ok the time has finally come for me to build a new system. (currently running a 266 w/ 64mb ram and a 1mb vid card) i have been consulting with the hardware guru's where i work and all seem to agree on everything except the motherboard and vid card.
lets see if you guys agree with them on everything else:
cpu - athlon xp 1800 1.5ghz (this is what has been recommended but since the 2100s just hit pricewatch yesterday im gonna wait a week to see what happens to the 1900 and 2000)
- was also recommended to get thermal take vocano 7 heat sink and artic silver to mount it.
ram - was told to go with crucial or kingston (micron is usually too expensive) best deals i have found have been with kingston pc2100. im getting 512 for around a buck-fourty.
burner - heard good things about lite on. all the 24/10/40s i found were around 80 bucks (though ill probably pay 90 for the black one to match my black case). i did find a 32/12/48 for around the same price, but was told not to trust cyber drive.
hd - ibm or western digital. have had some bad luck with wd's so i decided to go with an ibm 40gb (7200rpm).
sc - whatever soundblaster live oem i could find for 30 bucks or less. sound isn't real important right now because i know ill never buy good speakers.
nic - was told that suprisingly 3com's performance falls short of their modems. they said it really didn't matter so i should save myself some money and pick up a linxus or netgear cheap.
ok here's where i expect to see some debate . ...
the motherboard chipset i was recommended most was the via kt266a. was told the kt233 was still pretty new and i'd be safer with the 266a. everyone agreed that this was a good chipset though some mentioned a couple others i can't remember off hand. the arguments actually came from what brand board to get. most people recommend azeus, but i find them to be overpriced. abit and gigabite fall close behind in recommendations. then there's my buddy, who insists i should get a shuttle because its cheap, just as good as any of the other boards (read a couple reviews that agreed) and because of its overclocking ablities. everyone is saying that they are junk boards though . .. what do you guys think?
then the bloodbath started with the video card. ati vs. giforce of course. there is no way im spending 300 bucks on the ati8500 all in wonder of the gf4, so it comes down to the ati8500 radien(sp?) and the gf3 ti200 (or ti500 if i can find for cheaper than 280 . . .and yes i know to avoid the mx of both 3 and 4 like the plauge). they both cost the exact same (120 - 150) but im not sure which one to go with. i did find a refurbished gf3 ti200 with 128 mb for 185 but i was told that i wouldnt even notice the diferance as no games now or in the immediate future can come close to maxing out 64mb. have any of you guys had problems with either card? anyone notice a major difference? how many of you are fanboys who will trash the other card without having ever used it . .. if this is the case at least admit it please. nothin wrong with being a fanboy if you at least admit it. i still want your opinion if your a fanboy, i just want to know if you have actually had allot of great experience with one or allot of bad with the other. i can openly admit that the ps2 0wnz j00 & th3 xb0x 5ux d0nk3 ba115.
lets get it on!
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Dunno why, personal preference i guess.
