Building my first box, help!

[Jumper]

I'm a newbie, so go easy! Here's what I'm planning but I will listen to any suggestions to the contrary.
FIC AD11 mb: Ali and VIA chipsets getting bad press
and ASUS doesn't allow multiplier settings.
1 gig 133fsb T-bird AXIA
128 or 256 mb crucial memory, (what's sufficent for win 98se?)
3d prophet 4500 (got great bang for the buck review)
Objectives: good gaming box and as future-proof as posssible (i.e. will support a Palomino upgrade some day).
Thanks for your expertise, Jumper

 

[Da Whip]

Not too familiar w/ FIC boards, but ther are lots of good ones out there ( Iwill, Asus, MSI and others.
As far as bad press, I ahve yet to see much on the negative side for VIA chipsets, as they are the benchmark.
T-Bird 1.33 Axia great choice.
You can't go wrong w/ Crucial memory, especially for the price.
Video card is okay - Radeon might be better bang for buck.
You really should do some homework and check as many reviews as possible ( don't believe one reviewer) and decide for youself.

 

[Goldwing]

www.anandtech.com has a nice review of the AD11 and compares it several other MB's.
I agree Crucial RAM is a solid choice and with today's price 256Mb is the way to go. (I have read that above 384Mb starts slowing things down.)
Geforce MX cards can be had for $75 and it seems that GeForce cards are becoming the card of choice and possibly more highly supported by games in the future.(IMHO)
Get a case with good cooling and at least 300W PS and a decent HSF. (I'm sure you already know this but it's worth repeating.)
Good Luck.
BTW do you jump squares or rounds nowdays.

 

[Jumper]

The Forest Sevice (my employer) still jumps rounds but the BLM using the ram-air design. Both have their place but the square is the preferable chute. The KYRO II chipset is supposed to be on par w/a geforce 2 pro @ 2/3 the price, I guess I'll be a guinea pig. It's the motherboards that I'm the most confused about. Thanks for all your help.
Jumper