WinXP love list of Hardware?

[reversing_drive 0]

I am considering building my own system,

Considering i get to individually pick the bits and peices that would go in, i was wondering what under each hardware category is best supported and runs best under XP?

Since often the $/Performance/Stabilty ratio is dependant on particulary brands within the Hardware market wich focus on this that and the other.

 

Now i'm not after the Gamers dream machine, but names of harware where the companies focus specifically on Win XP.

 

For example that Intels P4 is better than the equivalent AMD because of the relationship Intel has with MS.

 

Cos many Hardware manufacturers i assume go for compatibilty above performance, that is maybe modifying drivers from Win9X to allow it to run in NT, XP, Li/Un*x, & Mac. right?

Well bugger that, if there is harware designed for XP availabe for a similar price, or what?

 

Whats your feedback on this?

Cheers.

[Brian Frank 0]

Quote:

For example that Intels P4 is better than the equivalent AMD because of the relationship Intel has with MS.

Bull. The CPU has less to do with Intel/AMD war than anything. Bring in the chipsets, I can understand. That's valid. AMD has just as good of relationship with MS as Intel.

Best results would be using name brands like Asus, Tyan, AOpen, etc., and not these off-brands like Chaintech, and Luckytech.

If you go Intel, people will advise an Intel chipset on the motherboard--which is fine, I cannot argue with that one.
For AMD, some will simply say "Via sucks". I'm not one of them, since I've had no problems running boards based on several Via chipsets (about 6). If you're squemish about Via chipsets, you have AMD's own 760 chipset (one of the oldest available)--but board's have been paired up with the infamous Via 686B southbridge. Another is nVidia's nForce--220, 420, and 415. The 420 and 415 are the better choices with a 128-bit memory bus, unlike the 220. The only difference between them is the 415 lacks the integrated GeForce 2 MX video. I have an nForce 415 board, the Abit NV7-133R, in my main box, and it works great!
Sis 745 and ALi's Magik-DDR333 chipset are two other options as well.

For video cards, Hercules and Gainward are two I can safely recommend. ATI has finally gotten their act together in the driver arena--meaning their cards don't suck anymore.

Creative is still in the sound card biz, but you may want to look elsewhere as they don't feel the need to comply to certain specifications. Check out Hercules or Turtle Beach---or the nForce, this has on-board Dolby-Digital 5.1 sound available. Also, some companies, like Asus and Iwill, are including 6 channel setups on their boards with C-Media chips.