Best bang for the buck?

[hostpath]

I'm building a new system and have already purchased a 40 GB Maxtor 7200 RPM drive and two sticks of PNY PC2100 DDR 256MB RAM. Next on my shopping list is motherboard/cpu/fan -- either as a combo or as separate items. The only special requirement is that this machine will be doing graphically intense design work in Corel for a graphics design company, so I need something that will support a good quality 128MB video card. I have no preference between AMD or Intel. I won't be overclocking.

Ok, all you gurus: based on the above and a price limit of about $150, what would be the best bang for the buck in the way of motherboard/cpu/fan for this application? If you would, please include a short explanation as to why you'd go with the particular combination you choose.

I trust your opinions. Let's hear them!

 

[gsethi]

Originally posted by: hostpath
I'm building a new system and have already purchased a 40 GB Maxtor 7200 RPM drive and two sticks of PNY PC2100 DDR 256MB RAM. Next on my shopping list is motherboard/cpu/fan -- either as a combo or as separate items. The only special requirement is that this machine will be doing graphically intense design work in Corel for a graphics design company, so I need something that will support a good quality 128MB video card. I have no preference between AMD or Intel. I won't be overclocking.

Ok, all you gurus: based on the above and a price limit of about $150, what would be the best bang for the buck in the way of motherboard/cpu/fan for this application? If you would, please include a short explanation as to why you'd go with the particular combination you choose.

I trust your opinions. Let's hear them!

Go with AMD Athlon XPs. XP 1600+ is ~$52 shipped @ newegg.com. A good decent motherboard will cost you around $70-80 for it and add about $15 for a decent heatsink and fan. total will be around $150.

If you go the Intel way, a Processor alone will cost you close to $150....so thats not an option for you.

I have a P4 system as my primary that has been running excellent. Building a second very cheap secondary PC and have an Athlon XP 1600+ on the way for that.

hope that helps.

 

[KF]

Originally posted by: hostpath
The only special requirement is that this machine will be doing graphically intense design work in Corel for a graphics design company, so I need something that will support a good quality 128MB video card.

Why exactly do you want an 128MB video card for graphics design? I'm sure it will be great, but 32MB will go to 2400x3200 at 32 bits. This is the way to figure it: 32 bits is 4 bytes per pixel. 4 x 2400 x 3200 = 30,720,000 which is less than 32 MB (=33,554,432). Very few monitors will do 2400 x 3200. 1200x1600 is pretty impressive, which takes 8MB. All that memory(128MB) is used for other things in 3D games.

If you are going to spend on a monitor that will do over 2400x3200 and an 128MB video card (Parhelia?), I think limiting the mobo/CPU to $150 is a bit misallocated. Sloshing huge images around in memory would be the forte of a P4 system, which is out of your price league.

Best bang for buck, no contest, is ECS K7S5A/XP1600+. For a beginner assembling their own, I'd think twice. You may hit one of its quirks, although it works fine for most. (but help is available here.) The good thing is that you could splurge on the processor, which may help some in image processing.

Next, if you only like 3D games mildly, is an ASUS A7N266VM. It has very good on board video and costs $80-85 shipped. It's a nice deal even if you don't use the on-board video. You could switch any time to a Matrox video card for the ultimate in image rendition because the mobo has an AGP slot too.

 

[hostpath]

KF:

Thanks for the advice. I've built a bunch of systems over the years, but don't know anything about how video cards handle their memory and paging. I said a 128MB video card because someone else in the business who does the same sort of graphic work recommended. But now that you laid it out, I see that since this won't be a gaming box, the 128MB vid card will be overkill.

 

[hostpath]

KF:

How does this deal look to you...

LINK

Thanks!

 

[hostpath]

The heck with Accubyte...I found the CPU for $52 and the MB for $53 at NewEgg. Their highest-rated regular heatsink/fan is $9.00 so that beats the crap outta the Accubyte combo.

 

[KF]

Newegg has very positive following on the Anantech forums, and the prices on these two items are very good. Their heatsink prices are not so good for the high-end heatsinks (>$25), but they have some good prices on the $10 or so heat sinks. I like the Coolermaster sinks in that range because they are pretty good for having such a weak and quiet fan. The clip is hard to put on, and worse to get off for the one I bought. (Vantec generally has nice clips that go on/off with just fingers and better than average prices and cooling, but the tend to use the 7000rpm fans.)

Heat sinks/fans are a vast and controversial subject. I have my opinions. I don't really mind noise much, unlike some complainers. It is the whine or whistle that gets to me with high speed fans. In fact I prefer a mild level of low frequency noise because the human ear automatically adjusts to volume and this causes all noise, including the noise that bothers me, to seem quietier. I think everyone should have a big 120mm ventilation fan in their case turning at maybe 800 rpm. CPU fans that stay below 5000 rpm are my limit. At 7000 the fans cool a lot better, at 10000 it could fantastic but ear splitting, but it is too much of a sacrifice for me to make.

Take a look at this this nice sink at SVCompucycleGC21
and somebody here pointed to this one with a different and better, three-hole clip at NexfanGC21

and this, which I bought because of the big slow fanGC68
The regular fan is OK (very slow 2500rpm), but an optional fan with a manual speed control is a better idea. This sink had a base that was not very flat, but it was flat enough at the center. The clip surprisingly is quite easy to get on and off (but not fingers only.) It has the right shape to almost automatically spring on and off when required. It clicks on, and springs off. Neatly done. If you ever want to remove your heat sink you will appreciate this. This huge chunk of aluminum has an extra thick base and a thickening hump near the center where the CPU will contact. It is a very well done design. You don't need the additional finger guard option unless you are going to get an optional fan too and use the original for perhaps a case fan.

 

[Xntrk]

Here is the system I would build if I was in your situation.

~110 - MSI KT3 Ultra - great mobo, proven to be very stable and has heatsink mounts on the mobo (yay)
~110 - Athlon XP 2000 Retail - if you are doing computer graphics (corel etc) those programs are very CPU limited, not graphics card.
~120 - Kingston 512MB PC2700 - memory is important for athlons, 256mb of pc2100 won't be enough.
~100 - Matrox G550 32MB DualHead - i recommend this only since you are not doing anything 3d related, matrox has unsurpassed quality of colors and sharpness

However since you are on a budget of $150 (ouch, maybe wait another week?) you have basically only have 1 or 2 choices.
~75 - ECS KT3 board
~80 - Athlon XP 1800