Building My New Computer

[pmaddock]

Hi. I'm new to this forum business, so please bare with me. I love computer stuff, and am looking into building my own system. I currently own 2 computers (one 6.5 years old and one 2 years old). I have been doing a lot of reading lately about PC building and am not sure what type of motherboard/case,power supply/processor/fan/memory to buy. I think that I would like to go with the Athlon processsor (somewhere between 1800 - 2100 MHZ), at least 512 mb of DDR ram, ATX type case/motherboard - at least capable of 233, at least 350 watt power supply, and a nice, big, easily accessible computer case. Does anyone have any good suggestions as to the brands I should buy. I've read that ASUS (or is it ASIS) makes a good motherboard and Crucial seems to be the top ram memory. I want to build a nice, future upgradeable system, sparing no expense. Does anyone have any ideas. Please bare in mind that I am not new to computers, just new to computer building. I appreciate any suggestions. Thanks.

PMADDOCK

[DrZaius]

Hey pmaddock, welcome to the PC Mech forums!

Good job on deciding to build your own system. For the motherboard, I would recommend the EPoX 8KHA+. However, any board from any of the big brands (Asus, Abit, MSI, IWill, Soyo, and even Soltek) will be fine. It all depends on what features you need (RAID, quality onboard sound) and how much you want to spend. As for the case, the Antec SX830 or SX1030 are very popular, very good quality and roomy. It comes with a good 300W PSU which is plenty for the system you describe. I recommend Crucial for memory as well, good quality. As always, for parts take a look at NewEgg and MWave. Hope that helps.

[pstj]

Doc, isn't it Antec, instead of Antex?

[DrZaius]

Oops. Thanks pstj.

[pmaddock]

DrZaius,

Thank you very much for your reply. I'm not really focused on on-board sound or video - I am planning on getting good Sound Blaster Live and ATI/Geforce sound/video boards eventually. I would like the option of RAID, with the luxury of using many IDE devices (not the typical 4 + a floppy drive that we have all been accustomed to for years). Do you agree with my decision to go with the Athlon chip, as opposed to the P4? Also, are there tower cases out there that place the mother board and PCI cards on a swing out accessible design or is this too flimsy? I saw this case type somewhere last night as I was checking out "building a computer" web sites. Thanks again for your guidance.

PMADDOCK

[Lord Prism]

Welcome aboard. I love this place.

Asus and Epox are great boards! I love my Abit and Epox....Go with Soyo if you are "sparing no expense."
Crucial is "on the money" for memory. A N T E C packs a sweet case; good call.
Throw an XP in there (check your HSF for overclocking...).
AND to complete my agreement and repetition of DrZ's reply, Newegg and Mwave have provided ME with competitive prices and fair shipping.

Have fun and good Luck. LEt us know how it goes,

[DrZaius]

pmaddock,

Since you mentioned that you would like onboard RAID, here are some good boards to consider:

1. MSI K7T266 PRO2-RU
2. Soyo K7V DRAGON+
3. Asus A7V266-E
4. Abit KR7A-133 Raid

They all use the KT266A chipset, currently the fastest Athlon/DDR chipset (well, KT333 out... but I wouldn't recommend it). Almost all motherboards now have onboard sound, but it's not really an issue since it can easily be disabled in the BIOS.

As for the processor, I do prefer the Athlons and I think they're good choice (T-Bird and XPs). Either processor (Athlon or P4) will work just as well, it's all personal preference.

I have not seen the case you describe available at any store, the only systems I know that have them are Dell and Apple (G4 tower), so I would recommend just using the standard tower model.

Hope that helps.

[pmaddock]

DZ and LP,

Thanks for your great feedback. I am having a great time reading everyone's suggestions. I would probably like to add a couple of 100 GB hard drives - 7200 rpm (Western Digital or Maxtor, if they are the best), a DVDRW, a CDRW, and a fast CD rom. Also a good network card for my cable modem. I'm assuming that ISA slots are ancient history, with PCI slots and AGP the current wave. I can't wait to start working on this system. I just need to do a lot of research and listen to everyone's suggestions as to the best parts. Thanks again for your help and I look forward to future suggestions.

PMADDOCK

[kzoodata]

Be careful about that RAID stuff. It again depends upon your intended use of the machine. If you're after expandable storage (RAID5), you need a SCSI based system. If you're looking to simply have RAID1 (mirroring) IDE Raid will work, but if you also want gaming performance, stay away from IDE RAID controllers; they're speed sappers. IDE just isn't meant to act as a highly available, high performance storage controller. Get a couple of big hard drives and let it be. (when will IDE die, anyway?)

As far as the Athlon goes, great choice, just beware of two caveats. One, the cooler the better. Buy the best CPU cooler you can, and make sure you use the recommended "sealant" (silicon grease). Athlons burn HOT. Second, (and this will burn the tweakers here), don't spend too much time overclocking the Athlon - it's burning hot enough as it is. Let the manufacturer set the clock speeds; if you need fast, buy fast. I always get a chuckle out of the guys who speed-tweak Durons and slower Athlons; what exactly are you buying here, anyway? (I laugh because I used to do this as well - fun but futile). Buy case coolers, too, and drive coolers won't hurt, either!

The recommended cases are good; I've always liked the Enlight cases because they're built so solidly. Bland but solid. Antec's are also great. Everybody else tends to sell window dressing.

My favorite boards are Abit and Asus. Soyo is OK (don't seem to be quite as good a value as the first two).

As to where to buy (I'm gonna get flamed now), start with tcwo.com and tccomputers.com. While there are other places to get better selection, these two sites offer plain, no nonsense pages, user rating pages, and TCWO has *super* CPU prices (but very limited board selection). Neither of these business have ever burned me, return policies are also good.

[pmaddock]

KZOODATA,

Thanks for your input. Concerning RAID, I am really not into playing computer games. I like Utility type stuff better. I like the idea of having dual hard drives and using mirror capabilities as a system backup. Are the Athlons so hot that it would be better to go to P4? Or is it just a matter of a good heat sink, chemical application, and good CPU fan? I would also like some good case fans, in addition to the usual power supply and CPU fans. What do you think?

PMADDOCK

[whr2206]

it really doesnt matter which chip yo use p4 or xp. Both are good, and with quality components, your system will run fine with either. For your h/f get a glbal when cak38, because xp's run a little warm. And earilier you were talking about hard drives. I think IBM has the best hard drive around, but western digital and maxtor are good....

[DrZaius]

Or is it just a matter of a good heat sink, chemical application, and good CPU fan?

Exactly, like whr2206 mentioned, as long as you install it correctly, either one will work just as good.

[pmaddock]

I just read where the glbal when cak38 is great, but has a drawback concerning difficulty in securing it to the CPU. Is it really that hard?

[DrZaius]

I just read where the glbal when cak38 is great, but has a drawback concerning difficulty in securing it to the CPU. Is it really that hard?

It's pretty difficult if you try it with just your fingers, but if you're careful and use a screwdriver there shouldn't be any problems.

[kzoodata]

Yeah, IBM does make great 3.5" hard drives (not so much luck on their laptop drives). I have had problems in the past mixing and matching WD and Maxtor drives in combination; I never found out why, drives were configured correctly and matched each other in terms of stated specs (RPM, access speed, etc). Anyway, choose one brand and you'll be fine.

For programming applications, your RAID1 IDE system should work fine; you're not after *raw* performance.

As for your NIC, I recommend 3COM - out of the dozens of card type's I've been forced to mess with over the years, 3COM puts out consistent quality and solid signal in their Etherlink series. Intel also puts out decent cards and tend to be easier to configure. Other manufacturers cards tend to put out less signal and don't play well in the sandbox with some hub brands. 3COM's just work, period.

PCI all the way for everything but video! ISA is for legacy equipment; 16-bit or 8-bit stuff. Avoid when possible.