[NTLUG:Discuss] Recommendations

[Greg Edwards]

ddaupert at csc.com wrote:
> 
> I have a spare 17" monitor, 20 gig Seagate harddrive UDMA 100, and an ATI
> Expert 98 video card.
> 
> Now I'd like to get the rest of the parts and build a pc, trying to keep
> under $500. I haven't built a
> system from scratch before.
> 
> I live in Fort Worth, but have a free day this week when I'll be in Dallas.
> 
> What computer establishments would people recommend for acquiring parts?
> 
> What are your thoughts on whether to get one of the BYO systems, or go ala
> cart?
> 
> Do you have any favorite mfrs for motherboard/case/CD-ROM etc?
> 
> Thanks for any thoughts,
> 
> dennis
> 

Dennis,

I like Viking Computers (www.vikingcomputers.net) for case, motherboard,
cpu, cd, floppy, video, sound, ethernet, etc. type parts.  E-tailer
prices with a local countertop incase you've got any problems. 
Generally any parts that I get OEM or tray packaged I get here.

I go to Best-Buy for hard drives, keyboards, mice, printers, etc. parts
that I want retail packaged or put my hands on before I buy.  CompUSA
for cables, hubs, disks, and such (I use to go to Micro-Center when I
worked on that side of town).

For memory I always go with Crucial (www.crucial.com) and they arrive at
my door 2nd day.  I've never had a bad RAM stick from them.

Viking has barebone systems and combo specials at reasonable prices.  I
always pick all my parts piece by piece and assemble myself.  The nice
thing about a barebones is that you don't have to learn near as much.

I like Enlight cases, ASUS boards (currently), and AMD cpus.

Do some research on the motherboard cause they have a new top dog more
often than Linux kernel or XFree86 mods:)  Currently I'm sold on the
ASUS K7V Slot A w/o audio.

-- 
Greg Edwards
New Age Software, Inc.
http://www.nas-inet.com