New Computer

[myvanpounds 10+ year member]

added my comments
for a little under 2g u could have done LOTS better

I origonally tried a p32sli board but it was doa, and the Cheap ocz 6400 sli ready stuff crapped out at stock speed within a week

my 20.1" LCD replaced a 5 year old 19" CRT that was going fuzzy... it was like 130

oh ya raid0 7200 drives are faster than a single raptor.... way cheaper too, best GB per $ right there. unless a drive crashes.... (which reminds me..... I need to backup my ****)

 

[nate2587 10+ year member]

I origonally tried a p32sli board but it was doa, and the Cheap ocz 6400 sli ready stuff crapped out at stock speed within a week
my 20.1" LCD replaced a 5 year old 19" CRT that was going fuzzy... it was like 130

oh ya raid0 7200 drives are faster than a single raptor.... way cheaper too, best GB per $ right there. unless a drive crashes.... (which reminds me..... I need to backup my ****)

go with dual 10k drives //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[myvanpounds 10+ year member]

go with dual 10k drives //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

$$$$$$

would be sweet but the cost ouldn't be worth the speed increase, this machine is already plenty fast

 

[Scoobydoo 5,000+ posts]

if your gonna spend that amount of cash may as well go with a SSD

 

[silvercookie 5,000+ posts]

do you want to play graphic intensive games, or is it for business and non-gaming use?

Intel Makes the best processors.

nope amd makes the best. they are the most stable even to they run at lowe speeds and actually procces things quicker and easier.

newegg.com for actual parts

xoxide.com for case fans lighting all that crap.

 

[crunktimes.com 5,000+ posts]

nope amd makes the best. they are the most stable even to they run at lowe speeds and actually procces things quicker and easier.
newegg.com for actual parts

xoxide.com for case fans lighting all that crap.

Intel > AMD in this latest 'round' of processors I don't think you will find anyone that actually knows WTF they are talking about that will disagree.

 

[mjbailey21 10+ year member]

Yeah, Intel has surpassed AMD head over heels.

I used to be an AMD faithful, as a matter of fact except for my macbook my last CPU was an AMD Athlon XP 3000+ and it was great.

They aren't great now.

C2D and even Core 2 Quad is the way to go, depending on what you can afford.

I wouldn't go under the 6600 for either if you can help it.

I also recommend a very nice power supply. A lot of people try to cheap out on a power supply but if you are a gamer and are using a beasty video card, processor, etc... I'd suggest getting a reliable brand (Antec, Thermaltake) and getting between 600-800watts.

Abit and Gigabyte have some awesome motherboards available for around $100 or even less.

I got Crucial Ballastix dual channel kit (2GB) for about $40 after rebate. Keep your eyes open and you can find a handful of deals on DDR2. If you're patient, you can save $5-$100 which can go towards a better CPU or another line of video cards (or even HD sound.)

 

[HitManSE 10+ year member]

IIFC Crucial makes a **** nice PSU (620w), OCZ has a few good options for PSU's as well.

 

[nate2587 10+ year member]

$$$$$$
would be sweet but the cost ouldn't be worth the speed increase, this machine is already plenty fast

It's not that bad I only paid like 100 bux for my 150gb 10k drive

also you can just buy a 500gb 7200 drive for storage

 

[myvanpounds 10+ year member]

ya but then you have he inconvenience of two drives.. everything always wants to install to C.

besides anyway you cut it 2x 250Gb 16mb cache 7200 drives in raid0 will always be faster at booting and opening files/ programs than one 10K boot drive and a 7200 storage drive... cheaper too. I think I paid 140 for 2 250's , that's like 28 cents per Gb... the only way I could get the same size hard drive setup that performs better would be to run 2 250 10k's which would cost well more than 28 cents pr Gb

 

[IamDeMan 5,000+ posts]

Im on this fourm right now using my Amiga 128 //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/uhoh.gif.c07307dd22ee7e63e22fc8e9c614d1fd.gif

I'm jealous. Always wanted an amiga back in the day, but my dad kept telling me my commie 128/64 was good enough //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif

 

[Ignatowski 5,000+ posts]

I am helping a friend try to buy a new PC,nothing fancy

just basic home computing....I told them to avoid DELL at all costs

but for the 500-600 range what is worth looking into ?

I could use some tips,newegg really has not impressed me with their line up

 

[Scoobydoo 5,000+ posts]

ya but then you have he inconvenience of two drives.. everything always wants to install to C.
besides anyway you cut it 2x 250Gb 16mb cache 7200 drives in raid0 will always be faster at booting and opening files/ programs than one 10K boot drive and a 7200 storage drive... cheaper too. I think I paid 140 for 2 250's , that's like 28 cents per Gb... the only way I could get the same size hard drive setup that performs better would be to run 2 250 10k's which would cost well more than 28 cents pr Gb

changing the drive path of an installer is a 2 second task, how is that so inconvenient?

they dont make 250gb raptor drives, the largest raptor is 160gb. they do make 300gb 10k rpm SCSI hard drives, but those havent even been mentioned here not to mention you would need a controller card as well

you are disregarding the main advantage of installing the OS on a seperate partition or drive...when you reinstall you dont have to backup everything, you just format, reinstall windows and then install all your programs and drivers

i am sure you mean well, but it doesnt seem like you know wtf you are talking about

 

[myvanpounds 10+ year member]

having to change a letter from C to D EVERY time you want to install something is a waste of precious time on this earth..... much like having to type up this post

the hard fact is you can only get faster than my setup if you used 2 raptors in raid 0

I personally really dont give a crap about data security

having a 10k OS drive and a 7200rpm storage drive is pointless performance wise since the os would still load slower than 2 7200's or 10k's in raid 0, and the files on the storage drive would take a long time to access since they are on a 7200 drive, only benifit from that setup is data security.... but you have to give up performance for it

anyway you look at it 2x500GB 7200's in raid 0 is the best comprimise between speed, cost and storage right now at around 20cents per GB, you can get faster with 2x160Gb raptors but you lose storage space and it is less cost efficient at 1.45 per Gb ... this is of course assuming one does not care about data security

 

[Chevyaudio 5,000+ posts]

Ok so it looks like I am probably going the DIY route. Here is what I have n00bishly put together so far. processor might change to the 4400 if I can get the cash together.

NZXT Alpha Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3R LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard

SAPPHIRE 100216L Radeon HD 3850 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card

Rosewill Stallion Series RD500-2DB ATX V2.2 500W Power Supply

Intel Pentium E2180 Allendale 2.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor

G.SKILL 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory

SAMSUNG SpinPoint T Series HD501LJ 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

Sony NEC Optiarc Black IDE DVD-ROM Drive Model DDU1615/B2s

Sony NEC Optiarc 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black IDE Model AD-7190A

HT OMEGA STRIKER 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Card

let me know what yall think. processor and vid card are still up in the air