Simviation Forum - Re: Best components for low$ home built box for FS

Aug 16^th, 2003 at 11:26pm

swanny338 Offline
Colonel
Switched from PC to Mac
and loving it
Houston, Texas

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Posts: 1140

www.newegg.com
www.googlegear.com
http://www.gruntville.com/

both good websites they have reviews and good prices.

And as you can see with my avatar, I love nVidia and AMD

btw I live in houston as well.

Edit: says i live in houston
Edit 2: Another website

Still have a nice PC but I just switched to a hella nice mac

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Reply #1 - Aug 16^th, 2003 at 11:54pm

pixelpilot Offline
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Old Hardware New Software
Houston, TX US

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Posts: 5

Thanks !

The problem is that I'm drowning in websites already with pricing comparisonsbut no product performance info, and others with reviews.....TONS of reviews. ???

I was trying to find a simple "Consumer Reports" type of chart that shows in each category, all the products, the specs, ratings (in stars, ***** or some equally vague, but to the point representation of quality and performance), and a reference price average.

That, or a thread somewhere with the concensus of the best boards & chips, cards, etc.

I think I've got the video figured out now from your earlier posts, but still in a quagmire over mobos & CPUs.

It's enough to make a guy go to Best Buy and buy a package system! Tongue

Yuck!

The system in your graphic: is that what you're running your FS on?

BTW: I love your avatar!

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Reply #2 - Aug 16^th, 2003 at 11:59pm

Silent Exploder Ex Member

power supply: 300 watts minimum

motherboard: Leadtek K7NCR18D (~80 US $)

CPU: AMD Athlon 2000+ (~65 US $ (maybe 25$ extra for a cooler))

HDD: your choice, but choose one with 7200rpm

Video Card: ATI 9500pro/9700 or Geforce FX 5600/ultra

Burner: every burner is able to record audio CDs ,it depends on the burning software you use.

i don't know how much those components cost exactly,so take a look at those links,which swanny posted before.

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Reply #3 - Aug 17^th, 2003 at 12:01am

swanny338 Offline
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Switched from PC to Mac
and loving it
Houston, Texas

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get a 7200 RPM 60 GB and a 15000 RPM 18.6 GB :-P jk, dont get the 15000 RPM they are awesome, but very very expensive

Still have a nice PC but I just switched to a hella nice mac

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Reply #4 - Aug 17^th, 2003 at 12:03am

Silent Exploder Ex Member

...and loud and hot. Wink

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Reply #5 - Aug 17^th, 2003 at 12:21am

pixelpilot Offline
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Houston, TX US

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Thanks Guys!

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Reply #6 - Aug 17^th, 2003 at 12:47am

Silent Exploder Ex Member

no problem,pal!

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Reply #7 - Aug 17^th, 2003 at 2:14am

pixelpilot Offline
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Old Hardware New Software
Houston, TX US

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Posts: 5

The more I know the less I know! Embarrassed

Is the front side bus speed a spec of the processor or mobo? I'm seeing speed ranges from 400 to 800 on the bus speeds on the boards, but they appear to be a lot less on the processors.

Are the FSB speeds, clock speed, and L2 cache size going to make any big difference? Any difference between unboxed (OEM) and boxed (retail)?

2000+ >> 1.67GHz, FSB(?) 266MHz, L2 cache = 256, $64.89 Heat sink & Fan included
2400+ >> 2.0GHz, FSB(?) 266MHz, L2 cache = 256, $82.00 Heat sink & Fan included
2500+ >> 1.83GHz, FSB(?) 333MHz, L2 cache = 512, $87.86 Heat sink & Fan included

I found an AthlonXP 2400+ bundled with an Albatron KX400-8xv Motherboard at Frye's for $149, but the FSB is only rated at 300. Do I need a 400 or 800MHz FSB? What's with the faster processor speed on the 2400+?

Also, the Leadtek board seemed to be laid out for a horizontal (desktop) system instead of a tower, Is that what I was seeing?

I'm SO confused! ???

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Reply #8 - Aug 17^th, 2003 at 6:57am

Silent Exploder Ex Member

umm...okay:

-the so-called Front Side Bus is the connection between the CPU and the memory.

-high FSB frequency = better performance

- the FSB is fully downwards compatible (this means you can run a FSB 266 CPU on a FSB 333 board)

no,the L2-cache and the FSB-speed won't make any big difference, maybe just 3 to 5 per cent.

yes ,the clock speed does make some difference,but don't look at the true clock speed of the athlons,they're a bit confusing.an Athlon XP 2500+ is as fast as a P4 2.5ghz,althouch the Athlon has a clock speed of just 1.8ghz.

unboxed: just the CPU,no extra equipment (like a cooler or something like that).

boxed: CPU with cooler.

no problem with the bundle,it's okay,there won't be any problems between the Athlon and the motherboard.

can you give me a pic of the motherboard?

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Reply #9 - Aug 17^th, 2003 at 3:46pm

swanny338 Offline
Colonel
Switched from PC to Mac
and loving it
Houston, Texas

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u beat me to it Silent *angry look on face*

btw dont get an 800FSB, as you may have noticed, it will cost you ur entire budget Roll Eyes

Still have a nice PC but I just switched to a hella nice mac

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Reply #10 - Aug 17^th, 2003 at 3:52pm

Iroquois Offline
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Happy Halloween
Ontario Canada

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Posts: 3244

Take a look at my computer specs at the bottom of this post. Mine is a low budget mid end system. Shop around for parts. You can often get used ones or even trade in allowances on old ones. Ebay is also an excellent place to start for things such as sound and video cards. Most stuff can be installed by your self. The only things that I would recomend that you do not install on your own are the motherboard, CPU, and RAM as these are all highly sensitive to heat, moisture, and static electricity. If you do not want to buy off the internet, just simply collect the lowest prices you can find on various online stores (except eBay because most stuff is used). Total your prices and phone up as many computer stores in your area and haggle and get them to go down to your price or even lower.

Silent Exploader's info is good. I've always heard AMD's are faster than Pentiums. I'm going to see if I can trade in my Duron for an Athlon XP 2000 but I doubt I'll get much of a Trade-in Allowance.

A good place to goo is www.tomshardware.com as he rates CPU's and other computer equipment. You may wish to try the ECS K7S5A mainboard which uses AMD processors up to an XP2000. It's one of the better value boards.

I only pretend to know what I'm talking about. Heck, that's what lawyers, car mechanics, and IT professionals do everyday. Wink

&&The Rig: &&AMD Athlon XP2000+ Palomino, ECS K7S5A 3.1, 1GB PC2700 DDR, Geforce FX5200 128mb, SB Live Platinum, 16xDVD, 16x10x40x CDRW, 40/60gb 7200rpm HDD, 325w Power, Windows XP Home SP1, Directx 9.0c with 66.81 Beta gfx drivers

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Reply #11 - Aug 17^th, 2003 at 6:38pm

congo Offline
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Make BIOS your Friend
Australia

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Here ya go Pixelpilot,

My previous posts.

http://www.simviation.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=hardw;action=display;num=1...

http://www.simviation.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=hardw;action=display;num=1...

Well, I've gone and kept the AMD system. It's simply better at running sims.

My best advice is, whatever you do, get the best mainboard you can, it doesn't have to be expensive, or any particular brand, just get the best chipset for your money, and any features you require.

If it isn't a board that supports dual channel memory, forget it. The nVidia nForce2 and Intel 865PE chipsets are fine. Both have AC'97 Audio codec which does not like MS Sidewinder FFB Pro (the previous generation) in WinXP.

The AMD XP2600+ should be found at a budget price. No
need for a Barton here. Just make sure if you go AMD that you get a mainboard that supports the new 400 mhz CPU's for a possible future upgrade. My Soltek does.

Happy Hunting!

Mainboard: Asus P5K-Premium, CPU=Intel E6850 @ x8x450fsb 3.6ghz, RAM: 4gb PC8500 Team Dark, Video: NV8800GT, HDD: 2x1Tb Samsung F3 RAID-0 + 1Tb F3, PSU: Antec 550 Basiq, OS: Win7x64, Display: 24" WS LCD

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Reply #12 - Aug 18^th, 2003 at 1:40am

pixelpilot Offline
Lieutenant Colonel
Old Hardware New Software
Houston, TX US

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Posts: 5

Thanks guys! Lots of useful info!

I think you all answered most of my questions! Grin

I have one other that came up today that I'll throw out there. I'm donating my Craptronic (see below) to my ex to use as a high speed word processor. To give her the "go back in time to before you screwed up the entire sytem" feature, I'm wanting to install WinXP on it. It meets all the tests, except an outdated BIOS code (1999)

VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C597
AMD K6-2 4*100
Apollo MVP3-596-W877
Current BIOS: Award Software International, Inc. 4.51 PG 08/25/99

I've been to driver.com, and a few other sites looking for a bios flash download but all want to sell me a new chip. Angry

Any suggestions?

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