18-02-2003 06:49									#1
	Help me build a computer... Support Apolyton, buy Galactic Civilizations: Deluxe Edition

Okay, i'm building a computer for my roommate.

So far, we know we are getting (everything retail):

Processor: P4 3.06 best price: $632
video card: Radeon 9700 Pro best price: $291
hdd: Western digital SE 120GB best price: $144
sound card: audigy 2 platinum best price: $231
drives: sony DRU 500AX +-rw best price: $346
toshiba 16x dvd best price: $45

I'm looking for suggestions on what
motherboard: ?
case: ?
cool accessories: ?

should it be Rambus or ddr?


whadayathink?

Last edited by Kaak on 18-02-2003 at 07:51

	18-02-2003 07:02									#2
	Browse Apolyton AD-FREE

Shouldn't you be trying to sell your roommate a Dell?

	18-02-2003 07:07									#3
	Support Apolyton

i don't work on comission, so it is more fun to build it...I get to play with everything


*** also, how much extra would it cost to water cool? and any flahy addon recomendations are welcome!!***

	18-02-2003 07:46									#4
	Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

If you want water-cooling, look for one of those specialised cases.

I must say your roommate is rich. Just the CPU alone is US$600.

	18-02-2003 07:49									#5
	Suffering from ads?

Just how much money does your roomate have to spend?

	18-02-2003 07:52									#6
	Put an end to popups!

doesn't matter too much, trying to stay around $2100

	18-02-2003 08:04									#7
	Support Apolyton, buy GURPS/ Alpha Centauri

If I were you, I'd suggest to him to use a slower CPU and use the $ to upgrade the I/O subsystem (Ultra320 RAID ).

	18-02-2003 08:07									#8
	Support Apolyton or Terrorists Win

links man, links....what are the benefits and the price difference? is that scsi? These WD special edition drives are supposed to rival scsi speeds because of the 8 MB cache

	18-02-2003 08:13									#9
	Inflate your Upload Space

Yes, SCSI Ultra320 - 320MB/s transfer rate. You can't touch it. Check out this Adeptac card for example. I am sure there are many others.

	18-02-2003 08:23									#10
	Enter the AD-FREE zone

i think that would knock us a bit out of the price range and we aren't trying to run serve central texas, so assuming those components, which motherboard would you recommend? this is my main problem so far...

	18-02-2003 08:24									#11
	Browse Apolyton AD-FREE

Recommendations: ATI Radeon 9500 Pro 128-MB
You can even overclock it with some effort, http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=NDA5
Pentium 4 2.66GHz (Not just 2.6GHz) 533MHz FSB 512K Cache - Northwood B P4 - Socket 478
Can get it for $265
Get two drives for RAID0 striping to increase performance and think about getting 2 gig of RAM to use with a RAMdisk to get max performance

	18-02-2003 08:28									#12
	Enter the AD-FREE zone

Here's the goods on the RAMdisk thing:
http://www.timscorner.net/modules.p...howcontent&id=5

	18-02-2003 08:58									#13
	Re: Help me build a computer... Support Apolyton, buy Civilization III: Complete

quote: drives: sony DRU 500AX +-rw best price: $346 toshiba 16x dvd best price: $45

You shouldn't need to buy a separate DVD-ROM drive if you're buying a DVD burner...

	18-02-2003 08:59									#14
	Remove this text

looks like we are going to have to go with the klipsch 5.1 THX certified 500 watt sound system for $270

	18-02-2003 09:01									#15
	Got spare money?

reismark: extra drive for $45 = less wear on the expensive one

	18-02-2003 09:55									#16
	Support Apolyton

My recommendation is to get a slower CPU and upgrade it when the price drops in a year or two. It is extremely silly to get any bleeding edge CPU since the performance/cost ratio is very low. If you want to go with Intel, I recommend the 2.4GHz - very good price point. Of course, the Athlon XP2400+ is even cheaper.

I also recommend against RAID 0 (stripping). If one drive is gone, the whole thing is gone. There is no point for that since you can get big HDDs cheaply. On the other hand, RAID 1 (mirroring) is the way to go for data protection.

	18-02-2003 10:23									#17
	Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

From the list provided I believe he was shooting for speed. Therefore the RAID 0 suggestion. Do weekly or even daily backups onto CD and don't care if a hard drive fails.

	18-02-2003 10:26									#18
	Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

I reckon he has no idea what he was shooting for, so he just grabs the latest stuff.

	18-02-2003 10:28									#19
	Browse Apolyton AD-FREE

That is also a distinct possibility
In which case I will laugh at even bothering to post ramdisk stuff.

	18-02-2003 10:29									#20
	Re: Help me build a computer... Support Apolyton, buy Civilization: The Boardgame

quote: Originally posted by Kaak Okay, i'm building a computer for my roommate. So far, we know we are getting (everything retail): Processor: P4 3.06 best price: $632 video card: Radeon 9700 Pro best price: $291 hdd: Western digital SE 120GB best price: $144 sound card: audigy 2 platinum best price: $231 drives: sony DRU 500AX +-rw best price: $346 toshiba 16x dvd best price: $45

ddr

you can get a western digital (100GB) with 8MB cache for 100 retail

not sure on motherboards (I would still get an Athlon righ tnow, the P4 is niice but still too expensive)

Jon Miller

	18-02-2003 10:30									#21
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization: The Boardgame

If you want quality, get an Asus mobo.

	18-02-2003 11:36									#22
	Support Apolyton, buy Galactic Civilizations: Deluxe Edition

i think the asus p4pe or p4pe BP are the main candidates...

	18-02-2003 14:30									#23
	Suffering from ads?

You might want to look at the new E7205 chipset mobos.

	18-02-2003 17:52									#24
	Get a bigger avatar today!

Your roommate sure looks like a wealthy fecker

this is what i just ordered (still need a keyboard and a headset, and i already got an old 17 inch crappy monitor )
also, i took another case, as i didn't notice the case wasn't a case, but a crappy sidepanel blah!

-AMD Athlon XP Processor 2100+ MHZ (Socket A) 1 € 113,20
-Cooler ZALMAN Socket A / 370 (CNPS6000-CU) 1 € 40,90
-Abit MB Socket A (5 PCI, 1 AGP) ATX (NF7) 1 € 138,10
-DDRam 512 MB 400 MHZ - PC3200 1 € 174,30
-Chieftec Plexi Silver + Fan For Medium Tower (SPX-01) € 62,60
-Maxtor 120,0 Gigabyte Ultra 133 / 7200rpm Plus 9 (6Y120P0) 8Mb 1 € 185,90
-Plextor CD-ReWriter IDE PX-W4824TA (48x, 24x, 48x) Internal (Bulk) 1 € 107,90
-Floppy Drive 3.5" 1.44 1 € 11,40
-Microsoft IntelliMouse Explorer Ps/2 & USB (Met Optische sensor) € 60,60
-Creative GeForce4 Titanium 4200 64Mb DDR (500Mhz) + Tv-Out, DVI 1 € 205,60

all this for just about €1100!! I will be able to play the latest games for at least one year AND i'm not going to be broke after I have bought it

Btw if you buy a cooler, be sure to get a Zahlman, more expensive, but very quiet

	18-02-2003 18:27									#25
	Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

i just built a similar system for my cousin:

-MSI KT4VL VIA KT400 CHIPSET $78.44
-512MB Kingston PC2700 333MHZ $92.12
-AMD ATHLON XP 2100+ $103.95
-LiteOn 48x cd-rom black bezel $22.00
-MWave Metis-SB (Black/Silver Trim) Middle Tower Case $27.00
-MSI GEFORCE TNT2 M64(MS-8808-320) 32MB 4x AGP $29 (she doesn't play games at all)
-Logitech Cordless Elite Duo (KB+mouse) $68.45
-LITE ON 48X/24X/48X BLACK CD-RW $55.00
-Maxtor 60.0GB ULTRA-ATA 133 8.5MS 7200RPM 2MB BUFFER

anyway, got all of that and a 17" flat panel for $1000

	18-02-2003 22:07									#26
	Got spare money?

bump for those that were sleeping earlier

ie: help

	18-02-2003 22:20									#27
	Remove this text

That's why I don't like Intel chips... they're more expensive than equally performing AMD chips, and in order to get the full benefit of the Intel chips, you need to spend money on expensive RAM.

Kaak, go with AMD processors, take the money you save, and buy a phat 19 inch monitor. And whatever you do, don't listen to anything Asher says

	18-02-2003 22:22									#28
	Support Apolyton, buy GURPS/ Alpha Centauri

oh yeah... don't buy ATI video cards, they are crap. Get yourself a Ge Force 4 TI series.

	18-02-2003 23:29									#29
	Support Apolyton, buy Call to Power 2

the new ATI are good

Hb mIoler

	19-02-2003 01:00									#30
	Got spare money?

sava:

p4 2.4ghz: $171 (533 FSB)
xp 2500 (2.08 gHz) is $186
xp 2600 (2.1? GHz) is $235

and the memory i'll be using is the same DDR memory i would use with the athlon....

www.pricewatch.com