Frank,

Bill Cohane answered most of your questions, so I'll only address the ones
he didn't.

A new sound card would improve performance.  If you are looking for a good
low-end solutions, I would suggest the SoundBlaster PCI128 (or Creative Labs
PCI128 - they are the same card).  It has great sound, and can usually be
found for around  $25 on pricewatch.com.  As far as it being worth it to
upgrade, I think that is a HIGHLY subjective question.  I think it is worth,
and my suggestion for what to use is pretty middle-of-the-road.  Others
might say it's not worth it, or on the other extreme, say you need much more
than what I suggest.

As far as the speakers go, you get what you pay for.  If you're spending $20
for a pair of speakers, you are getting low-end equipment that may or may
not last a couple of years.  I own a pair of 80W speakers that I paid $45
for four years ago, and they are still working great.  My wife's $20 pair
lasted two years.  If you want to go all out, a five piece surround sound
set will run you about $75-$150 for decent ones (three piece sets are
$50-$125 for decent ones).  Want top of the line?  Buy Bose (the best IMHO).
Prepare yourself for sticker-shock though.  They start at about $300 for a
simple system, and peak at around $1500 for the real good ones.

Hope this helps!

Kyle Elmblade
Distinct Computer Solutions
[log in to unmask]

From: "Frank R. Brown" <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, December 27, 2000 3:57 AM
Subject: [PCBUILD] Hardware recommendations -- scanner. cdrw, sound card,
&c...


> Could people make some hardware recommendations
> for an athlon / abit-ka7-based w2k system?  The system
> has an adaptec 19160 scsi card, so it supports ultra 160,
> plus slower scsi devices on a second scsi bus.  Is has
> the two unused ide controllers on the mobo, and has
> two usb ports.  So all of these are options.
>
>         1)      Flatbed scanner
>                 (decent quality, price / performance matters)
>
>         2)      cdrom drive (scsi acceptable / preferable?)
>
>         3)      cdrw (one that won't burn coasters)
>
>         4)      sound card (to replace a legacy pro audio spectrum)
>                 What kinds of sound cards are out there now?
>                 Does it make sense to get something fancy?
>                 The sound from the current card is not very good.
>                 It pops an crackles --- although I've heard complaints
>                 that this is a w2k issue.  (Is it worth  bothering to
>                 upgrade?)
>
>         5)      speakers --- again, is there any point in buying
>                 something more than the plain-vanilla offerings?
>                 I sometimes have the suspicion that fancier-looking
>                 computer speakers are just fancier-looking cases
>                 with the same cheap speakers inside.
>
> Thanks for your suggestions.
>
>      Frank R.Brown
>      Frank.R.Brown@MailAndNews

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