Don't forget the floppy drive, if you need one.  Also you will need an OS
(Windows 95, 98, or NT most likely).  Get the Celeron if you are interested
in overclocking, although the AMD is higher performance-per-price as is.
The Jaton Riva 128ZX 8MB / AGP 2x video card should be very cheap and
(unlike some Jaton products) seems to work well and last forever for under
$50.  KDS has a cheap 17" .26 that I've had good luck with.  0.28 is
acceptable, anything less should be less grainy (.26 is better, .25 is
great).  You can save on the sound card going with something other than
Creative (Yamaha card, STB sound rage, etc.).
Martin Kurr
QUALITY ENGINEER
FBG GLADSTONE
ph 812-348-4415
fax 812-348-4443
pgr 800-936-3544
email [log in to unmask]

> ----------
> From:         Vincent Lim[SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Reply To:     PCBUILD - Personal Computer Hardware discussion List
> Sent:         Tuesday, June 08, 1999 9:39 PM
> To:   [log in to unmask]
> Subject:      [PCBUILD] Building My Own Computer - Confused by Choices
>
> Hi to All,
>
> I have lurking around the edges of this list for some time.  After
> reading all the posts, I have decided to build my own computer in the
> timeframe of around 26 June to 4 July.  First, I am not a novice, I have
> build one before, but that was in 1996, mouse decades ago in the
> computer world.
>
> Second, I have 2 constraints.  I am in Asia, specifically in Singapore
> and I have a limited budget of USD$1,375/-.
>
> Here's my initial planned system:
> - Celeron
> - M/B to support Celeron
> - 128 Mb PC100 SDRAM
> - CD-ROM drive
> - Mode5 10 Gb Harddisk
> - 17 " 0.26mm Monitor
> - 8Mb Graphic Card
> - Creative Soundcard
> - ATX 4-bays casing
> - K/B + mouse
>
> As this is a personal machine, I have several usage for it:
> - testbed for overclocking - general optimisation of computer resources
> - playing games (I am not into first-person shooters, so 3D performance
> is not an issue, or is it?)
> - some businesss apps for word processing, speadsheet and database.
> - linux experimentation
>
> Well...  you can see from the list that I have not decided a fair bit of
> what I need to buy, just only the general outline.
> The questions that I hope the list can help me with is:
> 1.    Should I get a Celeron or a AMD in the timeframe that I have
> allocated myself?  If so, which clock speed should I get to?
> 2.    Which M/B chipset should I get?  There's so many variants, BX, LX,
> ZX, 370, 810, SIS, VIA?  What are the differences?  Which chipset will
> ensure longevity?
> 3.    Which M/B manafacturer should I get from and why?
> 4.    Am I buying too much SDRAM?  Which SDRAM should I buy?  What's the
> differences between 1st party, 3rd party RAM?  How should RAMBUS affect
> my buying decisions?
> 5.    Which Graphics Card should I buy?  Do I have enough onboard RAM,
> too little or too much?  What are the reasons for for the graphic
> chipset?
> 6.    Should I buy DMA-66 harddisk instead?  What's the actual
> performance differences?
> 7.    What brand of monitor do you recommend?  Is 0.26mm pitch too
> grainy or just enough?
>
> I know it is a lot of questions - but I hope to resolve the confusion
> once and for all.  Also, this may help all other newbies as to which
> systems to build.  And of course, there are bound to differences in
> opinions from the various gurus.  This should get very interesting.
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> --
> Lim Wei Siong Vincent
>
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>
>                          PCBUILD's List Owner's:
>                       Bob Wright<[log in to unmask]>
>                        Drew Dunn<[log in to unmask]>
>

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