Pricing out a new computer

[Robert]

Guys/Gals
I'm looking at a new system to take to he AH con. Tell me what you think about what i have listed here. One main question is about the MB. Is it a good board or should i go with something else. Also if someone could recommend a good fan (cheeper) other than the one i have listed here. I'm computer stupid and trying to build my first computer.

RWY


Abit KT7a mainboard:               $106.00
AMD CPU 1.4ghz 266mhz              $116.00
big hitter fan                     $ 37.00
256MB PC2400 DDR Memory Module     $ 80.00
Translucent Mini-MID ATX CASE
WITH 300W                          $ 32.00
GeForce2 Pro 64meg IN RETAIL BOX   $130.00
fujitsu 20.0GB 5400 EIDE Ultra DMA $ 85.00
Total                              $581.00 includes shipping.      09/09/01

[Dead Man Flying]

Heya, RWY.

The motherboard you've selected won't support the kind of RAM you're trying to get.  The ABIT KT7 MBs only take SDRAM.  You'll need something like an ABIT KG-7 LITE board to take advantage of the faster DDR memory (and it's not much more expensive than the KT7A).  

Also, I'm not aware of any motherboards that currently support PC2400 DDR.  You're probably much better off going with PC2100 DDR from Crucial (www.crucial.com), which is currently about $36 for 256MB with free second day shipping.  It's nearly impossible to get as much bang for your buck elsewhere as you can with Crucial RAM; it's some of the best in the business.  With the money you save, invest in a 7200 RPM, ATA-66 or ATA-100 harddrive (IBM is a pretty solid brand).

Hope that helps,

Todd/DMF

[MrBill]

check out the ECS offerings I build machines for friends and neighbors and these boards are solid. http://www.pcrapids.com/
is offering a k7s5a board with 1.4 tbird, H/S and fan for $165 + shipping.  If you are not going to over clock this is a fine rig.  If you intend to over clock get ready to spend some extra bucks on cooling.
board specs
K7S5A, ATX, Socket A, 4X AGP built in 3DSnd+LAN. 266+DDR SUPPORT 5PCI, 2 DIMMs, 2 DDR, 1 AMR, UDMA 100.
Yes it accepts both ddr and dimms, use the extra $ to buy a IBM deskstar, you won't be sorry.
Just remember to disable the modem riser if you do not wish to use the onboard modem, same with sound and lan.
Buy memory from Crucial, again you will not regret your decision. They no longer ship for free but it is still better safe than sorry.

[Ghosth]

Robert, I believe Dead man flying is correct about the ddr memory.

However, I do like the Abit KT7A Motherboard.

It's a very easy board to build with, nice layout, with a great manual that will walk you through the process step by step.

Just swap out the DDR for 256k of PC133 SDRAM and you'll be good to go.

[Robert]

Is there a big difference in DDR and SDRAM?

RWY

[Robert]

Ok guys

After taking some advice and looking over somethings i came up with this. Tell me what you think.

KG7 no-RAID Retail Boxed 4dimm     $132.00
AMD CPU 1.4ghz 266mhz              $116.00
Globalwin                          $ 37.00
CRUCIAL 256MB DDR PC2100           $ 35.99
Translucent COLOR Mini-MID ATX CASE
WITH 300W                          $ 32.00
GeForce2 32meg IN RETAIL BOX       $ 71.00
Deskstar 60GXP Ultra ATA/100       $ 95.00
Total                              $519.00 includes shipping.      09/09/01

[Rocket]

Go with the IBM drive.. I have an ATA66 and 100 (16gb and 42gb) and love the drives.. quiet, fast and rocksolid.  No errors, or problems with the drives.  And I abuse my systems.

S!
Rocket

[Staga]

Originally posted by Robert:
Is there a big difference in DDR and SDRAM?

RWY

I'm using TB1400 with 512megs DDR and another guy in our squad in wwiiol is using almost similar system with "old" PC-133 SDR-RAM memorychips.
I took some screenshots from Sandra benchmark proggie and when he saw those he said my DDR-Rams are 50% faster than his "Old" PC-133 SDR-Rams in that memory benchmark.

[Jochen]

Pure memory performance does not mean much because few applications really need that high memory bandwidth.

According to Tom's hardware, difference between ordinary and DDR SDRAM is in class of 5-10%.

[Lephturn]

Whatever you choose, put Win2k or XP on that thing and get 512 Megs.  Ram is so cheap, you can't go wrong.