🚀 go-pugleaf

Just...@ix.netcom.com (Phil) writes:

>1) I _need_ a system that is a quiet as possible.
>Any suggestions of which types of machines are the most quiet?  

Don't think you can get anything better than what you already have, for 
your price range.  Just stuff it in your closet and muffle the noise with 
whatever you can :).

>2) A pentuim c.p.u. running anywhere from 90mhz to 150mhz. If a 90 mhz
>system can produce 15 fps-full screen, in games such as Nuke-3d, then
>i'll be very satified. But if it is a p90 it _must_ be upgradable on
>the motherboard to at least a p133.
>What would you personally suggest, is a P120 or greater a _must have_?
>And how much of a difference in cost, is there between a P90 and P133?

Get a P120.  Its not much more expensive than a P90, and you can still use
70ns simms (a p133 needs 60ns simms).  As for the motherboard, any with a
triton chipset is fine.  

>3) I will of course need the fastest PCI video card possible, for
>games that is. You see, although i do some graphical designing, it's
>not impotant if the board is fast in Windows 3.1 or 95'. 
>I heard alot of good things about a board called the #9GXE64 and how
>it speeds up dos based games. 

There are a lot of good video cards out there.  #9 is only one of them.

>So of course, a 28.8 modem seems the logical choice, but should i stay
>with the U.S. Robotics type or are there easier-better modems around?

USR modems are the best, but are pricier than most.  I'd recommend using 
a Cardinal or Supra and spend the money you saved elsewhere.

>5) I will need at a 1gig. hard drive, as my present 340mb hd is just
>not enough anymore. Other then posting,articles, the o.s. system,and
>sharewhare software, i really buy all other stuff on cd.
>Will a 1 gigabyte hard drive hold be over for the next 18-24 months?
>Oh...also, can i throw this 340-ide hd into a pentuim system, or is it
>too slow..or just not worth it?

Use the 1 gigabyte drive as your first primary partition, and you'll be fine.

>6) 16mb of edo ram seems like a good choice..or will the latest games
>(Quake, Duke-3d,ect) require 20-24 mb to get the best
>detail..speed.ect?

You might want to just get 16mb of normal ram and spend the money you saved 
elsewhere.  Tho, edo is really cheap now.  

>7) It seems that quad speed drives are now the new entry level cd
>drive, and it seems the speeds of them only make a difference in FMV
>games..however it would be nice to have FMV that runs more smoothly :)

You should get a 4x Toshiba, which costs less than $100.  Or maybe a 6x, 
since it doesn't cost much more.

>8) I still have a decent sound setup with an old pro-audio 16 sound
>card and a Roland Lapt-1 music card. And while i'm a musician myself,
>i don't care much for music in a game..just as long as the sound
>effects are crisp enough.

A good wavetable card and speakers will really improve a game (imho), but 
if you don't care for music, I guess you don't need it.

>I know, $1500-$1600 max can not get me my "ideal" system, but is this
>configuration possible?

Yes.

>P120 that's upgradable to a P150,ect.. , or at least a P90 that's
>fully (ie..P133,150,ect) upgradable. 
>16mb edo ram (i can always upgrade the ram in the future)
>PCI #9GXE64 , video card w/2mb of dram
>28.8 baud modem
>1 gig. hard drive
>4x cd drive - decent speed (i can do without a cd-drive if needed)
>Mini-tower, that is pretty quiet.

Here's a solid system:

Pentium 120 CPU........................................$ 263
Intel Endeavor.........................................$ 204
16mb 60ns EDO RAM......................................$ 300
Medium tower case......................................$  50
Keytronics 101 Key.....................................$  18
Teac 1.44MB Floppy.....................................$  33
Logitech Mouse Man II..................................$  20
Pentium Fan, Heat Sink.................................$  10
Matrox Millennium 2MB WRAM (OEM).......................$ 273
Quantum Fireball 1.2gb Fast ATA-2 hard drive...........$ 206
Creative Labs 6x EIDE CD-ROM...........................$ 108
CD-ROM to Sound Card Cables............................$   5
Speakers: QIC Model 8803 100 Watt!.....................$  60
------------------------------------------------------------
Total						       $1550
(tax not included)

Some items could be found at a lower price (pentium cpu, tower case, 
etc), and others are rarely this low (memory, video card, etc).  These 
prices, however, represent ACTUAL prices found in today's newspaper.  

The first thing to go, imho, would be the video card--go for a Diamond 
Stealth 64 video DRAM or ATI Winboost 64 DRAM instead.  You might want to 
do that if you want a wavetable sound card or a 8x cdrom drive, etc.
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