Yet another system recommendation... (1 Viewer)

[Holadem]

My situation is little strange, please bear with me:
What I need for the next couple of months is a "barebone" system that I can turn into a monster when video editing time comes (in the fall).
With that logic, I am hoping to avoid bying a video card and a sound card right now - I have a voodoo banshee (AGP 1X) and a SBlive value lying around. Would today's mother board support those? I also do not need a DVD drive at this point, a simple CD burner would do.
What case + motherboard today are relatively future proof? I do not need much processing power to surf, but I will in the fall. Which would be most cost effective, spend on the latest and greatest CPU now or get a decent one, and risk having to change the CPU AND the motherboard in the fall?
Last, the HD. Again, right now, I don't need a huge one, but in the fall I will . How do I go about this? Get a small one then add another one later?
I do need a 19" monitor or larger now, as this is an investement that will stay.
Please recommend something. $800 is the absolute maximum, $600 was what I had in mind. Remember, I do not need horse power now, I simply want to upgrade easily in a couple of months without having to replace too many things (like the motherboard or the memory).
--
Holadem

 

[Brad_V]

I haven't looked at things in months, but the ECS/Elitegroups K7s5a board was as fast as anything out there and was also dirt-cheap at under $70. I think the new ones can handle as fast a chip as AMD makes, so upgrading the chip shouldn't be a problem, but you'll have to look into that.

Also depends on what you mean by a monster. Is 1.2gig a monster, in your opinion? Depends what you need. You can buy a chip around a gig for a decent price right now, and if that's really all the power you'd need then there you go, otherwise, I'd just get the cheapest chip I could, like a Duron 600-800 (wherever the best price point in that range is at the moment). Durons can be had for $35 easy, so when bang-for-the-buck and cheap is the goal, it's hard to justify paying over twice as much for something that wouldn't show off its speed for most typical computing things on the agenda at this time.

The cheapest 19" monitor you'll find is the Magview at Best Buy. Rebates for like $160 or so. If you want something better, then you get to pay more, of course.

Best hard drive deal going is when Best Buy puts the 40gig, 7200rpm Maxtor drive on rebate for I think under $70. Might be less. I forget. I do know not even the cheapest online places could touch the price, which is why I have one in my computer, and my brother caught the sale again a few weeks ago and bought one, too. If you can wait for Best Buy to put things on rebate, even online places often can't touch the price.

 

[Masood Ali]

I do need a 19" monitor or larger now, as this is an investement that will stay.

Dell.com has occasional good deals on Samsung flat CRTs (around $200). Flat Trinitron tubes run for about $300. Because this is a lasting investment (I still have my first 19" monitor), I would get a good brand with good specs and avoid generic rebadged CRTs.
Some good sites to find deals:
Anandtech Forums - Go to the "Hot Deals" section, and search for the stuff you want.
FatWallet - Go to the forums, search for good deals.
Techbargains - Site with technology bargains of note.
Price Watch - Price search engine for tech parts.
Newegg - Good computer parts retailer, good selection, good prices, fair shipping costs, and reputable.
Reseller Ratings - Check to see if a online business is reputable.

 

[AllenD]

I put one together for you from MWAVE. I don't know what processor speed you'd need in the future but the P4 solution would drive you over $800. This AMD system might hold you over through the fall for video editing and all you'd need to add is memory and another hard drive. I like MWAVE for their service (plus I can pick it up for myself and save shipping). The estimated shipping cost is for CT, BTW:

A15842 1 SPEEZE 5T208B1H3T COOLING FAN FOR FOR AMD SOCKET 462 & INTEL SOCKET 370 PROCESSOR W/3 PIN CONNECTOR (AMD RECOMMENDED, SUPPORT UP TO XP 2000+ - 1.67GHZ) Detail Specs $12.00

A14596 1 AOPEN 24X-RC/10X-RW/40X-RD CDRW W/SW &JUSTLINK&JUST SPEED(RETAIL) $64.00

A03055 1 AMD ATHLON XP 1800+ 1.53GHZ (AX1800DMT3C) OEM W/O COOLING FAN (1 YEAR WARRANTY) Detail Specs | Important Installation Info $108.68

A14774 1 ECS K7S5A SIS 735 CHIPSET ULTRA ATA100 ATX FORM FACTOR 1xAGP(4X)/5xPCI/1xAMR/2xDDR/2xDIMM W/LAN & AC97 AUDIO Detail Specs (CPU TYPE:AMD DURON, ATHLON) $55.13

A08540 1 MICRON MT16VDDT3264AG 256MB PC2100 266MHZ CL2.5 DDR DIMM Detail Specs $85.14

A01935 1 ENLIGHT 7653 MINI-MID TOWER W/300W ATX POWER SUPPLY 33x5.25" 2x3.5" 1x3.5"(hidden) Detail Specs $42.00

A11495 1 WD 40GB 400BB EIDE ULTRA-ATA/66-100 9.5MS 7200RPM 2MB BUFFER (Bare drive) Detail Specs $77.00

547032 1 SAMSUNG 19"/18V SYNCMASTER 950B .22 1600X1200 68HZ TCO99 MPRII $209.43

Sub Total $653.38

S&H (Ground - Approx. 5-6 business days) APPROXIMATELY 5-6 Business days for delivery $72.81

Grand Total $726.20

 

[AaronNWilson]

With regard to the K7S5A motherboard which I have in my system, it is VERY picky about ram. You have to have two identical sticks of ram or your system will be quite unstable.
It is also very important that you get an amd certified powersupply.
You may as well also do yourself a good turn by checking out www.quietpc.com before you build your system. Most people don't think about building a quiet pc until they already have everything bought and put together then realize the thing sounds like a jet engine.

 

[MikeyWeitz]

AllenD has a decent recommendation, but I would change a few thing.s As far as ram goes, go to crucial.com for a 256mb stick of ddr, can be had for around $5shipped now and they are the direct manufacturer for micron Ram.. I would definately change the HD recommendation too. For the same money you can get an ATA 133 (not really supported yet, but is backwards compatible with ATA 100) 7200rpm drive.

You could also shop around. I just picked up a Cendyne 32xs burner (mine happens to be an aopen, but they also have Mitsumi and Lite on drives as Cendyne is a rebadger) for #5 shipped after rebate.

You can also grab a Geforce 2 gts-v video card from newegg.com for around $45 shipped too. That banshee 1 agp is basically crud compared to any new type of video card and not worth keeping IMHO.

This computer will allow upgrading for the next 2 yrs or so and you will only need to add more ram and another HD. NJo reason to get Pc2700 or a Mobo that supports DDR 333 as that is not a real spec now(not officially supported by any manufacturers yetand DDR 333/pc2700 is only overclocked ram right now