Updating family computer. How does this look?

"Ruel Smith (Big Daddy)" wrote in message
...

Kingston DDR 3200 Non-ECC 1GB (2 512MB sticks)

Ever looked at Corsair memory?

Based on what I've read, Kingston is good stuff - as good as Corsair.
Mushkin might be as good or better.

on Tue January 6 2004 2:54 pm, jeffc decided to enlighten us with:


"Ruel Smith (Big Daddy)" wrote in message
...

Kingston DDR 3200 Non-ECC 1GB (2 512MB sticks)

Ever looked at Corsair memory?

Based on what I've read, Kingston is good stuff - as good as Corsair.
Mushkin might be as good or better.

I believe, but I'm not positive, that Kingston is a rebrand of someone
else's memory.

I've heard good things about Mushkin. I doubt they're better than Corsair,
but that's all subjective mostly.

--
Big Daddy Ruel Smith

My SuSE Linux machine uptime:
10:03pm up 30 days 6:49, 3 users, load average: 0.10, 0.13, 0.09

My Windows XP machine uptime:
Something less...

"Anime-niac" wrote in message
...
My parents finally decided to update the family computer into the GHz
range, which
means an almost entirely new computer. We will be using the hard drives,
cd-rom,
& the external devices from our old computer. The main use of the
computer is for
internet access, word processing, recording LPs and burning them to cd,
and some
occassional gameplay by me. I tend to run two years behind the current
gaming
trend, so I'm not overly concerned with cutting edge at the moment.

Here is the list of what we plan on getting right now:

Cooler Master Praetorian (PAC-T01) Aluminum Case

Enermax Whisper EG465P-VE(FC) 460W PS

This is actually a 430 Watt P/S. That's what the manual I have for mine
says. IMO this is a good power supply and comparable Antec labeled P/Ss are
just as good.


Abit AN7 MB

Abit NF7-S or Asus A7N8X Deluxe (Rev 2 for both)


AMD Athlon XP 3200+ 400FSB

XP 2500+ Overclocked to 3200+ (nothing wrong with overclocking the 2500 and
it will save significant bucks). My 3200+....err 2500+ is rock solid at
11x200 FSB.


Kingston DDR 3200 Non-ECC 1GB (2 512MB sticks)

Creative Labs Audigy 2 ZS Platinum

No need for any sound card with either of the above motherboards as they
have excellent onboard sound chips.


ASUS Radeon 9600XT


Nice card but shop around as you can find the ATI Radeon 9800 non-Pro for
about the same price.


Item we plan on getting later:

DVD+/-RW (probably the Pioneer A-06)


The Pioneer A-07 (8x write speed for DVD+R AND DVD-R media) will be
available this month or next. If you can wait until about March/April you
can probably find an excellent deal on this drive.


LCD Monitor (Either a Samsung or NEC model)

We're buying everything from a local dealer, so there's a limit to what we
can get
without having to order and then wait for it. For those interested, the
company
is Monarch Computer Systems (http://www.monarchcomputer.com/).

Good ratings at www.resellerratings.com plus they're local. Seems like a
good choice.


--
callsignviper


The truth is out there. You just have to look in the right places and ask
the right questions.

I think its a very powerful PC for *normal* use but you say that you are
going to use the old HDD! This would concern me and if you need 1G memory
for this LP conversion stuff you will need a good HDD to read and write from
also. I would recommend a IBM 180GXP or somthing around that mark.

JaMMeR


"callsignviper" wrote in message
news:foMKb.147922$VB2.569355@attbi_s51...

"Anime-niac" wrote in message
...
My parents finally decided to update the family computer into the GHz
range, which
means an almost entirely new computer. We will be using the hard
drives,
cd-rom,
& the external devices from our old computer. The main use of the
computer is for
internet access, word processing, recording LPs and burning them to cd,
and some
occassional gameplay by me. I tend to run two years behind the current
gaming
trend, so I'm not overly concerned with cutting edge at the moment.

Here is the list of what we plan on getting right now:

Cooler Master Praetorian (PAC-T01) Aluminum Case

Enermax Whisper EG465P-VE(FC) 460W PS

This is actually a 430 Watt P/S. That's what the manual I have for mine
says. IMO this is a good power supply and comparable Antec labeled P/Ss
are
just as good.


Abit AN7 MB

Abit NF7-S or Asus A7N8X Deluxe (Rev 2 for both)


AMD Athlon XP 3200+ 400FSB

XP 2500+ Overclocked to 3200+ (nothing wrong with overclocking the 2500
and
it will save significant bucks). My 3200+....err 2500+ is rock solid at
11x200 FSB.


Kingston DDR 3200 Non-ECC 1GB (2 512MB sticks)

Creative Labs Audigy 2 ZS Platinum

No need for any sound card with either of the above motherboards as they
have excellent onboard sound chips.


ASUS Radeon 9600XT


Nice card but shop around as you can find the ATI Radeon 9800 non-Pro for
about the same price.


Item we plan on getting later:

DVD+/-RW (probably the Pioneer A-06)


The Pioneer A-07 (8x write speed for DVD+R AND DVD-R media) will be
available this month or next. If you can wait until about March/April you
can probably find an excellent deal on this drive.


LCD Monitor (Either a Samsung or NEC model)

We're buying everything from a local dealer, so there's a limit to what
we
can get
without having to order and then wait for it. For those interested, the
company
is Monarch Computer Systems (http://www.monarchcomputer.com/).

Good ratings at www.resellerratings.com plus they're local. Seems like a
good choice.


--
callsignviper


The truth is out there. You just have to look in the right places and ask
the right questions.

"Ruel Smith (Big Daddy)" wrote in message
...

I've heard good things about Mushkin. I doubt they're better than Corsair,
but that's all subjective mostly.

I don't think it's subjective. It's virtually impossible to test how long
memory will last, but in tests I've read regarding overclocking, Mushkin
comes out on top. With regard to passing memory tests at stated specs, all
the top brands are equal, and perfect.

on Wed January 7 2004 10:56 am, jeffc decided to enlighten us with:


"Ruel Smith (Big Daddy)" wrote in message
...

I've heard good things about Mushkin. I doubt they're better than
Corsair, but that's all subjective mostly.

I don't think it's subjective. It's virtually impossible to test how long
memory will last, but in tests I've read regarding overclocking, Mushkin
comes out on top. With regard to passing memory tests at stated specs,
all the top brands are equal, and perfect.

You get X number of people that swear by Mushking, X number of people that
swear by Corsair, X number of people that swear by Crucial... Every brand
has tolerances and some sticks OC better than others. Therefore,
experiences vary.

I trust reviews very little anymore since I bought my MB based on glowing
review after glowing review. Then it surfaced that the thing wouldn't OC
well because of a manual CPU overvolt bug. It's been fixed, but not without
crippling the amount of voltage you can give the CPU. That limited the OC
potential of the board. Everyone found it difficult to digest that these
so-called reviews could have overclocked the board without getting the very
same reboot issue that every consumer did that tried to OC it. Something
stunk.

--
Big Daddy Ruel Smith

My SuSE Linux machine uptime:
5:27pm up 31 days 2:13, 3 users, load average: 0.44, 0.36, 0.26

My Windows XP machine uptime:
Something less...

On Wed, 7 Jan 2004 14:17:08 -0000, "news.demon.co.uk" wrote:

I think its a very powerful PC for *normal* use but you say that you are
going to use the old HDD! This would concern me and if you need 1G memory
for this LP conversion stuff you will need a good HDD to read and write from
also. I would recommend a IBM 180GXP or somthing around that mark.

JaMMeR


snip

The two HDD's are a Maxtor 30GB 7200rpm 8M cache (6E030L0) and a Maxtor 40GB
7200rpm 8M cache (6L040J2). We'll probably get another HD (somewhere in the 150GB
range) in April or May. As for the system being powerful, we're looking at using
the computer for about five years before we do another serious upgrade like this.
We got our current system in '98 and it's just now reaching the point where it no
longer meets our needs.
--
Anime-niac

"You've heard of the Pon-tiac? Well I'm the Anime-niac!"

To contact me either:
1) post a message with "Attn: Anime-niac"
2) or e-mail me at ronnie at ronnie dot freewebspace dot com (you know the drill)

"Ruel Smith (Big Daddy)" wrote in message
...

I trust reviews very little anymore since I bought my MB based on glowing
review after glowing review.

Well like I said before - you got 2 choices
a) read reviews and find review sites or magazines you think you can trust
by spending the time verifying their claims
b) go get an advanced degree in computer and electrical engineering, and
spend your time and your money testing all these things yourself