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St Leo
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Member of the Apolyton Social Democratic Party
Jul 2005
time: 00:34
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So, I am thinking of buying a new computer. I did some research on TigerDirect.ca and here's what I am looking at:
| Total | $1,196.88 | ($952.80 American) | | Case | $53.99 | Just 4 PC - 727 - Black ATX Mid-Tower Case with Front USB & Audio Ports and 450-Watt Power Supply | | 1.8 GHz | Processor | $199.99 | AMD Athlon 64 3000+ / 512KB Cache / 2000 MHz FSB / Socket 939 / Processor with Fan | | Motherboard | $141.99 | Foxconn NF4UK8AA-8EKRS nVidia Socket 939 ATX Motherboard / Audio / PCI Express / Gigabit LAN / USB 2.0 & Firewire / Serial ATA | | 1024MB | RAM | $202.99 | Ultra 1024MB PC3200 DDR 400MHz Memory | | 256MB | Video Card | $148.99 | Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro / 256MB / PCI Express / VGA / DVI / TV Out / Video Card | | Sound Card | $94.99 | Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy 2 OEM Sound Card | | 5.1 | Speakers | $74.99 | Logitech X530-PC Multimedia Home Theater-70 Watt | | 200GB | Hard Drive | $168.99 | Maxtor / 200GB / 7200 / 8MB / SATA-150 / OEM / Hard Drive with NCQ | | +/-RW | CD Drive | $70.99 | NEC ND3520 / 16x6x16x DVD-RW / 16x8x16x DVD+RW / 4x DVD+R DL / 48x24x48x CD-RW / Black / Dual Layer / OEMDVD Burner with Nero software | | Extra Fan | $13.99 | Ultra 5.25" Bay Freezer with 2 - 60mm Cooling Fans - White | | Keyboard | $10.99 | AOpen Windows PS/2 Keyboard (White) | | Mouse | $13.99 | Diablotek Silver Optical PS/2 Scroll Mouse |
(I have a spare monitor lying around.)
- The goal is to have a good upgrade path. CPU speed isn't very important AFAIK, so I want to get the slowest AMD Socket 939 thingie now and then plug in a faster replacement in a few years.
- Uh, come to think of it, if I get a 1800 MHz CPU with a 2000 MHz system bus, do I have to overclock it to take full advantage of the bus speed?
- I am assuming that the motherboard has an on-board network card. That's what the specs and the photos imply.
- One stick of 1024 MB RAM, with plans to subsequently get three more.
- The current computer has a nice 4.1 (4 speakers + subwoofer) sound system, so I could reuse that and get a pair of cheap speakers for the other one. Saves a few bucks. But the lure of having a centre speaker is so strong...
- The motherboard specs say it has 4 Serial ATA headers, so presumably there's a point to getting a Serial ATA/150 instead of an Ultra ATA-133 hard drive, right?
- The extra fan is probably useless for my needs.
- Is a 256MB Radeon X600 Pro overkill? The 128MB Radeon 9200 that I got about a year ago runs all the games I have with great happiness, and I have no interest whatsoever in Doom3 or Half-Life 2. FarCry has an attractive box, but I suspect it's also far too realistic and boring for my tastes in shooters.
- Have I missed anything?
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Zopperoni
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Screw Foxconn and Chaintech, go with ASUS, Abit, or MSI for AMD-compatible boards. These three brands get good reviews. For future upgradeability, the ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe seems a good bet. You can ditch the soundcard with this board and save $100.
Furthermore, how's the case + PSU? I think those are very important components worth dishing out some extra cash for. Antec and Enermax are trusted brands in that area.
Finally, I think you're getting screwed by the harddisk price. For that money you should be able to get a 250 MB S-ATA (with 16 MB cache).
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Atahualpa
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Hawthrone
Mar 1999
time: 06:34
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You'll probably also need a temporary floppy drive for installing windows, because I don't think the installation routine will recognize the SATA HDD (it didn't do with my pc) and you can only supply drivers on a floppy.
Generally, I'd go with a better case and PSU, but save on the sound, HDD and memory, but that's because I like stability better than 5 more frames.
A $50 case with a 450W PSU can only be crap.
quote:
- The goal is to have a good upgrade path. CPU speed isn't very important AFAIK, so I want to get the slowest AMD Socket 939 thingie now and then plug in a faster replacement in a few years. |
quote:
- One stick of 1024 MB RAM, with plans to subsequently get three more. |
OTOH 2 RAM sticks are faster than 1, but if you plan to upgrade in the near future, it's not so much of a problem. But IIRC you'd have to get exactly the same 2nd stick to be able to use the performance advantage of Dual Channel DDR.
quote:
I think that with a Gig of RAM and such a good video card, your CPU will seriously bottleneck the system. |
AFAIK the X600 stems from the Radeon 9600 Pro which is quite old already... how's that a good video card?
The CPU is fine.
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muxec
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Mingapulco
Jul 2002
time: 07:34
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It's better to take 2*512MB RAM. Cheaper and faster.
Maxtor Hard Disks are not reliable. It is better to take 160MB Seagate.
You can safely overclock AMD 64 2800 to AMD 64 3200 with BOX CPU-fan.
PCI-E GeForce 6600 supports all games you need. You do not need Radeon.
For 50$ you can buy case with built in extra fan.
Also I'd discard sound card and speakers and buy cheap headphones... Do you really feel the difference?
Do you really need floppy disk drive?
Last edited by muxec on 14-06-2005 at 20:01
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Slaughtermeyer
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PA, USA
Jan 1970
time: 05:34
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I'm also thinking about buying a new computer. Does anyone know the difference between DDR and DDR2 memory? I am considering an HP from WalMart that has 1024 MB of DDR2 memory, the complete specs for the system ($1048) are:
* Control your PC from across the room using the included full remote
* 3.0 GHz Intel Pentium 4 Processor 630 with HT Technology
* 1 GB PC3200 DDR2 SDRAM memory (2 x 512 MB for ultimate performance)
* Expandable to 4 GB
* 200 GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA hard drive
* CD-ROM drive (48x max. speed)
* LightScribe Double Layer 16x DVDR/RW drive with CD writer capabilities
* LightScribe feature produces neat, professional-looking disc labels; forget the Magic Marker!
* Front panel 9-in-1 memory card reader supports Smart Media, xD, MultiMedia Card, Secure Digital (SD), Compact Flash I, Compact Flash II, Micro Drive, Memory Stick and Memory Stick Pro
* Purchase your choice of monitor separately
Warranty Length: 1-year hardware parts and labor from date of purchase. 90 day software technical toll-free phone assistance
Supplier Warranty: 1-year hardware parts and labor from date of purchase. 90 day software technical toll-free phone assistance
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/prod...duct_id=3661683
I already have a Logitech optical mouse that is satisfactory to me.
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14-06-2005 00:25
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