cooter007
09-09-2001, 12:35 AM
Well I told a few People I would post this … so here it is!! The review of my new system. First I must tell you that I have not built a computer in 7 years and I am not a computer geek so this will be a high level review for people who are just looking for general information. No technical guru stuff hear!! The computer I’m replacing is a HP PIII 500!
Let’s start with the biggest part first (the biggest not the best)
The Case: Enlight 7237 300watt Mid Tower --$50(newegg) -- Well, It’s a case! Nothing fancy but it works. Plenty of room to work with and easy slide out hard drive tray are a few of the positives. If there is a positive there must be a negative. The case has a cheap feel to it …but I have to keep in mind that I only paid 50 dollars for it.. I could really use front USB ports and maybe a front Game port. I can take care of that with a few modifications. All in all it is a good case that is easily modified. By “easily modified” I mean that it does not hurt to cut the side out of a $50 case. If I paid $200-$300 for a case I would be somewhat apprehensive about ripping it apart with a saw.
MotherBoard: EPOX 8K7A -- $120 retail box(newegg) – Two Thumbs up!! Man this thing was easy to setup. Plugged in the Processor, Video Card and memory and she started right up. The jumper instructions could have been a little more descriptive. Basically the whole instruction manual could have used some work. I really relied on the go old Forums at Sysopt.com to get me through the jumper and bios settings. I have heard a few complaints about the lack of DIMM slots (It only has two). This was not a concern for me, I have 512k of DDR and most programs don’t even get close to using that much.
Processor: AMD 1.33GHZ 266 FSB -- $118 retail box w/fan(newegg) -- How Fast is Fast?!?!? I’m the wrong person to ask! What can I say…. It blows my PIII 500 away! I click an icon and the program is there in the fraction of a second, that is all I’m looking for. It runs Quake and Half-Life with ease! The instructions were easy to follow, the website and support are superb! It does run hot! You can cook eggs on this baby! I used the heatsink and fan that came in the retail box. I slapped a little Arctic Silver II on the core and she stays around 42 degrees Celsius at idle (this is well in the acceptable level)
Memory: Crucial 512K PC2100 DDR -- $71 w/Free Shipping -- I don’t know enough about memory to give you an ‘educated’ review. I plugged it in and it worked! Do I need to now anything else?
Video Card: CardExpert GeForce 2 Pro /450 64MB -- $137 retail box(newegg) -- I would really like some input on this one. Don’t get me wrong the card generates some beautiful graphics with higher frame rates than the human eye can see but it does not floor me. My HP PIII has a Voodoo3 2000 so that is the only thing I have to compare it to… The frame rates are most definitely higher than my Voodoo but the overall picture just does not blow me away. It is smooth in Quake and Half-Life! I just wonder how much of the performance is attached to the Processor, MotherBoard and memory! I will put my old Voodoo card in my new system and do a comparison. I will report my results later.
Can’t tell you about the Sound Card because I don’t have one http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif I used the AC97 on board audio! I will have to say that I am impressed! I spent more money than I wanted to on speakers but I am happy with the results. I bought Altec Lansing ACS54 speakers for around $45(can’t find my invoice so don’t hold me to that). They sound great and they are plenty loud. Loud enough to **** the wife off!!! That means they pass the test. The speakers are capable of surround sound but the on board audio is not, so I will buy a sound card in the near future. I hate having an option I can’t use.
I ordered the whole system (excluding memory) from newegg.com. I used the “FedEx Express Saver” , it arrived without incident in 3 business days.
Check resellerratings.com, for the prices and service I don’t think you can find better companys than newegg.com and crucial.com!
Overall, I’m happy and that is all that matters! The computer has been running for two weeks without any problems. Hardware problems that is!! Did I forget to tell you that Windows ME sucks! I should have stayed with Windows 98SE. I currently have a dual boot running Windows Me and Mandrake 8.0.
The only thing that has caused me any problems are drivers! drivers! drivers! They are everywhere and they are 9,000 different kinds VIA drivers, GeForce drivers, EPOX drivers, etc. It’s enough to make a man use an abacus!
Oh yea, I forgot about my hard drive. It is a IBM 40GB 7200rpm -- $103 newegg – runs like a champ!
e-mail me if you have any question wcatoe@hotmail.com
Let’s start with the biggest part first (the biggest not the best)
The Case: Enlight 7237 300watt Mid Tower --$50(newegg) -- Well, It’s a case! Nothing fancy but it works. Plenty of room to work with and easy slide out hard drive tray are a few of the positives. If there is a positive there must be a negative. The case has a cheap feel to it …but I have to keep in mind that I only paid 50 dollars for it.. I could really use front USB ports and maybe a front Game port. I can take care of that with a few modifications. All in all it is a good case that is easily modified. By “easily modified” I mean that it does not hurt to cut the side out of a $50 case. If I paid $200-$300 for a case I would be somewhat apprehensive about ripping it apart with a saw.
MotherBoard: EPOX 8K7A -- $120 retail box(newegg) – Two Thumbs up!! Man this thing was easy to setup. Plugged in the Processor, Video Card and memory and she started right up. The jumper instructions could have been a little more descriptive. Basically the whole instruction manual could have used some work. I really relied on the go old Forums at Sysopt.com to get me through the jumper and bios settings. I have heard a few complaints about the lack of DIMM slots (It only has two). This was not a concern for me, I have 512k of DDR and most programs don’t even get close to using that much.
Processor: AMD 1.33GHZ 266 FSB -- $118 retail box w/fan(newegg) -- How Fast is Fast?!?!? I’m the wrong person to ask! What can I say…. It blows my PIII 500 away! I click an icon and the program is there in the fraction of a second, that is all I’m looking for. It runs Quake and Half-Life with ease! The instructions were easy to follow, the website and support are superb! It does run hot! You can cook eggs on this baby! I used the heatsink and fan that came in the retail box. I slapped a little Arctic Silver II on the core and she stays around 42 degrees Celsius at idle (this is well in the acceptable level)
Memory: Crucial 512K PC2100 DDR -- $71 w/Free Shipping -- I don’t know enough about memory to give you an ‘educated’ review. I plugged it in and it worked! Do I need to now anything else?
Video Card: CardExpert GeForce 2 Pro /450 64MB -- $137 retail box(newegg) -- I would really like some input on this one. Don’t get me wrong the card generates some beautiful graphics with higher frame rates than the human eye can see but it does not floor me. My HP PIII has a Voodoo3 2000 so that is the only thing I have to compare it to… The frame rates are most definitely higher than my Voodoo but the overall picture just does not blow me away. It is smooth in Quake and Half-Life! I just wonder how much of the performance is attached to the Processor, MotherBoard and memory! I will put my old Voodoo card in my new system and do a comparison. I will report my results later.
Can’t tell you about the Sound Card because I don’t have one http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif I used the AC97 on board audio! I will have to say that I am impressed! I spent more money than I wanted to on speakers but I am happy with the results. I bought Altec Lansing ACS54 speakers for around $45(can’t find my invoice so don’t hold me to that). They sound great and they are plenty loud. Loud enough to **** the wife off!!! That means they pass the test. The speakers are capable of surround sound but the on board audio is not, so I will buy a sound card in the near future. I hate having an option I can’t use.
I ordered the whole system (excluding memory) from newegg.com. I used the “FedEx Express Saver” , it arrived without incident in 3 business days.
Check resellerratings.com, for the prices and service I don’t think you can find better companys than newegg.com and crucial.com!
Overall, I’m happy and that is all that matters! The computer has been running for two weeks without any problems. Hardware problems that is!! Did I forget to tell you that Windows ME sucks! I should have stayed with Windows 98SE. I currently have a dual boot running Windows Me and Mandrake 8.0.
The only thing that has caused me any problems are drivers! drivers! drivers! They are everywhere and they are 9,000 different kinds VIA drivers, GeForce drivers, EPOX drivers, etc. It’s enough to make a man use an abacus!
Oh yea, I forgot about my hard drive. It is a IBM 40GB 7200rpm -- $103 newegg – runs like a champ!
e-mail me if you have any question wcatoe@hotmail.com