PLEASE suggest PC components.

Tea_J

Hi,

I am about to do a ONCE AND A BLUE MOON thing.. that is to buy/upgrade my PC. I barely got the money to constantly buy and upgrade, and when i do, i make sure I wont have to upgrade for another year the least! lolz

Anyawys, Im still on a P4 2.0Ghz processor, Jetway motherboard (CHEAP)....

Im looking to create a kick azz system upgrade.. and folks, i need your sincere help on this..

So, guys I need your recommendations for a GREAT Motherboard-Processor COMBO:

MOTHER BOARD:
1) MSI, SOltek, EPOX???
2) What particular board?

PROCESSOR:
1) Intel vs AMD
2) what particular processor?

Ok, i know i said kick azz upgrade, but i dont mean 64Bit systems!!! God no.. i would go hungry if i try to buy one of those..

I've always had an INTEL processor and so many people are suggesting Athlon coz it's FASTER and CHEAPER.. gosh, i dont know crap about AMD and i am a bit worried if this is all hype or not.

Really need ur help guys.

Tea

PS
With regards to RAM and Video.. i've got my eye on 512 DDR 400mhz DIMM and Radeon 9550XT Extreme PLatinum Edition (GeCube).

Mordecai

Is this a gaming system or a business system? Or just an all-around home system?

I would recommend an AMD if you are using a gaming or all-around system, Intel for a business system.

Also, AMDs run a bit hotter (usually). I'd recommend getting a case with plenty of circulation and fans (or perhaps water cooling, if you want to spend more money).

Tea_J

Originally posted by Mordecai
Is this a gaming system or a business system? Or just an all-around home system?

I would recommend an AMD if you are using a gaming or all-around system, Intel for a business system.

Also, AMDs run a bit hotter (usually). I'd recommend getting a case with plenty of circulation and fans (or perhaps water cooling, if you want to spend more money).

Well, i am a hardcore game lover and would like to be able to play the latest games.. but most of the time, i need a WORKING PC.. im a web/grpx/flash developer and i often spend lots of time waiting for application launches and rendering time..

Tea

LordShryku

If you're going to do some gaming, just go AMD, as fast as you can afford. As far as motherboards, Abit and Soyo make some good ones, supporting all the latest technologies (SATA, Gigabit Ethernet, etc). When it comes to building a system, buy online. You'll save a truckload. Check out NewEgg for parts and Directron for cases. I saw a couple nice water cooled cases up there for about 200 USD...

Tea_J

i see.

Well i've been asking around lately. I got similar suggestions regarding AMD.. but the only practical AMD processor (price+performance) are the AMD 2500+ and AMD 2600+ Processors.. the rest are too expensive yet not quite powerful.. but the AMD 2500 and 2600 are really arent that fast.. Low FSB and kicing about 1.8GHZ only.. also, i just read this bench mark:

http://www.hardwarezone.com/articles/view.php?id=845&cid=2&pg=26
(the final word)

and on one of its pages:
http://www.hardwarezone.com/articles/view.php?id=845&cid=2&pg=24

We summed up selected results from these benchmarks and they were then normalized to the slowest processor in this showdown, which happens to be Intel's Pentium 4 2.4C (2.4GHz is perceived by most to be slower than a 2500+).

and also:

There's really not much we can say now but we have to really give the performance crown to Intel. In fact, it was quite a shame that the Pentium 4 2.4C made it past the Athlon XP 3200+.

hmm....

tea

Tea_J

hmm.. what do you guys think of this?

INtel PIV 2.4GHZ Prescot
MSI 865 Platinum Edition (is MSI any good?)
512MB DUAL DIMM RAM PC3200 400MHz

Any comments?

tea

LordShryku

http://www6.tomshardware.com/cpu/20030217/cpu_charts-23.html

Intel does show some performance gains here. The clock you see at 1.8GHZ is the actual clock. The numbers they assign are Intel equivalent clocks. ie an AMD 2600+ is equivalent in clock to an Intel 2.6 Ghz. I forget the reasoning here, but it's something about the way Intel measure their clocks. AMD though, is notorious for being easily overclocked, while Intel is trying harder and harder to lock out overclocking.

Tea_J

hmmm.. AMD 2600 is equivalent to Intel 2.6 Ghz?? Hmm.. however, L2 Cache and FSB does stay on the low side a lot.

Tea

LordShryku

FSB is also not a really accurate number for Intel, but neither for AMD. You take the Intel FSB/4 = real FSB, where AMD, take the FSB/2 = real FSB.

It sounds like you have your mind set on Intel though, and I'm not trying to convince you of otherwise, just show the facts...

Tea_J

Originally posted by LordShryku
FSB is also not a really accurate number for Intel, but neither for AMD. You take the Intel FSB/4 = real FSB, where AMD, take the FSB/2 = real FSB.

It sounds like you have your mind set on Intel though, and I'm not trying to convince you of otherwise, just show the facts...

nah man, it's good. i appreciate your inputs a lot.. if i buy something with my HARD EARNED cash, i wana be convinced it's worth it..

Im not really siding on INTEL, but i've read 2 bench reviews already and they all say ok to AMD 2600 and 2500 as the BEST for PRice+Performance.. but looking at it, I need something a bit more powerful coming from an Intel Pentium 2.0Ghz processor.. and anything more powerful than AMD 2600 is a RIP OFF according to both articles i read.

Then again, i am OH SO OPEN for debates..

tea

tekky

price range is always helpful in these kinda things... personally I'm in the process of buying/building a new system, and I'm most likely going with a newer case, AMD64 3200+, 1Gig ram, GIGABYTE "GA-K8NS PRO" mobo, debating on the HD still (currently priced a 200gig maxtor (6Y200P0), and will probably go with my current vidcard/monitor unless I find a badass deal that I really like (and then upgrade in the next mo nth or 2 on those 2 issues) those 5 things are gonna run me around $750 with 4 year warranties on all but the case and memory... and then get supporting optical drives probably after the moniter (since I dont need a DVDram right away but it plus the CDRW/dvdrom would run another $200'ish)

all in all around a $1000 upgrade for me...may drop the ram down to 512 until later on... which would save ~$80 and a smaller HD would save another 50-80....

I dont think I left anything out... but regarding your system, I would say that price does play the largest part in deciding what truly is the best buy

Tea_J

my tekky, you made me salivate a bit back there.. so you're going straight for a 64Bit system ei?? awesome dude! gosh, im gona wait till next year for a 64Bit System.. cant afford it anything soon. hhe

Tea

tekky

I thought they would be more expensive... but they arent really... not like a P4 extreme anyways... (and AMD was first to put out the 64's) and that a nice mobo and a chip together only run a lil over $400

Tea_J

well, arent a bit concerned of the possible HUGE price drop when INtel comes out with 64's?? I dont know, but if i were you, i'd wait till the damn thing's price go kapoof! Well, not really kapoof im sure, but atleast save a hundred bucks im pretty sure.

I dont know.. im always thrifty... didnt and still, dont have too many pennies to play with..

Tea

tekky

intel already has the 64's they are labled as P4Extremes (and they are pricey as hell)

Intel dropped their latest project (the revised P4 chips) and favor of trying to beat AMD out with the MCP (or whatever abbreviation they use for the multi core processors)... they are tired of being 2nd best, and want to try and not be 2nd best for a 3rd time in a row 😃

elementaluk

a hammer, screw driver and some gas if you can afford it. I wouldn't run a computer without them (the hammer and screw driver cause a spark setting the gas on fire making your life more enjoyable.)

dalecosp

Why upgrade ...?

Keep all your old systems, hook 'em together running MPI, and build a cluster.

Now that's power!! 😃 😃

The_Chancer

"Now thats power"
OR

"Now thats power consumption"

???

Cost effective - but uses more energy... (just thinking green.... had our electricity bill.... eek)

Moonglobe

Prescott chips are a joke. a 3.6 prescott, i hear, is slower than a 3.4 northwood. If you can spare about $600 CND, go for a single-chip opteron. the 2.4 beats the crap out of anything intel can put out.

tommynanda

I am a hard-core gamer and a victim of AMD... Long back when I was using P3... I always wanted to try AMD(like Windows User trying Linux).. Well I bought a AMD Athlon.. and its hell of a experience... Dont go for Athlon if you're a gamer... My P3 500 MHz was far better than AMD 1.3GHz... Also... dont even think about Intel Celeron... Better go for AMD if u have to choose between AMD and Celeron... And Yeah I am talking about P4... thats a good piece...

As a Gamer: ATI RADEON 9200 to 9800 series Rocks and Remember.. get a MotherBoard with AGP Slot and minimum 4PCI slots (out of Self Experience)

I've seen some deals on YAMAHA external sound cards(w/amplifier) lately... get a hold of 'em if you can...

thats wat I can say... from my experience... may vary with others

Good Luck
TommYNandA