05-01-2003, 01:54 AM
Are you compensating for some short-comings?
It looks to me like you are more interested in names than you are in actual performance. I bet you could save a good $300 by just lowering a few of your standards, and even then you would only see minimal decrease in performance that would hardly be noticable in everyday use.
For instance, I picked up a "Norcent"(?) 52X CDRW for $19 (after rebate) last week. True, it's not a TDK or a Plextor, but it still burns a full CD in about 2 minutes and it was only $19.
I picked up my Soyo Dragon Lite Mobo for $99 and it works like a charm. I think I paid like $139 for my 2.4 GHz processor and my ram was $110 (after rebate) for 2 - 512 MB PC 2700 DDR...
Shop your prices around, and don't be too loyal to brands. You have to keep in mind the performance of computers today. Small differences in speed are hardly noticable. However, it is important to get a good video card if you intend to play the latest games. I picked up an ATI Radeon Pro 9000 128 MB card for $150 and it works just fine. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with the GeForce, but I have just had better luck with ATI.
I've had no problems with show cases, just make sure the case you buy has decent drive mounting and removable bays are nice too. You may want to pick up a different power supply than the one that comes with the case though, especially if you want a lot of power for loads of accessories.
It looks to me like you are more interested in names than you are in actual performance. I bet you could save a good $300 by just lowering a few of your standards, and even then you would only see minimal decrease in performance that would hardly be noticable in everyday use.
For instance, I picked up a "Norcent"(?) 52X CDRW for $19 (after rebate) last week. True, it's not a TDK or a Plextor, but it still burns a full CD in about 2 minutes and it was only $19.
I picked up my Soyo Dragon Lite Mobo for $99 and it works like a charm. I think I paid like $139 for my 2.4 GHz processor and my ram was $110 (after rebate) for 2 - 512 MB PC 2700 DDR...
Shop your prices around, and don't be too loyal to brands. You have to keep in mind the performance of computers today. Small differences in speed are hardly noticable. However, it is important to get a good video card if you intend to play the latest games. I picked up an ATI Radeon Pro 9000 128 MB card for $150 and it works just fine. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with the GeForce, but I have just had better luck with ATI.
I've had no problems with show cases, just make sure the case you buy has decent drive mounting and removable bays are nice too. You may want to pick up a different power supply than the one that comes with the case though, especially if you want a lot of power for loads of accessories.