exile Posted September 8, 2004 Report Share Posted September 8, 2004 My current PC is pretty much obselete as I've found. I can't even download and play the the recent demo of Medal of Honor:PA as I don't even meet the minimum specs. Given I just pumped a ton of money into my HT, I won't be able to upgrade the pc until , January of 2005 or late December(depending on how Christmas goes..). Anyway, I've fallen behind on the current technology as far as what is hot for PC gaming. My current pc is at the current time(and don't laugh): MSI Motherboard KT266 Pro Chipset AMD 1700+ 1.47 ghz 768 DDR 2100 RAM Crucial Elsa Geforce 3 64mb --> Pre TI days Geforce 30 gb WD HDD. SB Live Audio Card 10x CDRW drive Liteon 8x DVD drive So basically I'm going to gut the system and start over. The existing parts are not worth saving IMHO. From what I can tell I have the following delimnas Ideally I'd like to keep the system sub $1300 w/o the monitor and then spend $700ish on a Dell LCD... with a total of a $2k budget. The LCD is still up in the air at this point. Given that, here are some delimnas(sp?) This is for gaming and stability. No overclocking will occur and I'd like to keep it fairly quiet. Case: Suggestions? Power Supply Suggestions? I assume the one in the cases aren't sufficient right? Video Card: Nvidia or ATI? Or is this as much as a crapshoot as I think? I'd rather not overspend here.. HDD: 80 gig is plenty for me so a Single Raptor or one of those fabled Samsung 80gig drives(or 2 for that price..)? Is there that much of a difference? Raid is not worth my time correct or wrong? SATA is the way that i'm going it appears. CPU: ATI or Nvidia? Or is this again another crapshoot? I read that the Geforces are better at Doom3 but that's not a huge factor here. If I go Nvidia, which route should I go with? GT OC from BFG? I think the Ultra is truly overkill for me in this case..expensive too... Ati it seems that the x800 pro is good enough. I assume PCI Express is the card I'd use with Intel if I go that route right? MB: Has anyone installed a new P4 with the new chip yet? I keep hearing of some di fficulties there. I've got an MSI now and have been mostly pleased. I guess this too is a crapshoot no? DFI is popular, Asus is always popular, Gigabyte is always popular, Abit is always popular.. Sound: Audigy? My last SB card was a pain in the ass. I've been tempted to go with a Turtle Beach. Wise move or has SB improved? I'm just trying to get a grasp on what's going on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelley Posted September 8, 2004 Report Share Posted September 8, 2004 I take it this will be mainly for gaming? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exile Posted September 8, 2004 Author Report Share Posted September 8, 2004 Yes and the normal stuff like web surfing. Cd burning etc. Mostly gaming though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelley Posted September 8, 2004 Report Share Posted September 8, 2004 CPU: AMD Athlon 64 with the 939 Socket Mobo: nVidia nForce 3 250Gb based board(by the time you upgrade the 4 series might be out) GPU: I love my nVidia GeForce 6800 Ultra, but the x800 isn't a bad GPU either. Soundcard: Fuck Creative. The nForce 4 is rumored to bring back SoundStorm. HDD: The Raptor is a great HD. PSU: No lower then a name brand 500 Watt unit. Case: Can't go wrong with Antec Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exile Posted September 9, 2004 Author Report Share Posted September 9, 2004 The problem I'm seeing is that I"m not certain that the Athlon 64 is really that much faster than a P4 3gig and DDR2. Perhaps I'm misguided... The p4 solution is actually cheaper right now by a few hundred... Soundcard: GO with onboard sound you are suggesting? HDD: So the Raptor should be better(just 1 74 gig) than even a pair of 80gig Samsung's or even 1 for that matter? Is the performance increase THAT much? Looks like I have more research to do indeed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orpheus Posted September 9, 2004 Report Share Posted September 9, 2004 if Soundstorm comes back on the new 64 mobo's, it's certainly a very viable option as the Athlon XP boards was quite good. I'm looking into this little widget for sound on my old pc rig, might consider it for on the new one as well. Outa curiosity, what are you hooking up for speakers? That can make all the difference after all. In my case, I'm running Logitech z680's and can make use of the digital output, but if you're running something with analog 5.1 ins, you might need something like a soundblaster for 5.1 processing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Monkey Posted September 9, 2004 Report Share Posted September 9, 2004 Originally posted by Orpheus@Sep 8 2004, 09:36 PM I'm looking into this little widget for sound on my old pc rig, might consider it for on the new one as well. Let us know how the Turtle Beach dongle works out if you get it, Travis. I came across it the other day at Turtle Beach's site and it caught my eye. A friend of mine uses this gadget (or one like it) from Creative for a living room PC and the sound is great. The Turtle Beach, however, is smaller, cheaper and doesn't come with all the other connections and features that I find unecessary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orpheus Posted September 9, 2004 Report Share Posted September 9, 2004 Yep, i was actually gonna pick up one of those til I saw the Turtle Beach. I really only need the optical output for my use, although I could probably find uses for the optical in with the SB mp3. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelley Posted September 9, 2004 Report Share Posted September 9, 2004 Originally posted by exile@Sep 8 2004, 07:25 PMThe problem I'm seeing is that I"m not certain that the Athlon 64 is really that much faster than a P4 3gig and DDR2. Perhaps I'm misguided... The p4 solution is actually cheaper right now by a few hundred... Soundcard: GO with onboard sound you are suggesting? HDD: So the Raptor should be better(just 1 74 gig) than even a pair of 80gig Samsung's or even 1 for that matter? Is the performance increase THAT much? Looks like I have more research to do indeed. I think you are a bit misguided: Higher the better Higher the better Lower the better Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exile Posted September 9, 2004 Author Report Share Posted September 9, 2004 I was misguided indeed. Is the 3500+ The sweet spot in the 64 AMD line? Is the Socket 939 that much more worth it? The prices on the 939 processors are UP there... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dimness Posted September 9, 2004 Report Share Posted September 9, 2004 Of course, there's that whole 64 bit architecture for the new Windows platform I've heard whispers of which the AMD 64 can take advantage of, but not the current P4 motherboards. But I don't know that for sure so don't quote me on that. Slightly off-topic, but I would imagine exile would need cooling solutions as well. Seeing as I'm messing with my computer as well, what is the word on liquid cooling as opposed to fan cooling? I've heard about it on gaming rigs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrJames Posted September 9, 2004 Report Share Posted September 9, 2004 Originally posted by exile@Sep 9 2004, 08:47 AMIs the Socket 939 that much more worth it? The prices on the 939 processors are UP there... AMD is planning on launching a few new processors around the time frame when you plan on buying. This should drop the prices of the 3500+ and 3800+ some. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelley Posted September 9, 2004 Report Share Posted September 9, 2004 If you are buying an Athlon 64 today and on, buy a Socket 939 board. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buck Posted September 9, 2004 Report Share Posted September 9, 2004 Originally posted by gigapower@Sep 9 2004, 07:08 PMIf you are buying an Athlon 64 today and on, buy a Socket 939 board. Don't forget one of these too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelley Posted September 10, 2004 Report Share Posted September 10, 2004 Originally posted by Buck+Sep 9 2004, 05:30 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Buck @ Sep 9 2004, 05:30 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-gigapower@Sep 9 2004, 07:08 PMIf you are buying an Athlon 64 today and on, buy a Socket 939 board. Don't forget one of these too. [/b] Don't listen to Scott.....the Athlon 64 runs cooler then the Prescott core, which is all you can get in the new Intel socket. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exile Posted September 10, 2004 Author Report Share Posted September 10, 2004 I guess I'll have to budget in significant cooling. They both run hotter than I would prefer but I guess that comes at the expense of speed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whooter Posted September 10, 2004 Report Share Posted September 10, 2004 I've never needed anything more than the factory HSF that comes with a retail AMD processor. Of course, I don't overclock the things, either... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrMike Posted September 10, 2004 Report Share Posted September 10, 2004 I wouldn't go prescott with ddr2 and pci express. I would go northwood with DDR and AGP. There is NO benefit to ddr2/prescott/pci express in the current motherboards. PCI express video cards are hard to come by and ddr2 is expensive. I also don't buy much into the athlon's faster than P4 graphs. Oh ok, so you'll save 4 seconds compiling quake, worthless stat. Your benchmark scores are slightly better, again, worthless. You'll get more fps on certain games. Again I say worthless. Its all about feel. I seriously doubt you'll feel the difference between a high end P4 and a hi end athlon chip. 64bit windows is beta, and there isn't any other use for 64bit computing yet. Its going to take quite a long time for it to come into mainstream. I'd say buy a 3.4Ghz northwood pentium 4, and a 875 based motherboard. Plop a 6800GT video card in there, a 7200 rpm 8mb cache sata hard drive, antec power supply, audigy 2 sound card and a gig of PC3200 ddr memory. You will be able to run doom 3 and all the latest games as well as future game for quite awhile. I also read (can't remember) that soundstorm is NOT going to be in the next nvidia chipsets. I wouldn't waste money on a 10k rpm hard drive (raptor). Waste of money. You really won't see much improvement in day to day usage. So your games might load a little quicker but thats about it. I just put together a 3.4ghz northwood, asus P4C800-E Deluxe motherboard, antec true500 power supply, audigy 2, EVGA geforce 6800ultra and 1GB kingston hyperx memory, 2 sata seagate 7200 rpm hard drives. The thing runs everything tossed at it with ease. I bought it before intel dropped the prices on the cpu's. But the video card was the most expensive piece. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelley Posted September 11, 2004 Report Share Posted September 11, 2004 I also read (can't remember) that soundstorm is NOT going to be in the next nvidia chipsets. funny........nVidia was hinting differently when I met with them at QuakeCon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrJames Posted October 20, 2004 Report Share Posted October 20, 2004 NForce 4 Preview Soundstorm is dead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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