay between 800 and 1000 in total price. Would that TNT2 hold me or is that like putting training wheels on a porche? Oh and I hate 98se, should i go with ME, 2000, or wait on XP?

[msbrown2]

I was thinkng and you might be right about the soundcard. I don't really need 5.1 coming out of it, as long as i can get a pure digital line (optics or coaxial) to my receiver. My DVD player is going to be with my stereo not my PC. Oh and most of the music I listen to is on my PC(mp3s, shns and such) so I do want digital quality out.

[sharder8]

Hate to tell ya' msbrown2, but if you hate Win98SE, you're going to really loathe WinME!!

Harder

[msbrown2]

Is there a date yet for Windows XP?

[Mntsnow]

Oct 25th

[randy48]

XP is suppose to be released in October. I think you may be happy with W2K. I'm a die-hard NT user and am slowly coming around to W2K, I use it on a few machines at work and recently bought/loaded it on one of my machines at home.

[msbrown2]

But I was under the impression that if you play games and do a lot of multimedia stuff that W2K is not the best thing (Everquest comes to mind).