last review before ordering

[andy gardner]

ok - thanks to advice from members of this NG (esp. SLP) I have now modified
my spec for my firstbuild...
budget general purpose office + some gaming...
prices of major components (ebuyer ex vat) as shown...

msi 745 ultra + cheap pci lan card (£28)
Crucial PC2100 256mb DDR CL 2.5 184pin DIMM (£30)
AMD ATHLON XP1700+ 266MHz FSB - Thoroughbred - OEM (£31)
IBM / Hitachi 180GXP 60Gb 7200rpm ATA100 2mb Cache Hard Drive - OEM (£37)
Encer 6133 Blue ATX Computer Case with 300w Psu (£15)
Coolermaster DP5-6J31C Fan AMD Approved Upto XP & MP 2100
Coolermaster High Performance Thermal Compound Kit retail
AC Power Lead (Kettle Type) Suitable for ATX PSU
8cm Internal Case Cooling Fan
Panasonic Floppy Drive 1.44mb - OEM

Total about £200 inc vat.... to which I will add a £50 graphics card to come
in at about £250...

3 questions before I order the part

i) does it look responsible...
ii) graphics cards would be either a geforce fx5200 or a radeaon 9100 both
with 128mb ddr (from dabs)...
which would be the better?
iii) for a few pounds extra I was thinking of making it slightly more future
proof by instead of the msi + lan card using the
ECS L7VTA KT400 8xAGP DDR Audio/Lan USB2 Duron/Athlon XP CPU up to 3000+ ...
and also using
PC2700 memory

thanks Andy

 

[JerryP]

ok - thanks to advice from members of this NG (esp. SLP) I have now modified
my spec for my firstbuild...
budget general purpose office + some gaming...
prices of major components (ebuyer ex vat) as shown...

msi 745 ultra + cheap pci lan card (£28)
Crucial PC2100 256mb DDR CL 2.5 184pin DIMM (£30)
AMD ATHLON XP1700+ 266MHz FSB - Thoroughbred - OEM (£31)
IBM / Hitachi 180GXP 60Gb 7200rpm ATA100 2mb Cache Hard Drive - OEM (£37)
Encer 6133 Blue ATX Computer Case with 300w Psu (£15)
Coolermaster DP5-6J31C Fan AMD Approved Upto XP & MP 2100
Coolermaster High Performance Thermal Compound Kit retail
AC Power Lead (Kettle Type) Suitable for ATX PSU
8cm Internal Case Cooling Fan
Panasonic Floppy Drive 1.44mb - OEM

Total about £200 inc vat.... to which I will add a £50 graphics card to come
in at about £250...

3 questions before I order the part

i) does it look responsible...
ii) graphics cards would be either a geforce fx5200 or a radeaon 9100 both
with 128mb ddr (from dabs)...
which would be the better?
iii) for a few pounds extra I was thinking of making it slightly more future
proof by instead of the msi + lan card using the
ECS L7VTA KT400 8xAGP DDR Audio/Lan USB2 Duron/Athlon XP CPU up to 3000+ ....
and also using
PC2700 memory

thanks Andy

I would go for the ECS board which has Lan built in. Also change the
coolermaster for the Coolermaster CP5-8JD1F-0L
which has a 80mm fan and is much quieter. You don't need the thermal compund
unless you intend to take the cpu off again as the heatsink already has
thermal compund applied.
JerryP

 

[Stacey]

msi 745 ultra

Stick with the sis platform IMHO the Via systems -can- end up being weird.
Many work fine but plenty end up with flakey hardware conflicts and 4in1
driver problems etc. No good reason to fight with them!

 

[SLP]

Where are you getting the 60gb hard drive for £38???

+ go for a ASRock mother board with onboard lan and usb 2.0 8x agp, 400 fsb
they are about £35.00- excellent board - will support the 3200 xp chip

I'd go for the Athlon 2000 XP instead, which if I remember correctly is only
a fiver more than the 1700.

The case may already come with the power lead, so check first before you buy
one.

Get two case fans - one in the front and one in the back. The blue led ones
form Ebuyer are pretty cool for £1.75 each. A bit pointless in an ordinary
non-windowed case, but still cool none-the-less. As someone else mentioned,
the Coolermaster CP5-8JD1F-0L heatsink and fan would be a better choice -
I've just bought one and it's nice and quiet and does a good job.

The Geforce FX 5200 would be the better choice for a £50 card.

You may want to add a CD, DVD or CDRW drive to your list as well.....

SLP

 

[fama]

of the fx5200<s
the MSI version came recommended by computer shopper

 

[SteveH]

ok - thanks to advice from members of this NG (esp. SLP) I have now modified
my spec for my firstbuild...
budget general purpose office + some gaming...
prices of major components (ebuyer ex vat) as shown...

msi 745 ultra + cheap pci lan card (£28)
Crucial PC2100 256mb DDR CL 2.5 184pin DIMM (£30)
AMD ATHLON XP1700+ 266MHz FSB - Thoroughbred - OEM (£31)
IBM / Hitachi 180GXP 60Gb 7200rpm ATA100 2mb Cache Hard Drive - OEM (£37)
Encer 6133 Blue ATX Computer Case with 300w Psu (£15)
Coolermaster DP5-6J31C Fan AMD Approved Upto XP & MP 2100
Coolermaster High Performance Thermal Compound Kit retail
AC Power Lead (Kettle Type) Suitable for ATX PSU
8cm Internal Case Cooling Fan
Panasonic Floppy Drive 1.44mb - OEM

Total about £200 inc vat.... to which I will add a £50 graphics card to come
in at about £250...

3 questions before I order the part

i) does it look responsible...
ii) graphics cards would be either a geforce fx5200 or a radeaon 9100 both
with 128mb ddr (from dabs)...
which would be the better?
iii) for a few pounds extra I was thinking of making it slightly more future
proof by instead of the msi + lan card using the
ECS L7VTA KT400 8xAGP DDR Audio/Lan USB2 Duron/Athlon XP CPU up to 3000+ ....
and also using
PC2700 memory

thanks Andy

Hi,

It all looks to be good value (especially the HDD!!). And being a fan of MSI
stuff, I would go with their board.

My only reservation would be the case. £15 for a case usually imples you are
going to get a rubbish power supply with it, and Athlon boards can be
pickier than Pentium ones about power supplies. Try the one that comes with
it, but be prepared to fork out for a quality PSU. And bear in mind, when
cheap PSU's give up the ghost, they have a nasty habit of takingother
components with them!

HTH
SteveH