Just Built My First PC

[ScaryBinary]

Hey, I finally got my new system up and running. It's the first system I've ever built, so I'm suprised it even boots! But, I'm proud of it, so of course I have to tell the world!


Abit KA7 Motherboard
AMD K7 Athlon 600Mhz Processor
128 MB PC133 RAM
Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live! X-Gamer
Asus V6800 Deluxe AGP Card (still some having some "issues" with this guy)
Various drives and expansion cards I swiped from my old Dell


Now, I can mess with the BIOS and see what I can break....

Many thanks to the gang here for help with various technical support issues, and to my wife who didn't see me for a week as I put this thing together (and who won't see me for another week as I install and troubleshoot all sorts of software).

Scary http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/icons/icon11.gif Binary

[CMonster]

I know you are going to be happy with that setup. Congratulations on the successful build - and Athlon/KA7 for your first build - now that's impressive!

[alpha]

Great! It's a brilliant feeling, isn't it? Good luck with your new system! http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

[Dave_H]

Congrats!
But, take out the wife for a celebration and spend some time with her, It will make it that much easier the next time. http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif
(I'm working on mine right now, I got a plan for something new).
Dave

[jad1097]

Congrats!

What do you think of the motherboard?

[Sharpy]

Well done here's hoping it the first of many successful builds. http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/icons/icon14.gif

[ScaryBinary]

Everything's going great so far. I've had a few troubles with my video card during some 3D gaming - some flickering (I think it's either the drivers I'm using or my old monitor), but other than that I love it.

I don't seem to be experiencing any mobo problems, but I haven't tweaked the BIOS too much yet (that's my next adventure....). The mobo seems pretty stable, and it has quite a bit of features as far as tweaking the bus speeds and voltages, etc go. I'm a happy camper for the time being!

[later edit]
One thing I liked, from the "newbie" point of view, is that the mobo manual was very helpful. Every connector, BIOS function, jumper, etc was explained fairly well (some of it was rather humorous; I suspect my English version was translated from some Asian language,and it made for some interesting grammar!).

[This message has been edited by ScaryBinary (edited 05-07-2000).]

[socalgal]

Congrats, ScaryBinary http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif Nice first system, too!

[Missing the point]

grats, I know you'll have a blast wih that system, it looks pretty good!

[ablang]

Would you be willing to share with us about how much a system of this magnitude would cost for home assembly, and one for a brand name?

[alan]

congrats scary
now is the time to play and wring that chickens neck to see how far it will go
alan http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

[ScaryBinary]

Here's the breakdown. First, I was able to use the monitor, hard drive, and floppy drive from my old system, so that saved a few bucks there (mostly the monitor - drives aren't too expensive nowadays). I purchased:

Abit KA7 : $155
AMD K7 600Mhz, OEM w/fan: $200
128Mb Corsair PC133 SDRAM w/ECC : $145
Creative Labs Soundblaster Live! X-Gamer : $85
Asus V6800 Deluxe DDR (GeForce) : $300 (ouch!)
InWin Q500 Full Tower Case w/300W PS : $80

I basically spent right around $1000 for all those parts. The video card was pricey because I wanted a good one with video-in and TV-out capability (probably couldn't get with a Dell or other Pre-Fab).

I had been looking at some Dells with Pentium Processors, and last I checked for a decently fast system they wanted upwards of $2K. But that's with a new 19" monitor.

I looked at it this way: perhaps it would have been cheaper to buy direct from someone, but by building it myself, I get a few advantages:

I know exactly what I'm getting.
Way easier to upgrade. I can just swap out the processor for a few hundred bucks rather than buy a whole new system.
Along the same lines, I don't get any stupid proprietary designs that prohibit me from easily changing out parts.

So there you have it. I think I still came out ahead in the long run. And of course, I get free tech support right here http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/icons/icon12.gif !

Scary http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/icons/icon11.gif Binary

[Wilan Wong]

Yeah, Congratulations! Like that feeling hey?

[jadison]

[b]CONGRATULATIONS!!![b]
I have to say it's a great feeling whenever you build something yourself, esp. a computer...not very many people can do that and then have the machine work afterwards! http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif
Looks like a great setup you have there!!

BTW, I wanted your personal opinion, does your Athlon system perform variably well compared to a equal-performance Pentium system? I'm just curious, 'cause I was getting ready to build another system, I was gonna go with a Pentium 500E & an ABIT BF6, but if the Athlon is better (I know they're cheaper!), I'll get that instead!

Thanks, and good luck with your building/tweaking/Overclocking endeavors!

-jd-

[ScaryBinary]

Well, I really couldn't give you an informed opinion about the old Pentium Vs Athlon debate. I went from a Pentium Pro 200 MHz to an Athlon 600 so....

I have heard much raving about the Athlon's floating point abilities, but that kind of stuff doesn't really come into play too much unless you're doing some really heavy calculations. The price sure is nice for an Athlon, though!

The Pentium has an on-die cashe, so that speeds things up a little once you get to the chip.

In a nutshell, from what I've heard, they're pretty much neck and neck until you get up into the 900MHz range, where the Pentium takes the lead (due to, I think, the cashe issue mentioned above?).

If you want an Athlon, what I'd do is wait a tiny bit longer - AMD is getting ready to introduce the next generation of Athlons with better cashe implementation, and I think those will probably kick some pentium ****. (Looks like I'll be upgrading soon! Maybe when I get more $$$....)

At any rate, there are tons of other sites that describe the differences of each chip. Perhaps Tom's Hardware ( http://www.tomshardware.com ) or Anandtech ( http://www.anandtech.com ) have a few articles benchmarking the two.