Budget friendly PC?

[Lukas]

Hi all,


I havent bought any hardware in a while now, and my work almost consumes my free time almost entirerly. So ask you, oh hardware guru's, to help me out.

I need to build a new pc, for my girlfriend's sister. It's not meant to be the most powerfull toy in the binary world, but it has to run smoothly.

I will definetly (how do you spell that?) go with an AMD Athlon processor, round 1,5 GHz, but I need you guys to choose a good, reliable motherboard, with at least 4-5 PCI slots and 1 ISA slot.

Also I need help with the choice of a Video Card. My girl's sister is 15 years old, and she likes to play games, but only once in a while. (You know girls... ) I was thinking about a GeForce 3 MX?

So please post suggestions about the motherboard, video card and a good soundcard (no 5.1, no need for that)


The all-in price should rate between €600 and €800. (mobo, sound, video, ram, proc, cooler, case, keyboard, mouse)

1€ = USD 0.9725
1€ = £ 0.6412


Thnx in advance.

 

[UniSol]

MSI KT3 Ultra-ARU Deluxe (Mobo Raid) £112.21

AMD Athlon XP 1800 (CPU) £81.66

Thermaltake Volcano 7+ (CPU Cooler) £24.68

Nvidia GeForce4 Pro/450TV [MX420] (Gfx) £81.99

Microsoft Keyboard and Optical Mouse (K&M} £30

Creative Soundblaster Live! 5.1 (Sound) £25.85

LiteON LTN-525(S) 52x (CD-ROM) £17.04

GlobalWin 802 Case - Black (Case) £34.08

Crucial 256MB DDR PC2100 CAS-2.5 (DDR Memory) £43.59

Maxtor DiamondMax D740X 40GB (HD) £58.52

Enermax EG465AX-VE 431W ATX (PSU) £76.38

Est. £590 inc VAT

Beast of a system

You can base it on where you live really, anywhere in the UK and this should cover it.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/
http://www.theoverclockingstore.co.uk/
http://www.scan.co.uk/

 

[Zedric]

There's no such thing as GF3MX. I'd go with a GF2MX for graphics and SB PCI 128 for sound.

 

[UniSol]

System Specs
Intel Celeron 100 Mhz | IBM 780 MB 1 rpm

^^lmao 1rpm, quiet or what!

 

[Taurus]

the Abit KT7A is probably the best board you're going to find with an ISA slot. get that with:

athlon xp 1600+
256mb of pc133 ram
geforce2 Ti 32mb or 64mb (don't go with mx)
soundblaster pci 16 or 128 sound card
40gb ata100 7200rpm harddrive
whatever optical drives you want (cdrom, cdrw, dvd)
case with at least 300w power supply

roughly adds up to about $500-$600 usd after shipping. and it would be faster than my system which still plays even the newest games with general ease. when it comes to video cards, do not get a gf2 mx or gf4 mx because there are better cards out there for the same price. they are meant to be for the value-conscious but are really kind of a rip-off. the gf2 ti is a good deal.

 

[Lukas]

Aight guys,

Thnx for the replies on this.

I think I'll go with this: (€862)

• HD: 40 Gb. UDMA-133 8,5 Ms. Maxtor D740X 7200 € 100,00
• RAM: 128 Mb. 168 Pin 7 Ns. PC100 Apacer x2 (2x € 32) € 64,00
• Processor: AMD K7 XP Palomino 1700+ fsb266 € 135,00
• Motherboard: MSI KT3 Ultra DDR 333 Mhz. € 130,00
• Video Card: Point Of View Geforce 3 TI 200 128 Mb. DDR + TV-out € 176,00
• CD Writer: Lite-on 40x12x48x !!BURN PROOF!! € 125,00
• Keyboard: Logitech Internet Navigator keyboard Azerty BE € 35,00
• Mouse: Logitech Optical Wheel Mouse € 35,00
• Case: AOPEN Power Suplly 300 Watt AMD & P-4 € 62,00


Any comments?

 

[Lukas]

Something else:

I know these aren't the best parts (like RAM for example) but it's very urgent, so I took the parts our local store has in stock.

If any of you guys would strongly advise against one part of another, I ofcourse will adjust my list. What do you think?

thnx again

Lukas


PS Unisol: You have no idea how quiet it is!

 

[Lukas]

Originally posted by catch23
I think it could use a little more RAM...256mb would be more in line.

It's 2x 128 Mb... It's the only thing they have in stock...

 

[Sazar]

why get the g3 when you can get a g4 ti 4200 ? should be similar price if you look around... for the 128 meg version...

do some research though... coz some are btter than others

not a bad rig overall...

g.luck

 

[Kartajan]

small problem

"• RAM: 128 Mb. 168 Pin 7 Ns. PC100 Apacer x2 (2x € 32) € 64,00
• Processor: AMD K7 XP Palomino 1700+ fsb266 € 135,00
• Motherboard: MSI KT3 Ultra DDR 333 Mhz. € 130,00 "

the only problem that I see is that PC-100 memory will not work in your choice of motherboard. you must have DDR RAM. (PC-2100 or greater)

Everything else looks "do- able"

 

[Kartajan]

one more thing- if your CPU does not have HSF included (Retail typically does, OEM typically does not), you definitely need to get one. I don't step into the athlon world for another 2 months, so I do not have a good recommendation for that....

 

[Kartajan]

BTW- why do you need the ISA slot?

 

[Lukas]

Thnx for the feedback guys,

The ISA slot is/was meant for the existing soundcard (don't shoot the messanger!) - my girl's parents instructed me to save as much parts as possible, and the existing pc has a ISA Sound Card...

How-ever, I don't think that the mobo mentioned above has a ISA slot (correct me if I'm wrong), coz, in the end, it's my call which parts go into my basement (spare parts museum ) and which stay in the pc...


What are the differences between "normal" and DDR RAM?
...and the prices of DDR RAM are higher I suppose?


Thnx again,

Lukas (aka the Hardware n00b)

 

[Kartajan]

D ouble
D ata
R ate RAM-

basically it is much faster memory since it transfers information on the leading AND following edge of the clock cycle. And I would just go ahead and drop the ISA slot for a board with onboard sound. (actually, your board has onboard sound anyway..)

DDR RAM is more expensive, but generally worth it. PC 2100(266 DDR), or PC 2700(333 DDR) are you options. 2100 is cheaper, and probably what I would recommend for your intended useage.

 

[Sazar]

eh...

just get a board that has on board sound... six channel sound available on a number of boards... audigy it may not be but its still pretty good...

 

[Lukas]

So, it's gonna be this:


• HD: 40 Gb. UDMA-133 8,5 Ms. Maxtor D740X 7200
• RAM: 256 Mb PC 2100(266 DDR)
• Processor: AMD K7 XP Palomino 1700+ fsb266
• Motherboard: MSI KT3 Ultra DDR 333 Mhz + onboard sound.
• Video Card: Point Of View Geforce 3 TI 200 128 Mb. DDR + TV-out
• Case: AOPEN Power Suplly 300 Watt


Thank you all for feedback!

Greetz

Lukas