Building a Computer

yes

Check out Tom''s Hardware for reviews.

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Original post by parklife
yes

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nope.


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I''m gonna build my first computer soon. I have been researching it for weeks... its sooo much fun and I haven''t even started building yet!

The hardest thing to find for me is definatly the motherboard. I still havent really sorted it out yet. I would really like to see a motherboard selector - one that isn''t from a mohterboard manufacturer. Select RAM type, socket type, minimum bus speeds, nessecary features, price range etc. It would be so handy...

I don''t really have any advice because I haven''t even selected my own motherboard yet, except just to look at online stores, and any mobo that looks promising, find as many reviews on it as you can.

don''t buy motherboards with ALi or SiS chipset. They suck.

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My compiler generates one error message: "does not compile."

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Original post by alnite
don''t buy motherboards with ALi or SiS chipset. They suck.

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My compiler generates one error message: "does not compile."

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make me fell all insecure about my brand new SiS motherboard why dont you =(



"There is no dark side of the moon really,
As a matter of fact, its all dark."

I recently built a new AMD Athlon XP 2200+, 1024mb DDR333, GF4 TI4600, 2x 120gb 7200rpm HDDs, dual neon cathode lights, extra tri-LED lit fan, DVD-ROM, CD-RW and Sound Blaster Extigy (yes, this was just an excuse to advertise my kickass system) using all parts from newegg.com

Anyway, the real point of this post, my motherboard is an ASUS A7V8X mobo, and I love it, and it has been problem-free thus far.

Trent Polack
Burnt Fur Entertainment
trent@codershq.com
Author of Focus on 3D Terrain Programming

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Original post by mittens
I recently built a new AMD Athlon XP 2200+, 1024mb DDR333, GF4 TI4600, 2x 120gb 7200rpm HDDs, dual neon cathode lights, extra tri-LED lit fan, DVD-ROM, CD-RW and Sound Blaster Extigy (yes, this was just an excuse to advertise my kickass system) using all parts from newegg.com

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Now THAT is an impressive system. Makes me feel cheap. I''m not even going to ask how much that costed (how much did it cost?).

I''ve heard some bad stuff about VIA chipset motherboards, but I have one from Epox, and its been working fine.

If you want the best of the best, Asus is probably that. If you want the next step down, anything Via would be it. If you want to waste money on a pile of dooky then get an SiS MB.

Ah, I remember that old Compaq thing I had. SiS chipset with integrated SiS video. Quicktime would crash it 1 outa 3 times I tried to watch a movie. Absolutly NO OpenGL support. Stuff ran faster in software rendering than hardware (using a dumpy 380 MHz K6-2!). Ah. How many times I wished I could smash by foot through that stupid computer. I dreamed of taking a baseball bat and beating the living daylights out of that POS. Swinging, harder and harder, pieces of green plastic, aluminum shrapnel, and hampster guts flying everywhere after each mighty blow. And after it is all over, I light the whole pile of rotted cheese on fire and dance around wearing nothing but a thong, beating my chest to the beat of the wardrums...

...what? Oh, uh, heh.

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Original post by DarkHamster
make me fell all insecure about my brand new SiS motherboard why dont you =(

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Well, they aren''t for games. Enough for office use though.

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My compiler generates one error message: "does not compile."

SiS doesn''t suck anymore. In all tests it performs as well or better than Intel chipsets, very reliable and stable. I have a Sis 645DX motherboard and it has not crashed once, is overclockable, and very fast. 5 years ago I''d agree, SiS sucked, but they have done alot of work since than in making better chipsets.

You should wait it our for the next generation of AMD chips which should be arriving next year. 64-bit and the K8''s will be available by next year most likely. Intel has 800 mhz FSB P4''s coming down the line, high clock speeds (3 ghz +) and hyper-threading support.

Even if you can''t afford those high-end parts, the price of current hardware is going to drop signigicantly and you''ll be able to pick up a top of the line system (right now, anyways) for much less $$$.

When the GeForce FX arrives, GeForce 4 cards will drop, but you''ll most likely want a GeForce FX anyways. I am waiting it out, and in a year FX or Radeon 9700 should be affordable.

If you absolutely must have top of the line equipment I pity you, but wait out until Q1 2003 as AMD and Intel have announced they plan to market their new chips. By than GeForce FX will arrive, and price of Radeon 9700Pro and GeForce cards should start dropping. Also DDR 400 should be stabilized (standardized) and well supported.

Just make sure to get the highest FSB you can possibly afford and the best memory possible. If you overclock, make sure your memory is top quality, and to get a board that supports overclocking in the bios (with adjustable voltage core and incremental fsb adjustment). The better your heatsink/fans are, the more you can overclock and not melt down your system.

I''d really just recommend you wait it out for a few more months, but if you gotta splurge now, an AthlonXP with 333 fsb, DDR 333 RAM, AGP 8X and Serial-ATA support should hold you out for a couple of years. If all you want is games the video card is the most important device anyways.

DaMangz, get rid of that horrible space below all of your posts. It is stupid and obnoxious.


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