And part two? I got myself a new computer. I thought I’d take this time to go through the parts, where I ordered them, the prices (before shipping), and how I feel about them. If you don’t want to spend the time reading, basically: it’s sweeeeeeeet.
AMD Athlon XP 2400+ / ASUS A7V8X MoBo from Monarch Computer ($328): This processor rocks. This motherboard rocks. You should really check out the specs for it; it’s got USB 2.0, lots of PCI slots, 8x AGP capability, LAN, audio, and much more. Monarch’s an AWESOME company – I had a little trouble getting my credit card through, I called them up after e-mailing back and forth a couple times, and they made sure it was approved before I hung up the phone. Besides that, the motherboard combo came two days after I ordered it. I mean, wow. Can’t ask for anything better than that, and there are some great prices, too.
CS8626W Case from CableMart, Inc. ($50): This case rocks. It’s got a side window, blue LED fan on the side, TONS of drive space, front USB/audio, and more. It’s a little flimsy, but I’m not complaining at all. And with that price, I can’t complain AT ALL. CMI’s web site, in my opinion, isn’t the best out there, but it worked enough to get me the case. I had some trouble with credit cards here, too, but they were also very helpful over the phone.
PNY NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4600 (PNY): This graphics card rocks. There’s a story behind this one which we’ll get to later. Bypassing that for now, it runs games and programs incredibly fast and works well in the system. The performance is unbelievable.
Western Digital 120GB Hard Drive and Maxtor 20GB Hard Drive, from Best Buy ($130 after MIR for 120GB, 20GB left over from a year ago when I got it for $50, I think): This hard drive rocks. What will I ever do with 120GB? Of course, I’ve said that with every hard drive I’ve ever gotten. Anyway, it gives me plenty of storage and runs flawlessly. An awesome combo.
Kingston 512MB DDR2700 RAM from Ajump ($104, now down to $90… grrrrrr…): This RAM rocks. Or cooks. I’m not really sure. But anyway, it helps the great performance of the system. Everything’s clean, and the toughest games run without a problem.
Other components: floppy drive from our 1995 Gateway 2000, CD-ROM drive from the Dell I picked up at the computer sale for $20, 5 1/4 inch floppy drive I bought off eBay for a few bucks (non-functional), generic keyboard, Gateway 3-button mouse, and a Gateway EV700 17-inch CRT monitor.
Basically, the components I had to buy came to $877. Not bad for a near-top-of-the-line system. Now for a rundown of my issues so far with the adventure of building my first computer:
If you have to remember one thing, keep in mind that an ATI Radeon 9700 Pro is not compatible with the ASUS A7V8X motherboard. It causes lots of instability. To compensate for my Radeon purchase, I traded it for Chad’s GF4 4600. I can’t tell a difference – well, actually, I can – the GeForce works. I didn’t feel like going around and tweaking everything to try to improve stability. While we’re on the subject, though, I bought the Radeon from FTI Computer for $265. They’re a great company, and there was no problem shipping it. Just didn’t work with my system, so conveniently we did the trade instead of having to send it back.
Other issues: basic reversed cords, normal stupid mistakes. I had to rush home to get a new old CD drive because the one from the 1995 Gateway 2000 wouldn’t spin up for one reason or another.
Props to PriceWatch for helping me find good prices and ResellerRatings.com for making sure I ordered from good companies.
I’ve installed all of my major programs and games, and they run great. I’m going to be hooked now. They run so much better than on my laptop. This is really my biggest purchase ever, taking over the throne from my digital camera. I think the hardest part, though, will be switching back and forth between the iMac (iOpener) and the Athlon (Illuminator, thanks to the LEDs on the side). I’ve already tried to do a few Command-V’s paste… I always end up with the View menu.
I’ll be playing with this thing for a LONG time. It’s nice to have something that’s top of the line and upgradable again.