First DIY computer 1

[HAG]

Hi
Am thinking of building my next computer !
I'm into Audio/Visual stuff and will need a minimum of 5 pci slots (ATX Tower ? 400w ?)
Think I'll go for about 512 of DDR initially
and about 80GB Hard drive
Prefer AMD Athlon (just loyalty really !)
Can anyone recommend a MOBO ?
Any other tips ?
THX M8s
Hag

 

[Scotsdude]

grab a gigabyte mobo. Very good and easy to setup and solid as a rock, especially with AMD.

Most of them have 5 PCI slots too, and supports up to 3Gb of memory (at least the GA7-VTXE does...funky board!!)

Scotsdude

Who is more foolish? The fool, or the fool who follows him?

 

[paparazi]

Buy a motherboard with the latest Via KT333 chipset, don't be fobbed off with the older KT266a (althought it is excellent) things move on so fast and if you are building new then it would be foolish to go for the outgoing champion.
The latest Gigabyte Raid, with the aforementioned chipset just won the best socket A board on Toms Hardware Guide.
I have always liked Abit and there KT333 offering has
6 PCI slots and 4 DDR slots but no sound/lan etc, it does appeal to the enthusiast but will cost a little more than the rest. Martin Just trying to help, sometimes falling short, I am only human after all.

 

[jpm121]

This really is good advice -- don't cheap yourself on the motherboard. Looking back over the dozen or so PCs I've built for me and friends, crappy mobos have been at the root of most problems.

 

[CitrixEngineer]

Spend as much as you can on the case and motherboard. DOn't cut corners on these two items. Everything else can be upgraded later, so you can buy other parts to match your budget (although I'd go for a 7,200 RPM disk).

There's a really good guide on choosing a case on

http://www.tomshardware.com.

Some of the midi towers can take a huge number of drives, so you may not need the encroachment of a full tower.

The AOpen H600 is a nice case that Tom doesn't include in his round-up.

KT333's are the boards of the moment. Get one with Firewire and USB 2.0 and you won't go wrong. The ABit AT7 has decent on-board 6-channel sound, RAID and LAN, so gets my vote. I don't think the SOYO Dragon is worth the extra cash, for a tiny bit of extra performance, even with that fancy front panel. The Gigabyte and MSI boards are superb value. ABit have a reputation for relibility and consistency, and I own no less than 5 of their boards, which is why I vote for them.

Good Luck! CitrixEngineer@yahoo.co.uk

 

[ceh4702]

I really appreciated the ideas on how to test a computer case. Like can you stand on it? How much does it weigh? trying to twist it??? If you do not like my post feel free to point out your opinion or my errors.

 

[HAG]

Hi All
THX for all your input guys (& Girls ?)
Will post details of system once it's all made !
Hag