Building my new Computer: Part I

[zapato2k]

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Well....my brother is going to take my current rig off to college, so I am going to buy a new one. Since he leaves on the 26h, I'm on a time limit to get parts, and build the system. Price is a factor, here. I'm trying to keep it under $800 so I can get a decent monitor, too. Here come a sh*tload of questions. If you can help me answer even one of these, just put the number and your reccommendation, and I would be extremely grateful:

1. Should I get a Mobo/CPU/HSF combo, the same type of Mobo/CPU/HSF, overclocked, or buy the HSF, Mobo, and CPU separately?

2. CPU: I haven't been keeping up with the tech-scene for a while. What is the best Price/Performance ratio in AMD processors? For example, if I can get a 1.2 GHz for x dollars more than a 1.1, would it be worth it? I don't want to buy the denomination right below a major jump in performance.

3. Motherboard: MSI K7T266. This was suggested on Tom's Hardware (they just did a huge motherboard roundup). This would be my choice for a 266 FSB motherboard, If I decide to put together the MBD, CPU myself.

4. Fan. I have no idea what to get, but I don't want to blow $30 on a HSF, really. Something simple, effective enough to OC a little bit, and noise is not at all a factor.

5. This is a stupid question: What's OEM? OEM prices are a lot cheaper, but for what factor in performance or reliability? Should I go for these, or stay away?

6. 266 FSB vs 200 FSB. I think the easiest way for someone to explain this to me Is compare a 266 FSB to a 200 FSB in the following fashion: a 1.2 GHz 200 FSB is equal to a 1.0 GHz 266 FSB.

7. RAM. Wow, It's seriously getting confusing now. Of all of these options, which is the best, and most price-effective (using 256 MBs as a standard stick): PC2400 (overclockable to 300 MHz) $70 / PC2100 266MHZ for $50 / PC2100 200Mhz $45 / PC1600 200Mhz $35 / Normal PC-133 $25. Which one would be the best?

7. Sound card: I currently have the SB Live! Value...and am looking to buy it again. But if there is something better for around that price (40-70 dollars) please let me know.

8. Video Card. I currently have a GeForce2 GTS. I'm looking at the ATI
RADEON SDR 64MB AGP. I heard these Radeon SDR's are majorly overclockable. It's for about $100. Would this be less than, match, or beat the GeForce2 GTS for about $130?

9. Hard Drive: I guess there's nothing much to speak about here. Any personal preferences, Maxtor, IBM, Western Digital? I'm looking at an IBM Deskstar 60GXP 40 Gig, 7200 RPM for $110.

10. CR-RW. Is there a company out there that sells only CD-R's, cuz I literally never use the rewrite, given the extreme cheapness of CDs these days. I'm looking for a price-effective CD-RW...no crazy speeds like 20x write...unnecessary. 16x or even less, would be better. ReWrite speed doesn't matter to me AT ALL. However, read speed matters to me a great deal, as I am going to use this CD-RW as a replacement CD-ROM, so I believe aroudn 40x read speed should be adequate. I'm looking at the PlexWriter 16x10x40x CD-RW for around $170.

11. Monitor. I do have an old 15" sitting around, but that's going to get on my nerves quickly. I'm not really in the market for a monitor, I'd rather complete the computer shopping/building first. But, If you have a reccommendation, go ahead and post it.

13. Case. Well, I always leave mine open, anyway, since noise isn't any bother to me. So, I don't really care for an amazingly expensive case with built in fans all over the place...just something simple. I've already got a $20 300W mid-ATX in mind, so you probably don't even have to bother posting here, unless, as the theme carries, you want to.

12. Ethernet Card, Mouse, Keyboard, and all of those other things aren't much of a matter to me...if you have a reccommendation you are dying to let loose, go ahead, but otherwise, I think I can manage


I guess the most important question is the first: MBD/CPU/HSF combo, MBD/CPU/HSF OC'ed combo, or buy parts separate and put it together myself. Wow, this was a long message, and you read it all. Thank you, even if you don't reply. I'll stop wasting your time


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[Coolio]

I cannot completely answer all your question cause i am sure other people know a heck of a lot more than me on those issues.


But one thing i can anewer is about the OEM products. Oem products are when major companies like Dell, Gatrway etc. order their parts in bulk. That way they get them cheaper. So, if you buy one of those OEM products, you will just get the product. You may/may not get the retail boxes that the component would come in. And any of the extra things that you might get in the retail version like demo software etc. I am also not so sure about the divers. In other forums, i have read that some people have gotten the driver CD and some haven't. So, if you don't care for the extras and are sure that you can find the drivers on the net, I guess you could go for the OEM version since its cheaper.



Heh , my first post on this forum. Just joined. Seems to be a very active and responsive forum.

 

[Valid]

Just a quick note for the previous post. OEM processors typically come without a hsf.

For a processor, I'd have to recommend the AXIA stepped 1.0 ghz athlons.

266 vs. 200? You can probably find 1.0's for equivalent prices on 266 and 200. Both chips will BASICALLY do the same thing, if motherboard settings allow it.

Other than that? I don't know. For a heat sink, you said you didn't want to plunk down 30. But I recently acquired one of those golden gate 40s at SVCompucycle, and I like the look of it. I haven't gotten to try it yet, but I assumed 30 dollars was a reasonable price for a hsf. After all, my other hsf is a swiftech MC462.

Maybe someone else will be able to fill in all the gaps I've missed.

 

[zapato2k]

does this look about right: http://www.1stclasstech.com/msik7procpuc.html ?

 

[hooziewhatsit]

first off, about the link you provided, I did a check on www.resellerratings.com, and that company had a 4/7 which is a little low for me. You can check most of the companies on pricewatch there to see how good they are.

1. If you can find a good deal (check the prices elsewhere also) on a good package, I'd say go for it. Just make sure you know what exactly you're getting.

2. cpu - check the prices on www.pricewatch.com, then check the vendors at resellerratings.com. There isn't a huge price gap between each proc (~$15), so it'll come down to what you want.

3. mobo - that should be fine. I've heard good stuff about it. Take a look the motherboards thread to see what people think about it.

4. Fan - look around in the cooling section, you should be able to see what most people like.

7. RAM - Most likely the board you get will be a DDR board, so you don't have to worry about pc133, since it isn't compatible. If you are going to be doing some major overclocking, you might want to go with some PC2400. Otherwise, make it PC2100. You won't want to get PC1600 since it is slower and PC 2100 costs about the same.

9. HDD - I've had good luck with IBM hard drives. What you stated should work fine.

10. cdr - I love my plextor 12x10x32. It's somewhere around $140 now, so it's a good deal.


good luck!

 

[zapato2k]

Alright, I ordered, the parts are due in shortly. In fact, I've already got the keyboard and mouse (ms natural, and logitech optical wheel) from neutron, since they're so close (PA - NJ)

The complete ordered parts list is this:

Thunderbird 1.2 GHz 266 FSB
ThermoEngine HSF
MSI K7T266 Pro - RAID
512 MB Crucial PC2100 DDR RAM
Two 40G IBM 60GXP 7200 RPM HDs in Striped RAID 0
Plextor Plexwriter 16x10x40x CD-RW
SB Live! 5.1
ASUS V7700 AGP GeForce2 GTS 32MB