Ok, computer builders. Help me out here.

I was wrong in my earlier post. The MAxtor 80gb is only $30.00 after rebates. For what the WD costs, you could have TWO MAxtors and set up a 160 gb RAID array and still have $8.00 in your pocket.

Only drive I ever had fail was a WD.

jmx
 
I'm running a new Maxtor on this PC right now! Their "Maxblast" software made the upgrade from the old drive super simple, super easy. I got an exact clone that boots in about a 1 minute now instead of the 15 minutes it took before :eek: The only thing that changed was the upgrade to a newer Maxtor 7200RPM 8Mb cache hard drive (no SW changes, no fragmentation problems, etc.) :)
 
I would have to recommend the maxtor over a WD as well. The experiences I've had with WD have been only so so. I find them to break down faster than others. Seagate ones are decent but get hot, the Maxtor is a good choice. Tomhardware was a good link, also www.sharkyextreme.com is helpfull. If the MB supports it, I would get a serial HD. Either tomshardware or sharkyextreme had a recent review of MB's that supported serial. I would agree on the radeon for a video card. I've used Pricewatch.com a lot when putting together computers, you can find some good deals on there. I've built a few computers in the past, email me at mikempg4@yahoo.com if you have any questions. Good luck and for the love of all that is sacred don't use XP, windows2000 is just as good without the POS drawbacks of XP. If you'll be running windows at all that is.
-mike
 
Mikempg4, Win 2000 might be some folks idea of the most stable OS around, but he did say he wants to play games! Win2K sux at games. Win XP Home has worked pretty well for me. Much better than 98, ME or XP for me.

jmx
 
i have been using 2k for a for over a year and have no problem playing any games on it, both brand new and old. I find that anything that has drivers or works for XP works in 2k. Having used both I can say that 2k is more stable, more responsive, and less restrictive than XP.
 
Mostly I agree with the other replies...stick with Asus or Gigabit for Motherboards you can't go wrong!

HOWEVER APARENTLY I'M THE ONLY TRUE GEEK HERE!!!!

GET the new 10,000 RPM SATA hard drive from Western digital or Seagate!

Why isn't anybody else saying this? I've installed about 4 of these drives now and both brands are great.

I like the Sonta case from Antec VERY QUITE! I've done 3 of these they are awesome!

ATI Seems to be on top of the graphics cards... I'd get one of those.
The drivers for Nvidia are some times easier to install but ATI is the only card at the moment that will fully support Half Life 2 next generation graphics! (Maximum PC November Issue)

Also I endorse Motherboard Express for all of your needs. Computer shoppers best place to buy 3 years running.

P.S. Go with Win XP even considering anything else is mental masterbation...Don't shoot yourself in the foot with one of the older microsoft products.
 
I wanted those 10K Raptors. I really really did. But they were only available in 36gb sizes when I bought my Maxtors. While the 10K rotational speed is intoxicating at first glance, the Maximum PC review was only so-so. They beat some of the 7200rpm drives, but in the end I think they picked a WD 120gb Special Edition 7200rpm as the fastest single drive.

Knife11: You really like the Sonata cases eh? About the only thing I've got left to upgrade is my case. Currently I'm using an Antec full tower that's pretty moded and has good airflow, bit with four 80mm case fans (one in, three out) plus th eCPU cooler, northbridge cooler and video card cooler, it's starting to sound like it's going to launch, even with the fan speed controllers cranked down to just above stall speed. I've cut away all the airflow restrictors in front of the fans (perfed metal) and that did help some, but it's still too loud. Do you have any experience with the Koolance water cooled cases, or just the Sonatas? I'm a little leary of th eSonata as it's only a mid tower and I've become fond of all the room in a full tower.

What do you think?

jmx
 
I agree 36 gigs is small if you go with a seagate they have a 10k that's bigger. About the maximum pc article. when compaired to the WD with 8mb cache it's a close call since WD has had the best drives for a while now, but up against anything else they are awesome and SATA is the way of the future. I'm a gamer and as such I don't need much space...If you need more space go with the Seagate or a big 7200 8mb WD.


jmxcpter: I really like the sound of the sonata... Big fans, rubber mount drive bays, just good engineering in general. As far as the koolance I've never used one, but they do sound cool :) I know that voodoo make a very nice cooling setup (called the F-1 I think) probably very pricey though. If your not over-clocking and you running intel you shouldn't have any heat problems no matter what. If your AMD, but you still not over clocking (this is me)then the sonata will do just fine slap some extra heat sinks on the the chip set, ram , and video card if it makes you feel better. The Sonata is a mid tower but it has a lot of bays... three 5 1/4 and I think five Hard drive slots. If your over clocking at all then you need to see just how hot your chips are getting so you know what kind of cooling is nessesary. The main thing is that you either buy the koolance case or nothing at all because if you get the koolance thing that sits on top of whatever case you have there are still four fans siting right there prepairing for take off ;) I belive that the full case is a bit better on noise...maybe someone can back me up on this.

Good talking to ya!
 
Just looked at those koolance cases again...I guess ot matter which way you go you end up with those fans up top. I just thought I heard that the all-in-one case was quieter...Hmmm

Well i guess I'm not to sure about the whole koolance thing...I do know they're cool though :D
 
Ok, so I took back the 80 gb Maxtor and got a Western Digital 120 gb, Special Edition 7200 rpm drive with 8 mb cache. But, it's ATA-100. Now, you're telling me I should get a Serial ATA hard drive? I didn't see one at the store I was at, so I got the WD. I'm not in a hurry to build this machine, so I have plenty of time to switch stuff.
 
Well I would think that the motherboard you get will support both just know that down the road you will want SATA!
 
The motherboard I am planning on getting will support Serial ATA, so should I take the ATA100 hard drive back? I have no problem doing that, if there's that big of a difference. Like I said, this is supposed to be my compter for the next several years.
 
the serial drives are also great because they get rid of a lot of clutter inside the case. No big deal for most people but if you end up diving into your case a lot and moving things around it's really convenient. One thing you can consider about the higher speed drives is you don't need one that is too big. You can put your OS and a few often used applications/games on it to give yourself a speed boost and keep the slower but larger drives for just mass storage. You don't need high speed to play an mp3 or do word processing, but with your OS booting or a game map loading from a high speed HD you keep things snappy. If you don't like noise keep in mind that the faster the drive the (usually) higher noise.
-mike
 
Ok, what more do I need? I have the full tower case with 350 watt ps(might upgrade the power supply though)

5 extra super quiet case fans(supposedly move 3 times the air than normal case fans)

ASUS top of line motherboard(P4c800-E)

P4, 2.8 ghz processor with 800 fsb

WD SATA hard drive 120 gb/7200 rpm, 8 mb cache

1 gig of memory, in the form of (2) 512 mb Kingston Hyper X 3200 DDR chips

EVGA Geforce FX 5900, 128 mb DDR video card

Plextor top of line DVD/CD read/write drive PX-708A

Sound Blaster Audigy 2 sound card

External USB floppy drive

I will be using my DSL connection. Do I even need to install a dialup modem? What about a network card? Is there anything else I need for this new computer?
 
Keyboard and mouse.

My keyboard vote is for Kinesis.
510.jpg


Mouse, the logitechs have always been the best in my book.

Speakers, I prefere 2.1 systems to computer surround systems. Logitech has some good ones as does Klipsch

Printer, I prefer laser over the other types, but I don't have a need for color.

Monitor. Sony has been rated the top in big CRTs for years. LCD, Sharp has the best according to Maximum PC, but it's very expensive.

Phil
 
Mouse and keyboard are covered, as are monitor(I have a great KDS 21" monitor) and printer. Also, already have great speakers. I have an extra set of Altec Lansings from when my Dad bought his computer. Dad didnt want em, so I snagged em.
 
Well it really depends on what your using the 'puter for at this point... We could talk about hardrive coolers and Chipset heat sinks and other cooling stuff or if you do much copying you'll want a normal cd-rom drive to play from, also those are sometimes faster if your a gamer...will you be runing dual monitor or using your computer as an "entertanment pc"? Lastly to do a really nice job you'll want to do a "dry fit" put all the componants in there place and then figure out how to route wires and gett extentions or splice cords that need to be different sizes...

Also with SATA there is a power supply adapter that you may need check into that before you build
 
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