new pc soon got some ?s

[skmanga]

im planning on getting my new system around june
u guys think prices will drop by june?

if i was to get my new system now it would be like this

P4530 w/HT 3.0GHZ 800FSB 1MB Cache
Abit AA8-DuraMax I925 Chipset
450w Power Supply
1GB (2x512MB) Geil PC4200 DDR2 Dual Channel Memory
Hitachi 160GB 7200RPM Serial ATA 150 8MB Cache
Leadtek NVIDIA Geforce 6600 GT 128MB 16X PCI-E

i can change the cpu to one of these:
P4540 w/HT 3.2GHZ 800FSB 1MB Cache
P4630 w/HT 3.0GHZ 800FSB 2MB Cache, 64 Bit
for an extra 40-50$ which one should i pick and would it even be worth it?

and for the ram should i stick with the ddr2 i stated above
or should i go with:
1GB(512MBx2) PC3200 400MHz Dual Channel DDR MEMORY?

 

[Pete]

The question on everyone's mind is, if it'll be a gaming machine, why not go for an A64? Heck, I'd go with an A64, period, for its lower power draw. I place a high priority on low noise.

 

[Fred da Roza]

The question on everyone's mind is, if it'll be a gaming machine, why not go for an A64? Heck, I'd go with an A64, period, for its lower power draw. I place a high priority on low noise.

That's what I bought

Athlon 64 3000 Winchester core
MSI Neo4 Platinum MB
MSI 6600GT video card
Western Digital 200 GB SATA HD

The loudest part of the PC is the case fan that come with the Antec Sonata case and I'll probably change that 1 day. Only over priced item may have been the motherboard. Otherwise I'm very happy with the bang for the buck.

 

[suryad]

Personally, I would have gotten an Athlon 64 meself. I dont see why anyone would want to get Intel.

 

[Sxotty]

Well it surely likes like he intends it to be a gaming machine...

 

[skmanga]

yea its pretty much going to be a gaming machine
i went with intel for no real reason, they got a cooler name :?

what would be the equivilent to the procesors i showed but A64

and in the same price range?

other than that i think my mind is made up my budget aint too high =( so i cant get all the good stuff

 

[Fred da Roza]

yea its pretty much going to be a gaming machine
i went with intel for no real reason, they got a cooler name :?

what would be the equivilent to the procesors i showed but A64

and in the same price range?

other than that i think my mind is made up my budget aint too high =( so i cant get all the good stuff

Personally I would get the A64 3000 or 3200. The higher clocked chips aren't worth the money in my opinion and I'd spend the difference on something else like the video card. Get the Winchester core if you can. They run cooler. I believe you can tell them apart by the clock. Newcastle 3000 and 3200 run at 2 and 2.2 Ghz. Winchester 3000 and 3200 run at 1.8 and 2.0 Ghz respectively. If you put a premium on silence, with the A64 you won't have to spend any extra money on a expensive cooler.

The MSI Neo4 is over priced. It hasn't given me any problems whatsoever though so no complaints. If you want a nVidia chipset then Gigabytes is pretty reasonable. Otherwise you have to go with the ATI based boards, which are really inexpensive but no onboard LAN

The RAM is cheaper as well since you can't use DDRII.

 

[{Sniping}Waste]

What is your budget?

Here is what I came up with.
all Prices came from Newegg.

$112 Abit AX8 Via chipset.

$190 AMD S939 3200+ (2.0gig)

$91 Kingston 1 gig kit PC3200.

$106 seagate 160 gig NCQ (5 year waranty)

$285 Ati Connect3D X800XL (much faster then 6600GT, about the same as 6800GT).
$45 Epower 450W PSU

total of $829 US

If you want a Nforce 4 chipset then MSI has one K8N NEO4_F for $90.

The P4 setup you posted cost $825 for newegg.

 

[skmanga]

and i dont plan to build my own, i dont think i could =/
imma get it from one of those sites where u pick what u want
do u guys know any good ones?
i only know of ibuypower

hmm
no ddr2

what are the advantages of ddr2 over ddr?

and i dont know how cpus work but how come a 2ghz amd is better or =to a 3ghz p4??

and what dpo u guys think about 64 bit chips are they worth it??
and is a 2mb cache on the cpu a whole lot bette than 1mb??

 

[{Sniping}Waste]

and i dont plan to build my own, i dont think i could =/
imma get it from one of those sites where u pick what u want
do u guys know any good ones?
i only know of ibuypower

hmm
no ddr2

what are the advantages of ddr2 over ddr?

and i dont know how cpus work but how come a 2ghz amd is better or =to a 3ghz p4??

and what dpo u guys think about 64 bit chips are they worth it??
and is a 2mb cache on the cpu a whole lot bette than 1mb??

A64 do more work per clock cycle then P4. To get a proformance idea,
multiply IPC(instructions per clockcycle) with speed(mhz) so A64 is 9 and P4 is 5 I think.

As for DDR2 vs DDR1, DDR2 has faster mhz at the price of timming. DDR2 at 275 at timing of 4,4,4,10 will be slower then DDR at 233 with timmings of 2.5,3,3,10.

 

[Pete]

Is Epower a good PSU brand, or just a cheap one? I'd lean toward a Seasonic S12, or something with a similarly high efficiency. A nice, roomy case is also important, preferably with 120mm fans in front and back (more air and less noise than 80mm fans).

You could also save $50 on the HD if you bought the ATA version at Outpost, which is $50 after a $50 rebate.

Just get an equivalently-priced 90nm (not 130nm) A64. You could start with the cheapest one, a ~$140 3000+, if your budget dictates, and just upgrade later on. You'd be better off with a cheaper CPU and a faster GPU for gaming, though, so I'd go for a 3000+ if it meant you could afford an X800XL.

You probably save money because DDR is cheaper than DDR2. I don't think DDR2 offers any real benefit over DDR for now, especially low-latency (1T) DDR.

You can read benchmarks yourself. I'm sure Anandtech or TechReport has benches of 2MB and 1MB L2 P4s vs. A64s. The extra L2 is nice, but I don't think it matters too much. The A64's stronger performance and integrated memory controller seems more important than the P4's extra L2. A socket 939 MB is an appealing platform b/c AMD has said they'll release dual core CPUs for that socket, so you have a very clear upgrade path. PCIe also ensures you'll be able to plug in the latest GPUs for a good, long while.

Don't forget to factor in the cost of Windows XP. Home OEM is about $86, or (if you own a retail copy of Win98/98SE/Me) you could get the upgrade version at Best Buy for $90 with a $60 gift card. If you're at college, check to see if they offer lower prices for XP Home/Pro.

Building your own is a bit of a hassle, as you have to deal with a bunch of individual companies for warranty service, but you ensure you get only the best parts.

 

[{Sniping}Waste]

Tagan are made by Epower and if you know about tagan and OCZ then you know that there the same PSU. The Epower 450 is not the highest and not the lowest but a very good average PSU and its a good price for $45.

Try this site if you want someone else to build it. I think you can get what you want for under $1100 US.
http://www.unitedmicro.com/sysw.cgi?48155911

 

[Fred da Roza]

If you want a Nforce 4 chipset then MSI has one K8N NEO4_F for $90.

Damn I would have bought this board instead of the Platinum. What's the difference no fire wire and fewer USB connections?

and i dont plan to build my own, i dont think i could =/
imma get it from one of those sites where u pick what u want
do u guys know any good ones?
i only know of ibuypower

Personally I buy the parts at a local vendor and have them assemble it. Although I'll install a CD ROM or any of the peripherals I won't assemble the whole unit. Too much of a hassle and in Montreal they charge as low as $45 Canadian for assembly. Also if you break something during installation that comes out of your pocket. You can however get the parts cheaper online but dealing with just one local vendor for all warranty issues is worth it for me.

By the way I'd also shell out the extra ~$10 for a DVD ROM instead of a CD ROM.

 

[{Sniping}Waste]

If you want a Nforce 4 chipset then MSI has one K8N NEO4_F for $90.

Damn I would have bought this board instead of the Platinum. What's the difference no fire wire and fewer USB connections?

The $90 one has no Firewire and only 4 SATA ( the Platinum has 8 SATA ports with Silicon image SATA controler).

 

[Pete]

Didn't know that about Tagan/Epower. Can't find any efficiency info on their site, though, and $50 seems like a suspiciously good deal for a 450W PSU. Still, "Leather Feel Coating?" I'm in!

 

[ANova]

Ok...

Honestly, whether you get the P4 or A64 doesn't matter. In benchmarks he A64 is typically better for gaming while the P4 is better at multitasking, content creation and rendering/encoding in general. In the real world, I doubt you would notice a difference between the two. If you do go for the P4 you definitely should get one of the 6xx cores as they have EM64T, enhanced speedstep (for power saving/less heat generation), NX bit (hardware antivirus protection) as well as the 2 MB of L2 cache. The P4 does run hotter in general, just so you know. If you go with an A64 get the Winchester core as they run cooler and overclock better (in case you ever want to).

As for the rest, don't bother with DDR2; usually more expensive and slower then DDR due to higher timings. There are P4 motherboards available that support DDR or a combination of DDR and DDR2. I also suggest the X800 XL over the 6600 GT, especially if this is primarily for gaming.

 

[skmanga]

so definitly ddr over ddr2?

and do u guys think prices will drop any by the end of june maybe ill be able to get more for my money then

 

[Fred da Roza]

so definitly ddr over ddr2?

and do u guys think prices will drop any by the end of june maybe ill be able to get more for my money then

Only the older model video cards when the next generation hits the market IMO.

 

[{Sniping}Waste]

so definitly ddr over ddr2?

and do u guys think prices will drop any by the end of june maybe ill be able to get more for my money then

Yes. AMD has new A64 cores coming out in April and ATI chipset motherboard are coming out in about a month. This will lower prices on mobos and CPUs.

 

[Fred da Roza]

so definitly ddr over ddr2?

and do u guys think prices will drop any by the end of june maybe ill be able to get more for my money then

Yes. AMD has new A64 cores coming out in April and ATI chipset motherboard are coming out in about a month. This will lower prices on mobos and CPUs.

Aren't ATI chipset motherboards already here. A few local vendors have listed the MSI RS480M2-IL R200 in stock.