Dwayne W.
Nascar United - Co-Webmaster
http://www.racesimcentral.net/
> >-Bill
> >--
> >Bill Mette | "A person is smart. People are dumb."
> >MCSNet, Chicago | - K MiB
Ditto Dwayne. This is the system I built and the cost.
Mid-tower-350w PS
Asus P2B mb-P2-400 128megs PC-100
WD 6gig and WD 4gig(One for me and one for Mama....:-)
Iomega Zip
Floppy
40X Asus cdrom
STB V4400 TNT/AGP (Still using my old Voodoo-1 for a little while for
3dfx-only apps)
SB-PCI128 sound card with Cambridge surround system and sub-woofer
56k Rockwell fax/voice modem
AOC Spectrum 17in monitor
Total cost of system-$1350 and change. This would cost over $2000 easy if
bought assembled. The thing I like the best is that I got what "I" wanted in
the system, at a much lower cost than an over-the-counter system that may
not have the top quality components I wanted. I cut a little on the monitor,
but it works great until I can afford the 21" Trinitron........:-). Note:
Make sure you buy from reputable suppliers. Re-marked P2 chips are showing
up fairly often. I bought the MB and processor from a local dealer who I
know and trust. He also matched or beat prices that I got over the internet
at some of the mail-order companies on some of the other components, so shop
around, and don't forget about the local dealers. They can give you the best
deals sometimes and you always know where they are.....Good luck.
Regards,
Ed Medlin
www.flyairwest.com
Reach me by ICQ. My ICQ# is 191942
Page me online through my Personal Communication Center:
http://wwp.mirabilis.com/191942
Send me E-mail Express directly to my computer screen
>> I keep reading about people who build their own systems, and having done
some
>> reconfiguring, I think I could probably do it. My question is what
source do
>> people use for the parts for these systems?
>Mike,
>I go with whoever has the best pricing for the parts I want. Once I know
>what I'm after, I look it up on http://www.pricewatch.com
>Trips
> >> I keep reading about people who build their own systems, and having done
> some
> >> reconfiguring, I think I could probably do it. My question is what
> source do
> >> people use for the parts for these systems?
> >Mike,
> >I go with whoever has the best pricing for the parts I want. Once I know
> >what I'm after, I look it up on http://www.pricewatch.com
> >Trips
> Then I print them out and take them to a local dealer and see if they will
> meet or beat the prices.....then I have local support, and usually better
> warranties. JMHO.......
> Regards,
> Ed Medlin
I don't know why it never occurred to me to do that, but you can bet
that the next time i'm shopping for parts I certainly will... Thanks for
the idea!
Trips
Is West Coast Hobbies still in business out there?
-Larry
Hmmm, have to disagree here I'm afraid, my 56k modem (Pace56k internal
voice/data/fax) was one of the best buys I ever made, especially for
on-line ***? If they are configured correctly, and your ISP can
handle it (mine can) they *can* use 56k, but only in one direction,
the other direction uses 33.6k.
Have you patched your modem to v90?
Correct, winmodems are not a good idea for on-line ***, buy
otherwise work fine.
Erm, have to disagree with you again here.....
I've always used internal modems (from my very first 2400!!!!!)
mainly cos they don't take up any extra room or an extra power source.
If you set it up right, an internal modem will work just as good as an
external one. All mine have worked great, and I've never really had
any problems with them?
8-)
*Peter* #:-)
>Is West Coast Hobbies still in business out there?
>>I mainly shop locally. San Diego has a LARGE concentration of computer
>>stores - you literally cannot drive one block without seeing one. Lots
>>of competition, lots of good prices.
John Simmons - Barbarian Diecast Collector
http://members.home.net/jsimm/diecast_index.html
IGPS Director
http://members.home.net/jms1/igps.html
If you want to send me email, go to either of the URL's
shown above & click "Send Me Mail" in the contents frame.
=========================================================
-Larry
> >Speaking of San Diego...
> >Is West Coast Hobbies still in business out there?
> >>I mainly shop locally. San Diego has a LARGE concentration of computer
> >>stores - you literally cannot drive one block without seeing one. Lots
> >>of competition, lots of good prices.
> --
> =========================================================
> John Simmons - Redneck Techno-Biker (Zerex12)
> http://www.members.home.net/jms1/index.html
> John Simmons - Barbarian Diecast Collector
> http://members.home.net/jsimm/diecast_index.html
> IGPS Director
> http://members.home.net/jms1/igps.html
> If you want to send me email, go to either of the URL's
> shown above & click "Send Me Mail" in the contents frame.
> =========================================================
What does that do for you ?
I am using IRQ 3 and so far so good.
> >One last note here - do NOT buy a winmodem
> Excellent advice! Spend the extra $20 or $30 for a "real"
> modem with jumpers on the board...
> > or an internal modem. Winmodems only work under windows and
> >steal CPU cycles during operation (not a good thing for online ***).
> >Internal modems are ALWAYS a son0-of-a-*** to configure and keep
> >working. I've never had an internal modem that worked as advertised or
> >didn't***with Win95/98.
> I disagree here - I have always had good luck by getting an
> internal modem WITH COM AND IRQ JUMPERS so that I can force it to
> use COM 3, IRQ 5. Forget plug-and-pray ***for modems. The only
> problems I have had with those settings is on a Packard Bell
> computer, but I didn't have a lot of time to tinker with it
> either...
> Yes, you may have to monkey around with Win9x to free
> up IRQ 5, but it can be done, and once it's done, it shouldn't
> give you any more problems... Plus, if you upgrade your
> modem by pulling out the old and sticking in the new (with
> the COM3/IRQ5 settings made) without re-booting, the
> configuration is easier - nothing has a chance to grab your
> IRQ 5 that way...
> My $0.02...
> - m.
> ============================================
> Mike Holthouse - Indianapolis, IN
> Drop the "X" to e-mail me.
> ============================================
I use com 3 and IRQ 5 because nothing else usually does...
(well, in the past, anyway...) IRQ 3 and 4 are shared between
coms 2 and 4 and coms 1 and 3, which never really made
sense to me... a lot of sound cards default to irq 5, and I
usually end up changing them to 7 or 10 to avoid conflicts...
If you were ever to add a serial mouse to com 1 or 2, you
may have a conflict... I have 2 mice hooked up all the time -
my regular ps2 mouse as well as a trackball, so it always
has been and continues to be easiest for me to stick the
modem on com 3, irq 5 and forget about it... ymmv...
- m.
============================================
Mike Holthouse - Indianapolis, IN
Drop the "X" to e-mail me.
============================================
I guess a prepackaged product is good because you know it will, or
ought to, work straight from the box. Any problems you have with a
homebuilt system you'll need to investigate yourself to fix. It helps
having known working spare parts you can swap in when id-ing the bit
that won't work.
Stuart
--
Stuart Booth
Somewhere in Buckinghamshire, England, UK
Note: My email address is in disguise! Remove trailing Z
What I am wondering is how the hell do you pull a modem out and
install a new one without rebooting?! The below sounds like some
seriously bad advice to me....
Why not just use the serial port defaults? I've never found it to be
problem, and modems are the least problematic things I've had to set
up.
Cheers!
John
> >why IRQ 5 ?
> What I am wondering is how the hell do you pull a modem out and
> install a new one without rebooting?! The below sounds like some
> seriously bad advice to me....
> >> Yes, you may have to monkey around with Win9x to free
> >> up IRQ 5, but it can be done, and once it's done, it shouldn't
> >> give you any more problems... Plus, if you upgrade your
> >> modem by pulling out the old and sticking in the new (with
> >> the COM3/IRQ5 settings made) without re-booting, the
> >> configuration is easier - nothing has a chance to grab your
> >> IRQ 5 that way...
8-)
*Peter* #:-)
