Help from the PC builder GURUS Plesa need advice.

[orlando847]

Hello all PC builder gurus outhere. Im building a system for the first time and I need advice on the best mobo to fit a Athlon 1.4 that will allow for the most future prosesor upgrades as well as cheaper alternatives....and if you want to recomend the rest of the configuration : Harddrive video cards etc. it will be greatly appreciated. Oh Im planning to use DDR ram. Thanx

 

[dakota81]

All motherboards these days are reliable and expandable - whether made by Asus, Abit, MSI, Gigabyte, Epox, DFI. Just make sure the board you buy uses the AMD 761 chipset. VIA's chipset, the KT266, does not offer much performance gain over SDRAM, and therefore pretty much a waste of money. So other than the chipset, just look for a motherboard with the right combination of features (onboard sound, number of pci slots, isa slot) and which is the right price for you. If you want the absolute best and are willing to pay a few extra dollars for it, choose the Asus board.

Video cards, it's ATI vs. Nvidia. ATI actually might have the technology to outperform the Geforce3, but if one thing has remained constant with ATI, they simply do not know how to write the drivers for their hardware, which is where Nvidia truely excells. Stick with Nvidia until ATI gets their act together. A Geforce2 GTS Pro offers spectacular performance at low price, this is my recommendation.

Harddrive - Seagate, IBM, or Maxtor
DVD drive - Pioneer or Toshiba, don't consider anything else
Sound Card - Turtle Beach Santa Cruz

Just make sure you get yourself a good cooling fan.

 

[Mulga]

I agree with dakota81 in everything he says but just a note,I have had bad experiences recently with Soltek motherboards, 3 out of 3 (1 my own and 2 clients) had to be returned under warranty and one of them is still not satisfactory. Admittedly these were Via kt-133A chipset boards (SDRAM not DDR) but I think its worth bearing in mind.

 

[RGC]

Try the Epox 8K7A, it is a DDR with an AMD761 chipset.
rafales@alltel.net