Help!!! - Building a new system

[sblake]

I'm a newbie from the Intel world. This is my first dventure into the AMD world. I am going to build a new system and was wondering what you guys can tell me about what I have picked out. Pros & Cons? I do limited gaming, mostly business and graphics apps and net surfing. I will not be overclocking. Here's what I am thinking:

ASUS A7V133 WOA
1.2 Gig T-Bird FSB266
Enlight 7237 with 300w PSU
256Mg PNY PC-133 RAM
40GB WD HD 7200 RAM ATA100
Sound Blaster 48X CD-ROM
HP-9350i CD-RW 10x4X32
ATI Xpert 2000 Pro 32 MG 4xAGP
SB 16 PCI
Diamond SupraMax56 Modem (For Fax Capabilities)
Netgear FA311 NIC
Teac Floppy
Windows 98 OS

My first concern is the PSU. Will 300w be sufficient? I would appreciate any comments that will help me end up with a stable system. I already have most of the components.

 

[AndyHui]

300W is a little small for that system, but it should be OK.

I would rethink the video card and sound card....but I assume that you already have these components?

 

[sblake]

What is the problem with the video and sound card? What would you suggest? Although I already have them, I might be able to sell them.

 

[Garion]

If you don't have your motherboard and RAM (or can return them) you might want to consider going with a DDR system - You'll get better performance for nearly the same cost and that's one of those "do it now or don't do it at all" decisions.

Your video and sound are a bit old but for very limited gaming, you should be OK. The video will definitely be the limiting factor in your new system - Probably the first thing to upgrade later on down the line.

Remember to get a decent heatsink/fan. Even if you don't plan to overclock a T-Bird still runs hot!

- G

 

[LuciferHaze]

I'd drop that ATI card and get either a 64MB GeForce2 GTS or a 64MB ATI RADEON. Why have a powerful CPU and then bog it down with a mediocre videocard?

 

[goul]

yeah go with the Giga-Byte GA-7VTX DDR MB with some crucial ram!!

kick ass DDR performance

 

[MikePikeFL]

I would definately go DDR, the prices are right and the time is now!

As for the Power Supply, 300W should be fine. I'm running 300W and I have 2 Barracuda 7200RPM SCSI drives, among other things (see rig). I've run the SiSoft Sandra stress testing with no lockups and a just small increase in temp.

And I agree that the video card and sound should be upgraded if you plan on doing gaming and graphics apps.

 

[NelsonMuntz]

Looks like you are trying to build it on a budget. Some of the stuff looks okay, but is DDR not a consideration? I would probably suggest the Epox EP-8K7A for that. The memory doesn't cost any more, so you should probably look into it if you are buying memory anyway. If you do get mobo with the AMD 761 northbridge like the Epox, then you will need to change your Netgear NIC to another brand.

 

[sblake]

I heard the DDR boards still had some bugs. Are they stable?

 

[MikePikeFL]

Mine's running great for everything I do, including gaming, software dev, web dev, heavy graphic editing, Linux, Win2K, and I even ran stress testing on it to make sure it was stable enough- and passed with flying colors.

EDIT- bad spelling. hookt on fonicz werkd phor me.

 

[NelsonMuntz]

Check this review of some recent DDR motherboards. Hopefully that will answer your question.

 

[Electric Amish]

That video card is COMPLETELY incompatible with Win2k, just in-case you were planning to go that way.

amish

 

[HonestBob]

If dont need a very powerfull video I would go with a Voodoo 3 card. They can still handle all the games out there and are very cheap. But get one fast!

 

[Yossarian]

I haven't heard many good things about Creative CD-ROMs. ASUS is a decent choice.

 

[sblake]

Just checked ATI's driver site and they have Win2k drivers for the Xpert 2000 Pro. Have you had a bad experience with this card?

 

[AndyHui]

Put it this way.....although ATI may have drivers available for that card under Win2K, don't expect them to work very well.