New System Help

Magexx9 · Post by **Magexx9** » Wed Jun 11, 2003 10:14 pm

Since I came to college computers have taken a backseat in my life to say the least. I recently came across some money and wanted some input from you guys, comments are suggested.

New System:

MB: ASUS A7N8X
CPU: Athlon XP 2600+ Thoroughbred
HS/Fan: ???
Memory: ???
HD 80 gig: ???
Monitor: ???
Vid-Card: ???

I have an antex sx830, cd-drives, and everything else. Just looking for a little more speed and some stability. I also wanna install Linux to learn a little more. I'm in the process of trying to figure it out on my own but I can only read so many hardware reviews

.

Thanks alot guys you're awesome.

BillyGoat · Post by **BillyGoat** » Wed Jun 11, 2003 10:47 pm

im asuming you already have the mb/cpu?
Im not the bartons are getting cheap

Other then that- we would need to know your budget so we dont go uber overboard on the specs

Magexx9 · Post by **Magexx9** » Thu Jun 12, 2003 2:13 pm

Well I recieved $1000 from a court settlement, but I don't want to spend all of it. I'm looking for a 17 - 19 inch monitor. I hardly play any games anymore but I need to replace my tnt2 ultra because it's giving me problems. Probably 512 mb ram would be good, and I really want a system that is rock stable.

Thanks

DoPeY5007 · Post by **DoPeY5007** » Thu Jun 12, 2003 2:19 pm

I have the A7N8X Delux, great board...

I don't have a 2600+, I only have a 2500+

I am using Kingson PC2700

I recomend getting two sticks of what ever you get so you can use the dual chan on the board

wvjohn · Post by **wvjohn** » Thu Jun 12, 2003 2:38 pm

for a good dx-9 compatible vid card look at the ati 9500/9600 pro - good enough for anything

memory is cheap right now and if you're not overclocking you can get a gig of quality pc2700 for around ~ $100 - i just got a stick of corsair pc2700 for about $55 from newegg

both my main rigs have a gig now and it makes a noticeable difference from 512

look at the cpu reviews on this site - the slk 800 is a favorite - i am running a drthermal with a 5k fan on a 2100+ @ 2333 - you don't have to spend a lot if you're not into extreme voltage

the onboard sound should be fine

for a monitor, check the deals pages daily - i have a 19" samsung flat screen in my main rig which i got from dell on one of those coupon deals for about $300

also, the 17 gaming quality lcds are coming down sharply in price - around $400 for the dell 17" now

blade · Post by **blade** » Thu Jun 12, 2003 2:54 pm

HS/Fan: Either the SK7, SLK800 with something like a ys tech 80mm fan. You can go faster if you have a fan controller, unless you can stand noise. And as John mentioned, dr thermal makes good ones too. Best value is the sk7 and maybe the dr thermal ti-v77L.

Memory: Corsair, mushkin, samsung, hyperX and crucial come to mind. Newegg has some deals on them.

HD 80 gig: Seagate barracuda IV is very quiet. Maxtor is good too and western digital.

Vid-Card: best you can afford. At least a 8500, next up the 9500, 9700 and 9800

Magexx9 · Post by **Magexx9** » Sun Jun 15, 2003 1:03 am

I've been away from computing for a while so I might ask some trivial quesitons. 2700 over 3200? You have to have two sticks to do dual channel?

OH yah, no I don't have the cpu/mb yet, that's what I was thinking about getting, whaddya think?

DoPeY5007 · Post by **DoPeY5007** » Sun Jun 15, 2003 10:49 am

Originally posted by Magexx9
You have to have two sticks to do dual channel?

yes, two sticks of the same

matt719 · Post by **matt719** » Mon Jun 16, 2003 6:23 pm

If you are working in linux, you won't need directX so you don't need to put a lot into a video card. A Geforce 4 Ti4200 128MB should suit you nicely which run about $100 online, opposed to a Radeon 9500 which costs at least $150. Go ahead and get the two sticks of ram... with linux you will be compiling a lot so get as much as you can. You don't need to buy the best ram, but by no means don't buy generic ram. Generic ram goes out after 6 months, and finding generic ram with a warranty isn't likely. Getting a Barton core would make more sense than getting a tbred... the Barton 2500+ is running about $90 online which is pretty good. I would suggest getting a massive copper heatsink (SK7, SLK-800), and put a Vantec Stealth 80mm fan on it unless you are like me and can't sleep without a loud humming noise. As for hard drives, I would stay away from Maxtor. They are known to go bad a lot, and even if they are under warranty it is a pain in the ass. I would go with Western Digital, because they are the least expensive and most of their drives have 8MB cache which is great.

Magexx9 · Post by **Magexx9** » Mon Jun 16, 2003 11:29 pm

Will the 300watt power supply that came with my case be sufficient? I think it's an antex pp303x, pretty good one when I bought the case. Thanks

matt719 · Post by **matt719** » Tue Jun 17, 2003 4:02 pm

It might be a little low for that nice board, but just turn off all the onboard features you won't be using (parallel, serial, sound, NIC, etc). I have a very solid Enermax 350W PSU running my Abit NF7 nForce 2 and I is not stable at all with some of these features drawing power. I know Tbird and early XP boards will run fine on a 300W Antec though.