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Ok, I don't really know a LOT about hardware and stuff, but I know the basics. I am planning on building a computer for casual gaming, and have the following components chosen out so far:

XP 1700+
Shuttle AK35GTR
256 MB DDR PC2100
Thermaltake Volcano 7
Case
Abit Geforce3 Ti200
Maxtor 20GB 7200RPM ATA-133

I already have a CD-rom drive and floppy drive, and can get good deals locally on the keyboard/mouse/etc. so now I have a couple questions:

1) does it really matter who makes the video card? I've seen like so many different kinds.
2) the HD says its 133MB/sec, but I looked up the stats, and its sustained at like 24-44 MB/sec. Should I bother getting the faster interface speed, or will the difference not be too noticable?
3) someone once told me that all the XPs have the same core, for cheaper manufacturing costs. If this is true, would it be safe to overclock the processor(by multiplier, not bus speed) and simulate a faster chip?

thanks for the help, this is the first computer I've actually like built from scratch. btw, any constructive general advice would also be welcome.


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Taybon on 2002-03-15 21:18 ]</font>

Looks Like a good priceperformance system.
Though a Gainward GF3 Ti 200(golden sample) might be better as it tends to clock to the levels of a Ti 500.

1) does it really matter who makes the video card? I've seen like so many different kinds.
2) the HD says its 133MB/sec, but I looked up the stats, and its sustained at like 24-44 MB/sec. Should I bother getting the faster interface speed, or will the difference not be too noticable?
3) someone once told me that all the XPs have the same core, for cheaper manufacturing costs. If this is true, would it be safe to overclock the processor(by multiplier, not bus speed) and simulate a faster chip?

--------------------------------------------
1)Most brands are basically the same except for the overclockability of the card and the extra functions provided like tv-out, etc.
2)If the motherboard only comes with ata-100 i wouldnt bother looking for a replacement unless you can find a similiar board at the same price. In real world use you shouldnt be able notice any difference because of the substained transfer rates cant even meet capable rates. Theres nothing wrong though with having a HD with 133 interface and the mobo having 100.
3)All XPs do have the same core design, but not all the XPs will run at all the rated speeds. Alot of XPs will OC but less and less the higher rated one you end picking up.

thanks for the reply, coldfirex, but I guess I should reword question 2. The motherboard supports ata-133, my question was basically are there other hard drives with faster sustained transfer rates that aren't ata-133. I don't really know that much about hardware, so I'm not sure what a good/bad/average rate is for a hard drive.

Again, thanks for the help, I'm almost ready to actually buy the stuff. then the real fun begins ("Ok, I just plug this in here, here, an he..<zzzapp>...what th-, ah $#@% !!")

Ok, sorry. As far as I remember the ata-whatever doesnt effect the substained transfer rate(unless your using something too old). As far as a HD with a faster rate, Id go check out storagereview since they are like the masters of that stuff.

Taybon, you probably have noticed that sustained transfer rate is far less than the maxima that the specs are named for. So no UDMA133 drive is going to exceed 100 (or even 66) MBPS in a sustained way. So if you're planning on finding an older drive that uses an older interface, but still has a high sustained transfer rate, that could work. But in general I think that newer drives outperform older ones, so you'd have to look awfully hard.

The converse is true as well. I just woke up an old 300MHz PII box by replacing its old UDMA33 drive with a newer UDMA100 model. Even though it used UDMA33 still, the newer drive was a LOT faster.