My decision will depened on...

[Girl_needs_help]

Hi,could u plz tell me or review the system spec below and decide if its a powerful spec for games like Quake 3 Arena and / or for some other high power demanding games. is the graphics card mentioned below a good one and what about the sound card and the speaker systems. what do u think. any suggestions.


AMD Athlon XP 2200+

512Mb High Performance 266MHz PC2100 DDR

120Gb Ultra Fast with 2Mb Buffer (7200rpm)

19" Digital Colour 0.26mm Dot Pitch (18" VIS)

128Mb ATI Radeon 9000 - TV Out + DVI

16x DVD-ROM (40x CD-ROM)

CD Re-Writable (40x12x48)

Soundblaster Audigy + 1394 Firewire Port

[Un4given]

This is probably the best system you have posted yet. The card has enough memory for any current and future games for quite some time, and while the 9000 does get beat by the 8500 in some tests, it does beat the 8500 in others.

[punkrawk]

i would like to agree with un4given, but with geforce 4 4200s so dirt cheap now and offering performance so close to the 4600, i think u should ditch the 9000 and go with a 4200. for a few bucks more, its quite a bit more future proof.

[Mechanic]

Please tell me you are going to buy an Epox EP-8K5A2 or EP-8K5A2+ motherboard and NAME BRAND PC2700 ram!

[Nemesys]

Great looking system. i wouldn't change a thing. What motherboard?

[archshrk]

Originally posted by Nemesys
What motherboard?

Looks fine to me, too. Don't forget HeatSink and fans. New or recycled case, keyboard and mouse?

[Bothware]

Originally posted by Girl_needs_help
Hi,could u plz tell me or review the system spec below and decide if its a powerful spec for games like Quake 3 Arena and / or for some other high power demanding games. is the graphics card mentioned below a good one and what about the sound card and the speaker systems. what do u think. any suggestions.

AMD Athlon XP 2200+
512Mb High Performance 266MHz PC2100 DDR
120Gb Ultra Fast with 2Mb Buffer (7200rpm)
19" Digital Colour 0.26mm Dot Pitch (18" VIS)
128Mb ATI Radeon 9000 - TV Out + DVI
16x DVD-ROM (40x CD-ROM)
CD Re-Writable (40x12x48)
Soundblaster Audigy + 1394 Firewire Port

Q3 is an old game and is not power demanding, however UT2003 is and the R9000 is not really good enough for this - Ideally get a R9700 but thats expensive so Id go for a Ti4200 or maybe an R8500 (faster than R9000 but less features) - 64Mb is enough 'cos only cards like Ti4600 and R9700 are fast enough to do the higher resolutions which require the extra memory (128Mb is only needed if you want to do anti-aliasing @ 1600x1200) - your suggested monitor is not good enough for this to be worthwhile anyway.
Id get a decent monitor such as any Sony FD Trinitron or if they are too expensive consider a DiamondTron based screen.
Do you really need 120Gb?? - its unlikely so save some money and get 60Gb or 80Gb. - 7200rpm is a good choice.

I would not get and Audigy - Terratek DMX6Fire is better @ simular price. - Nice speaker systems are expecsive so just get the best 5.1 setup you can afford.

As for 40x CD-RWs the best drive would have top be the LiteOn 'cos performance is great and so is the price, it is also feature rich and reliable. As for 16x DVD-ROM Id get the slot loading Pioneer - its great.

Id get 333MHz or even 400MHz memory - 512Mb is a great choice and it should only be $10 more for the faster version - get cosair 'cos cheap memory chips are not worth having.

Be sure to get a good PSU, like a 431W Eenermax unit.

And be sure to get a decent ASUS or ABIT MoBo - the latest models feature 8x AGP and support for 333/400 DDR along with the new serial ATA and USB2 and FireWire interfaces. - If you get an ASUS board you can get a nice iPanel to monitor it for less than $15.

Hope this info. is helpful.

[Dude]

Yeah, the lite-on is a good cd burner and it will save you some money.

[Mechanic]

I have had Abit and I have purchased lots of ASUS boards, I have yet to find one that is better than an EPOX. Read the reviews!

[muzikjunkie]

I wouldn't get the 2200+ AXP, it sux at o/cing, and even cooling is an issue, either get a 2100+ or wait for the 2400+, 2600+, or 2700+ to come on sale.

[Phaethon]

Well, first of all an estimated budget (ballpark) would help, as well as a listing of the specific models of product that you are interested in.

I'll assume that you are building soon and that you are on a budget.

CPU: Athlon XP 2000+
I'd recommend the Athlon XP 2000 as the best price/performance processor available right now.

Motherboard: Epox 8K5A2+
I'd like to be able to recommend you get a KT400 solution but the only KT400 board available is the Asus A7V8X. The A7V8X looks like a very nice board, but it doesn't have many features over the Epox (notably: AGP 8x, limited PC3200 support, serial ATA, Gigabit LAN).

Epox 8K5A2+ = $100
Asus A7V8X = $190

So, for the money I'd recommend the Epox motherboard. However, the price for the Asus board will fall once it is more widely available, making it more attractive. (NOTE: Prices are the least expensive I could find with two stipulations. The seller had to be someone I would feel comfortable dealing with and the product had to be in-stock)

RAM: I DIMM name-brand 512MB PC2700 RAM
Name brand RAM is worth the extra money. I'd recommend Corsair or Crucial.

Hard Drive:
Try Storagereview if you have questions.

Monitor:
The only question is how much you are willing to spend. Don't skimp. It is a constant source of bemusement to me how many people will spend $350 for a graphics card but these same people will balk at the idea of spending that same money on a quality display.

Video Card: Any 128MB GeForce 4 Ti4200
I would absolutely suggest that you get a 128MB Ti4200. A good article to read at tech-report.

The Rest
I don't know much of anything about cd/dvd drives. The Audigy is a good sound card. Don't listen to anything anyone ever says about speakers. Go to the store and audition yourself. Bring your own source material and see if they will let you listen to it on each model you are interested in.