Check out My Setup Will Ya???

[Pollux]

I have about $2000 to spend on a new custom comp. this is what i'm looking at... if you all have any suggestions i'd love to hear especially if they are better performing/lest costing!

SONY 19"/18V GDM-400PS .25 1600X1200 75HZ SHORTNECK $655

BIT BP6 INTEL 440BX CHIPSET DUAL SOCKET 370 ATX FORM FACTOR 1xAGP/5xPCI/2xISA/3xDIMM $135

CREATIVE LABS ENCORE 6X-DVD W/DXR3 DECODER CARD, AC-3 MPEG VIDEO OUTPUT $205

IBM 18GB DJNA-371800 ULTRA-ATA66 9.5MS 7200RPM (3-Yr Warranty! Bare drive) $180

CREATIVE LABS 3D BLASTER 32MB AGP RIVA TNT2 ULTRA 128BIT (Retail) $168

SONY 1.44MB FLOPPY DRIVE (Bare Drive) $15

IOMEGA ZIP 250MB ATAPI INT W/CARTRIDGE $161

SUPERPOWER POLARIS KS-198XP FULL TOWER W/300W ATX POWER SUPPLY 6x51/4 2x31/2 1x31/2(hidden) $75

CREATIVE LABS BUNDLE: CDRW 4224 24X/4X/2X REWRITABLE DRIVE W/SOUNDBLASTER LIVE! MP3 PCI SOUND CARD & PC WORKS FOURPOINT SURROUND SOUND SPEAKERS $247

INTEL CELERON 400MHZ W/128K CACHE(RETAILED) W/COOLING FAN 3 YEARS WARRANTY $73/each $146 total

------------------TOTAL-----$1982.32-----

I'm especially interested in case suggestions as well as anything you'all might see as helpful. thanks a lot, i'm looking for the best system for the cash!!!
-pollux

[Pollux]

c'mon, i'd really like to hear what all you wizards have to think about this system /forum/smile.gif .
-pollux

[Apostle 83]

Pollux, Get a cdrw instead of a ZIP250. They store more, and any comp w/a cd drive can read a cd-r, at least! Plus you can copy CD's, sell them, and get thrown in jail for longer than you would if you killed Joe...Schmoe.

[bigslammer]

I'd go for two celery 366@550 but are you really in need of dual cpu. Then I assume you're gonna be running NT. also you can get a good dvd drive for less than 205. but in any case you're one lucky guy. I'd maybe wait a little longer when there is some real feed back on the camino chipset, via apollo 133, or maybe there will be a larger selection of athlon mobos. also the verdict isn't really in yet on rambus, ddr, or virtual channel memory. so wait just a tad but in any case it looks like you'd have one heck of a machine. check pricewatch.com for the cheapest parts.

[chipbgt]

I woudl get some kinda of video card that does the dvd deconding for you (ati) and save yourself from getting the decoder card. And like he said, you can get a dvd for much cheaper. I bought a 6x at CompUSA for 99 bucks and it works great with my ati card....and I would also swing for a scsi mobo with more dimm slots....but thats just me. But that would work if you had, say, 4000 dollars. otherwise your sitting pretty...but be sure to look around, you can find cheaper prices online if your willing to dig /forum/smile.gif

[daveleau]

That isa very nice setup. I agree with a couple of the posts above. I think the Celery 366 would save youa little casha nd get better performance and versatility. It would be great to hae an ATI video board that did DVD encoding (would save an IRQ instead of installing decoder and video). As for the zip drive, I have both a CD-RW and a zip and find both indespensible. I take the zips back and forth to work so I can make changes in both places.

[Apostle 83]

Yeah, drop that Zip! Cd's are much more stable than magnetic storage, and you won't hate yourself for getting a Zip! I got one about 1 1/2 mo's ago, and almost had myself sterilized so that this stupidity wouldn't continue to the next generation!

[KillerBug]

A few modifications...get 2 366mhz celerons guaranteed to 550, and then go over to http://www.overclockers.com and get 2 Alphas and 2 Pelter kits, you could actualy push way beyond 550!!!! Get a TNT-2 ultra 32mb with the glasses, they are worth it. Get one of those chairs with the built in sub woofer, under $300, and makes your computer experience unbeleivable!!! Get a hard disk cooler with 3 fans for the hard disk drive, it will help you run more stable. Get a video card with S-video out and get a sony trinitron tv. It looks just as good as a PC monitor, and will cost you about the same as that 19". It also has big time built in speekers, so you don't need seperate ones.

[Pollux]

that all sounds pretty sweet KillerBug, but it sounds like it's going a little out of my pricerange. but could you tell me what brands of the tnt2 Ultra do have the glasses? i'd like to check that out. i'm also going to go to dual 366's, but i just didn't have a price for them offhand. thanks
-pollux

[Warthog]

Yeah Zip sucks. I've got a CD-RW drive and know people who have zips. 100 meg disks cost about $10 each and 650meg CD-RWs cost about $3 each. CD-Rs cost between one and two dollars and you can make a CD of your own mix of songs, mp3 and wav sound files. Who cares how big the CD-RWs are??? Store small files, big files - whatever! Zips are more valuable because of the price so you wouldn't want to travel with them as much, no matter if you're transporting a 5mb file of a 50mg file. Use a CD-RW!!! Zip drives are only bought by those people who buy a computer because it looks pretty (*coughcoughimaccough*). /forum/smile.gif

Warthog

[KillerBug]

Drop the Zip drive, you will have enoug to pay for the difference, and you would not use the zip drive even with the setup you named, why would you want zip when you have cds that re-record, hold 3 times more, and work in every computer ever made with a CD drive, the cheapys go for $3, sometimes less, but do not work in all cdrom drives, and often do not burn correctly, I sugjest getting the black ones (they look like what the PSX uses, and are a high capacity), or the "mirror" disks that are silver.

[ENVY]

sounds pretty good but what about ram?

[Warthog]

I started out with 64 RAM, wasn't satisfied and purchased a 128 chip to make my total 192 RAM. I did that so I could have tons of speed but also to stretch out the life of my computer. I don't mean to say that I want to have this for 5 years, I just want to be able to keep up with the rest of 'em in a few years /forum/smile.gif. If I were to buy a new computer now, I'd get 128.

Warthog

[jokostel]

cool man...

[Nathan]

I would drop the Zip and the dual processor.

If you REALLY want sound, get Bose speakers. They are actually incrediable. You won't believe the sound coming out of them, especially in games...

[Pollux]

I'm thinking about changing the zip 250 to a zip 100. It's a big price cost and you'all are right, if i want to store something big i can use the cd burner that i'm getting. Does anybody know anything about the speakers? the bundle just seemed like a good idea because it had a bunch of stuff for not too much. Also, does anybody know the difference between the regular SoundBlaster Live! and the Soundblaster Live! Mp3??? i want to make sure that i'm not losing any quality. Any other tower suggeestions are also welcome (but i'm definitely getting a full-tower with 300 watt power supply /forum/smile.gif ).
-pollux

[xtant]

My recommendation would be to drop the zip drive altogether. If you've got a cdrw, why would you want a zip drive? The only reason why I could think you would want one would be if you know a LOT of people who use zips and exchange data using them. On top of that, zip disks cost more than rw's, at least the last time I checked.
And then you can take that extra $150 and use it to upgrade to a scsi drive, or on software.
Something else that I would suggest would be skip the Cambridge speakers and get Klispch's promedia speakers. The one advantage that you'll have with the Cambridge speakers is that they'll accept the digital in from you sb live. However, the klipsch speakers cost less, sound better, and have a lot more power than the Cambridge.

[goldboyd]

I'd ditch the zip drive, get a cheaper monitor (hitachi, viewsonic) and GO SCSI!!! I just recently went scsi, and didn't look back, best upgraded ever for me.

[Pollux]

I already have 128 meg of ram. so that's not a question. however i would like to hear any more about what you'all think. i have dropped the zip drive to a 100 mb one for $67 and dropped the Creative Labs Bundle, now i'm going with

CREATIVE LABS SOUNDBLASTER LIVE! VALUE PCI 256VOICE ENVIRONMENTAL AUDIO (OEM) $51

CREATIVE LABS FOURPOINT DIGITAL SURROUND FPS2000 4-SPKRS W/SUBWOOFER $149

NETGEAR 10BT/100BTX FA310TX PCI $68

SONY SPRESSA 24X-READ/4X-RECORD/4X-REWRITE EIDE INTERNAL REWRITABLE W/SW & MEDIA $191

DIAMOND VIPER V770 ULTRA 32MB AGP4X nVIDIA TNT 2 (Retail) {instead of Creative Labs}$155


i really appreciate the feedback and appreciate any suggestions on speakers and cases that you all might have... thaks a bundle.
-pollux

[Nathan]

Speakers. I think you should consider these. If you're lucky, you probably have a store near you so you can hear them first hand.
http://www.bose.com/multimedia/

HP 8100 CD-RW. We use the Adaptec Easy CD creator I think it is. No problems with them. Of course we only bought about 5 of them. But they all got installed without a hitch. The only problem we had was with HP software for the CD-RW. We don't use it now.

Good Luck. In any case, it's going to be a nice system. Have fun with it!!!!!!

[Warthog]

I'd say go with Bose or Boston Acoustics. Both are known for their top quality speakers. Creative Labs is better than most but not the best. Oh yeah...make sure you get a good subwoofer with it too. Adaptec CD Creator is an excellent piece of software.

Warthog

[seti]

If you're going with dvd....you gotta go with the creative DTT2500's. It comes with a Dolby Digital decoder so you can listen to dvd's the way there were ment to be, with 5.1 channels of surround sound. The debate is the DTT2500's vs. klipsch for top slot in the pc audio market. The big thing is that klipsh has 400watts RMS....that's such an over kill in my oppion, unless you have your computer in the middle of gym. I had my speakers turned up a little over half way...got shot in rainbow six and it hurt my ears. So, they're plenty loud. There's just a wee bit less bass then I like. but just a wee bit. And I could probably fix it by just putting the sub in the coner of the room. But the external amp for this set has an out for a powered sub, I think I'm going to build my own. One more thing...if you get a sb live, or mp3 or xgamer then you get digital output. And it gomes with 2 speaker stands for the surround channels.
It's a great package in my opinion, ha even if I'm saying this after purchace.