Advice on what computer hardware to use for new box

[utuweb]

Hi there, can somebody recommend components for a new computer I want to make. I've tried researching this a little bit, but I don't know enough about what the specificiations mean to really understand the hardware sites reviews.

I'm looking to spend between $500 and $600, and would like to end up with a really good computer. I don't do gaming, so the video card isn't that important, but I would like something I won't need to replace in the near future.

Thanks for any advice, Utuweb
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[jeffd]

Welcome to our tech forums (or should I say, welcome back!) utuweb. Since a lot of people might be interested in your question, I'm going to give a pretty in depth response, I hope this meets your requirements.

I've made several of these computers for clients and friends in the last year, and every time I make a new one, I am extremely envious of their new computer (that's the sign you've done a good job, you want what you made them).

In my experience, you can't even begin to approach this level of performance/price with any namebrand box, including a Mac. The trick is to use 1+ year old top of the line parts. I've researched all the parts, using sites like tomshardware.com to learn what to look for.

All prices are current, from zipzoomfly.com, who I've never had any trouble with:

Mobo:
Gigabyte GA-7N400 Pro2 nForce2 Ultra 400 Athlon(XP)/Duron SktA DDR ATX Motherboard w/Audio, Gigabit LAN, IDE RAID, Serial ATA Retail
$106.50 [don't skimp on motherboard, processor, or memory, you'll always regret trying to save that extra $20-50.]

Processor:
AMD Athlon XP 2600+ 1.91GHz 333FSB 512KB [512 kB L2 cache is the critical component here, it's one of the things that made there processors able to meet the much higher gigahertz Pentium 4s, that parity stopped right at this point, xp 24-2600+, but you can't beat the price/performance]. This processor uses the Barton core, which is significantly faster than the older versions.
$89.00 [this is the boxed cpu, comes with fan and 3 year amd guarantee]

Memory {check mobo manufactorers website for memory recommendations and follow them}:
256 x 2 Corsair VS256MB400C3 256MB DDR400 PC3200 CAS3 Value Select Memory
$88 (double this if you want 2 x 512 mB)
or use Micron ddr, go to crucial.com to get it, that's always reliable and reasonably priced.

Case:
Antec Solution Series SLK3700AMB Super Mid Tower w/ 350 watt power supply (don't use less power, and don't use a cheap power supply). I use the server cases, which cost about $85, because they come with two extra case fans, which cost about $10 retail each, so it ends up being the same price for a bigger case with enough room for any drives you'll ever need.
$65

CDR/RW
Liteon LTR-52327S / LTR-52328S 52x32x52 E-IDE/ATAPI CD-RW Drive [top rated for ripping copy protected cds, which means it has a very high quality laser/logic circuitry.]
$32

Floppy drive {needed to install Sata drivers/ raid drivers on Windows 2000/XP
$10 [though you probably have one lying around]

Video card, any $30 card with 32mB ram, if you're not gaming this doesn't really matter as far as I'm concerned.

Harddrive:
Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 6Y080M0 80GB Serial ATA 7200RPM Hard Drive w/8MB Buffer and Serial ATA Signal Cable Bundle
$87
total: $510

This is roughly equivalent to a $1200-1500 Dell, and is only slightly slower than a $3000 gaming box (minus the extreme video card)

The only real decision is whether to use 2 sticks of 256mB DDR3200 or 2 sticks of 512mB (don't skimp on memory speed, get the fastest the board will support, prices are very low right now, and will never get lower, they'll rise soon). Keep in mind that to get maximum performance, you want to use 2 sticks of matched memory, it's dual channel DDR, which is even faster than single channel DDR, but requires using matched sets of DDR memory.

Make sure to update the BIOS and MOBO drivers with new ones from the Gigabyte website, gigabyte boards come with a windows utility to let you update the Bios in windows, no flashing the bios, very cool.

There are comparable ABIT boards, ASUS wasn't reviewed as well for this particular generation of motherboards, but might be good again for newer stuff. Gigabyte SATA boards may not work with some linux distibutions, although that problem might be resolved now, check the forums to find out for sure. Last I read SUSE wouldn't work with this motherboard, maybe that's fixe now.

If you installed the raid drivers, you now have 2 SATA channels, a single Raid mirrored data IDE channel (recommended, hard to set that up after installing windows), plus two standard IDE channels. You will never use up the capacity of this box.

If you are using windows, you have to create driver disks for SATA and the IDE Raid channles before you start installing windows, it will ask for those when you hit the F6 key during installation of the OS (when you hit it, nothing happens at that moment, but it does later in the install process, you will be asked for both floppy disks several times during the OS install, just put them in and click ok/enter at the right times and you'll be fine.
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[Erik Johnson]

That's a pretty good list, I'd also like to add the suggestion that the user, if they really aren't comfortable with the whole pc assembly process, they use the services of an online component vender. You simply buy the parts and they assemble them for free and send you the box, ready to go.

While you will lose some control and you won't have learned how your pc works as a piece of hardware, you will probably end up with a very nice machine, and save yourself the few hours and stress assembling the hardware can involve.

But whether you go with building it yourself or using a company to do it for you, in either case you'll end up with a very high quality computer that is far superior to any namebrand box.
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