building new pc

[John C. Dechon]

sande,

I was going to recommend Belarc, too.

It gives you a report using HTML format via MSIE...you can easily print it out and have a hardcopy of your system specs, both hardware and software as mentioned.

It's a great tool for homebuilt computers since they "don't come with spec sheet" but SHOULD have a spec sheet in case you need to take it in to the shop, remember what's on the system, what hardware it has, etc.

Also mobo jumpers and other pertinent diagrams/charts would be good to include in your "homemade" manual.

John D.

[fyxxer32]

Print the profile or save it somehow. You could use it to post the specs here too

[sande]

Ok here goes...


Operating System: Windows 98 SE (build 4.10.2222)

System Model: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C597

Processor: 500 megahertz AMD K6-2 w/3DNow!
64 kilobyte primary memory cache
1024 kilobyte secondary memory cache

Main Circuit Board: Board: MVP3-596-W877
Bus Clock: 100 megahertz
BIOS: Award Software International, Inc. 4.51 PG 03/03/00

Drives: 29.98 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
12.63 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space
CREATIVE CD5233E [CD-ROM drive]
YAMAHA CRW2200E [CD-ROM drive]
Generic floppy disk drive (3.5")
Generic IDE hard disk drive (29.98 GB) -- drive 0

Memory Modules: 384 Megabytes Installed Memory
Slot '0' has 128 MB
Slot '1' is Empty
Slot '2' has 128 MB
Slot '3' is Empty
Slot '4' has 128 MB
Slot '5' is Empty

Local Drive Volumes

c: (on drive 0) 2.09 GB 362 MB free
d: (on drive 0) 13.94 GB 6.96 GB free
e: (on drive 0) 13.94 GB 5.31 GB free

Controllers:
Standard Floppy Disk Controller
Primary IDE controller (dual fifo)
Secondary IDE controller (dual fifo)
VIA Bus Master PCI IDE Controller

Display:
Inno3D Tornado GeForce2 MX [Display adapter]
Plug and Play Monitor


Bus Adapters: VIA Tech 3038 PCI to USB Universal Host Controller

Communications: AEF-360TX Family PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter [NDIS3]
iVasion PoET Adapter

[fyxxer32]

See how easy that makes it? You don't even have to take it apart.

I don't see anything about sound though?

[PresterJohn]

>YAMAHA CRW2200E [CD-ROM drive]

you've got good taste, sande.

[sande]

I pretty sure its a generic sound card, its actually acting up at the moment, or it could be the speakers, need to do some trouble shooting.

the Yamaha was my Xmas gift last year

I really just want a faster system for games and internet. My current system tends to lag to much and its way outdated. Playing games like Black and White or The Sims gets way too frustrating after about 30 mins on gameplay. And this OS outdated. I have DSL but I dont feel Im geting my money worth due to the system.

I really dont have a lot of money and I have sh!t for credit. I looked into Dell, they had some great deals. I dont have that kinda cash though.

I was basically trying to get an idea of the best and cheapest way to have a better system. Figure out the parts I would need and get some money together over the next couple of months.

[PresterJohn]

to tell ya the truth, sande, that's really not a bad system. decent if old, cpu...plenty of memory, good hd,etc.

ok, if money is very tight, i would hold off on buying the mobo/cpu till last. both intel & amd chip prices have been falling...look for addt'l price cuts as the year draws to a close since both companies will be releasing even more newer chips.

two possible areas that you could look into until then is upgrading the OS and video card for now.

i don't do any gaming so i don't know enough to comment on your current card and if better FPS will influence the games you play. but there are some real nice nvidia cards for under $120-150.

getting XP will probably help multitasking and overall stability. but i have noticed a sizable speed hit when running XP on p3-866mhz machines w/384mb ram here at the office. also with prod activation, you may (more than likely) have to reactivate XP again when you upgrade the mobo/cpu.

you probably will want to hold off on buying XP until everything else is in place. personally, i would go with win2000 - it runs pretty much all the recent & new games w/o any problems from what a lot of posters here say.

[fyxxer32]

Maybe ...if you're short on cash you could check in the traders forum and get a deal. A lot of that stuff you can strip out your old machine for the new one. Maybe sell your old stuff that you don't need and recoup some your money on the investment you make on the new set-up.