Advice on computer I want to build.

[Guest]

Hi all i'm playing to build my first computer and i would like advice on my choices. I've never done this before so maybe you guys can find compatibility issues between things I want and such problems I could have. Thanks

Abit KT7A Motherboard $125.00
AMD 1.3GHz DDR Socket A $220.00

256 MB DIMM PC133 PNY RAM $93.95
256 MB DIMM PC133 PNY RAM $93.95
CG ATX-6013-G1 Mid Tower Case w/ 250W $39.99

APG ANNIHILATOR 2 ULTRA 64MB DDR AGP 4X $349.99
PCI SBLIVE! MP3+ 5.1 $86.95
PCI Hauppauge Win TV PVR $249.00
80GB Maxtor DiamondMax Drive $274.95
PCI Creative PC-DVD 12X DVD w/ DXR3 Decoder $127.95

Microsoft Optical Intellimouse $50.00
Keyboard $20.00
Floppy Drive $20.00

From Old Computer

PCI SCSI Card N/A
PCI Fire wire Card N/A
PCI 3 com NIC N/A
Smart and Friendly Burner N/A
40 GB Hard Drive N/A


TOTAL: $1,763.73

A few things on my choices.

I don't plan to upgrade the CPU often and I don't see getting a P4 yet as the will be outpahsed for a newer chip set in the upcomming months. So i deceide to go with an Athlon 1.33. I wasn't too sure on what motherboard to get expect that I needed 6 PCI slots.

I figured RAM was pretty chep so why not go all the way to 512 for less than 200 bucks

I'm big into games, but the Gforce 3 is way to expensive. The Gforce 2 Ultra isn't really that far off and i'm usre i can live with it.

I shoose that specific TV card because is has the ability to do mepg 2 encoding. I like to have a TV card in general, but the mpeg 2 encoding can help when I transfer movies form my digital cam (via Fire Wire) to the computer. Am i wrong on this?

Large Hard dirve for all these movies and such things I have stored on the computer along with music that is recorded live at shows. I already have 40GB of stuff on my current hardrive that I will bring over.

SBLive 5.1+ I dunno about this one. I've read that this isn't a good card. I like to be able to record music into my computer form shows that I tape, but the taping community dislikes the SBlive cards for digital input from a Mini Disk into the computer. Any advice on a good moderaitly price card? Maybe a Turtue Beach sound card?

I'm also unsure about the DVD. I mean i have my own DVD player on my regular tv, but I feel that I should get one because of future software being on DVD. Plus with the DVD drive it still falls in my price range, so i figure what the hey.

Then at the bottom i list what i'm bringing over from this older computer.

The SCSI card is for the scanner i have. Scan Master X6EL

Fire Wire Card is for my Digital Movie Camera.

Hard Drive because this 40 GB will be partitioned and used for all my programs like windows and office and such. The 80 GB will be used strictly for storage of my movies, music, MP3s and such things i download off of the net. Probalby not partitioned. Just leave it as the full 80GB.

The NIC and Burner, becaseu i have not need to buy a new one. These work perfectly.

I have a current monitor so i don't need one. (Iiyama Vision Master pro 17)

Also I have Altec Lansing 496 Spekers, USB controlled. So I don't need speakers.

I intend to install Win ME (I already own this) on this computer and possibily Win XP this fall.

This whole thing falls right into my budget. As I was expecting to spend 2,000 or less. The prices came from various online stores. Mainly buy.com and a couple more places. These were priced less than a week ago, so prices could have dropped some already. I doubt it tho.

Thanks all and I hope to get alot of feed back!

 

[lhgpoobaa]

lets see now.
1.33 with the faster FSB... good
512mb ram good. dont need any more than that
should also go for a more powerful case e.g. 300 or 400 watts.
i think those athlons need it (helpful fro future upgrades too)
ditch the 80 gig maxtor... not fast enough. it achieves capacity
by sacrificing speed. get the 60 or 75 from IBM.
IBM is more reliable too
dunno much about the sound or dvd aspects
one other thing... ACK not win ME. please no.
go for 98 SE if your gonna be a gamer.
ill get off my soapbox now..

ThePoo!

 

[Guest]

One issue you should be aware of is the bug in the 686B southbridge(part of the KT133A chipset present on this board) that may corrupt large files being transfered from one hard drive to another if they are on the same IDE cable. It is very likely that Abit will have a fix for this in the form of a new BIOS release, but this is just a "heads up".

--
Free us from these chains, let us slip these bonds and touch the sky with our imagination.

 

[crapple0]

a word of advice: stay the hell away from windows ME. It's a turd. a big turd. Get windows 2000, or if you're too wussy for 2000, get 98SE.

ME is probably the most unstable OS Microsoft has made since Windows 95A. It might boot quickly, but it's no compensation for crashing every 20 minutes.

~Crapple0

"the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist"

 

[Guest]

Thanks for soem adveie all.

IN referance to ME, it could be just your computer, but ME has not been crashing on me ever 20 mins. It's probalby just your computer but ME has worked great on my current PII 400. It hasn't even crashed on me yet. Not one blue screen! Too wussy for 2000? What the hell would i even need that for? Is 2000 that much better in Games, Video Editing, Music recording? I don't leave my computer on 24/7! Added stability for very few support on home products! 2000 is for bunsiess and i for one ain't a busniess.

ME has worked great for me! Just because your computer crashes every 20 mins doesn't mean everybody does.

 

[Guest]

Anyone knows that the NT code base of Windows 2000 is far, far more stable then 9x code base including Mellinnium. Even the beta of XP that im running (XP is based on NT code) is more stable then ME. Also, Windows 9x/ME will be dead when XP arrives this summer.

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by everett6 on 04/29/01 07:17 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[crapple0]

2000 is comparable (maybe 4fps lower) than 98. As for Video Editing and other tasks like that, you may want to wait until AMD comes out with the 760MP chipset, so you can have dual CPU's, which should greatly help with video editing. If you get dualies, you'll HAVE to have windows 2000.

As for stability...I don't know about you, but I got sick of the OS crashing even every day. I keep my computers on 24/7 and I reboot my workstation every 2 weeks and my file server every 2 months.

~Crapple0

"the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist"