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**Slougi** · 26 September 2002, 01:58

For his use I recommend the nForce combo. nForce sound is definitely ok, you can drop the GTXP and save some money. Also get a winmodem, if I understood correctly he is not gonna use linux, and with a 1600+ there will be no noticabe performance hit.

I recommend adding another 256MB of ram though.

**luni** · 26 September 2002, 02:23

Also think nForce combo is better bang for buck. Cant say much for Enhance PSUs, I know they are el-cheapo solution and heard some bad talking in public, but dont think he will stress a system so much that a weak PSU might hinder him.

I would personaly always take a WD over Maxtor. Always! Stick with the real modem, at least you know he will be happy with it

.

BTW where do you plan to buy?

**lecter** · 26 September 2002, 04:17

You could go for an nforce without video onboard and get a GF4MX or smthn with better output quality (I know, I know, Matrox or Ati would be better, but I think it would be safer to pair nvidia chipset with nvidia gpu)

**Cobos** · 26 September 2002, 06:38

Actually my experience with early Nforce mb from MSI was far from very pleasant. They had problems with the newer XP CPU's and pricewise I would go rather go for something with SIS745 or similar.
Second hand G400 definately sounds like the best option for him, since he WILL be using the 2D clarity...
I'd say el cheapo NICs are okey at least if he is not going to use it too much. And anyway changing NIC is easy and relatively cheap at a later date.
Personally I prefeer MSI cards to ASUS since the MSI cards have better/more interesting features and are usually cheaper, and ASUS's support isn't worth much if you need it.
Buying any HDD below 80GB now is madness IMHO, at least with Norwegian prices the difference is usually in the 10USD range between a 40 and a 80GB model of similar brand and series... Barracuda IV 80GB's are good for silent, decent speed drives.

Cobos

**UtwigMU** · 26 September 2002, 07:26

I am inclining to nForce suggestion. The problem is only ABIT NV7-133R has RAID (he's going to get 2 optical drives + 1 HDD) and lacks onboard video - nForce 415.

Luni - He's considering (Ljubljana) buying from Mlacom (from pricelist they are the only ones in the know - Parhelia, Radeon9700, Supermicro, Koolance, ...), Megahit or PCX - teh suck IMO, they offered him QDI Kudoz MoBo, that's why they got bought). Gambit (Had fair to good experience with them but I can install my OS by myself properly), Comtron and Anni (OK but overpriced) also come to mind. What do you recommend.

Can you recommend a decent not too expensive PSU here. I have Macase 300W (very good IMO), but Mlacom doesn't carry them anymore, Enermaxes are too expensive and Enhance costs 9.000 while generics cost 5.000.

Since Promise TX2 Ultra100 ATA controller costs ~41, IMO keeping nForce video is better than getting ABIT NV7-133R and separate videocard.

**luni** · 26 September 2002, 10:45

Well yeah I would probably go with Mlacom or Jae, they are only serious hardware stores in Slovenia as far as im concerned. You could have some trouble with guaranty at Mlacom thought - be warned.

About PSU, I think best you can get in Slovenia are Antec PSUs from http://www.redrat-store.com/, but those are kinda expensive. Enermax are crap anyway, only look good, performance is mediocre and they cost tons. I say go with Enhance they should be better than noname and good enough if for kind of system you are putting for your friend and I dont guess he will overclock either.

**Cobos** · 26 September 2002, 13:23

I would NOT buy any Abit cards though.. and I know lots of people agree with me on that here at MURC. They are not the worst boards you can find, but they are definately not very reliable and they are priced as quality boards....

Cobos

**ZokesPro** · 26 September 2002, 13:42

Most people would suggest Epox, Asus or MSI for a motherboard.

Get a PcChips board! Just kidding!

az · 26 September 2002, 15:38

I would suggest getting an ECS K7S6A. It's very cheap, stable, can be had with built-in NIC and sound (bad sound though, you might want to disable it), and has better stability than you'd expect for the price.

If he wants to do any serious music listening or if he even wants to CREATE music, he should really go for a Terratec DMX 6Fire 24/96 or 6Fire LT (only difference is the LT doesn't have a breakout box, but it's MUCH cheaper).

What kind of monitors will he be using?

Since he's on a budget I'm not going to start suggesting silent PC stuff here, but if you want to do serious sound/music stuff, or if you want to work concentrated, this IS important (but can easily cost you a few hundred bucks).

A good HDD would be a Seagate Barracuda IV. It's silent, high performance, and rugged. Can be had with 80 GB for just a little more than your 40 GB price, and there's no real reason not to. There's also a 40GB version of it.

For a TV/Capture card, I recommend taking a look at the Terratec Cinergy cards. They're quite inexpensive, are said to give an excellent picture, and have good software. Provided you use PAL.

AZ

**UtwigMU** · 27 September 2002, 05:11

What about TV out. AFAIK nForce (Asus A7N266-VM) does not have it.

Is there a capture card that has it?

I heard Leadteks are OK. Or MarvelG450 etv/7500 AIV?

**Wombat** · 27 September 2002, 12:43

Don't get the eTV. It's silly to buy a product so long after they've stopped supporting it.

**UtwigMU** · 27 September 2002, 12:59

So MX VIVO + optional Terratec/Leadtek WinfastTV 2000XP

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