Hey, me again. Hi.
It's about time to get a new computer, so I'm going to throw out what I'm looking for and see what kind of feedback is laying around here.
What is a damn good motherboard/cpu combo on the market? Should I opt for a dual-core AMD64 chip? What motherboard/socket should I be considering? My current computer is an AMD64 3200+ with a Gigabyte MoBo.
Video Cards - My old one is an ATI Radeon 9600 Pro 256MB, I'm looking for a 512MB video card, or a pair of them if they support SLI. Is SLI really worthwhile for gaming? How much of a cost factor does this imply in regards to a motherboard that supports SLI?
DVD Burner - I realize HD-DVD is on the way, but in the mean time has anyone used those spiffy lightwave DVD burners - you burn the dvd on one side, flip it over and burn your label right onto the disc? Seems pretty cool to me, I go through from 100-150 DVD's a month, and it gets tiresome using my Sharpy.
Monitor - I'm getting a 62" DLP HDTV for my living room, and I plan on using that occasionally for WoW/HL2, but I'd like a pair of monitors for my bedroom as well. Any companies making 19" LCD's that I should be avoiding?
Thanks! :)
New Computer Time (Second of Two)
I deal mainly with business PCs, so I don't get into Athlons and high end video cards unless they are more along the lines of the nVidia Quadros and the like, so I have no comment on the CPU, Motherboard or video card. I also hate graphical games, so don't have a spiffy graphics PC at home. I have all Intel stuff other than an Athlon 64 that I won at some Microsoft show that sits in a corner downstairs unused.
That being said as for the DVD burner be aware that the media for the lightscribe burners is generally more expensive than regular media. Sharpies are still cheaper than the lightscribe if you burn a lot of discs (I burn about 200 a month also, and would rather have discs that cost <$0.20 each).
As for monitors I can't say enough good things about Samsung, but realize that if you're using the monitors for gaming, then generally a CRT monitor will have better response rates than an LCD. Keep this in mind.
That being said as for the DVD burner be aware that the media for the lightscribe burners is generally more expensive than regular media. Sharpies are still cheaper than the lightscribe if you burn a lot of discs (I burn about 200 a month also, and would rather have discs that cost <$0.20 each).
As for monitors I can't say enough good things about Samsung, but realize that if you're using the monitors for gaming, then generally a CRT monitor will have better response rates than an LCD. Keep this in mind.
Vaprak, the Destroyer
-Formerly Tempus of HomelandMUD -- pre-merger
-Formerly Tempus of HomelandMUD -- pre-merger
Hsoj wrote:I thought that was in washington and that the guy died...
ROFLMAO!!
In case you didn't get the joke. .
http://www.torilmud.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=16510
Nerox tells you 'Good deal, the other tanks I have don't wanna do it, and since your my special suicidal tank i figure you don't mind one bit!'
Alurissi tells you 'aren't you susposed to get sick or something and not beable to make tia so i can go? :P'
Alurissi tells you 'aren't you susposed to get sick or something and not beable to make tia so i can go? :P'
AMD chips can be quite confusing.
the best two deals in my opinion are the
AMD64 3500+ venice core
AMD64 3800+ san deigo core
AMD64x2 4200+ toledo core
all three of those chips would be great for high end gaming.
graphics card
Don't be overly conerned with the amount of memory a card has, good graphics cards are all about the graphical processing unit. A 512 mb graphics card is just a waste of time imho.
my absolute favorite card (and yes i know other cards cost more) is the GIGABYTE GV-3D1-C Dual GeForce 6600 Series 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card you can normally find one of these for 290 bucks (go newegg) Think of graphic cards with one gpu as "sprinters" this card would be a long haul distance runner.
monitors huandai L90D+ is the one i use, i highly reccomend it for anything gaming.
any other questions? configuring PC's is kinda my thing these days.
[/b]
the best two deals in my opinion are the
AMD64 3500+ venice core
AMD64 3800+ san deigo core
AMD64x2 4200+ toledo core
all three of those chips would be great for high end gaming.
graphics card
Don't be overly conerned with the amount of memory a card has, good graphics cards are all about the graphical processing unit. A 512 mb graphics card is just a waste of time imho.
my absolute favorite card (and yes i know other cards cost more) is the GIGABYTE GV-3D1-C Dual GeForce 6600 Series 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card you can normally find one of these for 290 bucks (go newegg) Think of graphic cards with one gpu as "sprinters" this card would be a long haul distance runner.
monitors huandai L90D+ is the one i use, i highly reccomend it for anything gaming.
any other questions? configuring PC's is kinda my thing these days.
[/b]
Cofen group-says 'wtf, why am i missing a cursed khanjari?'
Alendar group-says 'i r rednek i can only afford the monitor i have mud on and the broken monitor under it'
Nonox tells you 'i think someone casted 'power word gay' on pril'
Malacar ASSOC:: 'must... mp...soon...underwear...cringing...at...oncoming...onslaught...'
Alendar group-says 'i r rednek i can only afford the monitor i have mud on and the broken monitor under it'
Nonox tells you 'i think someone casted 'power word gay' on pril'
Malacar ASSOC:: 'must... mp...soon...underwear...cringing...at...oncoming...onslaught...'
-
kiryan
- Sojourner
- Posts: 7275
- Joined: Sat Apr 14, 2001 5:01 am
- Location: Los Angeles, CA and Flagstaff, AZ
- Contact:
let me start off by saying you won't get a top of the line system by buying top of the line parts and making it yourself. neither will you get a speed demon by going to some integrator and giving them a spec list. if you really want the fastest gaming machine in existence, go to somebody who really integrates their systems.
Someone who builds systems then benchmarks them, then swaps out the memory and benchmarks, then gets a different mother board and benchmarks it ect ect ect... Alienware used to do this, I really haven't heard anything great about them since they got big, but you can be pretty confident that from comparable spec'd systems from dell and alienware and ibm, alienware will outperform because they are integrating for speed while the others integrate for reliability and to reduce cost.
---
the high end dual core amd's are too expensive unless you go with slower clocks. i'd go with a single core with a higher clock if i were going to buy right now and if i was after a gaming machine. I usually buy intel, because its what i know and it gets the job done.
a competitor to SLI is coming out, one that doesn't require both graphics cards to be the same model, but I think you'll have to wait 6 months to a year for it. Thing you have to ask yourself is are you really going to drop $400 for a good pci express video card let alone $800 for a pair? If your not, then SLI shouldn't be a factor in your MB purchase.
As for speed, I hear anything from 30% to 60% improvement with sli. Unfortunately the higher speed improvements are usually at the sickeningly high resolutions... so like 30% at 1280x1024 and 60% at 1600x1200 maybe 80% at 2000+... are you the kind of person who likes to play at 1600x1200? Most people aren't because everything on screen tends to be smaller.
---
If I had money to burn this is what i would do:
one $400 video card
name brand motherboard with an amd 64
2 gb of high quality ddr ram that performs well with the MB
**edit marths right, no ddr2 for amds yet =(.
pci-express sata raid controller with at least 256mb of ram and 3+ drives in a raid 5 (slower than raid 0, but you won't lose everything if a drive fails).
a separate super fast sata hd (put the windows swap file here)
---
the best thing you can do for the performance of your system, is don't install a bunch of crap on it. buy 2 computers, one for gaming the other for internet, programming, office and all the rest of the crap you might do.
Someone who builds systems then benchmarks them, then swaps out the memory and benchmarks, then gets a different mother board and benchmarks it ect ect ect... Alienware used to do this, I really haven't heard anything great about them since they got big, but you can be pretty confident that from comparable spec'd systems from dell and alienware and ibm, alienware will outperform because they are integrating for speed while the others integrate for reliability and to reduce cost.
---
the high end dual core amd's are too expensive unless you go with slower clocks. i'd go with a single core with a higher clock if i were going to buy right now and if i was after a gaming machine. I usually buy intel, because its what i know and it gets the job done.
a competitor to SLI is coming out, one that doesn't require both graphics cards to be the same model, but I think you'll have to wait 6 months to a year for it. Thing you have to ask yourself is are you really going to drop $400 for a good pci express video card let alone $800 for a pair? If your not, then SLI shouldn't be a factor in your MB purchase.
As for speed, I hear anything from 30% to 60% improvement with sli. Unfortunately the higher speed improvements are usually at the sickeningly high resolutions... so like 30% at 1280x1024 and 60% at 1600x1200 maybe 80% at 2000+... are you the kind of person who likes to play at 1600x1200? Most people aren't because everything on screen tends to be smaller.
---
If I had money to burn this is what i would do:
one $400 video card
name brand motherboard with an amd 64
2 gb of high quality ddr ram that performs well with the MB
**edit marths right, no ddr2 for amds yet =(.
pci-express sata raid controller with at least 256mb of ram and 3+ drives in a raid 5 (slower than raid 0, but you won't lose everything if a drive fails).
a separate super fast sata hd (put the windows swap file here)
---
the best thing you can do for the performance of your system, is don't install a bunch of crap on it. buy 2 computers, one for gaming the other for internet, programming, office and all the rest of the crap you might do.
Last edited by kiryan on Thu Oct 20, 2005 8:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.
-
Marthammor
- Staff Member - Areas
- Posts: 834
- Joined: Tue Jul 15, 2003 9:00 am
- Location: On a Rocky Tor Overlooking a Storm-Ridden Landscape
- Contact:
If I were buying parts to build a computer right now:
AMD 64 FX-57
2GB good matched DDR ram (crucial/kingston/muskin) - AMD's current CPU's don't have a DDR2 memory controller yet.
ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe motherboard
A single ASUS Geforce N7800 GTX Top video card (can upgrade later to two for SLI action if you choose)
Creative X-Fi Soundcard
A single Hitachi Deskstar 7k500 hard drive
Dual Plextor PX-716a dvd burners (two for disk to disk recording)
Floppy drives are optional anymore, but I normally go with one of those floppy/multi-media card reader jobbies.
As for monitors - Dell makes some very nice 21" normal and 24" widescreen displays.
Oh, and if you're building a high end computer, always get a good power supply. I'm partial to PC Power and Coolings lineup. For the above setup, likely a Turbo-Cool 850 SSI or for future proofing, their new Turbo-Cool 1Kw unit.
AMD 64 FX-57
2GB good matched DDR ram (crucial/kingston/muskin) - AMD's current CPU's don't have a DDR2 memory controller yet.
ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe motherboard
A single ASUS Geforce N7800 GTX Top video card (can upgrade later to two for SLI action if you choose)
Creative X-Fi Soundcard
A single Hitachi Deskstar 7k500 hard drive
Dual Plextor PX-716a dvd burners (two for disk to disk recording)
Floppy drives are optional anymore, but I normally go with one of those floppy/multi-media card reader jobbies.
As for monitors - Dell makes some very nice 21" normal and 24" widescreen displays.
Oh, and if you're building a high end computer, always get a good power supply. I'm partial to PC Power and Coolings lineup. For the above setup, likely a Turbo-Cool 850 SSI or for future proofing, their new Turbo-Cool 1Kw unit.
ah hrm maybe i should get a pentium then since it seems my amd64 system is already running the specs you guys are quoting. i have been itching to build an audio system, maybe this could be it - that 3-4 hundred dollar creative sound card has been calling my name for a while
thanks for input everyone!
i know nothing about music production, lets see what i learn :)
thanks for input everyone!
i know nothing about music production, lets see what i learn :)
All I have to add is Holy Moly, can I have your old computer? :|
Arishae group-says 'mah sunray brings all the boys to the yard'
Shadow Scream
Shadow Scream
i no longer consider my current system high end. i've had it for about 8 months and its time to move to the next generation of hardware for me.
computers and music are my personal luxuries in life, and i'm not content to settle for second rate when i enjoy either. i spend hundreds of dollars on my headphones, hundreds more on speakers and sound cards. when it comes to a computer, spending a few thousand dollars to get the best of the best....well, i work hard to make good money, so if i don't enjoy that money i consider myself just another ant with a bank account.
computers and music are my personal luxuries in life, and i'm not content to settle for second rate when i enjoy either. i spend hundreds of dollars on my headphones, hundreds more on speakers and sound cards. when it comes to a computer, spending a few thousand dollars to get the best of the best....well, i work hard to make good money, so if i don't enjoy that money i consider myself just another ant with a bank account.
Two things to think about.
1) Get the biggest monitor that you can fit in the space you'll be using it, and the best quality one you can afford. Higher resolutions are useless on smaller screens. You are going to be staring at it for all of the time you use the computer; I'd personally have a bigger and better monitor than a faster cpu.
2) There comes a point in computing where the limiting factor begins to be the disk itself. Make sure you get a fast disk with a lot of cache. Do research, read reviews, buy what fits your price bracket, but don't forget about a quality hard disk.
-thalash
1) Get the biggest monitor that you can fit in the space you'll be using it, and the best quality one you can afford. Higher resolutions are useless on smaller screens. You are going to be staring at it for all of the time you use the computer; I'd personally have a bigger and better monitor than a faster cpu.
2) There comes a point in computing where the limiting factor begins to be the disk itself. Make sure you get a fast disk with a lot of cache. Do research, read reviews, buy what fits your price bracket, but don't forget about a quality hard disk.
-thalash
[Profile edited by Board Admin. If you can't be civil, we'll fix it for you. -ed]
Kwirl:
If your going to be putting the computer together on your own, visit the 'hot deals' forum at fatwallet.com for the parts. A lot of the really high end stuff that you want can be purchased at significant discounts via price mistakes, rebates, coupons, etc (sometimes stacking all of those together). The people there are nuts about getting computer equipment cheap.
Corth
If your going to be putting the computer together on your own, visit the 'hot deals' forum at fatwallet.com for the parts. A lot of the really high end stuff that you want can be purchased at significant discounts via price mistakes, rebates, coupons, etc (sometimes stacking all of those together). The people there are nuts about getting computer equipment cheap.
Corth
Having said all that, the situation has been handled, so this thread is pretty much at an end. -Kossuth
Goddamned slippery mage.
Goddamned slippery mage.
kiryan wrote:... so if you already have a very high end system what exactly are you trying to accomplish other than pissing your money away?
One word
settlement
he is also debating buying that house 90% of the people advised AGAINST :P
love ya no shit Daz but .. :P
"When a child is born, so is a grandmother."
-Italian Proverb
-Italian Proverb
actually buying that house is my main priority, once i realized it was within my reach, well - i need it. i don't have family, i don't have a place to live other than getting a new apartment every year. i'm not buying a house as an investment, i'm buying so i will have a place i can call home for once
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