lol

Well, really, I need to give my present rig to my granddaughter and send hers to one of my daughters. Recycling, you know.

Here's what I plan on building:
(Note that I do not generally build a bleeding edge unit. I prefer to use components which have been around for awhile.)

ASUS A7V8X Via KT400 mobo
AMD Athalon XP2000 CPU
Maxtor 80GB DiamondMax Plus 9 HDD
Crucial 512MB DDR2700 Memory
TDK AI-401248X CD/RW
Lian-Li PC-68 Aluminum case

I have a TDK CD/RW in my present rig and have had zero problems with it, so I plan to just get another one.

Here are my questions:

1. What do you guys like for video cards?
2. I need a quiet power supply. Currently using a Sparkle 300W, which is good. Anyone know of something even quieter?
3. Should I use Win2K?
4. Should I run a dedicated CD-ROM drive in addition to the CD/RW? Or maybe a DVD/CD-ROM?
5. Anyone know of a reasonably priced scanner which works well for scanning in pictures, etc?

This rig is not a dedicated gaming machine, but used for office-type tasks and Net surfing as well. I don't want to get a DVD burner yet because of all the conflicting file formats.

Thanks!

Because despite what you may read ANYWHERE, it does not run EAW, and once its installed, it's harder to dislodge than a tax inspector. In a Hurricane, going after a formation of Heinkels, carrying a briefcase full of unexplained hotel recipts.

FYI.

Let me expand a bit; You say gaming is not the primary function, and I know you don't use a lot of the new-fangled titles, so chances are, whatever titles you have besides EAW, It will turn its nose up at them. It is very stable, and hardly ever crashes, however, the appications running under it fail with the same enthisiasm and gusto as they did with "lesser" Operating Systems.

For an easy life, as an OS I would recommend the last version of Windows 98.

--------------------

The only real video contenders these days are GF4 based, and the Ati Radeons, now
fairly similar in price.

OS Wise, I can say an upgrade to XP would probably be worth it. When I 1st popped my
puppy together, I had some problems, but once ironed out, it has shown itself to
be stable, reliable and versatile. I ran an old DOS game the other day, just for giggles,
and the compatibility mode worked well for it.

Just my thorts...

--------------------

My suggestions would be these:

A 450 Watt power suppy.

Windows XP.

Any GF4 4200 128 MB or higher.

I know of alot of people having problems with new system running 350 watt power supplies or less. Todays processors, RAM, Video Cards etc are demanding more power.

I switched to XP Home because of all the problems I kept having with 98SE. Even with reformats, it wouldn't be long before troubles came back. Not had a problem running any of my games, old or new so far.

I tried the new Radeon 9700 Pro. Looked great, but most of my games didn't like it at all. Lots of lock ups, etc. Sent it back and stuck in a Albatron TI4200 128MB card.
Paid $141 for it and it runs flawlessly.

If you have to buy a CD-Rom drive, get a DVD-Rom drive instead. Not much more expensive and nice to have!

I get alot of my parts from:

New Egg

Very resonable and great service too. Never had a problem with them, or a product.

--------------------

For OS, W2k is notably more stable than previous versions, but does have some compatility issues with older programs. Windows XP is more flexible, and just as stable, although I'd go with XP Pro instead of the Home version myself.

TQM

--------------------

I have been thinking of a DVD/CD-ROM drive just for convenience. I have no desire to burn DVDs any time soon, but I may want to listen to DVD music or watch DVD video stuff. A DVD/CD-ROM is pretty cheap.

I am leaning toward the 4200 series GF4 cards. The newer series haven't had the kinks worked out of them yet, IMHO.

My current rig uses a sound system with a separate amp controlling a bass unit and two smaller speakers. It's getting a little long in the tooth. Any ideas on sound systems?

The ASUS mobo will have a pretty good sound chipset built into it, but I'm wondering about downstream of that.

My Mobo is an A7V333 using 512Mb PC2700. I am using a GF4 Ti4400 and it isn't half bad at all. But there are faster cards out there now and the ATi 9700 is supposed to be very good indeed. I don't like ATi drivers though they are unstable in my experience.

I'm still using an AMD 1100 Athlon at the mo but my benchmarks are still top draw 7000+ with 3D Mark 2001SE and more than half of that is down to the graphics card. If I put in a 2.2 Athlon now I would be lucky to get another 1500 marks.