Friends proposed computer ...

[JohnnyD]

Heres where he's been guided ...
He's doing it all Canadian and .. heck I'm trying to give him decent advice .. any critiques ?

this is what my friend sent to me, www.nicx i belive is the site... prices are in canadian

SKU Product Description Avail? Qty Price Ext.Price
9132 AMD ATHLON XP 2500+ 512K 333FSB BARTON RETAIL BOX 3YR MFR. WARRANTY YES 1 $139.56
9013 SOLTEK 75FRN2-L NFORCE2 SOCKETA DUAL DDR AGP8X 5PCI ATA133 SOUND LAN YES 1 $134.45
9556 SPECTEK PC2700 512MB DDR333 184PIN OEM YES 2sticks $174.40
8976 SAPPHIRE ATI RADEON 9500 PRO 128MB AGP DVI W/ TV OUT OEM YES 1 $267.68
8670 NGEAR CRYSTAL BLACK CASE 4X5.25 7X3.5IN 300W P4 W/ FRONT USB AUDIO FIREWIRE YES 1 $74.05
7487 WD CAVIAR SE 120GB INT ATA/100 HD 3.5LP 9MS 8MB 7200RPM OEM YES 1 $174.52
8522 LITEON BLACK 16X DVD-ROM INT E-IDE OEM W/ SW DVD PLAYER YES 1 $56.70

Shipping & Handling: $30.78
Shipping Insurance: $15.32
SUBTOTAL: $1,067.46
GST (7%): $74.72
TOTAL: $1,142.18

[Player0]

Send him to my latest Intel. You can do a lot better, and I would avoid an AMD purchase at this time.

But if you have to have an AMD system...

I would get some name brand ram, like Corsair, Crucial, Mushkin. Maybe kingmax. Spectek sounds like generic ram, would be a shame to use cheap stuff on a dual channel mobo.

I cant comment on the prices since im not canadian. I guess thats reasonable.

I dont know about the Soltek motherboard. It wouldnt be a normal choice, but I dont have anything bad to say. Is it that much cheaper than an Abit, Asus, Epox or MSI?

[JohnnyD]

I advised the EPox since money is an issue - and again the conversion rates are messing with me. I'm hoping a few Canadian friends will check this out and post some feedback. Oh and you'll be pleased to know I'd already posted your Intel thread. It's so sad feeling .. seeing the start of TheTherion's thread where he wants to build my exact system and by page 3 he's gone to intel ... *sigh* ,,, time marches on ...

[Drake]

Being a fanatic has no advantage other than saying 'BOO YAH!' when someone comes out with a better product. Getting a better system by components made by different companies is nothing to sigh about ;)

I agree with what P0 has said pretty much. If you must go AMD, I know Drozdov over at XHW (http://www.xhardware.net[/url) uses the Soltek board without a complaint, and the EPoX board is widely accepted as superb.

[mdzcpa]

I just built this rig for a client under $900 USD (just the box):

AMD XP 2500+ Barton
NF7-S 2.0
2 256 Corsair 3200
Radeon 9700 Pro
Lite on 52x burner
Lite on DVD/CDROM
120G WD JB special edition
Mitsumi floppy
Chieftec case with window and 450w PSU
all matching black with a little case light...looks real sweet

For reference.

[SleepO]

Depending on where your friend is located at he might be able to find a couple better deals on some of parts. Ram seems really high but the rest of the prices are not to bad.