08-06-2003, 04:30 PM
I'll keep my mouth shut about the Pent 4, I'm not a fan of them. I like AMDs better because they are as good or better as the same speed pent 4 chip and cheaper. Since you already have the chip ordered I will go on to other suggestions.
Suggestions for other components are...
Motherboard: Not sure yet, but I'm looking into it, I don't do anything with P4s because all my local friends have AMDs:)
Soundcard: Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live 5.1 PCI Sound Its $60 bucks Canaidan and plays sounds great. You really don' t need more then that unless you are making the ultimate PC.
Videocard : 128 Meg DDR GeForce 4 MX 440 8X with TV-Out $95 Canadian. Its not a powerhouse but should be great for 90% to 95% of the games.
Hard Drive: Maxtor 80 GB Hard Drive 7200RPM $135 Canadian. You're not a power user like a few of us here so 80 gigs will do you a good long time.
Ram: I would suggest nothing less then a gig of ram. It will give you lots of power and ability to play most of the games that will come out in the next future. If the motherboard supports it go with a pair of 512MB 184Pin DDRAM (PC-400) $139 Canadian
If it can't handle the 400 mhz ram then go with a pair of 512MB 184Pin DDRAM (PC-333) $119 Canadian.
The reason why I said a pair of 512s and not a single stick for the 1 ghz is because a pair of 512s are much cheaper then a single 1 ghz stick of ram. Least it is locally.
CD Burner: LG 52x16x52 CDRW IDE with Software $89 Canadian. Its the same make as mine (thou mine is a 48x24x48) Strange how the re-write speed dropped, but then again I don't know too many people that really need the re-writing ability, most just get burn once disks which are cheaper.
DVD Reader: I don't think you are a power user so I won't suggest a DVD burner unless you would really like one. They have dropped in price by quite a lot. Anyway I would stuggest a LG 16X DVD ROM $69 Canaidan, or Benq 16X DVD ROM $69 Canadian or Pioneer 16X DVD ROM oem $69 Canadian.
LG so far as I have seen have been good. Benq took over Acer products (all the products I think) and I never hand any problem with Acer products, and Pioneer is just one of the top brans you can get.
Speakers: Creative Inspire 5300 Speakers and Subwoofer 5.1 $159 Canadian. This will give you the full suround sound experience, you will be ducking as you hear a disc come in from behind you ;)
Monitor: 17" .20 Samsung 753 DF Digital Monitor $245 Canadian, it looks good thou I don't know. I'll get more info on this later. I would also like to suggest maybe a larger monitor, but thats upto you. If money was no object I would suggest a 22" Samsung 1200 Natural Flat Digital Monitor $999. I do graphics stuff so a large monitor like that would be great thou I don't think my current videocard could handle it.
Keyboard: Microsoft multimedia Keyboard $50 Canadian. I have the internet keyboard version. It allows you to control a bunch of stuff. I want the multimedia one so that I can control winamp when I am in games. :) here is some info on it https://www.microsoft.com/hardware/keyboard...rd/mmk_info.asp
Mouse: Most of the optical mice out there are good, my friend loves the Microsoft one because he says it don't feel fragile. I say goto a store where they have mice on display (not the pet store kind) and mess around with them for a few minutes and get a feeling for the one that you might like. The mouse that I would like to try for a few days is the Logitech MX500 High Performance Optical Mouse. Its $80 Canaidan. It has 7 buttons 8 if you include the scroll wheel. :D
Network Card: Not sure if you need a netowrk card or not because you have high speed net connection already and most likely got a NIC when you got your net connection, so if you did ignore then, if you didn't read on. The motherboard you pick might come with a NIC built on, but I would like to suggest a 3-COM 10/100 905C Network Card $59 Canadian. This card has been around a long time basically because its a kick butt card. But you can pick up an Acer 10/100 PCI Ethernet Card $19 Canadian.
Thats all I can think of for the moment.
Suggestions for other components are...
Motherboard: Not sure yet, but I'm looking into it, I don't do anything with P4s because all my local friends have AMDs:)
Soundcard: Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live 5.1 PCI Sound Its $60 bucks Canaidan and plays sounds great. You really don' t need more then that unless you are making the ultimate PC.
Videocard : 128 Meg DDR GeForce 4 MX 440 8X with TV-Out $95 Canadian. Its not a powerhouse but should be great for 90% to 95% of the games.
Hard Drive: Maxtor 80 GB Hard Drive 7200RPM $135 Canadian. You're not a power user like a few of us here so 80 gigs will do you a good long time.
Ram: I would suggest nothing less then a gig of ram. It will give you lots of power and ability to play most of the games that will come out in the next future. If the motherboard supports it go with a pair of 512MB 184Pin DDRAM (PC-400) $139 Canadian
If it can't handle the 400 mhz ram then go with a pair of 512MB 184Pin DDRAM (PC-333) $119 Canadian.
The reason why I said a pair of 512s and not a single stick for the 1 ghz is because a pair of 512s are much cheaper then a single 1 ghz stick of ram. Least it is locally.
CD Burner: LG 52x16x52 CDRW IDE with Software $89 Canadian. Its the same make as mine (thou mine is a 48x24x48) Strange how the re-write speed dropped, but then again I don't know too many people that really need the re-writing ability, most just get burn once disks which are cheaper.
DVD Reader: I don't think you are a power user so I won't suggest a DVD burner unless you would really like one. They have dropped in price by quite a lot. Anyway I would stuggest a LG 16X DVD ROM $69 Canaidan, or Benq 16X DVD ROM $69 Canadian or Pioneer 16X DVD ROM oem $69 Canadian.
LG so far as I have seen have been good. Benq took over Acer products (all the products I think) and I never hand any problem with Acer products, and Pioneer is just one of the top brans you can get.
Speakers: Creative Inspire 5300 Speakers and Subwoofer 5.1 $159 Canadian. This will give you the full suround sound experience, you will be ducking as you hear a disc come in from behind you ;)
Monitor: 17" .20 Samsung 753 DF Digital Monitor $245 Canadian, it looks good thou I don't know. I'll get more info on this later. I would also like to suggest maybe a larger monitor, but thats upto you. If money was no object I would suggest a 22" Samsung 1200 Natural Flat Digital Monitor $999. I do graphics stuff so a large monitor like that would be great thou I don't think my current videocard could handle it.
Keyboard: Microsoft multimedia Keyboard $50 Canadian. I have the internet keyboard version. It allows you to control a bunch of stuff. I want the multimedia one so that I can control winamp when I am in games. :) here is some info on it https://www.microsoft.com/hardware/keyboard...rd/mmk_info.asp
Mouse: Most of the optical mice out there are good, my friend loves the Microsoft one because he says it don't feel fragile. I say goto a store where they have mice on display (not the pet store kind) and mess around with them for a few minutes and get a feeling for the one that you might like. The mouse that I would like to try for a few days is the Logitech MX500 High Performance Optical Mouse. Its $80 Canaidan. It has 7 buttons 8 if you include the scroll wheel. :D
Network Card: Not sure if you need a netowrk card or not because you have high speed net connection already and most likely got a NIC when you got your net connection, so if you did ignore then, if you didn't read on. The motherboard you pick might come with a NIC built on, but I would like to suggest a 3-COM 10/100 905C Network Card $59 Canadian. This card has been around a long time basically because its a kick butt card. But you can pick up an Acer 10/100 PCI Ethernet Card $19 Canadian.
Thats all I can think of for the moment.