Hi guys, I've been away from state-of-the-art for awhile (since I built my 486/100 actually, and I still use the hell out of it daily). But while shopping around lately, I've been updating myself with current PC technology, maybe it's finally time to upgrade.
I use my 486 machine mainly for internet use with a cable modem, gotta have a PC that's up to all that bandwidth <grin>, and some mundane stuff also (Office 97). I'm looking for quality, reliability, and useability in my next PC, it's gotta have room to move and a few toys (video) would be nice too. Internet (Java etc.) performance is of primary importance, games etc. are secondary.
So far I've looked at a number of options. I like the power management, sleep mode, not having to wait all the time for a long boot-up sequence etc. As I understand it, this is the ATX specification, do AMD processors meet this spec? With price / performance considerations, I am looking at a Pentium II or comparable system. The PII 350 or 400 should fit the bill, although I may upgrade the processor later so it would be handy to not need to switch jumpers on the motherboard for this. I probably won't be overclocking or anything radical.
I am looking at a few different motherboards that were reviewed on the Sharkyextreme.com site, they are all PII, ATX, AGP:
- Aopen (Acer) AX6BC (jumperless board)
- ABIT BH6 (jumperless)
- ASUS has always had a good reputation, but the board would cost me $40 more than the Acer/Aopen or ABIT and it has hardware jumpers on the board.
Any good boards that have on-board net card? At the moment I am leaning towards the AXB6, all other things being equal.
RAM: 64 or 128MB
Monitor: TBD, probably 17" or 19"
Video: Probably ATI All-In-Wonder 128 (or maybe Pro for half the $$$). I like the idea of being able to watch the news while I'm on the puter, have the computer watch closed captioning (CC), alert or record video on CC keywords, and do neat video stuff.
HD: Probably Quantum 13GB
Mouse: I like the Logitech Trackman Marble FX. It has scrolling capability, and the trackball mechanism is optical rather than mechanical movement sensing for greater reliability.
CD: TBD, maybe RW or DVD?
Sound: Whatever works reliably.
Thanks for any comments you may provide. |
