Can someone critique this new computer for me? It's my birthday present....to myself...from me.

[hyprxtension]

Please look over the specs I have listed here. I'm finally gonna put my Intel P2 400 to rest and want to get a new computer for under $3000. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Processor
PIII 933mhz (I'm sticking with it, I'm getting it for $600)
Street Price: $750

Motherboard
ASUS CUSL2 815E Solano 2 Motherboard (No Onboard Audio) (I'm sticking with this too, as overclocked 815 beats overclocked BX133)
Street Price: $180

Memory
2 DIMMS of 128MB PC133 SDRAM (CAS 2) (Yeah, this is gonna be name brand stuff so I can overclock to 150)
Street Price: $300

Case
3D Cool Tornado 1000 Mid-Tower ATX w/300W Power Supply (The one thing I'm splurging on, I've never had a really good case and probably will reuse this one down the road, this price is w/shipping included)
Street Price: $190

Hard Drive
40GB ATA/100 9ms,7200rpm bare drive (Thanks for the suggestions, getting 40GB ATA/100, was cheaper than 2 20GB ATA/100)
Street Price: $219

CD-ROM/DVD Drive
AOpen 16/40 DVD (thanks rayearth)
Street Price: $137

Video Card
Hercules 3d Prophet II 32MB AGP or similar nVidia GeForce II GTS
Street Price: $300

Audio
SB Live! Platinum
Street Price: $150

Mouse
Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer
Street Price: $55

Keyboard
Microsoft Natural Keyboard Pro w/2 USB slots
Street Price: $45

Monitor
Hitachi SuperScan CM771 w/ErgoFlat (or Hitachi SuperScan CM776 or CM715) <<--Is this Ok?
Street Price: $450

Speakers
Don't need em, I have both FPS2000 and Sennheiser 580s already

CDRW
I have Plextor 12/4/32 SCSI already

Misc ($50)
Floppy Drive
Cables
Shipping from online stores for products I can't get from the warehouse
etc...

Total Street Price: $2826

I had an especially tough time deciding whether to go Intel or AMD, which Geforce 2 GTS I should buy (32 or 64, which company), and which monitor to get.

The street prices are just rough prices I saw at stores when I went around window shopping. Again, any suggestions/help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

EDIT: Thanks for all the help you guys! See above for my changes. Also, I'm getting this computer through some connections/warehouse deals, so I'm probably gonna save $500 or so in the first place. Those street prices are just what I saw the things were going for.

EDIT: My quote for this computer was $2376

 

[Mikewarrior2]

MY personal suggestion is to replace the CPU with a 700e or 750E cb0 chip. And overclock it. it'll save you about $500.


Unless, of course, you don't want to overclock.

 

[AndyHui]

I concur with MikeWarrior2. Replace the 933 with a cB0 700E, and overclock it a bit. The money saved you can put towards maybe a 64MB GeForce 2 GTS, or add a CDRW.

 

[The Stigenator]

Asking us to Critique is really asking for it.
Its a cool looking system.. but why $190 for a case? What's so special on this case.. is it made out of gold.

Go for the 64MB Video card. It will be more worth it, since you do plan to keep the machine for a while.

As for Intel Vs AMD. Personally I would prefer AMD just because their GHz processor is 150 dollars cheaper than the Intel Proc. However if you are a nuts on having an Intel Processor I have nothing against it.
They both make solid proc's.

Noticed your missing SPEAKERS.. maybe get yourself a nice pair of headphones.. will do for a while..

You can save a bit more where possible and add in a CDRW (unless you got one already) its saved my butt several times.

TGG

 

[Kitros]

Since you asked, go with 2 smaller hdd's instead of one. Also, unless you want the software that's otherwise free everywhere else, why not a SBlive value? If you're spending, go for the platinum for it's cool front panel jacks, although it's not made of gold. Why not an IN-WIN Q500 or something similar? Oh yeah, and check out mushkin memory rev2, you might like that. I also suggest that you get a $40 CD-ROM drive, and a seperate DVD drive....that would prolong the DVD's usablilty...

Check out http://www.pricewatch.com if you are putting it together yourself, as those (street) prices are outrageously too high^^^!


my $.03

 

[RayEarth]

i have a 700E overclocked to 933 at 1.65v on my soyo7vca with an adverage temp of 30.7-38C with my globalwin fkp32. you can get a 700E for $242 retail price. I say hahaha for your memory price, because memory price are very high lately, especially with cas2 pc-133. I suggest you get a maxtor 40GB ATA100 9ms,7200rpm bare drive with 3yr warranty for $219, since your board will support ATA100. Your 12/40 dvd with software decorder is priced a little too low, adverage price is $139 for OEM pioneer 16/40 or a retail Aopen 16/40 for $137, I would go for Aopen because I had a 40x Aopen &amp; it was very fast &amp; quite. I say save youself $50 &amp; just go with a ELSA Geforce2 32DDR. A sound blaster live x-gamer is better if you're going to make this a gaming system, x-gamer is $75.89. $55 for a mouse, i say hahaha. Another hahaha to misc. for floppy &amp; cables may be less than $50, but with a total shipping included, forget your chances of $50 only for shipping. $190 for a case... I would rather buy a dreamcast.. I will too someday.

 

[Mikewarrior2]

I would also highly look into Crucial CAS2 PC133 stuff... its $140 for a 128mb stick, which is very reasonable for stuff that'll do 150 or so CAS2.



mike

 

[Rankor]

The_good_guy:

&quot;...but why $190 for a case? What's so special on this case.. is it made out of gold?&quot;

At that price it should be.

What the 3DCool Tornado 1000 is a decent mid-tower with pre-cut blow-holes. You thought that was pricey...I have the Tornado 2000 w/only a 250 W PS in it and that cost over $220 US!

It was worth it (to me) and that's all that mattered (I guess?). Runs great but sounds like an F-14 about to clear the cat on deck. He's getting it with the 300 Watter w/c is good. It would've been $130 US w/200 Watts.


hyprxtension:

Good call on the vid card. I mean grabbing the 32 megger as opposed to the 64. Saved $120 for that w/c will be used to buy the 128 MB PC-133 DIMM.

I would say that 128 is the minimum amount of RAM one should have on a rig nowadays. I had a system w/128 and was accessing the swap like there was no tomorrow. Added the extra 128, swapping is minimized substantially.

Kitros suggested two smaller hdds. That's not a bad idea at all. Look around and you can find Maxtor 20 Gig drives for around $100 or less. Buy 2 and you would've saved $75 or more as opposed to the single 40 Gig Maxtor DiamondMax. Use one drive for OS, apps, games and the other for backups and slapping the swap file on (if you're using Win 9x).

Here's a quote from PriceWatch:


20.4GB Ultra DMA/66 eide, 5400 rpm, 3 years warranty
$86 (shipping not included)
LIMIT (2)
House of Computers
http://store.yahoo.com/lib/hoct12/pw.htm

 

[Ovego]

Hercules 3d Prophet II 32MB AGP or similar nVidia GeForce II GTS
well....that's a good ccall,since there isn't that much of a dieference between the performance of the 32MB and the 64MB one to justify the additional cash on it...
as for the other stuff...I sujest you to get a DVD and a CD-R\CD-RW wich will give you the best combination.....
and I go with Kitros as for going with two smaller H.D.

 

[BA]

And if you're going to go with two HD's, might as well mod yourself a fasttrack.

 

[ERJ]

Never mind....said something dumb

ERJ

 

[Nater21]

check on those prices for the SB Live! MP3 or Gamer. I think they can be found for $80 prety easily. IF you have an electric guitar, or keyboard or any such instrument, OR you use your headhones alot, I would recomend the Platinum. The front side connectors are extremely convienient (plus they look cool). I plug in my electric guitar to it, and put all sorts of filters on the music. Different levels of distortion, etc. It's pretty cool. It is rather pricy though. Also if you are in the market for speakers, go digital. I reccomend the Cambridge soundworks FPS 2000 to go with the sound card. Great sound, and I found them for 112.00 at www.upgradesource.com. If you are really looking to spend money, go for the 2500's which support dolby 5.1 surround and stuff.

An extra CD-ROM would be handy also. Either that or a CD-RW.

Looks good otherwise.

 

[Panther]

my one advice to you would be to go for one 256meg dimm instead of 2x128. If you really are planning on keeping this system for a while you'll really appreciate that extra dimm later on...

 

[Terp]

...and shop around using http://www.pricewatch.com and other sites for the lowest available prices....I realize you used &quot;street price,&quot; but they are all a bit high....


btw, that will be a nice Birthday present! =)

 

[sov05]

Processor
Intel Pentium III 933mhz
Street Price: $750
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Get a PIII FC-PGA 700MHZ cBO and overclock it


CPU Cooling
ThermalTake GOLDEN ORB
$20
>>>>>>>>>Get this or the Alpha. Alpha is better but perhaps overkill?


Motherboard
ASUS CUSL2 815E Solano 2 Motherboard (No Onboard Audio)
Street Price: $180
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>DO NOT GET 815. Get a BX-133 Board. Asus CUBX.

Memory
2 DIMMS of 128MB PC133 SDRAM (CAS 2)
Street Price: $300
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Get either Muskin Rev 2 High Perf. RAM or Crucial

Case
3D Cool Tornado 1000 Mid-Tower ATX w/300W Power Supply
Street Price: $190
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Umm whatever, ur $$$$$$$$

Hard Drive
Maxtor DiamondMax Plus, 40GB, Ultra ATA/66
Street Price: $275
>>>>>>>>Get the new IBM GXp or the new Maxtor ATA-100.

CD-ROM/DVD Drive
Toshiba or Pioneer 12x DVD/40x CD 5th generation drive w/software decoder (or. Pioneer DVD-115 16X DVD-ROM)
Street Price: $105
>>>>>>>>>>fine


Video Card
Hercules 3d Prophet II 32MB AGP or similar nVidia GeForce II GTS
Street Price: $300

>>>>>>>>> fine

Audio
Creative Soundblaster Live! MP3+ or Similar SB Live!
Street Price: $100

>>>>>>>>> $50 either saved or spent. Get value, and $50 saved. Get Plat $50 spent. But don't be in the middle.

Mouse
Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer
Street Price: $55

>>>>>>>>>>>Boomslang 1000 or this both great.

Keyboard
Microsoft Natural Keyboard Pro w/2 USB slots
Street Price: $45
>>>>>>>>whatever

Monitor
Hitachi SuperScan CM771 w/ErgoFlat (or Hitachi SuperScan CM776 or CM715)
Street Price: $450
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>The KDS AV-195TF is a 19&quot; Trinitron and is $375 at onvia shipped

Misc ($50)
Floppy Drive
Cables
Shipping from online stores
etc...

 

[Snoop]

hyprxtension: If i were buying that kind of system right now i would look at getting a thunderbird socket A. With the socket a, you have a ton of headroom, i believe that AMD is planning on ramping the T-bird to around 1.4-5Ghz, In all honesty the pentium 3 is getting to core limits at around 1Ghz. So six months from now you could purchase a new cpu for your system and add a nice 300-400 mhz. Also, when the 760 chipset comes out all you would need to purchase is the mb and DDR ram, but you will already have a proccessor.
Just an opionion

 

[hubbs]

Why a maxtor? Go for a IBM GXR w/ ATA/100. And yeah you don't want to buy a Pentium !!! 933 right now anyways they are way overpriced because they are still new. Go for the 700E and make it go 933

 

[Edski]

hyper....that is pretty much the exact same system I am building now, with the exception of the sound card, I had problems with the SB even with the latest drivers. I went with the MX400.

Oh, the other difference is the video card, I bought a V5 5500. If you are like me and money is not an issue, spend the few extra bucks. Sure you could go with a slower cpu and overclock, but why bother when you can buy a fast processor. Overclocking is not worth the headaches IMHO. If you don't believe me, just go through these forums and read.

 

[hyprxtension]

Thanks for all the help/suggestions! See my original message for some updates. Thanks again!

 

[denali]

Depending on what you are going to be using the computer for and how many hours per day and space available it might be wise to go with either a dual monitor setup or a larger one. At work I use both 21 and 24 inch monitors while at home I have a 19 inch monitor. The one thing you can never have enough of IMHO is screen space. When I get home and work on my 19 inch monitor I feel constrained.