first computer build

[Dave M]

Hello,

I would like to validate my choices for my first computer build. I am
upgrading from an old DELL Dimension 800MHz PC.

I switched to LINUX some months ago and I know hardware can often be a
show stopper.

I basically use my PC to: surf, email, use office applications, edit
digital photos.

So, before I purchase I would appreciate any advice from any of the
experience builders and or users. I didn't order any hard drives as I
plan to pull the two old IDE drives out of my Dell.

I had considered purchasing a a SATA HD for the OS and apps and storage
of data on my old HDs. Is my logic correct that I would get faster
performance?

All comments are appreciated.



CD/DVD Burners (RW Drives)
Qty. Product Description Unit Price Savings Total Price
1 NEC Black IDE DVD Burner Model ND-3540A - OEM
Model #: ND-3540A Black
Item #: N82E16827152047

$39.75

ATX Computer Cases
Qty. Product Description Unit Price Savings Total Price
1 ASPIRE X-CRUISE -AL Silver Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
Model #: X-CRUISE -AL
Item #: N82E16811144152

$69.00

Floppy Drives
Qty. Product Description Unit Price Savings Total Price
1 SONY Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive Windows 98SE/ ME/ 2000/
XP - OEM
Model #: MPF920 Black
Item #: N82E16821103116

$10.00

AMD-compatible Motherboards
Qty. Product Description Unit Price Savings Total Price
1 BIOSTAR N4SLI-A9 Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard -
Retail
Model #: N4SLI-A9
Item #: N82E16813138253

$79.00

Video Cards
Qty. Product Description Unit Price Savings Total Price
1 POWERCOLOR R37L-SC3D Radeon X300SE HyperMemory 256MB Hyper
Memory(128M VRAM on board) DDR PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail
Model #: R37L-SC3D
Item #: N82E16814131415

$59.00

Memory - System
Qty. Product Description Unit Price Savings Total Price
1 CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC
3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model VS1GBKIT400 - Retail
Model #: VS1GBKIT400
Item #: N82E16820145440
$79.13

Processors
Qty. Product Description Unit Price Savings Total Price
1 AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Venice 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Processor Model
ADA3000BPBOX - Retail
Model #: ADA3000BPBOX
Item #: N82E16819103537
$139.00

Subtotal: $474.88

R/
Dave

 

[MCR]

Hello,

I would like to validate my choices for my first computer build. I am
upgrading from an old DELL Dimension 800MHz PC.

I switched to LINUX some months ago and I know hardware can often be a
show stopper.

I basically use my PC to: surf, email, use office applications, edit
digital photos.

So, before I purchase I would appreciate any advice from any of the
experience builders and or users. I didn't order any hard drives as I
plan to pull the two old IDE drives out of my Dell.

I had considered purchasing a a SATA HD for the OS and apps and storage
of data on my old HDs. Is my logic correct that I would get faster
performance?

All comments are appreciated.

Everything seems sound, although I must say for some reason, my SATA
devices are not recognised by my distro (Ubuntu) and no matter what I
do, it will not show any disks, basically I am lucky in that my SATA
drive is E: (In windows) and not my IDE 0 on and my primary disk.

I did try Mandrake and it freezes and the problem remains. It is an
inconvenience, not an insurmountable problem.

I am a Linux user, not expert, I just install and use, not tinker, so
there may be an answer I havent found.

Even if I remove the SATA drive, the distro freezes as the controller is
enabled, I have to disable the controller with a jumper for it to boot.

As an aside, I havent noticed any performance boosts from my SATA disk
vs my EIDE disk.


Good luck

 

[Ruel Smith]

I would like to validate my choices for my first computer build. I am

upgrading from an old DELL Dimension 800MHz PC.

Your upgrade is long overdue...

I switched to LINUX some months ago and I know hardware can often be a
show stopper.

Good for you! Which distro? Mandriva? Ubuntu? Suse? Fedora?

I basically use my PC to: surf, email, use office applications, edit
digital photos.

So, before I purchase I would appreciate any advice from any of the
experience builders and or users. I didn't order any hard drives as I
plan to pull the two old IDE drives out of my Dell.

I had considered purchasing a a SATA HD for the OS and apps and storage
of data on my old HDs. Is my logic correct that I would get faster
performance?

Newer drives will undoubtedly be on more dense platters. Also, newer drives
should sport 8MB cache. These two are the biggest deals in performance.
Hard drives have come a long way in performance, but there still isn't a
single drive that can sustain any throughput at 100 MB/s, let alone need
the 150 MB/s that SATA and 300 MB/s that SATA 2 promises. Those numbers are
only ceilings, and only cached operations perform at those speeds. Physical
drive speeds are much slower, and once the cache is dry, that's indeed what
your using.

CD/DVD Burners (RW Drives)
Qty. Product Description Unit Price Savings Total Price
1 NEC Black IDE DVD Burner Model ND-3540A - OEM
Model #: ND-3540A Black
Item #: N82E16827152047

$39.75

ATX Computer Cases
Qty. Product Description Unit Price Savings Total Price
1 ASPIRE X-CRUISE -AL Silver Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
Model #: X-CRUISE -AL
Item #: N82E16811144152

$69.00

This case does not come with a power supply. You'll need one. I highly
suggest an Antec SmartPower 2.0 400W -$54:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103935

An even better buy would be to just get a nice case from Antec. Though it'll
be more plain to look at than the one your selected, it's features smack it
around.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811129155

By the time you buy a case and a power supply separately, you'll have spent
more money. Getting a case and power supply as a single unit saves money.
Never skimp on power supplies. There are plenty of them out there that
claim 500 watts and are $20 or $30, but they're junk. Get a good one like
an Antec.

Floppy Drives
Qty. Product Description Unit Price Savings Total Price
1 SONY Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive Windows 98SE/ ME/ 2000/
XP - OEM
Model #: MPF920 Black
Item #: N82E16821103116

$10.00

Waste. What could you possibly need a floppy for these days?

AMD-compatible Motherboards
Qty. Product Description Unit Price Savings Total Price
1 BIOSTAR N4SLI-A9 Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard -
Retail
Model #: N4SLI-A9
Item #: N82E16813138253

$79.00

First of all, when dealing with Linux, the more popular motherboards by
Asus, MSI, and Abit are probably better tested with your distro and you'll
likely have fewer problems with them. Second, Biostar is junk. You can get
a Gigabyte, which is a much better brand for a few more bucks:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813128301

Video Cards
Qty. Product Description Unit Price Savings Total Price
1 POWERCOLOR R37L-SC3D Radeon X300SE HyperMemory 256MB Hyper
Memory(128M VRAM on board) DDR PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail
Model #: R37L-SC3D
Item #: N82E16814131415

$59.00

Memory - System
Qty. Product Description Unit Price Savings Total Price
1 CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC
3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model VS1GBKIT400 - Retail
Model #: VS1GBKIT400
Item #: N82E16820145440
$79.13

Processors
Qty. Product Description Unit Price Savings Total Price
1 AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Venice 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Processor Model
ADA3000BPBOX - Retail
Model #: ADA3000BPBOX
Item #: N82E16819103537
$139.00

Subtotal: $474.88

AMD = good choice. nVidia = good choice. I've had a better experience in
Linux using nVidia chipsets than Via. Kubuntu had everything setup for me
with the nVidia chipset without any issues to report, plus my nForce 2 400
Ultra based board outperforms my Via KT600 based board with standard
settings in Linux. nVidia's support is just great in Linux.

 

[Andy Jeffries]

AMD = good choice. nVidia = good choice. I've had a better experience in
Linux using nVidia chipsets than Via. Kubuntu had everything setup for me
with the nVidia chipset without any issues to report, plus my nForce 2 400
Ultra based board outperforms my Via KT600 based board with standard
settings in Linux. nVidia's support is just great in Linux.

I'd second that, for Linux nvidia is the best chipset choice. While they
only support binary drivers (which irritates the purests and the rest of
us couldn't care less) they do keep their drivers up-to-date and
everything works fine.

Cheers,


Andy

 

[Andy Jeffries]

Everything seems sound, although I must say for some reason, my SATA
devices are not recognised by my distro (Ubuntu) and no matter what I do,
it will not show any disks, basically I am lucky in that my SATA drive is
E: (In windows) and not my IDE 0 on and my primary disk.

Odd... What controller do you have? What module are you using (kernel)?

I've got an SATA drive connected, using sata_nv and it works fine (mounted
as /dev/sda1).

Cheers,

 

[MCR]

Odd... What controller do you have? What module are you using (kernel)?

I've got an SATA drive connected, using sata_nv and it works fine (mounted
as /dev/sda1).

Cheers,

Actually, as I mentioned, I am just a user, so I have to rely on the
stock Kernel that is supplied when I log in I know it may be an
oddity, and may not be replicated by different hardware. I have been
told (and do believe) that SATA should be recognised, and it should work
as the technologies are not THAT different.. maybe I have duff hardware :-(

 

[Andy Jeffries]

Actually, as I mentioned, I am just a user, so I have to rely on the stock
Kernel that is supplied when I log in

OK, fair enough.

I know it may be an oddity, and
may not be replicated by different hardware. I have been told (and do
believe) that SATA should be recognised, and it should work as the
technologies are not THAT different..

They (IDE and SATA) are THAT different! SATA and SCSI are not a million
miles apart. That's why SATA drives appear under Linux as (for example)
/dev/sda not /dev/hda

maybe I have duff hardware :-(

Maybe but it sounds a bit unlucky....particularly as it works fine under
Windows.

Cheers,


Andy