Just ordered a new system. What do you think?

[Dmitriy]

I ordered all the parts for my new system and will build it once they get here.

Here is what I got my self:

*Athlon XP 2500+ 333FSB Barton core 640k cache (retail) --- $96.88
*Shuttle AN35N ULTRA Socket A AMD 400FSB DDR Motherboard with nForce2 Ultra chipset (retail) --- $66.20
*ATI Radeon 9700 Pro --- $172.96
*Samsung 512 PC2700 DDR with heatsink (OEM) --- $81.19
*Teac CD-RW 52x24x52 (OEM) --- $50.64
*Teac DVD-ROM 16X (OEM) --- $40.66
*Aluminum case with 2 fans and 500W PS --- $40.02
+my old HD 60gb IBM/Hitachi 8.5 seektime

Total = $548.55 (All prices include taxes and shipping)

I have the rest (monitor, floppy drive, hard drive, mouse, etc.)

Did I get a good deal? Is it a good system? Any comments?

[John Corn]

Looks like it will make you a sweet machine!!

[Chris Blount]

Should be a good machine but IMHO your only mistake was the motherboard. Shuttle motherboards tend to be a little flakey. Remember, you get what you pay for. I have built many computers (I had a small business) and from my experience the motherboard is one part where you shouldn't be cheap.

Also, you will regret not getting a DVD Burner. For about $50 more than what you paid for the CD-RW and the DVD-ROM drive, you could have a DVD burner that will burn and play both CD's and DVD's.

I'm not trying to poo-poo your purchases. Just trying to offer some friendly advice. :)

[Dmitriy]

Thanks for the comments.

I agree with you Chris, but I tried to keep the price under $500 and ordered ECS mother board, but then I though about it and canceled the order. I looked around for nForce chipset and found shuttle for cheap. I read some reviews and it should be a good one for the price I paid for it. Other ones where way too expensive.

And about the DVD Burner, I though about it and figured that I'll buy it when I get a Digital Camcorder, which is in few moths. And by that time the price will go way down and be much more affordable.

I hope it will make a good and reliable system.

[Dmitriy]

I'm doing this crazy thing again and can't decide which video card I need to buy. This 9600 PRO just came in and still packed. But I decided to buy something more powerful. Right now I'm thinking of selling this one and paying $30-50 extra to get 9500PRO or 9700.

Please give an advice about this. Should I keep the card or pay little extra and buy 9700? Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

[boomerang]

I'd stick with what you have. You'll be very happy with it. As long as it will support DX9, you will be able to run any game available now and for quite some time to come.

Assemble that sucker and enjoy it!

[Dmitriy]

I don't play many games, the only games I will play for sure are Half Life 2 and Doom 3. And right now I play GTA Vice City and Counter Strike. Both of those will work for sure, but I'm concerned with Half Life 2 and Doom 3.
I looked at some benchmarks on the web, I found out that 9700 is almost double the power of 9600PRO and even 9500PRO is much better than 9600PRO.

Thanks for your advice, I will consider it and wait for more suggestions to make my final decision.

I make so many problems out of nothing :grin: .

[Dmitriy]

I got my self Radeon 9700 for 172.96! Is that cheap or what? :D
Ebay is my favorite place. Now I have only one problem, I need to sell 9600 PRO. If anyone wants it let me know. If no one is interested here then it will go on Ebay.

[music_beans]

Uhh, you forgot the 3.5" Floppy Drive! (Not that you need it, but it will come in handy.) Other than that, it looks good.

[Dmitriy]

The video card just arrived and it turned out to be 9700 PRO! I'm going to run 3DMark 2003 and post the scores. I just finished putting everything together and so far so good.

Uhh, you forgot the 3.5" Floppy Drive! (Not that you need it, but it will come in handy.) Other than that, it looks good.

I have the floppy drive from my old system but I never use it.

[Dmitriy]

I got 14136 in 3DMark 2001SE and 4810 in 3DMark 2003. I set the resolution to 1024x768 no FSAA and 32 bit.