Yeah, so, I made a thread about this a while ago, but now that I actually have money and actually know what I want, I'm making another one. Yay for me.

Alright, so, Here's what I'm currently aiming for: http://cyberpowerinc.com/custom/cfga64.asp?v=d#configurator_top

X-BLADE Mid-Tower case (Black)
450W Power Supply (standard with case)
AMD Athlon64 3000+
ASUS K8V Deluxe VIA K8T800 Chipset
512 MB PC3200 400MHz DDR RAM ('Standard Major Brand')*
Western Digital 80GB 7200RPM ATA 100 8MB Special Edition
ARTEC 16X DVD ROM (Blue)*
ViewSonic Optiquest Q95B 19inch .27mm SVGA Monitor (Black)
INTERNAL 6in1 Flash Media Reader/Writer*
AMD Athlon64 Certified CPU fan & heatsink + 3 extra case fans
120w Stereo Speakers (black)
PS2 Multimedia Internet Control Keyboard (Black)
PS2 Internet Mouse w/Wheel (Black)
Round Cable Upgrade
Standard Warranty


*I'm only getting 512 MB RAM because, from what I've been told, RAM is cheap and easy to change, so if I end up needing more I can just buy more. and I figured I'd go with the "Standard Major Brand" because it costs less, and I'm not sure if it makes a difference or not. About the DVD-ROM, I was originally also going to get a CD-RW, but it would have ended up costing too much, and I don't really need one anyway. And I don't really know what the Flash Media thinger is, but getting one doesn't cost anything extra, so whatever. Also, I'm not getting a videocard, because I already have a Radeon 9700 Pro, and I see no reason to upgrade from that.

Total comes to $879, including S&H (I believe). I currently have $760 that I just got from my birthday, and I think I have some more cash laying around to pay the rest of that.

So, what do you guys think? Am I missing anything important? Am I being ripped off? I'm very open to suggestions, and any advice will be greatly appreciated.

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Moo.

just buy it and then we'll let you know.

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Current Maps | Inclusion | Restless Endeavor

There is a thin line between insanity and stupidity. I am that line.

I guess we can find CoW`omfgnewpcwooyay in #massassi now? -.-

<CoW> <3 gothicX
* CoW is now known as CoW`omfgnewpcwooyay

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Moo.

Heh, those guys built my computer. I ought to let you know that their tech support e-mail sends computer-generated replies back. =]

I asked a question and the reply I got (about 24-48 hours later I might add) had nothing to do with it. A FAQ on their site would have been more helpful *shakes head*.

Also, my case has a headphone and mic jack on the front that don't work (it was intentional to be that way by the look of it when I opened it up)...

Other than that nitpicking, i am happy with my computer... didn't keep me from changing my OEM info to read "Kedricorp" though.

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The Mega-ZZTer's Gaming Haven!
"One Forum to rule them all, One Forum to find them, One Forum to bring them all and in the darkness PWN THEM." - Mega-ZForums ... coming soon... maybe... .'/

Bot Pack JO | Let's Roll JK | Bespin JA | Patch Enforcer JK/MotS | Pac-Man JK

Eh, that doesn't sound too bad.. Though I'd be more than happy buying from somewhere else, this site just seemed to have exactly what I wanted at a low price, so *SHRUG* and stuff

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Moo.

Video card?

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I'm not an actor. I just play one on TV.

I already have a Radeon 9700 Pro, so I can just use that (not sure if I mentioned that before)

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Moo.

I would recommend just paying a few extra bucks to get them to put a gig of ram in it. That way, it will be under the same warranty and you won't have to open the case and potentially break something.

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EvilMagic.net: Brian's Web Log

I'd do that. And also, I would consider a bigger HD. Depending on what you use your PC for, that can fill up VERY fast. I mean, VERY fast. Heck, UT2004 alone uses 5 gigs. And also remember you loose more than 4 or 5 gigs due to the different hard drive measurements. (Its not truly a 80GB, its more like a 76GB)
And you'll loose an easy 2 gigs to windows. Right there, your down to 70 gigs. And thats only one game, and a straight operating system, no frills. You start loading it up with anime, games, movies, etc, you'll fill it up QUITE quick. Just pointing that out to you.

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"The future is not determined by a throw of the dice, but is determined by the conscious decisions of you and me."
I am addicted to ellipses!!! AHHH!!! ...
Make Sorrowind Worthwhile... join it! http://sorrowind.net

The thing is, I don't have a whole lot of money right now (as it is I'm about $40-$50 short), and getting a gig of ram would be a bit too expensive. I'm not even sure if I'm going to need it for a while, as it is.

And as for the harddrive size, that shouldn't be too big of a problem. My current HD is around 60 GB, and I've had it for around 3 years and it's just over half full, so I don't think that will be much of a problem, either (and if it is, I can always buy a smaller secondary drive)

Thanks for the suggestions, though.

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Moo.

Keep that hard drive and throw it in there with the other and you'll be just fine. Looks like a good box.

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I'm not an actor. I just play one on TV.

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There is no signature

I'd try going for S-ATA if I were you. The drives are about the same price, and performance is a good improvement from what I hear

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When guitars are outlawed, only outlaws will have guitars.

So I should go for the Seagate 80GB instead? (It appears to be S-ATA, and it's the same price and size as the Western Digital one.)

Price is a big concern here, because as it is I'm going over by around $75-$100. I just want to get something that works well, I'm not looking for something top of the line, but I want the best I can get for the ammount of money I have

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Moo.

[This message has been edited by A_Big_Fat_CoW (edited April 05, 2004).]

I think so, as long as the mobo supports it.

[edit]Checking your profile to see who got the "CoW" name first, I realised I hardly have any posts for someone who has been a member for 4 years

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When guitars are outlawed, only outlaws will have guitars.

[This message has been edited by MaD CoW (edited April 05, 2004).]

I love SATA drives....their cables are so much easier to manage.

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Cantina Cloud | BCF | The Massassian 1 & 2 | Gonkmeg
Corrupting the kiddies since '97

SATA drives are not just as cheap as IDE drives. If you look, you can easily find IDE drives with a price of about $.50/GB after rebates from places like Circuit City or Best Buy. You never find that on SATA drives. They almost always stay around $1/GB.

If you check out his link, you'll see that the WD drive he was looking at is the same price as the Seagate SATA, both of them are 80gb.

But then again it always depends on the vendor.

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When guitars are outlawed, only outlaws will have guitars.

I'd find out what brand the memory is and get another 512 stick of it for dual channel.

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Napalm is nature's toothpaste.

I am upgrading soon too and thought about getting a 64 bit processor, but it just doesnt seem worth the price hike considering no software (or hardly anything at all, maybe something that I havent heard about does) uses it yet. I'm just gonna get a P4 2.8 or 3ghz and overclock it a bit, seems like much better value.

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The Massassi-Map
There is no spoon.

[This message has been edited by Spork (edited April 05, 2004).]

"yet." I'm hoping this computer will last me for a while, and might as well get a 64 bit, because I'm thinking it would last longer...

However, you do raise a good point. Would it be smarter to get an AthlonXP? It would definitely cheaper, but I'll probably have to buy a 64-bit processor eventually...

So... yeah. Should I just go for the 64? or should I wait, and go with the XP?

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Moo.

It'll probably be a good while before 64-bit OSes and apps are stable and plentiful. You could save a lot of money by buying a Barton or Thoroughbred.

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When guitars are outlawed, only outlaws will have guitars.

Think of it this way. By the time 64-bit becomes practical, Intel will have a 64-bit consumer-grade processor out too. Whether it will be better or not remains to be seen obviously, but it's quite obvious that it should drive prices down.

I'm glad I went with my P4 for now. Definitely gives an advantage on all of the media encoding I do. I'd hate to know that I had a 64-bit processor sitting there not even utilizing its full potential.

And if I was going for the cheapest solution for a solid gaming(and other not so intensive applications) PC, it'd definitely be an Athlon XP.

[This message has been edited by Darth (edited April 05, 2004).]

From the reasearch I've done, P4 beats the equivalent AMD chip on every 3D benchmark.

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The Massassi-Map
There is no spoon.

What do you mean by "equivalent"?

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"Music is the universal language and the
dialect we speak in is Hip Hop!" - King Solomon

Well AMD badge their CPUs according to the Intel equivalent, so P4 3ghz = AMD XP 3000.

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The Massassi-Map
There is no spoon.

That's a good thing.

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I check my e-mail.

My comp is from Cyper power inc. They are an AWESOME company

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When you expect the pain - nothing left to ascertain
When you respect the lie - Deadly chasm open wide
---Circle of Dust "Chasm"

At Fry's where I work, the 250GB Maxtor PATA drive is $199. The 250GB Maxtor SATA is $209. Not a big difference there really...

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The Matrix is not Linux compatible.

Well, if you want to get really technical, My first "CoW" account here on the forums was registered Feb 1 of 2002, and I had an account on the comment section before that. And before that I had had this name on the Zone for at least a year... unfortunately, if there's a way to see how long a zone account and/or .net passport has been registered, I havn't found it. but I believe it's safe to say we've both had the name for approximately the same amount of time

As for my computer... I'm very much thinking of getting an AthlonXP 3200+ instead. Would I really notice much of a difference between a 32-bit and a 64-bit processor yet? as it was said before, there's not much, if anything, out at the moment that supports 64-bitness... so does it really matter which I get? and should I just screw AMD, and go with a Pentium instead? BLARG, DECISIONS..

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Moo.

Fine

As for your CPU, I've been looking into getting a computer for this summer. In benchmarking the P4-E 3.2 ghz seems to trash the Athlon XP 3200+, but in game benchmarking it seems to be the other way around. Someone could probably find a benchmark to contradict me, but this is what I have gathered from a couple sites.

And I don't think you'll be seeing much difference between 32 and 64 bit yet. Benchmarking seems to show that the A64-3200+ is on par with the P4-E 3.2 ghz. And someone was telling me at school that AMD is releasing a new 64-bit CPU format (socket 939), can anyone confirm this? If it's true, I wouldn't bother buying a 64-bit AMD any time soon.


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When guitars are outlawed, only outlaws will have guitars.

[This message has been edited by MaD CoW (edited April 06, 2004).]

Alright, I think I'm going for the AthlonXP 3200+, then... The only thing different would be the motherboard... Anyone have any suggestions? (being a n00b is fun.)

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Moo.

nForce2 boards are good

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WARNING: THIS POST MAY CONTAIN TRACES OF PEANUT!!!
----@%

Here's a few links I pulled off Google:

http://www.aceshardware.com/read.jsp?id=60000264

http://www6.tomshardware.com/cpu/20031223/cpu-guide-16.html

http://www6.tomshardware.com/cpu/20031223/cpu-guide-17.html

Ignore the super-chips up the top, the P4s outperform the Athlons in every single benchmark. Click around a little.

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The Massassi-Map
There is no spoon.

So I should go with a P4, now? this is confusing :/

Assuming I go with a P4, it looks like the 3.2 GHz would be the best option (the next step up, 3.4 GHz, is $150 more. I don't see the point if I'm only getting .2 more GHz.) I'm wondering about which motherboard I should get, though. Currently I'm looking at the ASUS P4P800 I865PE Chipset (in my last thread someone suggested going with ASUS, and the only other ASUS there is another $80), but I honestly don't know, so I'm open to any suggestions regarding that.

Thanks a bunch for the help, everyone. I really appreciate it. hopefully I can get everything figured out and get this ordered by the end of the week.

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Moo.

Yeah Spork, but I said cheap solution. I'd take my P4 over an XP 3000+ anyday.



I've seen IDE drives of that size for around $130 with rebates on them. That's my point, you'll find huge rebates on IDE drives, but not on SATA drives. I just ordered a 120 gig drive that will cost me $60 after I get the rebates back. Never seen anything like that on a SATA drive, but you see deals like that on IDE drives every week.

BAD BAD BAD SPORKY! Tomshardware and from what I hear AcesHardware have HORRIBLE biases. Not just because they say "AMD > INTEL" but because they say it when everyone else says otherwise. Like HardOCP, a VERY trusted site, says AMD~Intel chips. Spork--you've got your information ALL wrong my friend, sorry.

CoW--go with AMD, and the 64 wouldn't hurt. Trust me. Don't go Intel--I don't remember from your site, but I remember that they're almost always overly expensive. Yah, get yourself the AMD 64 3000+ or if you can find it I think the 3200+ isn't much more. Trust me man.

Tom's Hardware listed an Intel P4 2.4C to be > AXP 2700+. LIES! Learn your subject matter first, before you post. Good GOD Tom's Hardware makes me mad. Not only that, but they use nVidia only most of the time, which is optimized for Intel processors, whereas ATi cards just use whatever's available, although since they run better on equivalent AMD chips, people think they're optimized for AMD. Spork's got some forked information, which isn't his fault, but let this be the "Ode to the Misinformed".

Also, they have a P4 3.2 performing better than an Athlon FX-51. HAHAHAHA. Anyone knows that bit would be false. Go with AMD CoW, trust me.

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There is no signature

I suggest reading PCWORLD. Here's an article detailing the speed race, and how the Athlon 64 bits smacked the pants off all other processors available at writing: http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,115347,00.asp
It grabbed their fastest benchmark rating ever, and unlike most sites, they actually praise ATI video cards for being slightly faster in benchmarks, and being overall much cheaper.
As far as I can tell, PCWORLD maintains being unbiased, as they've gone back and forth with Pentiums and AMD for a long time. Same with Nvidia. But as mentioned earlier, Toms Hardware is great for tutorials and stuff, but is damn near ridiculous for benchmarks. Everyone in the right mind knows that the AMD64 totally owns Intel's current processor offerings, and its a well known fact that a similar speed AMD and Pentium, the AMD will win overall. Pentiums only hold their own in the encoding areas, which frankly, isn't that large.

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"The future is not determined by a throw of the dice, but is determined by the conscious decisions of you and me."
I am addicted to ellipses!!! AHHH!!! ...
Make Sorrowind Worthwhile... join it! http://sorrowind.net

[This message has been edited by Cool Matty (edited April 06, 2004).]

<3 CM

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There is no signature