Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsme.general (More info?)

Well, I guess that got your attention, grin.

Talked to Willy yesterday about building a new computer and he gave me a
list of a few hardware things that he particularly wanted me to put out on
the news group for your opinions.

He suggested..........

1. Asus Motherboard

2. ATI Radeon 9800 Video Card (not a gamer, grin)

3. Audigy Sound Card

4. 512 RAM (Kingston or similar)

5. At least 120 gig hard drive....will probably get 160 gig.

6. DVD/CD RW (?) drive....not sure if I have that straight. Plays and
writes to DVD and CD...dual channel. Assume that is two drives.

7. I asked that a floppy drive be put in.....Dell has stopped installing
them, for instance.

The rest is the usual Pentium things and I guess I will use the monitor and
speakers from this computer. An LCD flat panel monitor is about $270.

I plan on using a router and networking the two of them for a while at
least.

Oops....forgot to ask him about front USB ports. Will add that to the List.

He seems to be very impressed with the collective knowledge on this group
and said he would like to hear any suggestions or improvements from you
folks, which I will pass on to him.

He is also going to fix the CD burner drive on here....in fact, he is going
to walk me thru doing it if it has to be replaced, ack!! I had a ball there
yesterday (3 hours). He had a WinME computer with a mess of trojans, BHO's
and spyware on it. Couldn't use the mouse even. So he finally had to
reformat it and he explained it all to me. He doesn't like having to resort
to that either. But I was amazed at how many people brought in virus-laden
computers for him to fix. Are they all nuts??? No AV, no ZA.....nada.

Anyway.....comments are most appreciated. Want to make sure I get all the
right components and not forget anything. He will also add some updated
programs for me. OEM ones I assume, but that's OK.

Cheers.....Heather

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsme.general (More info?)

<lol> You got mine <g> I don't know all the technical specs you mention
I'll leave that to the experts in here, I know one thing I miss from my
old WinME box and that's having two CD drives one for reading and one for
writing. On this box I have a drive that reads and writes CD's and DVD's
but it's a compo drive so to copy a CD it would have to be put on the HD
then copied to CD/DVD.
At the time I had this drive fitted he did say I could have another drive
put in but at the time couldn't afford it so just have the one.
Let us know what the final specs are <g>
Joan


Heather wrote:
> Well, I guess that got your attention, grin.
>
> Talked to Willy yesterday about building a new computer and he gave
> me a list of a few hardware things that he particularly wanted me to
> put out on the news group for your opinions.
>
> He suggested..........
>
> 1. Asus Motherboard
>
> 2. ATI Radeon 9800 Video Card (not a gamer, grin)
>
> 3. Audigy Sound Card
>
> 4. 512 RAM (Kingston or similar)
>
> 5. At least 120 gig hard drive....will probably get 160 gig.
>
> 6. DVD/CD RW (?) drive....not sure if I have that straight. Plays
> and writes to DVD and CD...dual channel. Assume that is two drives.
>
> 7. I asked that a floppy drive be put in.....Dell has stopped
> installing them, for instance.
>
> The rest is the usual Pentium things and I guess I will use the
> monitor and speakers from this computer. An LCD flat panel monitor
> is about $270.
>
> I plan on using a router and networking the two of them for a while at
> least.
>
> Oops....forgot to ask him about front USB ports. Will add that to
> the List.
>
> He seems to be very impressed with the collective knowledge on this
> group and said he would like to hear any suggestions or improvements
> from you folks, which I will pass on to him.
>
> He is also going to fix the CD burner drive on here....in fact, he is
> going to walk me thru doing it if it has to be replaced, ack!! I had
> a ball there yesterday (3 hours). He had a WinME computer with a
> mess of trojans, BHO's and spyware on it. Couldn't use the mouse
> even. So he finally had to reformat it and he explained it all to
> me. He doesn't like having to resort to that either. But I was
> amazed at how many people brought in virus-laden computers for him to
> fix. Are they all nuts??? No AV, no ZA.....nada.
>
> Anyway.....comments are most appreciated. Want to make sure I get
> all the right components and not forget anything. He will also add
> some updated programs for me. OEM ones I assume, but that's OK.
>
> Cheers.....Heather

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsme.general (More info?)

I agree Joan, Heather should definitely go for two optical drives, ideally
a DVD-ROM and a DVD-R/W that can write both CDs and DVDs. The cost of DVD
writers has plummeted so a 8x or 16x writer both - and + formats and
double layer would be the way to go. That is until the next models come
out which is highly likely before Heathers gets her new PC. :-)

Joan - if you decide to add a DVD reader these can be picked up new from
around £15 plus p & p.
--
Mike Maltby
mike.maltby@gmail.com


Joan Archer <archer_joan@NOSPAM.com> wrote:

> <lol> You got mine <g> I don't know all the technical specs you
> mention I'll leave that to the experts in here, I know one thing I
> miss from my old WinME box and that's having two CD drives one for
> reading and one for writing. On this box I have a drive that reads
> and writes CD's and DVD's but it's a compo drive so to copy a CD it
> would have to be put on the HD then copied to CD/DVD.
> At the time I had this drive fitted he did say I could have another
> drive put in but at the time couldn't afford it so just have the one.
> Let us know what the final specs are <g>

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsme.general (More info?)

"Mike M" <No_Spam@Corned_Beef.Only> wrote in message
news:%233sQSpMhFHA.328@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...
>I agree Joan, Heather should definitely go for two optical drives, ideally
>a DVD-ROM and a DVD-R/W that can write both CDs and DVDs. The cost of DVD
>writers has plummeted so a 8x or 16x writer both - and + formats and double
>layer would be the way to go. That is until the next models come out which
>is highly likely before Heathers gets her new PC. :-)
>
> Joan - if you decide to add a DVD reader these can be picked up new from
> around £15 plus p & p.

I just replaced mine. Got a 16x/48x Sony DVD drive from the PCWorld
Component shop, reserved online for £16. They've also got dual-layer DVD-RWs
from £32 - inc. the Phillips that was the first dual-layer DVD-RW. The Sony
dual-layer DVD-RW is £50 - I'd have got it except first I need a new
computer (and about £500's worth of parts and work for the bike).


Shane

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsme.general (More info?)

Hi Mike, I know the price has come down a lot but at the moment I'm not
unduly worried about it, probably one day. Still haven't got round to
writing any DVD's <g> need to order another batch of CD's soon starting to
get a bit low.
How are the girls after Thursdays shock, managing to get about OK ?
Joan


Mike M wrote:
>snip>
> Joan - if you decide to add a DVD reader these can be picked up new
> from around £15 plus p & p.
>

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsme.general (More info?)

"Heather" <figgs@invalid.invalid> wrote:

>Well, I guess that got your attention, grin.
>
>Talked to Willy yesterday about building a new computer and he gave me a
>list of a few hardware things that he particularly wanted me to put out on
>the news group for your opinions.
>
>He suggested..........
>
>1. Asus Motherboard

Asus motherboards have a good reputation. Any specific model in mind?


>
>2. ATI Radeon 9800 Video Card (not a gamer, grin)
>
>3. Audigy Sound Card

Are you an audiophile? Most new motherboards come with integrated
sound that is fully adequate for most games, casual music listening,
and watching the occasional movie.

>
>4. 512 RAM (Kingston or similar)

Kingston or Crucial are very good sources of RAM. If your specific
motherboard model supports dual channel RAM then get 2 pieces of 256
mb. Or better yet get 2 pieces of 512 mb and be ready for Windows XP
and maybe even Longhorn.


>
>5. At least 120 gig hard drive....will probably get 160 gig.

Remember the 128 gb (137 billion byte) partition limit on FAT32 drives
and be prepared to partition the 160 gb drive into 2 partitions.


>
>6. DVD/CD RW (?) drive....not sure if I have that straight. Plays and
>writes to DVD and CD...dual channel. Assume that is two drives.

That sound more like just a DVD burner drive (one unit). Two drives
are handier (one DVD burner and one CD burner or two DVD burners) if
you are planning on doing much copying (for backup purposes of course)
of DVDs and/or CDs.

>
>7. I asked that a floppy drive be put in.....Dell has stopped installing
>them, for instance.

Yup and they can be problematic on high speed systems running Windows
XP. Appears to be a timing issue of some kind but no firm diagnosis
that I can find. I have started carrying a USB 3.5 diskette drive so
I can access diskettes from newer systems.

>
Good luck


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

In memory of a dear friend Alex Nichol MVP
http://aumha.org/alex.htm

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsme.general (More info?)

Joan Archer <archer_joan@NOSPAM.com> wrote:

> Hi Mike, I know the price has come down a lot but at the moment I'm
> not unduly worried about it, probably one day. Still haven't got
> round to writing any DVD's <g> need to order another batch of CD's
> soon starting to get a bit low.
> How are the girls after Thursdays shock, managing to get about OK ?

Joan,

Both the girls seem fine and I don't think either are going to be affected
much with both continuing to use the bus and tube as normal. Sadly the
same can't be said for many others.
--
Mike

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsme.general (More info?)

The one thing no-one seems to have mentioned as yet is AMD v Intel, or
even 32 v 64 bit although perhaps its a bit early to be thinking of 64
bit.
--
Mike Maltby
mike.maltby@gmail.com


Ron Martell <ron.martell@gmail.com> wrote:

> "Heather" <figgs@invalid.invalid> wrote:
>
>> Well, I guess that got your attention, grin.
>>
>> Talked to Willy yesterday about building a new computer and he gave
>> me a list of a few hardware things that he particularly wanted me to
>> put out on the news group for your opinions.
>>
>> He suggested..........
>>
>> 1. Asus Motherboard
>
> Asus motherboards have a good reputation. Any specific model in mind?
>
>
>>
>> 2. ATI Radeon 9800 Video Card (not a gamer, grin)
>>
>> 3. Audigy Sound Card
>
> Are you an audiophile? Most new motherboards come with integrated
> sound that is fully adequate for most games, casual music listening,
> and watching the occasional movie.
>
>>
>> 4. 512 RAM (Kingston or similar)
>
> Kingston or Crucial are very good sources of RAM. If your specific
> motherboard model supports dual channel RAM then get 2 pieces of 256
> mb. Or better yet get 2 pieces of 512 mb and be ready for Windows XP
> and maybe even Longhorn.
>
>
>>
>> 5. At least 120 gig hard drive....will probably get 160 gig.
>
> Remember the 128 gb (137 billion byte) partition limit on FAT32 drives
> and be prepared to partition the 160 gb drive into 2 partitions.
>
>
>>
>> 6. DVD/CD RW (?) drive....not sure if I have that straight. Plays
>> and writes to DVD and CD...dual channel. Assume that is two drives.
>
> That sound more like just a DVD burner drive (one unit). Two drives
> are handier (one DVD burner and one CD burner or two DVD burners) if
> you are planning on doing much copying (for backup purposes of course)
> of DVDs and/or CDs.
>
>>
>> 7. I asked that a floppy drive be put in.....Dell has stopped
>> installing them, for instance.
>
> Yup and they can be problematic on high speed systems running Windows
> XP. Appears to be a timing issue of some kind but no firm diagnosis
> that I can find. I have started carrying a USB 3.5 diskette drive so
> I can access diskettes from newer systems.

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsme.general (More info?)

Heather wrote:
> Well, I guess that got your attention, grin.
>
> Talked to Willy yesterday about building a new computer and he gave me a
> list of a few hardware things that he particularly wanted me to put out on
> the news group for your opinions.

First opinion is "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"

<shrug> your money.

> He suggested..........
>
> 1. Asus Motherboard

good reputation; would suggest an Intel chipset if you can afford it.
If you're planning AMD, look into their 64-bit stuff; wave of the future
and all that.

Another thing to ponder is whether to get one with PCI-X instead of AGP.

> 2. ATI Radeon 9800 Video Card (not a gamer, grin)

That's a high-end gaming/multimedia card, ATI's budget and
middle-of-the-road cards are quite good, too. If you actually aren't
gaming at all and use your computer alot, I might suggest a Matrox (P650
or 750); even though I'd like to smack one of their customer support
people upside the head over something, they're still the best for 2D
stuff this side of a professional card (which they make, also); on the
other hand we both know where ATI is; the comment "would you like me to
come over in person and show you exactly what's wrong with this card"
can produce results. <grin>

> 3. Audigy Sound Card

OEM Soundblaster (older Creative chipset, same thing but cheaper, though
these days maybe not enough to justify it).

> 4. 512 RAM (Kingston or similar)

At least. Can never have too much memory

> 5. At least 120 gig hard drive....will probably get 160 gig.

Heather, get two... then ask, and Chris and I will compete for best
partitioning scheme. <grin> Be prepared to say exactly how you use your
computer.

SATA specs are better but I'm not sure mfr's have implemented the stuff
that actually makes it better into the controllers yet (like command
queuing); meanwhile, plain old IDE is cheaper and gives the same
performance.

> 6. DVD/CD RW (?) drive....not sure if I have that straight. Plays and
> writes to DVD and CD...dual channel. Assume that is two drives.

Sounds like a "combo" drive; reads DVD's(etc.) and can write CDR and
CDRW. (Plextor comes to mind if you can find one, though I'm quite
happy with my LG.) DVD writing is important if you plan on writing
DVD's (duh).

> 7. I asked that a floppy drive be put in.....Dell has stopped installing
> them, for instance.

As earlier suggested by Mart or Shane, if your motherboard supports USB
booting then you can buy a USB floppy drive and put it in a desk drawer
until needed. (Haven't tried it myself yet, though; will still be a few
years before I do a hardware upgrade). If Willy can figure it out,
using one of those USB chip-drives'd be pretty neat.

I'd also be tempted to do that (USB) with the optical drive, though,
again I can't speak from experience on that one and in order to meet my
lazy-ass standards it'd have to be powered from the USB port instead of
a wall-wart. Not optimum if you're a "burner" of course, the built-in
drives are much faster I think.

A bit retro, but I'd stick with PS2 plug keyboard and mouse, just to
ensure their lines are clear of anything else. Wireless'd be neat if
you can get a good one, I think.


Bizarre question for everybody... can you share a USB line between two
computers ?

> The rest is the usual Pentium things and I guess I will use the monitor and
> speakers from this computer. An LCD flat panel monitor is about $270.

>
> I plan on using a router and networking the two of them for a while at
> least.

Huh? set up the new thing make sure it works transfer old files over and
give the old one to a charity/relative.

> Oops....forgot to ask him about front USB ports. Will add that to the List.

pretty well standard, I imagine. While you're there may as well specify
front-mounted mic and headphone jacks.

> He seems to be very impressed with the collective knowledge on this group
> and said he would like to hear any suggestions or improvements from you
> folks, which I will pass on to him.

Be neat to hear from him too; he's frontline trying to put the most
recent stuff together; can give quite the depth into current computing
trends. Invite(/drag) him in.

> He is also going to fix the CD burner drive on here....in fact, he is going
> to walk me thru doing it if it has to be replaced, ack!! I had a ball there
> yesterday (3 hours). He had a WinME computer with a mess of trojans, BHO's
> and spyware on it.

Did he give it back to you? <grin>

> Couldn't use the mouse even. So he finally had to
> reformat it and he explained it all to me. He doesn't like having to resort
> to that either. But I was amazed at how many people brought in virus-laden
> computers for him to fix. Are they all nuts??? No AV, no ZA.....nada.



It *should* be possible to run without all that stuff on a competent OS,
but it isn't.


Rick

>
> Anyway.....comments are most appreciated. Want to make sure I get all the
> right components and not forget anything.

One thing you might try (then come here and tell me about it) is a
proggie that pretends that a directory is a CD... oddly enough I think
it's a Norton product.

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsme.general (More info?)

Mike M wrote:
> The one thing no-one seems to have mentioned as yet is AMD v Intel, or
> even 32 v 64 bit although perhaps its a bit early to be thinking of 64 bit.

I didn't want to mention it because my choices in that vein would've
been for either the Intel 'M' which is very expensive or the model
(can't remember which) from AMD that is also very power (and heat) frugal.

Neither of them are related to their companies' flagship products.



Rick

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsme.general (More info?)

Rick,

The Pentium M is primarily for laptops. I've an M753 in my new Toshiba
Portégé M300 and it's really frugal on power consumption meaning I get
pretty good battery life. Not sure which AMD chip you're thinking of,
this box has an older AMD 64 3200 (754 rather than 939 pin) and my other
main PC an even older AMD XP 2500+ (Barton).

Personally I feel Heather should seriously consider AMD as IMO they give
much more bang for your bucks.
--
Mike Maltby
mike.maltby@gmail.com


Rick T <plinnane3REMOVE@NOSPAMyahoo.com> wrote:

> I didn't want to mention it because my choices in that vein would've
> been for either the Intel 'M' which is very expensive or the model
> (can't remember which) from AMD that is also very power (and heat)
> frugal.
> Neither of them are related to their companies' flagship products.

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsme.general (More info?)

1. Asus Motherboard
Which model?? Asus is good and has good support, as does Abit. My new box
has the Abit IS7. Just make sure you have SATA plugs on board. I have
two, 7.2Krpm, 80G SATA 150's in a Raid0 config.......random read/write
speeds are wonderful. The Abit also has 4 USB 2.0 jacks and two double on
board pin plugs.....may be more, but, I am not using them.

2. ATI Radeon 9800 Video Card (not a gamer, grin)
Isn't this a 256M card?? Not a gamer, overkill. I have the 64M ATI and it
is more than sufficient for my needs.

3. Audigy Sound Card
Unless your hearing and speakers are of superb quality, the onboard sound
would suffice quite well.

4. 512 RAM (Kingston or similar)
Look around before you buy.........you can get a G of good, speedy RAM
pretty cheap now. www.chiefvalue.com

5. At least 120 gig hard drive....will probably get 160 gig.
Unless you are in to partitioning, why not more of smaller drives?? I have
the two 80G SATA's in Raid 0 for boot, an 80G IDE for data (or whatever) and
a 300G IDE partitioned into a 200 and 100 for backing up the Raid and single
80G using Acronis True Image.

6. DVD/CD RW (?) drive....not sure if I have that straight. Plays and
writes to DVD and CD...dual channel. Assume that is two drives.
Go with two optical drives..........I have a Sony CD/DVD RW+-R high speed
and an HP Lightscribe dual layer. Drive to drive, I can copy a full music
CD in less than 4 minutes.

7. I asked that a floppy drive be put in.....Dell has stopped installing
them, for instance.
Get the floppy, it's cheap and it will come in handy.

Other stuff:
Get a card reader, they are super cheap for the internal readers. I have
seen some that will read 11 different formats for less than $10. The
Compact Flash cards come in a nifty little plastic box for carrying and they
are great for moving programs and data.

The all important case!!!! I like the Antec Lanboy.....it is inexpensive,
has a huge 120mm fan in front with pretty blue LED's (intake) and another in
back (exhaust). Make sure you get a QUALITY power supply........at least,
380W TRUE power out, especially if you get that hot video card.

Oh yeah, and get XP. <g>.
Heirloom, old and lovin' mine

"Heather" <figgs@invalid.invalid> wrote in message
news:uHeEh8LhFHA.3124@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
> Well, I guess that got your attention, grin.
>
> Talked to Willy yesterday about building a new computer and he gave me a
> list of a few hardware things that he particularly wanted me to put out on
> the news group for your opinions.
>
> He suggested..........
>
> 1. Asus Motherboard
>
> 2. ATI Radeon 9800 Video Card (not a gamer, grin)
>
> 3. Audigy Sound Card
>
> 4. 512 RAM (Kingston or similar)
>
> 5. At least 120 gig hard drive....will probably get 160 gig.
>
> 6. DVD/CD RW (?) drive....not sure if I have that straight. Plays and
> writes to DVD and CD...dual channel. Assume that is two drives.
>
> 7. I asked that a floppy drive be put in.....Dell has stopped installing
> them, for instance.
>
> The rest is the usual Pentium things and I guess I will use the monitor
> and
> speakers from this computer. An LCD flat panel monitor is about $270.
>
> I plan on using a router and networking the two of them for a while at
> least.
>
> Oops....forgot to ask him about front USB ports. Will add that to the
> List.
>
> He seems to be very impressed with the collective knowledge on this group
> and said he would like to hear any suggestions or improvements from you
> folks, which I will pass on to him.
>
> He is also going to fix the CD burner drive on here....in fact, he is
> going
> to walk me thru doing it if it has to be replaced, ack!! I had a ball
> there
> yesterday (3 hours). He had a WinME computer with a mess of trojans,
> BHO's
> and spyware on it. Couldn't use the mouse even. So he finally had to
> reformat it and he explained it all to me. He doesn't like having to
> resort
> to that either. But I was amazed at how many people brought in
> virus-laden
> computers for him to fix. Are they all nuts??? No AV, no ZA.....nada.
>
> Anyway.....comments are most appreciated. Want to make sure I get all the
> right components and not forget anything. He will also add some updated
> programs for me. OEM ones I assume, but that's OK.
>
> Cheers.....Heather
>
>