Need expert advice on buying/building a computer
Mar 21, 2005 at 6:05 PM Post #76 of 109
Kirosia,

This is what I am talking about:

The MSI K8T Neo2-F uses the same VIA K8T800 chipset.

http://www.msi.com.tw/program/produc...il.php?UID=608

Look at the that chart -

If you use DS mem and fill in all the slots your mem throttles down to DDR333.

It may not be a problem now - but if you upgrade to WXP64 or Longhorne you'll probably end up needing 2G of mem to work smoothly.

btw, that mobo is obsolete. The next grade up supports 1066MHz HT instead of 800MHz.
biggrin.gif


 
Mar 21, 2005 at 7:09 PM Post #77 of 109
Personally if I were you I'd pick up the Asus A8N-E, it's a new mobo based on the new Nvidia Nforce4 chipset, it's capable of the 1000mhz htt, and it's PCI-E. It would run you $10 more and is somewhat more "futureproof", you would have to run a PCI-E video card with it of course.
 
Mar 21, 2005 at 7:17 PM Post #78 of 109
Quote:

Originally Posted by AuroraProject
Personally if I were you I'd pick up the Asus A8N-E, it's a new mobo based on the new Nvidia Nforce4 chipset, it's capable of the 1000mhz htt, and it's PCI-E. It would run you $10 more and is somewhat more "futureproof", you would have to run a PCI-E video card with it of course.


Thanks!
 
Mar 21, 2005 at 9:47 PM Post #80 of 109
Kirosia,

Wait at least until late-May or early June if at all possible. Intel and AMD are releasing dual-core chips onto the market, and this should drive down the prices of standard single-core chips quite a bit.

For mid-range video cards stick with nVidia. They still pretty much smoke the Ati stuff dollar/dollar. The 6600 series of cards are reviewed all the time, and seem to consistently dust the 300,700, and even some 800 series Ati cards. Also look into getting a good heatsink for the 6600 card to allow for some overclocking. Zalman has a V700 that was recently released.

Go with an AMD chip that has 64-bit built-in capability. April will see the release of WinXP 64, and this represents a HUGE step forward for all of us. Games will start coming out in 64-bit, and you'll notice a nice jump in speed. If you use Linux you can download an AMD specific version that will take advantage of the 64-bit architecture.
 
Mar 21, 2005 at 9:59 PM Post #81 of 109
Mar 21, 2005 at 10:06 PM Post #82 of 109
Quote:

Originally Posted by AuroraProject
Hmm, I was considering that board for an upcoming project (gutting my Dell 8250).


I've owned one problem free for almost two-years. It's an outstanding board, and does a great job at everything I throw at it. I'm running (2) PATA drives in RAID0, plus (2) SATA drives in RAID0, and it is quite fast. Asus does a great job supporting their products, and so far I haven't had a single issue with mine, and my 512MB SanDisk Cruzer works flawlessly!
 
Mar 22, 2005 at 2:04 AM Post #83 of 109
DOUG! You old rascal - where you been hiding yourself? In the jungles of Ecuador?

Quote:

my 512MB SanDisk Cruzer works flawlessly!


But your Archos AV420 may not. (Just as an example). Does yours have fingerprint technology?
 
Mar 22, 2005 at 2:16 AM Post #84 of 109
Quote:

Originally Posted by wallijonn
DOUG! You old rascal - where you been hiding yourself? In the jungles of Ecuador?


Wally,

Nah, just became a lurker here due to time constraints. I still stop by every few days to see what's going on the in the headphone world. No better place for headphone info than here, and with the writing gig I try to keep up with what's going on. I mostly hang around 2CPU.com's forums as I read up on the dual Opteron system I plan to buy later this year for digital video editing.

Anywho, back on-topic: Kirosia - make sure that your mobo uses DDR and not DDR2. DDR2 RAM is a bit more expensive, yet as of now yields no performance gains. You'll need at least DDR2-667 to get any kind of gain, and that will push you over budget. Just get some nice RAM that you can overclock to at least 225-250MHz, a good CPU heatsink, and a mid-line CPU and you'l be fine.

Oh, and Microsoft was offering a free 1-year trial download of their WinXP 64 from their site. With it you can start using a 64-bit OS for free, and have a year to look into buying the full retail version. This will save you about $100 in the short-term.

Link here: https://microsoft.order-9.com/winxp6...=winxp64&id=dl
And download it SOON as Microsoft will definitely remove this ability in about a week when they release WinXP 64.
 
Mar 22, 2005 at 9:50 PM Post #85 of 109
Quote:

Originally Posted by ServinginEcuador
I've owned one problem free for almost two-years. It's an outstanding board, and does a great job at everything I throw at it. I'm running (2) PATA drives in RAID0, plus (2) SATA drives in RAID0, and it is quite fast. Asus does a great job supporting their products, and so far I haven't had a single issue with mine, and my 512MB SanDisk Cruzer works flawlessly!


Yeah, I'm still going to get it, it fits my needs well. I just wish someone still made RAMBUS mobos so I didn't have to buy new memory.
 
Mar 22, 2005 at 10:29 PM Post #86 of 109
Honestly, 1700 is a lot of money for a computer these days.

Built for around 1200 about 8 months ago:

Antec 1080 w/430w PSU
Abit IS7 (Intel i865PE) w/ Pentium 4 2.8C HT
Zalman CNPS6500B-AlCu
Radeon 9600XT
1 GB OCZ PC3500
Viewsonic Professional Series 19" P95f+B
160 GB Hitachi Deskstar 7K250
AV-710
Plextor DVD+-RW (forget the speed, i never use the thing)
Floppy drive
 
Jul 2, 2005 at 7:17 PM Post #87 of 109
Crap, I've brought this back from the dead. Stuff happened. so no compy. Plus, someone (doug I think) rec. that I wait a few months to get better parts at a good deal. Hopefully this will be the last time I bring this thread back.
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My PC IS on it's last legs, so I've no choice but to go for broke. Here's the post I made a few months ago:


Quote:

HI, it's me again. I postponed buying a computer due to financial reasons. (school, headphones, uh . . wooden poles) And my current pc has been giving me the BSOD quite a bit. Now I can order most of the parts, but I'm still undecided.

I'm going off the info from this thread, which is a few months old. So if there is anything that is obsolete, has been replaced with something better, or incompaitible, please, please let me know. (I'll add mouse, keyboard later)

NEC 16X Double Layer DVD±RW Drive, Black w/ Software, Model ND-3520A, OEM

Seagate 200GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive, Model ST3200822AS, OEM Drive Only

Corsair Value Select (Dual Pack) 184 Pin 512MBx2 DDR PC-3200 - OEM

SAMSUNG SyncMaster 997DF-T/T 19" DynaFlat CRT Monitor -RETAIL

ASUS "A8V Deluxe" VIA K8T800 Pro Chipset Motherboard For AMD Socket 939 CPU -RETAIL

AMD Socket 939 Athlon 64 3500+, 90nm, 2.2 GHz, 512KB L2 Cache 64-bit Processor - OEM (winchester)

Microsoft Windows XP Professional With Service Pack 2 -OEM

The above is about $1040 or so, so I've still got around $400-450 to work with. (the rest is for random components) I'm still not sure what video card or case to get. Not sure about the monitor either, I've been checking out the samsung and NEC at best buy, the latter is brighter (don't know about quality though), but much larger in girth. I've been hearing of a new AMD (venice?) coming out soon/already, don't much bout that either. I wonder if I even need so much power, probably not I guess. Also, what's a good (cheap) surge protector?

Thanks in advance. My brain's getting racked. =)

(thanks to steph, walli, aurora, and the others for getting me this far in the first place)


I'm aware some these parts may have become surpassed since the time of the post, so if anyone can help me update the list and stuff, I would be very grateful. A vid card rec. would be good too. I've got about $1500-1600 or so to spend, incl. monitor and surge protector. I don't really need a superkeyboard or anything. Yet. If you guys are fed up with me, sorry.
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Jul 5, 2005 at 1:41 AM Post #88 of 109
OKay, after doing some research on hard forums and the like, I've got an idea of what to get:

Pioneer Black IDE DVD Burner Model DVR-109 BK - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827129161

Antec SONATA II Piano Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 450Watt SmartPower 2.0 ATX 12V V2.0 for AMD & Intel systems Power Supply - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129155

HITACHI Deskstar 7K250 HDS722525VLSA80 -13G0255 250GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822145048

SAMSUNG 997DF-T/T 19" CRT Monitor 15-Pin D-Sub - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824001166

ASUS A8N-SLI Premium Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131540

MSI RX800-TD128E Radeon X800 128MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127176

CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered System Memory Model VS1GB400C3 - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145505

AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Venice 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Processor Model ADA3500BPBOX - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103533

Microsoft Windows XP Professional With Service Pack 2 - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16837102153

AMC 8" 4-Pin Power Cable Splitter Model Y Power Cable - OEM

That totals to about $1500 incl shipping. I'll figure out what speakers/mouse/keyboard to get later. Sound quality isn't that big a deal, if the onboard stinks real bad, I'll opt for a chaintech.

Some questions:

Is this stuff compatible?

Do you recommend against/for any of the equipment listed?

Do I need any extra cables to hook things up?

Am i missing anything vital?

Would I be better off getting 2x512 instead of a 1gig stick?

Should I go for the 64-bit XP pro or just stick with the 32-bit? I don't really do much multi-tasking and stuff . . . atm

Sorry for all the questions, I don't wanna screw up. TIA
 
Jul 5, 2005 at 1:59 AM Post #90 of 109
Quote:

Originally Posted by AuroraProject
An SLI mobo with an ATI card? Why not pick up a 6600GT now and then later add another? Here's one for around the same price:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130214


Oh okay. I wasn't aware it was a bad combination (I know nothing).
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Would the one GT card be good enough for the time being? I'll get it instead of the x800 if so.

So, does the other stuff look okay? Also, any good cheap surge protectors out?
 
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