Buying New Computer 1

[Iax]

Im planning on buying a new computer soon, but I havent been paying much attention to new hardware.
This is the list of stuff I made up after a few hours of research.

CPU:
Athlon XP 1900+, around $230 US
or
Athlon XP 1800+, around $180 US found on atic for $320 Can
or
1700
or even maybe
1600



mother board:

Soyo K7VDragon+ KT266A SND around $150 US
definatly get this motherboard, good reviews...


RAM:
256M DDR around $70 Canadian


Video Card:

LeadtekGeForce3 TI 200 around $163 US $325 canadian
or
LeadtekGeForce around $470 canadian
or
LeadtekGeForce3 TI 500 around $300 US $560 canadian
or
Radeon 8500


DVD drive around $100 canadian
stuff will probably start coming out on dvd soon, and it can read regular cds anyways.


HARDDRIVE

seagate ST380021A 80G 7200rpm ATA100 2M with Hydrolic Baring $295 canadian
-much quiter
OR
maxtor DiamondMax Plus 80.0G ATA100 7200rpm 5T060H6 $280 canadian
-faster in some applications



floppy dirve under $10 canadian

case with good power supply (atleast 300-400 W) dont know much about them though....



Any suggestions would be appreciated.
And any info on specific fans/heatsinks, thanks.
Ian

 

[paparazi]

XP the way to go!! the fastest of which is quite a bit more expensive just because it is the fastest, so go for the 1800+ better value.
Great board and based on the fastest DDR chipset at the moment, the Via 266A, make sure it is A (a lot faster)
Radeon 8500 is kicking nVIDIA's but at the mo!!! the 8500 not only has extra features that the G/force Ti500 but it is faster and again!!!! CHEAPER, good on yer ATI, it's about time!
Slot Pioneer 16x best DVD drive
Plextor 24x best writer
I've got a seagate Barracuda IV, they are brilliant!
I also believe the Maxtor Diamond max plus range are V.Good, either would be a good choice
Full tower case will run cooler, make it 300watt+ AMD recomended power supply
Heat is an issue so put a decent heatsink and fan on that Palemino straight away!! Swiftech, Alpha, Globalwin read the reviews
On the cooling issue make sure you have plenty of case cooling, two extra case fans front lower and top rear at least.
256DDR 2100 ram make sure it's branded (Hyundia, infineon)etc Hope this has helped. Martin

 

[xscape]

Yep, a lot of good advice from paparazi there. Just one thing to add. Make sure the power supply has and air intake in the BASE of it (when mounted in the case). This can make a lot of difference temperature wise and the air flow is taken from the top of the heatsink as well as out the back. Result: happier and more stable CPU plus the warm fuzzy feeling of having a happy CPU

I particularly recommed Enermax PSU's as they are built this way, have a very good reputation, oh and I've got one . There's a nice little review on the Enermax Whisper 350Watt here:

http://www.hitechmods.com/reviews/power_supply/enermax350/enermax350.shtml

as you'll read, it stood up well to being accidentally short circuited! "I guess this power supply is like Timex, takes a licking but keeps ticking".

Hope that's useful! You should have a nice system at the end of it!

Oh, and about ATI and GeForce, ATI always have had superior hardware power comparied with the Nvidia stuff. ATI's problem was that they just couldn't write very good drivers, whereas Nvidia's were much better, so made the GeForce a better choice. Well if ATI's got the drivers right this time then Nvidia are in for a shock, so we might see some more competative pricing soon (probably about the same time Microsoft start to bundle Netscape with Windows XP)

Good luck!

 

[paparazi]

Couldn't agree with xscape more! forgot to mention type of power supply, I have the Two fan 350watt variety, it really does help in getting all that warm are out the case! Martin