andvruss said:
Chaintech VNF3-250 Socket 754 ATX Motherboard and AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Processor
I hate Chaintech. I bought one of their motherboards a few years ago...
1) - I had to buy an expensive addon daughterboard that took several weeks to arrive. A lot of the features claimed on the box turned out to be "optional".
2) - It destroyed my memory because the pins in the DIMM slots were too thin and tight. This cut through the contacts on the DIMM modules rendering them useless.
3) - Performance was very average to poor compared to even OEM products. Supporting chips (i.e. southbridge) and other components were not the best available at the time.
4) - Motherboard eventually blew up with a faulty capacitor! (cheap components).
5) - The original purchase was expensive too. On reflection, it was clearly overpriced, and I should have demanded to be compensated for the dubious privilege of owning it.
I swore never to buy Chaintech again. I have kept my promise and feel better for it.
andvruss said:
Diablo ATX Mid-Tower Case with 450Watt Power Supply, Front Neon Lights, Front USB and Audio Ports
Not a brand I'm familiar with so cannot comment.
I normally skimp on the case and PSU, but cheap products that share the same specifications may use thinner wires which has been cited as a cause of power problems in cutting-edge computers.
I currently use an AOpen PSU. It is several years old and still going strong; suffers from a noisy fan, but not sure how bad it is because of other noisy components.
andvruss said:
If combined with a new core logic, it's not so bad to skimp on the memory. Only older motherboards need additional investment in branded memory that meets stringent specifications. This is due to ever-increasing chip density manufacturing methods.
For me, minimal CAS latency and maximum frequency rating are the clinching specifications.
andvruss said:
Maxtor® 160GB Ultra ATA/133 Internal Hard Drive, 7200 RPM. (Only 1 year warrenty though..)
Another of my least favourite brands! Maxtor drives have, in my experience, weak performance and high noise compared to
equivalent products from Western Digital, Samsung, IBM, and Fujitsu.
However, the models always change and it's been a while since I bought one. I recently very-almost bought an Excelstore, but ended up with a Samsung HDD that is nice and quiet.
Probably best to go with a current magazine-review recommendation.
andvruss said:
Currently can't find a Canadian site that has a Nvidia 6600GT (which is around 200 US).
There have been a lot of complaints about this card which draws more power than ATi equivalents.
I would strongly recommend the best possible PSU to ensure consistent throughput to the GF6. You are paying for quality components and good wires, not specifications.
There have also been many complaints about the NVIDIA drivers. My own GeForce4 is currently not accelerating Direct3D because of a fault in nv4_disp.dll (latest version). It just poops with Blue Screen of Death (WinXP).
Despite me advocating the RADEON, I own 4x GeFORCE cards and 0x RADEON
andvruss said:
Sound Card:
Creative Labs SoundBlaster 16 PCI Sound Card
I think you can get Live!, Live 5.1, and similar cards on ebay for less. Just avoid the OEM models which are rife with driver problems.
Having said that, I did buy a RADEON on ebay and it never arrived
