Need a new comp...

Have you check out some of the comp deals on:



The Tech Zone



I picked up my new Dell thanks to a posting in the Hot Deals section. PC's are so cheap anymore. You can get a decent system for like $500.00.



My Mom needs a new PC so I have been keeping my eye out.
 
your list looks good. have you tried checking out www.zipzoomfly.com? they probably have everything you listed plus you can get free 2nd day shipping (UPS) on certain items. their pricing is similar or a little cheaper than newegg. i've ordered from them a couple times and both times got the correct order and parts that worked. :xyxthumbs



i like to read Maximum PC for advice on what components to get. i think they recently did a "build your own PC" article, and had listings for three different types of budgets.
 
Well, in classic fashion, I've thought and looked a bit and made small thoughts made big changes.



The more I think about it the more I want an Abit motherboard. I just like them and have had good success with them. So, they really don't have much in Socket 939. They don't have any nForce4 stuff out yet, and it's not clear when they will. So I am leaning towards basically the list from before, but with an AA8XE or AA8XE Fatal1ty board and a P4 2.8 LGA775 chip and 1GB of DDR2-533 memory.



The 64-bit support of the AMD is compelling, and the more I think about SLI, the more I think it might be a pain and by the time I upgrade a video card to some nVidia 8000 or whatever, it won't really matter.



The Fatal1ty board seems like overkill, but it's only about $50 more than the AA8XE anyway, and it seems to be made of better quality components. Seems like a board that would really be durable. The whole thing will be about $975 shipped.



I can understand if you are sick of hearing about it or you don't want to weigh in anymore with any advice. I'll be shopping around a tad to find the best prices, but don't want to order from 20 different places just to save a few dollars. This is the way I'm leaning as I'd like to get buying and to get playing my Pacific Assault... ;) Thanks!



Edit: Oh, I did look at Dell, and the convenience of not doing anything is kind of nice. But to get a 925XE chipset that supports the 1066MHz FSB, you have to get the XPS4 computer. Even with their rebates, it would be about $1700, though it would have a 3.4GHz processor and an nVidia 6800 graphics card.
 
Whoa, i just caught this thread. Dont get an intel if you like to play games.



Buy either Asus, Abit, or MSI 939 M/B, and something like a A64 3200.



Check out the Patriot memory at new egg.
 
Wow, I am amazed of how many autopians are also computer experts :up



I think the majority has already said the right things, but I will repeat:



- Get a socket 939 Athlon 64. The 3200+ would be my choice to remain within the budget. A lot has been said about the 64 bits capability, but let's be honest, even in 32 bits environment the K8 kicks major @$$. You get the best performer in 32 bits and ready for 64 bits. Ah, and for games the on-die integrated memory controller and hypertransport just murder the competition.



- Get an Nforce 4 motherboard. SLI is optional. I am not really excited about PCI-Express as so far it has shown no improvements in performance yet. Yes, it is more future proof, but if are like me you get a new mobo with a new CPU..... You pick the brand. Biostar and Shuttle have been very good for me, as have been Gigabyte and Epox. Don't worry about DDR-2, it has no advantages yet. My only personnal recommendation is making sure it has firewire 800 on-board (preferably with a no-VIA chip for the firewire ;))



- Video card, I would suggest a 6800 GT.



- A WD raptor 74GB for boot disk (10K rpm), and if you store tons of data get an additional ~200GB hard drive.





Alex
 
Yeah, I'd really rather have an AMD. For one because of the 64-bit flexibility. True intel has that coming, but AMD is here now. I will probably go with the Abit AX8 board. The Abit nForce4's that will be coming out dont' appear to have legacy ports. I still need to hook up my HP 6MP printer!



Alex, I think the 6800 GT is overpriced. $400-500 for something that will be $150 in 6 months to me is a waste. I'll stick with a 6600GT for now. And I don't use anything firewire. I've absolutely no use for it. :) 10k rpm drives are pretty expensive. And they are still worlds slower than the rest of the system. It's not worth the cost to me right now. PCIe video cards seem to be a bit cheaper, and they are no worse. Plus, as you said, it's more future-proof. I see no downside...



Thanks for the help all :wavey
 
I already have a SuperCase ATX case sitting in my bedroom that I am leaning toward throwing an AMD processor into. I'd like to throw one of the Socket 939 (AMD 64 or Sempron) mobos in it but I am leaning toward this:



Asus AMD A8-V Deluxe

13-131-510-02.JPG




I saw a PCI-X board but they wanted $269.



Processor AMD 64



As for the PS, I am aiming toward the Antec TruePower 430.
 
Ok, thanks all. I ended up getting the Asus SLI board because it was under $200 and in-stock. I couldn't find the Abit AX8 in stock anywhere.



So for now just the one 6600GT and a 3000+. Should be decent in the future to get two 6800 Ultras or whatever is next for cheap (when they are mid-range or econo cards) and some 4000+ or something. So I'll have a nice mid-range for a year or two with some decent upgrade paths. :) I got the True 550W just in case... ;)
 
I am about to upgrade my computer with some better hardware. I built my computer not too long ago.



NF7S MB. Forgot the maker.

Gigabyte 9600XT video card

Athlon XP2500+ (92MM tornado on top of thermal take SLK900 (or so?)

WD JB 80 gig

WD JB 160 gig media center USB hard drive

Onboard Soundstorm sound

512MB PC3200 RAM (Corsair?)

Antec True430 PS

Artic Silver 5 through out heatsinks and north/south bridge.

Kingwin mid tower in black.



I spent roughly $1000 total for the whole computer.



the 65 bit processor seems like a good move. Not totally expensive but when I get home, the CPU for me will probably be the 3200 XP. Also might upgrade to 1 gig of DDR, and sound card will be a Sound Blaster audigy 2 ZS hooked up to my Creative 6.1 system. I would have got some Klipsh (sp?) speakers but I'll be fine with the 6.1's.



The Kingwin case is nice, I would have preffered Lian Li but Kingwin is just as nice.



Doom 3 for me when I get back to the states. I think if I upgrade my processor and the sound card it should run decent, aiming for 25-30fps.



Your system sound solid in terms of gaming :)



Also nice monitor, I was thinking Samsung 19 inch 910T in black.
 
I'm going with this soon:

Abit NF8

AMD 64 3400+

1GB Corsair 3200 RAM

160GB SATA HD (samsung or seagate)

120GB IDE HD (same)

Double-layer DVD+/-RW burner

M-Audio Revolution Soundcard (I'm more into music than games, so I'll give up few fps for better sound)

Video card???? (leaning towards ATI aiw something)

Samsung 710T LCD 17"



One question -- why would I go for a 19" lcd if the optimum resolution on both the 17s and 19s are 1280x1024?
 
jasonmac said:
One question -- why would I go for a 19" lcd if the optimum resolution on both the 17s and 19s are 1280x1024?
Click to expand...

That is weird that they both have the same native resolution. But it's possible the 19" couldn't make the jump to the next normal size. If you had both side-by-side, the resolution would be the same, you'd have the same amount of desktop real-estate, etc. But one would be larger. Everything would be slightly bigger and easier to read/look at.



In my opinion, a 17" monitor is pretty small. A 17" monitor running 1280x1024 would be really small.



Also, what's up with 1280x1024? The correct 4x3 ratio is 1280x960, which is what I tend to run my 21" CRT at (except in games as my TNT2 Ultra can't handle more than 1024x768 very well).
 
jasonmac said:
One question -- why would I go for a 19" lcd if the optimum resolution on both the 17s and 19s are 1280x1024?
Click to expand...



The pixels are spaced out a little bit more on the 19" if I have that right. So it wont be AS detailed as a 17" but it will still be very good.



Once again, I'm not 100% sure on this but its something for you to look at. On a random 17" samsung, I see the spec "Pixel Pitch: 0.264 mm" and on a 19" samsung I see the spec "Pixel Pitch: 0.294 mm " So the spacing isnt much.



That being said, both a 17 or 19" will look great and 1280x1024 is an awesome resolution IMO.
 
Yeah, the spacing makes sense; I also read a review on Tom's Hardware that gaming on a 19" versus a 17" is much more immersive. I'm not sure I can justify the expense of going to a 19-inch since I only play a few games (more on XBox and PS2).
 
Woohoo, I got everything together. I'm still messing around trying to get WinXP installed on it. But I did a quick test of 3DMark2001 because it wasn't as huge a download (38MB vs like 180MB for 2003). On Win2000, my old comp got a 1222 score. My new comp got a 17302. More than 1000% better! :xyxthumbs
 
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