Building New System (comments welcomed)

[Parser]

Hello. I've been researching and learning how to build my own system for a few months and now I've taken the plunge. I've bought the Motherboard(Asus Cusl2-C Black Pearl), the case (In-win S506), the processor (PIII 1Ghz), the RAM (Crucial pc133 cas2 256MB SDRAM) and the video card(Leadtek Geforce2 gts Pro 5.5ns) and my question is what do you guys think I should get for the rest of my system?

I've got the the parts I bought running right now with parts of my old computer (PIII 650 Mhz HP 9682C) but I'm looking to dump all those parts and sell the old computer to my parents for some upgrade cash.

Oh and I'm sure none of you guys need to know this but for anyone thinking of buying an HP... please don't. It is rather stable but I bought this computer a year ago and it didn't even come with a 4x AGP slot, the power supply is an unupgradable 185W and it has no cooling to speak of(the case fan is funneled onto the cpu heatsink with nowhere to circulate and no other fans) I got the new vid card before I made the switch and the best 3DMark 2001 score I could get was 1752(I didn't bother to try tweaking anything just reboot and run) and the first try after getting this new computer together I got 3005. I mean damn...



PIII 1Ghz
Retail HSF
Cusl2-C Black Pearl(cause its kewl)
Crucial pc133 cas2 256 megs SDRAM
In-win S506
32MB Leadtek Geforce2 Gts Pro 5.5ns
Soon to be picked hard drive (40 GB Deskstar 60gxp?)
Unknown DVD drive
Unknown CD-RW drive
Unknown Soundcard (Hercules GXP?)
Unknown Monitor

 

[agg123456789]

well....looks rather good....i dont see anything glaring....as far as hsf... i like my tai-sol which has a copper inlay and then aluminum fins....and efinatly get some ASII...makes a big difference...

agg123456789

 

[SCUBA]

yaa
intel 1 GHZ is ur dead end no upgrades
go AMD

 

[Duvie]

I would get the aopen 1232a (12x10x32x) CDRW (rebadged Ricoh using Ricoh's justlink (burnproof) technology) at newegg for 100 shipped...comes with nero (upgrade to 5.5 for free) and is full retail package...

I would get the aopen 16x48x (basically a rebadged pioneer from what I hear) for 73.00 shipped...

If you have a major use for that soundcard get it....otherwise the santa cruz is good and can be had for around 70bucks at mwave...

No clue on monitors except to say at least 19 inch...

 

[Parser]

Yah I know the PIII is a dead end but when I bought it I figured that the Tualatin would work in any socket 370 MB. Oh well, I'm going to stick with the PIII for a while and probably go with one of those 2Ghz+ Northwood P4s when they come out and come down to a reasonable price but I think 1 Ghz should be good for a while.

And to clarify, I already have the motherboard, cpu, etc. my question is what should I buy to round out the system such as sound cards and hard drives. Everything that is already bought is put in my comp list at the bottom and the unknowns are the ones I'm looking for help on.

Thanks for your help.

PIII 1Ghz
Retail HSF
Cusl2-C Black Pearl(cause its kewl)
Crucial pc133 cas2 256 megs SDRAM
In-win S506
32MB Leadtek Geforce2 Gts Pro 5.5ns
Soon to be picked hard drive (40 GB Deskstar 60gxp?)
Unknown DVD drive
Unknown CD-RW drive
Unknown Soundcard (Hercules GXP?)
Unknown Monitor

 

[Parser]

Hey ya thanks and I do plan on getting another 256 megs of RAM but I kinda want to get the rest of the system up and running first.

And as for the sound card I am definately going to go with some kind of 5.1 setup eventually. My old computer was always in the family room and I'm moving this thing up to my room and plan on hooking my TV up to the TV out on the vid card and using the soundcard as my sound system(I have an ATI TV wonder btw) so it is kinda important. The sound card is probably going to be my next purchase too cause right now I'm using HP's stupide chameleon audio/modem thing which is crap and I can't get drivers for it without using the HP recovery CD(which will only work on a comp with an HP flashed BIOS) so it being a pain. I don't need a modem at all right now(I have cable) so its just the soundcard that needs replacing.

Oh and GroundZer0 what is your chip temp on the Asus probe? Mine's hovering round 34C at idle(with only a front case fan and cpu fan) and I'm wondering how that ranks for PIIIs.

 

[bjc112]

sys looks sweet.. congrats...

hows the stability?

are you running Win2k?

much better than ME, or 98.. in my Opinion!

Bryan

 

[Parser]

My TV wonder is just a TV card my Leadtek Geforce2 Pro is my vid card and it supports OpenGL as well as any Geforce I guess. And as for fan noise, this comp is alot quieter than my old HP but its hard to tell if that means its quiet or my old comp was just a piece of garbage.

Right now I'm running Windows 98SE but I figure I'll have to upgrade to Windows XP eventually asuming that they dump that microsoft activation crap(or somebody comes up with a reliable hack). I've only had the comp running for a couple days now and haven't had time to do any massive system stressing apps yet but it hasn't crashed yet.

And about the soundcard, has anyone had any compatibility problems with the Hercules GTXP? Its definately the way I'm leaning after reading reviews and these boards for a while.

_____________
PIII 1Ghz
Retail HSF
Cusl2-C Black Pearl(cause its kewl)
Crucial pc133 cas2 256 megs SDRAM
In-win S506
32MB Leadtek Geforce2 Gts Pro 5.5ns
Soon to be picked hard drive (40 GB Deskstar 60gxp?)
Unknown DVD drive (leaning toward a toshiba SD-M1502 16x DVD 48x CD)
Unknown CD-RW drive(no clue yet any suggestions?)
Unknown Soundcard (Hercules GTXP?)
Unknown Monitor(no clue yet any suggestions?)

 

[LuNoTiCK]

I would look in the hot deals forums and get the maxtor 60 or 40gb hard drive. Maxtor's have nice warranty and if it's any faster you wont notice it, only through benchmarks. I would get the aopen 1232a like duvie said and the aopen 16x48 dvd or a pioneer 106s because they are the same. Hercules GTXP is good, but if you dont want to spend that much go for the turtle beach santa cruz, if you dont use all the extra features of the GTXP, and lots of people here would say the 900NF.

 

[Parser]

Is there anything specifically better about the Santa Cruz versus the GTXP? I know most of the people around here have their favourites and I've read a couple of reviews on both of them but most of the technical audio stuff goes over my head. I'm used to having a volume knob and USB ports on my keyboard but with my new one I won't and I'm thinking the GTXP would help with those problems. I don't know how many of the GTXP's other abilities I will use besides the 5.1(eventually) but I do plan on using my comp as the heart of a mini entertainment system and as I learn what the features do I'm sure I'll find a use for them. Right now I'm using a stupid audio/modem combo with soundblaster pro archetechture(akkk) so pretty much anything will sound better but I don't mind spending a little extra $$$ for the best quality.

And about the rest of the stuff I guess I should have mentioned that I live in Canada and unfortunately new egg doesn't ship up here(that 1232a (12x10x32x) CDRW looks very tempting) . I could order through a cross border shipping service but that seems to add around $30 CAN shipping onto everything and I'm not sure how things would work if I have to return something.

I have been ordering most of my stuff through a canadian site called NCIX and I can get the toshiba SD-M1502 16x DVD 48x CD for $99 CAN plus $14 shipping and they only sell 16x DVD 40x CD pioneer drives so is there anything wrong with the toshiba or anything specifically better about the pioneer?
_____________
PIII 1Ghz
Retail HSF
Cusl2-C Black Pearl(cause its kewl)
Crucial pc133 cas2 256 megs SDRAM
In-win S506
32MB Leadtek Geforce2 Gts Pro 5.5ns
Soon to be picked hard drive (40 GB Deskstar 60gxp?)
Unknown DVD drive (leaning toward a toshiba SD-M1502 16x DVD 48x CD)
Unknown CD-RW drive(no clue yet any suggestions?)
Unknown Soundcard (Hercules GTXP?)
Unknown Monitor(no clue yet any suggestions?)

 

[Atlantean]

Thats a pretty good price, usually I order from www.atic.ca, it is a little cheaper for most components. For the dvd drive, personally, I would go with the toshiba dvd drive that you were talking about.

 

[Atlantean]

oh yeah and for the cd rw drive, you should go with a yamaha 2100 16x writer, I think it is around $180 at www.atic.ca right now, not sure about prices on ncix. The hercules game theatre xp sounds good for a sound card, great quality, and what sized monitor did you want? 19" 17" 21" or bigger?

 

[Parser]

I'm really not to sure what I want in a monitor. I really think those LCD things look awesome but from what I understand they're stuck in one resolution and not too good for gaming(not to mention $$$$$) so I figure either a 17" or 19" something. This is by far my least researched system component and I really don't have any idea which brand I want. I really have no problem with my current 17" HP M70 monitor and I would probably keep it except I'm selling the whole HP comp in factory condition and everything has to be included.

And thanks for the heads up I'll check out www.atic.ca. Its kinda hard to find good Canada based hardware distributers.

 

[Duvie]

stay away from the toshiba as it has a glitch that may only allow it to rip dvds at 2x, plus review at www.storagereview.com gave the pioneer/aopen drive the title as better 16x dvd drive...

Also get a plextor before the yamaha as it hardly does what it claims as burn speed of 16x...at same site above the 12x aopen/ricoh even beat it in quite a few benchmarks. plextor makes a much better 16x. Yamaha 16x also has no burnproof technology (may have been added to their new 20x, but I haven't read a review on it yet and who knows the price).

 

[NelsonMuntz]

The new (20X) Yamaha does have anti-coaster technology, but it is pretty pricey, but the 16X Plextor isn't what I would call cheap either. If it was me, I would get a decent 12X for $100-$150 which is a much better bargain and you should be able to get one with anti-coaster technology so all you would be losing is the ultimate speed. Let's see, with the number of CDs I usually burn four minutes (20X) or five minutes (16X) doesn't seem that much better than 7 minutes (12X). Just me though.

 

[Duvie]

I hear ya!!! That is why I recommended earlier the aopen 1232a for 100 at newegg. However he can't get newegg to ship international so he loses on a pretty good deal.

 

[Strych9]

<< yaa
intel 1 GHZ is ur dead end no upgrades
go AMD >>



SCUBA why start. He didn't ask if he should go Intel or AMD.

 

[Atlantean]

If anyone wants I can post a list of canadian computer websites that I know about.

 

[Parser]

Well I know I wouldn't mind...

 

[Atlantean]

http://www.pccanada.com/
http://www.aspert.ca/
http://www.ntcw.com/
http://www.rbcomputing.com/
http://www.throne.com/
http://www.canadacomputers.com/
http://www.dealsdirect.ca/
http://www.a-power.com/
http://www.atic.ca/
http://www.ncix.com/