Getting A New Computer
2_of_Eight
Join Date: 2003-08-20 Member: 20016Members
Join Date: 2003-08-20 Member: 20016Members
in Off-Topic
<div class="IPBDescription">Any comments?</div> Hello.
I'm getting a new computer in weeks, here are the specs that I'm set on.
P4, 2.6 GHz
512 MB DDR RAM
80 GB HD
ATI Radeon 9800
Anything you might suggest to add/change (especially video card. Currently have Radeon 9200 SE, I'm giving that to my brother (along with the rest of my computer (hehe (all these brackets!)))).
Thank you for the input.
I'm getting a new computer in weeks, here are the specs that I'm set on.
P4, 2.6 GHz
512 MB DDR RAM
80 GB HD
ATI Radeon 9800
Anything you might suggest to add/change (especially video card. Currently have Radeon 9200 SE, I'm giving that to my brother (along with the rest of my computer (hehe (all these brackets!)))).
Thank you for the input.
Comments
$$$$$$$ makes you happier!!!!!!!
Radeon X800 XT
80 gig HDD
1 gig DDR or Dual channel if Mobo support it.
Really depends on how much you want to spend really.
Radeon X800 XT <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
I'm against AMD/Athlons/Celerons/Apples/Macintoshes/etc. Pentium is the way to go <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/biggrin-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->
As for radeon X800 XT... doesn't that cost like $400? Not really accessible to me, eh. And I don't generally play games with maxed out settings while trying to edit a Far Cry map in the background. <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/biggrin-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->
The point being maby we shouldn't just be throwing upgrades at the man and be trying to work within his price range.
My Serious Suggestions: Go for a sapphire radeon 9800 as they are gennerally cheaper and they are built just as nice. Go for AMD, as they benchmark twice as good as pentiums in the same GHz range and are generally cheaper (IOW, get more bang for your buck). Don't get a mobo that doesn't support 400MHz ram or AGP 8x as you will regret it in no time. Price hunt on your HDD, I have seen them go anywhere between $50-$100. Buy a cheap case, they are relitively easy to mod, so don't go spending alot of money that you are gonna regret not having later. There is no way that setup is ever going to need more than 350W of power out of your PSU, don't go over the edge.
Why?
Apple and Mac = Expensive, medium speed, ultra stable.
Celeron = Dirt Cheap, Horrible speed, Windows stable.
Duron = nearly free, medium speed, windows stable.
athlon = dirt cheap, great speed, windows stable.
pentium = medium price, medium speed, windows stable.
Heat is no issue when you use the cooler that comes with each unit.
Now if you could kindly explain your fixation on the pentium brandname, please....
Why?
Apple and Mac = Expensive, medium speed, ultra stable.
Celeron = Dirt Cheap, Horrible speed, Windows stable.
Duron = nearly free, medium speed, windows stable.
athlon = dirt cheap, great speed, windows stable.
pentium = medium price, medium speed, windows stable.
Heat is no issue when you use the cooler that comes with each unit.
Now if you could kindly explain your fixation on the pentium brandname, please.... <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Don't you remember? AMD chips are made by slave laborers in third world countries, their sole purpous is to take money away from hard working American companies like Intel.
PS, macs suck.
BTW do you know that CREATIVE TECHNOLOGIES founder is a Singaporean?
Most hardware comes from asia, so why bother.
I'm getting a new computer in weeks, here are the specs that I'm set on.
P4, 2.6 GHz
512 MB DDR RAM
80 GB HD
ATI Radeon 9800
Anything you might suggest to add/change (especially video card. Currently have Radeon 9200 SE, I'm giving that to my brother (along with the rest of my computer (hehe (all these brackets!)))).
Thank you for the input. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Thats my exact system lol.
Its a good system, it runs the new tribes beta very well, and I expect it to run HL2 very well.
Why?
Apple and Mac = Expensive, medium speed, ultra stable.
Celeron = Dirt Cheap, Horrible speed, Windows stable.
Duron = nearly free, medium speed, windows stable.
athlon = dirt cheap, great speed, windows stable.
pentium = medium price, medium speed, windows stable.
Heat is no issue when you use the cooler that comes with each unit.
Now if you could kindly explain your fixation on the pentium brandname, please....<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Ok.
Apple and Mac - this really is not based on anything solid, this is a very ignorant view <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/smile-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile-fix.gif' /><!--endemo--> The only computers (of the above type) that I've used run extremely slowly. And I don't like the mouse.
(told you it was ignorant)
Celeron - as far as I know, it can handle less processes at the same time. And that's not a good thing for me, since having several installers open, typing up a Word document, downloading ~10 things from BT and surfing at the same time is not rare for me.
Duron - I've heard some bad things from friends with Durons...
Athlon - If the fan fails, your processor is cooked (hard-boiled (in less than a minute)).
There we go.
*Notice*: this may not be true... this is my opinion/what I've heard, so don't rely on this info!
I have the 9800 pro it owns.
*Actully..expect for the processer thats what I have.
Your hate for AMD is complete fanboyism.
AMD Athlon Processors both XP and 64 can litteraly destroy their Pentium 4 counterparts when it comes to games you will clearly see it if you saw the benchmarks.
AMD Athlon 64 FX-53 > Intel Pentium 4 3.4GHz Extreme Edition w/ Hyper Threading
AMD Athlon XP/64 3200+ > Intel Pentium 4 3.2GHz w/ Hyper Threading
Lower Clock Speeds in GHz does not mean slower performance, if you pit an AMD Athlon 64 3000+ (2.0GHz) against it's counterpart the Intel Pentium 4 3.0GHz it will easily match or surpass it.
Every real Hard-Core gamer will vouch AMD. Now I'm not saying you won't be able to run your games on a Pentium 4 but I'll point this out.
Your buying a PC with a mobo that's socket is just about at it's limits (Socket 478) which is right at the threshold of being replaced by the new 775 socket.
Now if you chose a 775 socketed mobo with the new PCI-Express interface I would not be so dissapoineted on such waisted money.
Bottom line you're choosing a old interface that does not open much doors to upgradability.
I mean your doubts in AMD are completly unfounded, a dead heatsink ? The newer mobos come with build in sensors that will auto emergency shutdown if your fan fails. Pentium 4 (2.6GHz and UP) Prescott cores will heat up worse than AMD processors.
Conclusion in gaming AMD > Intel, your hate for AMD = Fanboyism.
Your RAM to 1 GB could easily be doubled if you don't overclock and go with a Major Generic Brand and you fail to give us it's speeds I mean 512MB of PC133 Ram IS A LOT SHITTIER than 512 MB of DDR400/PC3200 Ram.
80GB is kinda small and like someone mentioned 120GB HD are getting cheaper. Yet again you fail to give us info by keeping us in the dark about the Seek Time, RPM Speed and Cache size.
9800 yeah that sounds cool but again you keep us in the dark on the core either it's a 9800 Pro or 9800 XT and the RAM Size/Speed.
I'm not saying this like that... it's from real expirience, i had a p4(still have it accualy) and when i bough my amd64 cause i heared it's better for gaming... i really saw the diff. in games: game loads faster, lags less, more performance... all that matters after that is your videocard...
now p4 are not bad, but amd64 is way to go for games...
80GB is kinda small and like someone mentioned 120GB HD are getting cheaper. Yet again you fail to give us info by keeping us in the dark about the Seek Time, RPM Speed and Cache size.
9800 yeah that sounds cool but again you keep us in the dark on the core either it's a 9800 Pro or 9800 XT and the RAM Size/Speed. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Based on the cost margine this system seems to be built on I would assume we are talking about DDR400 RAM (just becuase buying anything else would be retarded in this day and age), 7200 RPM (or whatever is standard) with 2M cache (as most 80gig drives only cache 2M) and a 9800 pro 128 (because sapphire sells these for less than the cost of a deck of cards <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo-->)
Well in my new PC I went for both an Intel Motherboard and Processer. Why? Because this was the first PC I've ever scratch-built that and its perpose isn't purely gaming. Its also software development, Graphics rendering and anything else my university course decides to throw at me. So I wanted something that appears to be good at doing all those.
Your hate for AMD is complete fanboyism.
AMD Athlon Processors both XP and 64 can litteraly destroy their Pentium 4 counterparts when it comes to games you will clearly see it if you saw the benchmarks.
<b>AMD Athlon 64 FX-53 > Intel Pentium 4 3.4GHz Extreme Edition w/ Hyper Threading
AMD Athlon XP/64 3200+ > Intel Pentium 4 3.2GHz w/ Hyper Threading</b>
Lower Clock Speeds in GHz does not mean slower performance, if you pit an AMD Athlon 64 3000+ (2.0GHz) against it's counterpart the Intel Pentium 4 3.0GHz it will easily match or surpass it.
Every real Hard-Core gamer will vouch AMD. Now I'm not saying you won't be able to run your games on a Pentium 4 but I'll point this out.
Your buying a PC with a mobo that's socket is just about at it's limits (Socket 478) which is right at the threshold of being replaced by the new 775 socket.
Now if you chose a 775 socketed mobo with the new PCI-Express interface I would not be so dissapoineted on such waisted money.
Bottom line you're choosing a old interface that does not open much doors to upgradability.
I mean your doubts in AMD are completly unfounded, a dead heatsink ? The newer mobos come with build in sensors that will auto emergency shutdown if your fan fails. Pentium 4 (2.6GHz and UP) Prescott cores will heat up worse than AMD processors.
Conclusion in gaming AMD > Intel, your hate for AMD = Fanboyism.
Your RAM to 1 GB could easily be doubled if you don't overclock and go with a Major Generic Brand and you fail to give us it's speeds I mean 512MB of PC133 Ram IS A LOT SHITTIER than 512 MB of DDR400/PC3200 Ram.
80GB is kinda small and like someone mentioned 120GB HD are getting cheaper. Yet again you fail to give us info by keeping us in the dark about the Seek Time, RPM Speed and Cache size.
9800 yeah that sounds cool but again you keep us in the dark on the core either it's a 9800 Pro or 9800 XT and the RAM Size/Speed. <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
AMD Athlon FX-53 - £539.00, BEFORE tax at 17.5%
P4 Prescott 3.4GHz with HT(socket 478) - £174.95 BEFORE tax at 17.5%
No wonder the FX-53 outperforms the 3.4, its £360 quid more expensive!
PCI-Express really hasn't taken off yet, it's pretty hard to find a good range of PCI-X cards(in the UK at least)
[EDIT:]For clarity
P4 Prescott 3.4GHz with HT(socket 478) - £174.95 BEFORE tax at 17.5%
No wonder the FX-53 outperforms the 3.4, its £360 quid more expensive!
PCI-Express really hasn't taken off yet, it's pretty hard to find a good range of PCI-X cards(in the UK at least)
[EDIT:]For clarity <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Gees, at least compare in the same socket range and build style. The FX-53 is more on par with the Intel Pentium 4 Extreme Edition 3.4GHz(EE) 2MB of L3 cache 800FSB than the socket 478. A socket 478 is roughly half as powerfull as a FX-53.
PCIe will is in the process of taking off... the next new generation of cards most likely will all be exclusively PCIe, thus the PCIe X800's and 6800's will be much more available at that point.
Writing music, 3D rendering, creating extremely memory-intensive presentations (Flash/PowerPoint), image editing, and ... gaming.
Yes, my dislike of AMD may be unjustified. But you aren't going to change my mind <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Writing music, 3D rendering, creating extremely memory-intensive presentations (Flash/PowerPoint), image editing, and ... gaming.
Yes, my dislike of AMD may be unjustified. But you aren't going to change my mind <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo--> <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Uhhhh, then pentium isn't the way either...
Might aswell get 2 Nocona Xeon's then.
Writing music, 3D rendering, creating extremely memory-intensive presentations (Flash/PowerPoint), image editing, and ... gaming.
Yes, my dislike of AMD may be unjustified. But you aren't going to change my mind <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo--> <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Maby I'm just retarded, but gaming is far more system intensive than any of those functions you just listed there. Your standard AMD should preform just as well as your standard pentium in the same price range in all those functions (if not better), and kick a pentiums butt in gaming. Face the music, the Athy is a better chip than the Pentium.
Writing music, 3D rendering, creating extremely memory-intensive presentations (Flash/PowerPoint), image editing, and ... gaming.
Yes, my dislike of AMD may be unjustified. But you aren't going to change my mind <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo--> <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
See how ironic it is when you said earlier that you won't be running a game at maximum graphical level while mapping a far cry map. Well that exactly what P4s are designed to do: muilti-tasking. I'm not trying to change your mind but make sure you don't pull more people into your Intel Fanboyism. Not to mention 3d rendering puts more stress on the graphic card than the processor.
<!--QuoteBegin-raz0r+Sep 16 2004, 03:46 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (raz0r @ Sep 16 2004, 03:46 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> AMD Athlon FX-53 - ?539.00, BEFORE tax at 17.5%
P4 Prescott 3.4GHz with HT(socket 478) - ?174.95 BEFORE tax at 17.5%
No wonder the FX-53 outperforms the 3.4, its ?360 quid more expensive!
PCI-Express really hasn't taken off yet, it's pretty hard to find a good range of PCI-X cards(in the UK at least)
[EDIT:]For clarity <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Dude you're comparing the regular Prescott P4 3.4GHz, I put the FX-53 head to head with the P4 3.4GHz Extreme Edition find it and you will see it's quite a bit more expaensive than you say.