Advice on new system

[tomm]

Want to build or purchase new system for my son(15). Present system is Pentium Pro 200, Velocity 4400 video. Want system for normal home use and some gaming with average to good video. Looking to get most bang for the buck. Seek advice on chipset, cpu, motherboard, memory, video to select. I am leaning towards a Athalon cpu. Would also appreciate any suggestions on places to purchase componets or system.

Thanks
Tomm

[rangeral]

You can get a good deal on athlon and boards most anywhere accessmicro.com has some barebones specials you can try with epox boards which seem to be a favorite these days, barebones meaning board, chip and case. I buy my video cards from atacom.com mostly gainward/card expert are dependable cards, you can get reviews on boards at motherboards.com epox, the ak31, asus and msi have good mobo's if anything you should start out with a good mobo to build on. Plus you can check at pricewatch.com for a various prices on everything, but crazypc.com has a good collection of heatsink/fans for your cpu copper being the way to go these days, thermal compound and cabling. Crucial.com sells good ram can't go wrong with them, to name a few.

[RayH]

You don't give a geographical location. It makes a big difference on where to purchase the items. Within 1/2 mile of my home in San Francisco, I have a half dozen custom build shops which sell a lot of the guts really cheap. There is no need for me to mail order.

If I buy a complete system, they'll assemble it for free!

[mondayz]

newegg.com directron.com kdcomputer.com excellent vendors! newegg has some cheap shipping on cases which is normally quite expensive.

[krazefinn]

You can't go wromg with the ECS k7s5a, excellent and dstable performer, only caveat to use GOOD power and certified NON ecc memory. With a 266 bus Tbird, or even the supported XP will have excellent performance. I just built one, with a volcano, duron 700, 256 nanya memory ddr, and the board for %150, and it is very fast and stable, no crashes first week.

A step up would be the considerably higher priced NFarce based chipset platform, with better than average on board AGP and sound, would save considerably there. The sound is 5.1 dolby, and video integrated 32 mb geforce mx200. Very workable, near top of the line performance, although would suggest more research re: stability.

Good luck, post yer final build choices.

[PIETRO]

IF you want to get a lot for your money go with the ECS K7S5A, some people have had problems with it, but the majority like the board. I have one myself and love it, great performer, stable, and the cheapest system I built to boot. You can get that board for about $57 at newegg...add a 256mb Crucial DDR memory $53 and and AMD 850 Athlon (200FSB) for $50 you got yourself a fairly cheap...reliable system for almost nothing. The ECS K7S5A also supports all the Athlon XP processor so you can upgrade.

It's worth a look! Good Luck!!!

[wallie_x]

I also own an ECS K7S5A. While not the highest quality, it performs excellently and with very high benchmarks. It is perhaps the most stable system I've owned (but I am also using Windows XP). It definitely offers the most bang for your buck. You might like it so much you may end up trading your system. The performance is that good. Please be mindful of the PSU and memory issues [as per above] though, it will save you alot of hassle:

[Buzzy]

MSI K7T266 PRO2-RU 266MHz FSB ATX DDR IDE RAID USB 2.0
ATI RADEON 8500 64MB DDR {RETAIL} or MSI G3Ti500 PRO-TD
Centon Electronic 256MB 32x64 PC 2100 DDR RAM - RETAIL 184-Pin, CL=2.0-Unbuffered 2.5V
AMD 1700+/266 FSB Athlon XP PROCESSOR CPU- OEM
Thermaltake DRAGON ORB3+. {be careful when installing}
Enermax Beige/White, 10-Bay, Enermax 330W P-4 PS, Server Tower Case ATX. 4 X 5.25" Bays, 2 X 3.5" Bays, 4 X 3.5" Hidden. Enermax EG351P VE(2 BB Fans)(AMD Recommended power supply.) power supply. 3 Fans. Dimensions: W205*D473*H522 (mm).
HERCULES GAMING THEATER XP
Asus DVD-E616 16x DVD Retail
Seagate Barracuda ATA IV (ST340016A) 40GB 7200RPM ATA/100 Hard Drive
TTX 8998 pure flat monitor 19"

some advice ....as for vendors ...www.googlegear.com , reflexintl.com , newegg as was mentioned .....prepare to research for at least a few hours before choosing ..go to tech sites as well.....

[Omega2k1]

ECS K7S5A Mobo
Athlon 1ghz or better processor
G-force 2 MX200 or better card
Soundblaster Live or Aureal Vortex SQ2500
20gb or more HD
256MB of Ram

I think that right there would make a good system for gaming(and relitivly cheap). check out Http://www.pricewatch.com for really cheap products.

I came up with $383 plus shipping for the following although i didn't look up the specs of the parts.

Athlon 1ghz Kit(case, powersupply, mobo, processor, and heatsink/fan)
20gb HD
56x CD-ROM
256mb PC133 Ram
Keyboard
Mouse
19in Monitor(cheaper then the 17in)
G-force2 MX200
Aureal Vortex SQ2500

[thekingofpain]

I sure like some of the new m/b's check em out---

[rangeral]

Heard recently that googlegear was not a good place to deal with, thought newegg was getting ready to file for bankruptcy recently or looking for someone to buy them.

[Buzzy]

rangeral ....where did you get that info on newegg ????
also what source did you get the googlegear info as well ????

I never had any problems with either one.....and placed alot of orders with both ,,,,,

see it pays to buy retail ,,,that helps to avoid
warranty problems ....mfg's w. have a advantage to oem's w. . No matter where you buy they can go out of business at any time

[Kurylo]

Athlon XP 1500+ or 1600+ and Volcano Cooler
AMD 760 mobo (DDR and UDMA100 support + 266MHz bus)
384 or 512MB DDR SDRAM
GeForce2MX-400 64MB SDR ... DDR
IBM 40 ... 60 GB 7200RPM
FDD, TEAC CD-ROM or DVD
Creative Live! 5.1 or Audigy
ATX 300W brand
ZYXEL

[xgamer]

Athlon 1ghz
40Gig 7200rpm WD
GeForce 2
12x8x32xLG Cd Writer
512megs of ram
plus a lot more stuff

I just built this system for my self for under $700 and it runs great, I am running Win2000 Pro and have not had any crashes yet and it plays games very well, and I love the Athlon.....


I didn't get my stuff from here but http://compuplus.com/ has some good prices on stuff...Check it out....

xgamer