...to build it. My dad is sponsoring the building of the next computer in the house, and it will be mine. However, I'm going to need a bit of advice. For instance, motherboards. I'm leaning towards a 3.2 ghz P4 and ddr sd RAM, so what would be best? I've screwed up before on video cards getting something expensive that was crap, so I need to know what brand/model I should get. You guys know better than me.

[NO! I could swear I was in the discussion forum! DAMN IT! And I want my post deleting back!]

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The Devious Server

[This message has been edited by RingMaster481 (edited June 17, 2004).]

How much money do you have to work with? I'm assuming your father has imposed some kind of limit.

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[This message has been edited. Deal with it.]

lawl

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Current Maps | Inclusion | Restless Endeavor

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

I reccomend an Athlon, you can get preeetty fast ones for relatively cheap.

I'd go with a radeon as well. You could push some /serious/ money into it and get a 256 MB card, but you won't really need one of those for quite a while.

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[16:38] Correction: dick tracy was a real man
[16:38] happydud: Actually... He wasn't.
[19:08] Dormouse: hi, my name's happydud and i'm passive-aggress.. SHUTUP!! *stabs nearby orphan*
[You have gained 3 Dark Side Points]

I have a Nvidia Geforce FX 5200, and it works wonders. :\ Just my $0.04 (Canadian)

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"My god, it's full of stars!"

"True as toasted toads!"

[This message has been edited by Glyde Bane (edited June 19, 2004).]

Ok, well here's my wish list maybe it'll help you out and give you some ideas to go on...

Processor:

Intel Pentium 4/ 3.0E GHz 800MHz FSB, 1MB L2 Cache, Hyper Threading Technology

$215 @ newegg > http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-116-171&depa=1

Its not 3.4, but its also not $800

Motherboard:

CHAINTECH "9CJS ZENITH" i875P Chipset Motherboard for Intel Socket 478 CPU

$169 @ newegg > http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-152-027&depa=1

Probably the best Intel board on the market currently

Soundcard:

Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS

$88 @ newegg > http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=29-102-162&depa=1

Graphics Card:

ATI Radeon9800 Pro 128mb DDR

I already own this but they dropped in price big time since the XT came out. You can find it for $250 or less now, try to stay away from off brands using the same chip and just get the model made by ATI

Memory:

Though we all want 1 or 2gb of ram, 512mb DDR is plenty for now. Use a single 512mb memory module for ease of upgrading later

Around $100 (Crucial, Kingston, or Corsair are good brands)

Hard Drive 1:

Western Digital 160gb 7200rpm w/8mb cache

$150 (on sale $50 off mail-in rebates) @ Best Buy > http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=1051826249503&skuId=5524373&type=product&cmp=++

Hard Drive 2 (optional):

Just for simple storage of mp3's and documents 60gb is plenty

Optical Drive 1:

Plextor 712a DVD+-R(W)

$165.99 @ newegg > http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=27-131-326&depa=1

Kinda peeved to see this at that price, i got the model below it for $130 2 months ago

Optical Drive 2 (optional):

Range $40 - $80

Any DVD drive will do

Floppy Drive:

$20 or so

You really don't have to have one, flash memory keys are so much better to use, but I like to have one in case I need to create a boot disk to help out a friend with his computer or something.

Case and Power Supply:

350 to 400 watts is the range you should look for, unless youre running a lot more than what ive listed you shouldnt need any more than 400

Around $100 combined

Monitor:

LCD's are nice.....CRT's are cheaper (not to mention better all around) If you have the space, go CRT. I have a 19" Viewsonic I got for $160 (Viewsonic & Samsung are good moderately priced brands). Aim for a flat screen (not flat panel) with a dot pitch of .22 for picture clarity

Accessories:

FANS! newer components run hot, if your case isnt properly ventilated your new stuff will fry, check online for help when putting your stuff together.

Flash Memory Keys are handy and cheap, 512mb of space is about $60 or $70 bucks but it replaces about 500 floppy disks, do the math...

NEONS!!! dont bother, waste of money unless you plan on winning the "look how cool my computer is" geek award. Plus cutting out a case window can be rather difficult for the average user, and if you mess up you're out another $70 bucks

Well there you have it, longest post for me ever. Good luck, and if you have any questions.....google it, theres tons of help online, just need to take the time to find it

Cheers

-Salvation

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"Count the Bodies Like Sheep to the Rhythm of the War Drums..."

I'd still go with an Athlon, you can overclock em very good.

And for the HD, if you have the money go for raid 0. A friend of mine has two 120 gb hds in a raid 0 and the whole system is incredible fast. (With an Athlon 64 3200, overclocked, I think to 2,2 ghz)

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My levels
And the ultimative TinyCTF

pazarol a világ, én meg segitek neki

LOLZORS WORNG FORUM!!!!!!!~!!~!1`1`111111

Sounds like a nice comp. And the Radeon is definitely what I would choose.

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"May your gravity well be shallow, and your deBroglie wavelength short."

sapphire makes really good ati cards. i have one and dont have any complaints. i think tomshardware reccomends sapphire builds of radeons too. i dont remember.


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<Dormouse> there are very few things quite as comforting as smelling like a close friend.

We are only human, perfect in our imperfections. - Erin amie du Dor

<Dormouse> it's really cute in the way that a sherman tank with a fuzzy steering wheel is cute

yeah, Sapphire rox!

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My levels
And the ultimative TinyCTF

pazarol a világ, én meg segitek neki

Jeez, why hasn't this been moved yet?

Anyway, I'm getting an ATI Radeon for sure, I've had bad experiences with nVidia and I love my 9500pro. My main issue is the motherboard, I need one that will do a P4 3.2, not have a built in graphics thing-ay, and use memory that is cheaper than this Rambus stuff I'm using now. DDR SD would be best.

I'm looking at this case.

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The Devious Server

Asus Radeon > *

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"Ever since I was a boy, I have always kept your laws, now I want to follow you and join you in your noble cause. Jesus turned to him and said, 'Sell all you have give to the poor.' Rich young ruler hung his head, not to follow, walked instead." - Vanishing Lesson

I have a Sapphire and some Radeon cards...

The Sapphire is nice, yes, but the ATi cards are better....


I would go with an Intel, for the same price as an Athalon, you can get a cheaper Intel. Plus, I've had some problems with Athalon chips.

Whats wrong with Neon Lights? I have 2 Green Cold Cathode Tubes. Everyone at the lan parties likes my computer.

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"Bantha's are filthy animals.......I don't eat filthy animals."

"Laugh it up Fuzzball!"
-Han Solo

[This message has been edited by Trigger Happy Chewie (edited June 20, 2004).]

Wow, this has been open a while... Thought it would be moved by now.

Anyway, good luck with your new comp. Hope it goes smoothly and bugless.

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Sam: "Sir we can't call it 'The Enterprise'"
Jack: "Why not!"

I found sone benchmarks at tom's hardware guide in an article about overclocking the FX53.

http://www.tomshardware.com/cpu/20040318/index.html

When you scroll down there is an overview at the topics.

In directx games the Athlon chips are superior. But I didn't check the prices

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My levels
And the ultimative TinyCTF

pazarol a világ, én meg segitek neki



[This message has been edited by NAS_Matyy (edited June 21, 2004).]

Yeah screw the P4's. They are just overpriced junk anymore.

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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

Maximum PC ran a bunch of articles about 4 months ago putting a P4, Athalon, and the Mac G5 computers up against eachother all running the best possible built (or in the macs case, since you cant really build those, their top of the line) running all the same 12 benchmarks. Needless to say the P4 came out on top with 6 benchmarks having top scores. The athalon only topped 3. The facts dont lie.

As far as motherboards go for a p4 3.0-3.4 or the chaintech i mentioned is more than compatable with it, as it has an 800MHz FSB. Any integrated sound or graphics a motherboard has can (usually) be easily bypassed by unistalling all the drivers.

You still havnt really said what cost limit you had so i pretty much gave you all the stuff you need for one under 2000 that with proper maintenance and small upgrading will last you well over 4 years (depending on how fast 64 bit processing develops...which is very slow at the moment). Now if you have a larger budget, screw building one and just customize an alienware

As far as overclocking goes, ive never found a reason for it. You put a lot of things at risk if you overclock and only for a few extra fps. And if you dont know what you're doing, you will more than likely fry the component, and hey, manufacturers void your waranty the second you overclock. So unless you have some money to spare on being dumb or happen to know a lot about computers, dont do it.

Back to neons, I love them, don't get me wrong, but if youre being budget minded they are useless.

Thats all I got for now, happy to answer any more questions if you have them.

-Salvation

[edit]I've been dislexic or something lately[/edit]

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"Count the Bodies Like Sheep to the Rhythm of the War Drums..."

[This message has been edited by JEDI-Salvation (edited June 21, 2004).]

Hmm, can you show me those benchmarks? It's important to see where they are good, not how often.

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My levels
And the ultimative TinyCTF

pazarol a világ, én meg segitek neki