Upgrading PC (need recommendations where)

Find the best prices at Pricewatch.com, then go research the reseller at resellerratings.com. If the reseller has a rating > 6, they are a pretty legit business.

PS, buy NOTHING from markonecomputers.com. I had a very bad experience with them.

I've built a few PCs from internet-order parts and here's who I've purchased from and have had no problems:

Accubyte
Axion Technologies
MicroPro
House of Computers
Thompson's Computer Warehouse

I have found all of the above to have very courteous staff and deliver when they say they're going to.

Go with the Abit mobo with the KT133A. This board is the OC'ers dream-come-true. Not so sure 512M or RAM is going to give you much more that 256. Put the extra money into a RAID HD system. Also, if you can't afford a GF2 Ultra 64 (Tom's gave the Elsa a good review), then buy a cheap MX and wait till the Ultra prices come down. The NV20 is going to be the next target for game designs.

Good luck.

Personally, go with the Asus board. I went through TWO bad KT7's recently building my Dad's 1Ghz T-bird. Asus is just as good for o/c'ing.

I'd stick with 256MB.. or maybe 384Mb - what I have... 1 stick 256mb, 1 stick 128, leaves 1 (maybe 2) open.

RAID? Hrm... I've heard of a lot of people having issues with the KT7-RAID and Win2K.

Doesn't sound like he's super computer smart (no offense intended, some of us do this for a living) - so this may not be something he wants to do.

Marley -

I believe, a lot of places are shipping the CPU + Fan already attached to a motherboard (when you order a combo).

If not most, then I can check from a friend who's gotten 3 this way (for various people).

Installing a motherboard in a case is easy.

And you'll not likely find one reseller that sells all three cheaply.

But, I can recommend http://www.mwave.com - great service and you can just get a barebones system. Not the cheapest prices, but I've used them quite a few times and never a hassle.

Kudos to you for using the Search Engine! I could get to like you! (inside joke).

Good advice Rooster. BTW, the KT7s you had trouble with, did these have the 133 or 133A? I think there were issues with some of the first ones, IIRC.

With respect to RAID & W2K, its debatable who's at fault there.

In this thread I give the exact specs of all my recent upgrade parts. Check it out. I got all my stuff from http://www.monarchcomputer.com

The mobo, proc and ram came all put together with a huge monster fan on the mobo. I had to get a new powersupply too. My 250 watt powersupply was fine for my PIII450, but it wasn't going to be able to handle the new 1.2 gig proc. I found a deal there for a 400 watt powersupply and cool case with fans for not much more than a 400 watt powersupply would cost by itself. Anyway, check out this thread for all the details including links to pictures and specs of the procfan and all the other parts.

I bought a cd-writer from mwave.com and it seemed like it took forever to arrive. They didnt e-mail right away for a tracking number so I was sort of paranoid. But I think it was just because it was one of my first big purchases over the net.

Mushkin is a good place to get memory. They hook you up with details right away and the package gets there when they say it will.

I got a KT7A-RAID with 1 Ghz last week from http://www.monarchcomputer.com . Haven't had any problems with it yet. The prices have been going up a little bit though lately. I think the 1.1s are more/money now.

You can get Micron 256 MBs of PC133 from http://www.verasoft.com for a great price. I ordered a stick from them about a month ago, and it's working great. The price has also dropped over $10 since I ordered mine.

I also found both of these places through http://www.pricewatch.com .