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someone help me buy really good parts please

S

snipa.inc

New Member
Joined
Dec 9, 2003
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9
hello can someone please make a list of a good computer in parts so i can get some idea of wot to buy....ill explain my situation...
i currently live in australia and im leaving for argentina in 2 weeks...1 dollar here equals to three dollars there so im gonna buy a computer in parts there and bring it here and build it...
im only 14 so im not an expert with computers but i know a bit...im looking for help on what parts to buy ((-- my parents are willing to spend around $1000-$1200 a.u on the parts altogether--))
someone please help...thanx HEAPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i will be using the computer to play really good games
 
I moved this post to off topic since you're obviously looking for modern computer help rather then vintage help.

Meanwhile, I'd suggest:

1. Intel 875P Motherboard or equivalent
2. 3.0 or 3.2 GHz Pentium 4 processor
3. At least 512 MB of 800 MHz RAM, 1GB preferred
4. nVidia GeForce FX 5700 or 5900 or ATI Radeon 9600 or 9800
5. Soundblaster Audigy
6. PC Power and Cooling mid-tower case and power supply
7. Any good quality 7200 or 10000 RPM hard drive
8. Pextor CD R/W or DVD-RW drive
9. 3.5" floppy drive and generic CD ROM drive

Good luck!

Erik
 
hey thanx erik...just 1 q....wot if i get an amd ? wot motherboard would i get?
i heard its basically the same...just cheaper!
can u plz explain to me wot this is?
AMD Athlon XP3200 2200MHz (400)
is that like a p4 3.2? wot does the rest mean...sorry im a No0b
 
ok...i think ive come up with a computer.....thanx for all ur help but i need 1 more thing....if i was to buy the following:
PROCESSOR: AMD Athlon XP3200 2200MHz (400)
MEMORY: 1Gb PC3200 DDR400 Kingston Twin Kit
HARD DRIVE: 80Gb 7200rpm Westerndigital 800JB 8Mb (wot does the 800JB mean? sorry im a noob)
CD DRIVE: I'll find one...you don't need to be expert for that.
GFX CARD: 256Mb Gecube ATI Radeon 9600Pro
plus....FDD and cd burner and case with 350w power supply.
if i was to buy all that...wot motherboard would i have to get and around how much would it cost?
 
I don't really follow the Athalon chip motherboards all that closely. I know that Asus has a good one but I'm sure there are tons of other good ones around.

I usually go to Tom's Hardware to get the best advice on the best gear.

You can also look at Alienware systems as examples of high performance gaming rigs.

Good luck!

Erik
 
First of all, are you sure computers are 1/3rd of the price in Argentina, or did you just mix up currencies with the same name? Check your exchange rate and then look for dealers in the country you're going to. You may be deeply sorry if you miscalculated a lot. It will probably be a little cheaper based upon I suppose Argentina is a low-wage country compared to Australia, but not 1/3rd of the price unless you're willing to get 1/3 of the computing power too. Also take in account warranties and any import regulations if they apply.

When it comes to your technical questions, AMD will probably give you more computing for the money but often runs hotter, is more delicate to assemble (unless you buy it pre-assembled or know a professional computer manufacturer which can help you mount the processor) and is considered a poor choice for those who can afford Intel.

XP3200 means it should compare to an Intel processor at 3.2 GHz, while itself it runs at a lower clock frequency (2.2 GHz?). Now, Intel have recently got into the same dilemma as their Pentium-M is more powerful at a lower clock frequency and they don't know how to convince the buyer that clock frequency isn't the whole truth about processor power. There are a few different chipset manufacturers (VIA, nVidia, SiS etc) of which nForce2 used to be a good one, but KT400 is a cheaper alternative.

You didn't mention a monitor or operating system, so I assume you don't need to upgrade those. After doing a quick calculation based on Swedish prices, you should expect about AUD $1800-2000 for a system (without monitor, and only non-Pro ATI Radeon 9600/256) of your specs, quite a lot more than the AUD $1200 you had in budget.
 
EVERYONE: i've got the most embarrassing news....i just recently found out my parents have lowered the $1000 thing. they said only $800 a.u...and i might buy the comp here. i've chosen a comp with the money they are going to """"supply""""...tell me wot u think:
PROCESSOR: AMD Athlon XP2600 2083MHz (333) $180
MEMORY: 512Mb PC2700 DDR333 $130
HARD DRIVE: 40Gb 7200rpm Seagate Barracuda $90
GFX CARD: GeCube GC-R9600 SE 128M AGP $175
MOBO: Gigabyte GA-7VM400M SA, FBS333, All In One $125
CASE/POWER:YAHA T43A Midi Case / 300W $55

all of these prices are a.u--it equals up to $755...tell me wot u think...wot else do i need?...

thank you so much for ur help...but it was a sudden change of decision...sorry
 
Wow. That is still quite decent prices compared to where I live. Well, you might want to look into a CD-RW or at least a CD-ROM if you didn't have one since before. The motherboard is KT400-based, which is mainstream on today's AMD market.

I assume the CPU comes with cooling, or you will want to add a good fan/heat sink too ($30-40 ?). The motherboard probably has built in VGA, but it will only perform 1/10th of what the ATI Radeon does, so it will only be useful as an emergency backup. Maybe you can find an nForce2 card without VGA for approximately the same money.
 
Anyway, good luck. Hopefully I'll be assembling an Athlon system tonight - the second one I've assembled, but I've played around with other PCs quite a lot. After seeing images on how damaged Athlon processors look like, I know I'll be very careful and follow the instructions closely.
 
Correct me if I am wrong (anyone), but KM400 is the "integrated VGA" version of KT400. I'm sure it is a fine chipset, but since you aimed for the top notch in your first post, I liked to point out there might be even better solutions.

Regarding nForce2 cards, your shop has a Gigabyte GA-7N400E ($135) which unfortunately lacks LAN, although the step-up version GA-7N400L ($155) does. Maybe $30 is too much money to spend only to be sure to get the test winner?

The 1/10 means your average game would, using the integrated UniChrome graphics on the KM400 board, only perform at 1/10th of what the external ATI Radeon card will (i.e. much worse), so if your shop had a cheaper alternative without the integrated graphics, you could do with that. Also remember to read the manual whether you have to disable the integrated graphics to get the external graphics card working.

Here's a link to the only :?: page I've found which benchmarked the integrated graphics (yes, it is in French, but numbers work in the same way over there):

http://www.x86-secret.com/articles/cm/igp/igp-7.htm

GameUnion is an ECS Pentium 4 motherboard (SiS + integrated Xabre 200 graphics). They also have an AMD version which I've ordered. To see how it compares to "real" graphics, see this review of PC Chips' version of the same motherboard:

http://www.techwarelabs.com/reviews/motherboard/pcchips_m847lu/index_5.shtml

These two tests were done with different specs, but gives a hint on relations in 3DMark results.
 
motherboard

motherboard

so...tell me wot to do...i hould stick to my radeon 9600 and get the GA-7N400L instead?
 
I built myself a system back in early August...

I have G-force FX5600 256MB graphics card which is pretty good! they sell for I think £ 90 here now.

I also went for one of the Legend QDI Platinix-8 motherboard, with a 2.8ghz Intel P4 processor. The only thing I regret is to buy the board with the onboard soundcard (you can buy it one without it), as I upgraded it to Creative Live! 2 months later... Apart from that, I've changed nothing :)
 
thanx dong....
carlsson....i can afford the $155 motherboard...would my gfx card run good on that? anyone that knows about this plz comment
 
Hi again (I've been away on a 24 hour drinking trip and when I got home, I installed my new computer).

The two links you posted are identical :oops: but I think you mean to compare between Asus A7V600 and Gigabyte GA-7N400L ?

GA-7N400L (nForce2 Ultra 400) has a 266-400 MHz FSB, 4 DIMM slots with up to 3 GB (PC3200), 8X AGP 3.0, five PCI slots, 10/100 LAN, sound and is bundled with software Norton firewall, antivirus, spam alert etc as well as Acrobat Reader (which is a free download and about every hardware producer offering documents in PDF format has to include the reader with their product).

A7V600 (KT600) has a 200-400 MHz FSB (so it would support older processors than Gigabyte does), 3 DIMM slots with up to 3 GB (Asus says PC3200, although DiY only lists PC2700), 8X AGP, six PCI slots, 10/100/1000 (?) LAN or wireless through separate hardware, Serial ATA, sound and is bundled with PC-cillin antivirus only.

Tom's Hardware had last month a feature on two different motherboards using the same chipsets and came to the conclusion that nVidia still is #1, but barely. Ignore the regular nForce2 400, since the Gigabyte board is an Ultra 400 :

http://www.tomshardware.com/motherboard/20031107/index.html

As Tom's Hardware puts it, if you need Serial ATA (which you probably don't with the regular ATA hard drive you're going for), KT600-based motherboards is to choose, but otherwise the price difference should be significiant enough to not choose the nForce 2 opponent. In your case the difference seems to be a meal at McDonalds. :D

Regarding the ATI Radeon card, I'm sure it works fine in any motherboard, although you can see differences in 3D results in tests conducted with the same graphics card but different motherboards.
 
A few years ago, Athlons might have been unreliable (at the same time Pentium 4 was slower than Pentium 3 - which some people still argue is true). I don't know if that is true today, but generally they perform less (but also cost less) than P4:

http://www17.tomshardware.com/cpu/20030623/p4_3200-07.html

Unfortunately, I'm not much into P4 motherboards since I wanted to spend as little as possible on a computer. Erik suggested anything Intel 875 based, and one of your dealers had a Gigabyte board for $210. I don't know if it is good, but you could always browse around to get other opinions.

Hm, I wonder if Asus P4R800-VM with integrated Radeon 9200 (shared memory, $160) is any good for a budget P4. Probably the 9200 graphics suck "big time" compared to newer (9600, 9800) ATI cards anyway.
 
Athlons are reliable as long as you have a decent heatsink and fan and a power supply that can handle the amperage. A few do it yourself type ran into problem trying to run k7's (the old slot processor types that had heat problems) with older powersuplies and inadequate cooling years ago. Today anything you buy new will work just fine.
 
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