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Some Help Plz!!!

Posted: Mon Aug 12, 2002 12:50 am
by Je2pa
I GONNA BUY A PC WITH AN AMD ATLHON XP 2200+ SO CAN U TELL ME HOW TO MAKE IT WORK BETTERSU KNOW LIKE WHAT KIND OF VIDEO CARD I NEED, MOTHERBOARD AND THAT THINGS PLZ..

THX

MARIO A.

Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2002 10:12 pm
by Fu Manchu
you buying pre built pc or building it yourself ?

Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2002 11:02 pm
by Je2pa
yes im gonna build it by miself
why?

Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2002 11:16 pm
by blade
Welcome to pca :)

I know your new, one thing I suggest is not typing with all caps. That is net talk for someone yelling. ;)

Motherboard suggestions:

Iwill Xp333
Epox 8k3a+
Epox 8k5a2
Epox 8k5a2+

Video Card:

Radeon 7500
Radeon 8500
Radeon 9700

Ram:

Crucial pc2700 or maybe 2100
Samsun pc2700

A lot really depends how you intend to use it. Will it be a gaming rig? Give us more specifics then we can help better. :)

Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2002 11:20 pm
by Je2pa
yes im sorry
u know that im new dont u?
ok anyway
i think i will use it more for gaming, yes that it, for gaming
and thx u for helping

Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2002 11:48 pm
by blade
Any of the motherboards would be good I mentioned above, also the video cards and ram. But the 8500 or the newer 9700 (when it comes out) are your best bet. Not familar with nvidia cards but i know many like them too.

What's your budget like? That wil help. :)

When you get closer and figure out what you want, we can help provide good links where to buy the items at.

Posted: Thu Aug 15, 2002 12:04 am
by Fu Manchu
nvidia cards will be fine for what you want .. . ati cards are great also :)

there is a whole variety of stuff to choose from when building a system ... so i would suggest reading some reviews on hardware .. figure out what looks the best to you pricewise and performance .. and then go from there.

Posted: Thu Aug 15, 2002 12:04 am
by Je2pa
like 900-1000usd

Posted: Thu Aug 15, 2002 12:05 am
by PreDatoR
For a motherboard i'd recommend a Epox 8K3A or the 8K5A2. Those are non raid version of the board and i'm guessing you won't be running raid. I highly recommend the Wester digital JB drives with the 8 megs of cache. They blow everything else out of the water as far as performance goes. Do you want top notch stuff or stuff that will perform good on a budget. Vid card wise i'd recommend the Radeon 8500,9000 or 9700. sound card Hercules GTXP or Turtle Beach Santa Cruz. Other than those few things those are the main ones that will affect the performance. Some Samsung or Corsair Pc2700 or higher would also be highly recommended.

More money.....

Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2002 6:44 am
by Bigal
Je2pa: I don't think you will be able to build a decent system for only $1K. Here's why:

Monitor: Cheap (17") will be $200; Moderate (19") will be $300; Nice (17" LCD) will be $500

Mainboard: Cheap will be $100; Lots of features will be $150

CPU: Athlon XP 2200+ will be $175 - $200 (OEM)

Heatsink / fan assembly: Cheap (aluminum) will be $35; Solid copper high performance will be $50

RAM: PC2100 DDR 256 MB will be $60; PC2700 DDR 512 MB (2 sticks) will be $125

Case: Cheap (generic / plastic) will be $40; Decent will be $80, Modded (windows, etc.) will be $125

Power Supply: Only get a good ($60) to excellent ($90 and up) power supply!!!!

Videocard: Cheap (Geforce3/4 low Ti range) will be $125; Decent will be $200; Excellent will be $300

Speakers: Forget cheap ($15), decent 2.1 system will be $50; nice 4.1 will be $150

Hard drive: 40 GB with 2 MB buffer will be $80; 100 GB with 8 MB buffer will be $130

CD/RW drive: Cheap 24X will be $50; decent 32X will be $70; fastest 48X will be $100

DVD or CD-ROM drive: Cheap will be $30, decent will be $50

Sound Card: Cheap will be $30 (forget it); decent will be $50, excellent will be $85

Extra PCI cards (Ethernet, etc.): figure on $20 to $40 per card

Removeable storage: Floppy will be $10, Zip 100 will be $35


As you can see, we are talking more like $1100 for even the cheapest system. You will be closer to the $1500 mark for something decent, and $2000 for an excellent system. If you are serious about this project, I suggest you allocate some more money, and go for a $1500 system. Otherwise, I recommend that you purchase a pre-configured system using a slower CPU (Athlon XP 2000+) to save a few bucks. It's hard to beat the price of some manufacturers, since they get those volume discounts. Maybe you can buy that pre-configured system and start modding the case (window, neon or cold cathode light, fans, etc.), learning more and preparing yourself for another system that you build yourself next year when more money is available...... :p

Posted: Mon Aug 19, 2002 2:26 am
by knightofnee1112
If you already have a monitor, then you can get a spiffy machine going, the new 2200 kinda seems like a waste, I would segest going 2000+ just becuase they are cheaper, and real fast anyway, my 650Mhz Athlon is perfect for me. this is what I think you can get away with (without monitor)

decent case of some sort $70-100
IWILL XP333 motherboard $90
2X 256MB PC2100 corsair DDR $160
Athlon 2000+ $135
16X DVD drive $40
32X12X40 CD-R/W $80
60GB Maxtor 7200RPM hard drive $90
coolermaster HHC-001 copper heatsink $30
turtle bay santa cruz sound card $60
linksys LNE100TX networking card $20
floppy drive... RIP OUT OF A 486 OR SOMETHING, OR $15
logitec optical ps/2/USB mouse $15
PS/2 keyboard $15
US Robotics 56K external modem $80
ATI radeon 8500 DDR $110
shipping $50
total: $1100

as you can see, your slightly over buget with this system but if you've got a non-dialup connection, like DSL then it's much closer to your buget. if you dont want DVD take off $10 for a 52X you want a cheaper sound card a soundblaster live card is $35

a decent monitor will be around $200-300

i hope this helps you.

Posted: Fri Aug 23, 2002 3:16 pm
by xXPROVIDERXx
You want cheap but good Look at the ECS k7s5a or the ASUS a7s333 the asus board takes ddr only but the ecs you could use sdram or ddr (not at the same time duh..) both boards are under $100 and good.
as far as video cards i need to go along w/ blade the ATI 9700 (when it comes out ) is the bomb...