New computer time!

[Malcolm]

I'd like some input on the products that I plan to buy for my new upcoming PC:

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Asus A7V8X-X SOCKET A VIA KT400 5PCI 3DDR 1AGP8X ATA133 = $100 CND
AMD Athlon XP 2400+ 2.0 GHz 266 MHz FSB = $130 CND
DDR 512MB PC3200 PC3200 DDR 512MB 400MHZ = $105 CND
Western Digital WD1200BB 120GB 7200RPM 8mb = $162 CND
Envision 910E ENVISION 910E 19IN.26MM 1600X1200@75HZ = $215 CND
Sony DDU162110 16X DVD-ROM = $51 CND
Asus CRW-5224A 52X24X52 CDRW RETAIL = $67 CND
Creative Sound Blaster Live 5.1 Value OEM = $49 CND
Altec Lansing AVS300 ALTEC 2X3.5W+10W SUB = $38 CND
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I haven't decided on a video card yet.

So far this is going to run me $932 CND ($670USD/$410£).

The computer is going to be used mainly for programmin' but I do intend on running Halo PC, Halflife2 and Doom3 when they come out .

Any suggestions?

 

[Tagrineth]

ATi Radeon 9800 Pro, or if you're too worried about price, 9700 Pro or non-Pro.

 

[Stezo2k]

GeForce 4's seem to be getting at a good price recently too, pretty good BTW very nice motherboard, very similar to mine

 

[Malcolm]

I'm going to be buying this computer on Monday so if there are any bad comments about any of the hardware in my list **please** let me know.

Thanks.

And about the videocard, I'm going to pick up an old PCI card to run with till the 9800 comes out; at that time I think I'm gonna get a 9700 pro

 

[Malcolm]

Was just shown DDR @400MHz is slower then 333MHz, so I'm 'downgrading' to 333MHz and saving $40

 

[URAMetroid]

I think DDR333 is OK, but if the FSB is 266 MHz isn't a waste to get DDR333, unless you plan to overclock then you need more speed. And video, the 9700 is fine (or the 9600 if you what to save some money).

 

[The Khan Artist]

The 9700 is much better than the 9600, which is actually slower than the 9500. Don't you just love naming schemes?

 

[Lex]

I recommend you getting a Athlon XP 2500+ (barton) with 333fsb, the price is almost the same here, and with the higher fsb you will get a nice boost.

 

[Malcolm]

good call, its $10 more and there is a noticable speed increase

 

[URAMetroid]

I forgot to ask what's wrong with the nforce 2 chipset's?
I heard somewaer they have better audio and gaming performance.

 

[Malcolm]

I forgot to ask what's wrong with the nforce 2 chipset's?
I heard somewaer they have better audio and gaming performance.

Only when you're using a NVidia based graphics card

 

[vampireuk]

The nForce2 works well with ATI cards too

 

[Doomulation]

Oh you probably went and bought your computer now, but i thought i should say...
the intregrated sound that i have is excellent for sound and you'll save money for a soundcard.
It doesn't have EAX or whatever it's called, but it does have surround support and it works great!

Have fun with your new computer

 

[Flash]

No. Most of integrated sound is crap, same shit as software modems or network
cards. When cpu gets loaded you'll get this "hick, hrrr, hr" If not anyway overall sound quality is like rusty oil drum.
And SB Live have one thing called "compatibility" it's compatible with everything - from antique DOS games from late 80s to newest games. And there's no reason to buy Audigy OEM - SB Live w/ hacked drivers is same thing because same DSP chip (Audigy 2 have different revision and it's 24bit/96kHz capable, you're not a musician, right ? So it's useles s for games, and many games still use 16bit 22kHz sound, none - 24bit )

And good soundcard is 15-20 (US) $ Just like 50pcs pack of good CD-Rs, so don't be so greedy

Only mobos w/ good onboard sound it's nForce based w/ MCP-T DSP (it's very powerful, and you may call it Vortex-3 as it designed by former Aureal employees )

 

[Lex]

Oh you probably went and bought your computer now, but i thought i should say...
the intregrated sound that i have is excellent for sound and you'll save money for a soundcard.
It doesn't have EAX or whatever it's called, but it does have surround support and it works great!

Have fun with your new computer

I've got an intergrated AC97 Realtek ALC650, 5.1 sound + EAX, works excellent, the ALC650 is intergrated on a lot of mobo's so buy one with a ALC650 if you go for intergrated sound.

 

[Flash]

I've got an intergrated AC97 Realtek ALC650, 5.1 sound + EAX, works excellent, the ALC650 is intergrated on a lot of mobo's so buy one with a ALC650 if you go for intergrated sound.

ALC650 is only a codec, it doesn't support EAX (it's emulated, with EAX Unified it can be done even by SB16 or Yamaha OPL3SAX)
Instead of being 3D and DirectSound accelerator it's 3D Sound decelerator
All DSP functions are done by CPU, so if you compare your system with same w/ full sound card you can see that your system is up to 30% slower when processing complex geometry or sound.

Better to buy nForce2 based mb, they have that ALC650, but with MCP-T, very powerful sound processor, it does hardware EAX2 instead of crappy emulation.

IMO best of them is Epox 8RDA+, Asus A7N8X in therms of stability and speed.

And mobos with only AC'97 is the lowest end of audio, because all DSP functions is emulated you can forget about real quality and you'll get additional slowdowns and all cracks in N64 games on powerful machines (1700Mhz and up) is all because this integrated shit.

I have only Celeron 900 and old Vortex 2 for games but, i never get any cracks even in PD and CBFD.

But all talks about sound is senseless if you don't have good acoustics.

Many people have cheap plastic "Komputer Squeakerz" and i hear from them "I have awesomå 5.1 system" .... until they hear my 250W (real watts, not PMPO) 3 way speakers with cellular woofers and isodynamic tweeters (15Hz-55Khz frequency range, it can say enough for hifi guru). I've also made good 4-channel tube amplifier.

So, if i get angry enough, best for my neighbours is to find a bomb shelter (But i've never actually listened it louder than 40W, it's more than enough for my room )

 

[Malcolm]

I've actually just placed the order adn the computer should be here by then end of the week; this is what I ended up getting:


AMD Athlon XP 2500+ 1.83 GHz 333 MHz FSB Barton Socket A with fan (Retail) $139
Asus A7V8X-X SOCKET A VIA KT400 5PCI 3DDR 1AGP8X ATA133 $101
MemoryDDR 512MB PC2700 PC2700 333MHz DDR 64x64 512MB 184 pin DIMM $80
Western Digital WD1200BB 120GB 7200RPM ATA100 2MB 8.9MS EIDE HARD DRIVE $162
Envision 910E ENVISION 910E 19IN.26MM 1600X1200@75HZ $215
Sony DDU162110 SONY 16X DVD-ROM E-IDE OEM DRIVE BULK PACK $51
Asus CRW-5224A 52X24X52 CDRW RETAIL $66
Creative Sound Blaster Live 5.1 Value OEM Sound Blaster Live 5.1 digital OEM $49
Altec Lansing AVS300 ALTEC 2X3.5W+10W SUB (BEIGE) (RETAIL) $38
Sapphire Xpert 98 Rage XL 8M SDRAM AGP2X Sapphire Xpert 98 Rage XL 8M SDRAM AGP2X $33
Linkworld 313B P4 full ATX; 4+2 Bays; MIDI Tower built-in 2 front USB w/cable; 300W lifetime wty. $36
Panasonic FDP14W Panasonic 1.44M (White Grey) $13
BenQ 6511VA BenQ 6511-VA PS2 KB English $10
Logitech B69 LOGITECH B69 Optical Wheel USB+PS2 3 Button (OEM) $23


The total is $1168.4 CND ($850 USD, $520£) including tax. The store manager says that I'll get an additional discount but I'm not counting on it.

Anyways for the price I think I'm getting a great system.


Thanks to everyone who helped, or tried to

--Edit--
Just incase you're wondering I'm putting my GeForce2 in my new computer and putting the XPert 98 in my old computer which has been given to my mother

 

[Lex]

I've actually just placed the order adn the computer should be here by then end of the week; this is what I ended up getting:


AMD Athlon XP 2500+ 1.83 GHz 333 MHz FSB Barton Socket A with fan (Retail) $139

is this a boxed version? didn't the boxed amd fans made a lot of noise?

 

[Malcolm]

possibly; I'm not too worried about case sound anyways. This system is just a work station, I have a laptop that does all my downloading and such.

This system will never be run for more then 5 hours every day

 

[sytaylor]

Western Digital WD1200BB

GAH! its gotta be the JB.. thats the one with 8mb cache its fast as hell (although the one i have seems to be buggy and ive missed the warranty by about 3 weeks :getlost: )