Building New System - Ideas & Suggestions

[jonboy]

Hey guys. I want to build myself a t-bird system for gaming. I want to buy an Iwill KK266, an Enlight Mid ATX with 300watt PS, and a 1.0 T-bird, 266 FSB. These are the current parts I have in this system that I will use for the new one :

Video Card: Geforce2 MX
Sound Card: Soundblaster Live
Ram: 256 PC133
Hard Drive: 13 gig Hard drive + 8 gig hardrive I have laying around
Ethernet: DLINK 10/100
OS: Windows ME or Windows 98SE (For Gaming)

Now for the CPU, should i buy it retail, since it comes with the HSF, or should i buy OEM and buy a HSF? Im most likely going to overclock the cpu, so Im going to mod the case. Will the 300 Watt PS Be enough? Thanks

[GraingerGuy]

Since you are going to overclocking the CPU, get it OEM and get a HSF. (SK6 is one of the best ones out right now)

I have my [email protected] and it's running on a 300W PS just fine. So yours should be fine too.

Have fun! :D

[jonboy]

Thanks for the help. On newegg.com they have a good deal with an enlight case, with 300 PS , so I wanted to make sure it would be good.

[Speedfreak]

Unless you plan to add a bunch more drives (cd, hard, etc), then the 300W PS should be fine. Make sure it is a good brand. The higher end t-birds (1+GB) drink a lot of juice and more and more as you overclock. If it is not getting enough power it will get really hot and have to run at lower speeds. You don't have a lot of other things so it should be fine.

I, on the other hand, have a 1.2 t-bird, 2x45GB IBM 75GXPs in RAID 0, 20GB Maxtor (Just for MP3 Storage :D), Kenwood 72X cdrom, 4 case fans, blorb on my Geforce 2, Big ole' Alpha cpu HS/Fan all running on a 300Watt Antec power supply. Now, Antec has damn good power supplies, but I am beginning to think there just isn't enough juice for my stuff to let me overclock good. This ps puts out 160 watts down the 5 and 10 volt lines.

I can't seem to get my cpu to overclock past 1266 stabily. It is running 140busx9 right now. I know all my stuff can handle it. The memory I have is 2x256MB Crucial pc133 CAS2, which is rated @ something like 160bus, so there is no problem there.

My system is perfectly stable and never above 40C (104 Farenheit) for the cpu. When I overclock just to the next level (140busx 9.5 = 1330Mhz) the system will lock up after playing a game for like 10 minutes. That seems pretty weird to me going from a perfectly stable system with a low overall temperature to stalling after 10 minutes with only a 64Mhz increase in speed and no change in bus.

So.. I ordered myself an Enermax Whisper 431watt power supply. This thing puts out 220 watts along the 5 and 10 volts. I shall see if it helps when it gets here Monday.


Anyway.. Not to steal the spotlight..

The stuff you have sounds good, but if you have the extra $$ maybe get another 256MB stick of ram, just because it is so damn cheap and you should be guarunteed a memory satisfied pc for awhile if you did that. I would also suggest getting more harddrive space. I don't know what you will be putting on your 21Gbs there, but I like having a lot of space. :D

As far as the OS, Win2k works just fine for gaming with the hardware you will have, so you don't need win98 just for that, it is always cool to dual bood, though. ;) I have had no problem getting any drivers for the hardware I have to work in Win2k because I have popular hardware, like you.

[attgig]

yeah, about that ram....
if you want to overclock, you might wanna get ddr ram, just to make sure that the ram doesn't keep you from getting most out of overclocking.

crucial...is good

[jonboy]

Ok Thanks. About the Hard Drive(s): This system has a 13 gig hard drive, and I have an 8 gig that I have from a previous system, so Im going to use both for the new system. I don't download many files, so I don't need a big hard drive (plus I don't got a lot of money right now). I'll probally then sell the parts im not using from this system and try to make back the money im buying everything with. For the OS, I am currently running windows 2k , and I think I will run it for my new system too.

[Speedfreak]

Originally posted by att gig
yeah, about that ram....
if you want to overclock, you might wanna get ddr ram, just to make sure that the ram doesn't keep you from getting most out of overclocking.

crucial...is good

:hmm: He wants to get the Iwill KK266. Don't tell him to get DDR. ;)

[JFP]

Sounds like a good build. att gig is right, ddr is great memory, and the price is reallllllllly low compared to when I bought mine. Re. power supply, I am using a Antec SX840 case: cost $149 plus reasonable shipping from Antec and includes their 400W power supply. You can find the full-tower at PixelUSA for the same price with the same ps, but that thing is so big you may have a problem with cable lengths (SX1240). I am running a tbird 1.2/266 on an a7m266 and love it, I don't think you will be disappointed with yours.

[jonboy]

Speedfreak, do you think I should go the DDR journey? If so, which motherboard do you suggest?

[spanky]

If your going DDR go with an ASUS A7M266, EPOX (not the 8KHA) or wait for the Abit to come out.

[GraingerGuy]

Get the Epox 8k7a. It has the AMD 761 northbridge and the VIA 686B southbridge. IMO it's one of the best DDR mobos out there.

[\/\/|ZarD]

Asus A7V266 is the only way to go...
I have love only for Asus

[Speedfreak]

Looks like you have some answers. Any of those are good, but that ABIT KG7 does look sweet. I have been an Abit person for awhile. :)

DDR is just starting to actually show a difference in speed with the advent of AMD's chipset or just better updated chips all around. There is nothing wrong with PC133, it still kicks ass, but DDR is newer technology. DDR is also more $$ than PC133, but all memory is really cheap. If you have 4 DDR memory slots on your board it would only cost you ~$150 to have a gig of ram (PC2100 4x256MB). For PC133 a gig would cost you ~$80. I think it would be worth it to go with the DDR.

[jonboy]

Okay, thanks for all the help guys. Im probally just going to stick with the pc133 motherboard.

[race301]

Thats good, because the kk266 is not a ddr board. I have one and its great. I use Mushkin http://www.mushkin.com, pc133, 256 megs.Great service and free shipping if you order online.

[kevs]

Hey guys, I just purchased an Iwill KK266 motherboard with two sticks of Crucial 256 DDR RAM for my new setup. Is this not gonna work?

[kevs]

I forgot to mention that, if this IS the wrong motherboard, what motherboard should I go for? Or should I just switch away from the DDR RAM? What should I do?! Thanks.

[race301]

just switch ram.

[clutchy]

you're going to love that enlight case i have one, and it's the bomb. Flows air really well mine came w/ case fans too:)