choices, choices

[absolom]

my friend wants to build a new comp, and he has about 2 grand to spend, monitor and all. what do ya'll recommend??? should he go ahead and get the 9800 all in wonder pro or stay with the 9700? also, if he goes the P4 route, what motherboard and processor does he need to get in order to get a good overclock? and also, i dont know much about P4 systems cuz i've got an amd, but are P4 boards as picky as amd boards are about memory???

just need some general info...

thanks

 

[o1die]

For value, the abit is7 is hard to beat. Stick with the 9700 and save some money. Memory is trickier. I can't recommend a specific brand. For the cpu, the 2.4 or 2.6c's are the best overclockers.

 

[Corporate Thug]

i would get a 9800 NP (assuming he doesnt have the 9700 already). stay away from AIW cards: once u upgrade the video card you loss your tv tuner. get a regular video card and a seperate Tv tuner

i agree with o1die, IS7 would be a great mobo. 2.4C or 2.6C should do nicely as well

 

[Slogun]

Check my main rig in my sig for the system i just rebuilt last month, it's what i recommend (CPU/MOBO/RAM wise)

 

[absolom]

why stay away from the aiw cards???

i got a 9700 pro all in wonder, and it's freaking awesome. he wants one just like i've got, and i don;t think i'll need to upgrade for a longggg time

so yall are pretty much in agreement to go with the p4??? and why should he get the 2.6 over the 2.8???

 

[mrgoblin]

Why doesnt he get an athlon 64 3200+? Its about the same price and obviously he doesnt know how to overclock. Itll beat the pants off of anything intel has to offer and is slightly cheaper than the 3.2. That said get the 9800 pro 128 mb All in wonder, some corsair xms 512MB LL 3200 modules and an ASUS athlon 64 mobo. An enermax psu about 400 watts would do good as power supplys need to be of high quality. Get a nice 21 inch crt and a case of your choosing. Stock hsf and such should be fine since if you dont know how to overclock, you dont want to try it out on 2000 dollar equipment.

MrGoBLIN

 

[mrgoblin]

One last thing. DOnt be fooled by brand names on drives. Get a black lite-on 16x dvd drive and a black liteon 52x cdr drive.

 

[absolom]

dude, i know how to overclock, i've just never done it with a pentium, i went the amd 3000 route and i wished i had gone with a 2500 cuz it was cheaper or a P4 cuz it was faster for the same price, P4's only disadvantages are price, and he has the money to spend, he knows what he's doing and so do i, i'm just helping him out

 

[irabufan]

Originally posted by: mrgoblin
One last thing. DOnt be fooled by brand names on drives. Get a black lite-on 16x dvd drive and a black liteon 52x cdr drive.

with 2 grand, why not just get a dvd+/-rw?

 

[Corporate Thug]

Originally posted by: absolom
why stay away from the aiw cards???

i got a 9700 pro all in wonder, and it's freaking awesome. he wants one just like i've got, and i don;t think i'll need to upgrade for a longggg time

so yall are pretty much in agreement to go with the p4??? and why should he get the 2.6 over the 2.8???

eventually, he will want to upgrade. why not pay $45 and get a leadtek tv tuner from newegg and not worry about for years to come?

 

[Johnbear007]

Originally posted by: absolom
why stay away from the aiw cards???

i got a 9700 pro all in wonder, and it's freaking awesome. he wants one just like i've got, and i don;t think i'll need to upgrade for a longggg time

so yall are pretty much in agreement to go with the p4??? and why should he get the 2.6 over the 2.8???

AIW are a bad investment for a GAMING rig because of the speed at which video upgrades move. Its better to get a nice seperate TV card and carry it over.

 

[Johnbear007]

As for a case the Antec 1080 AMG is an excellent choice. You get a top notch case along with a 430W Truepower which should be enough power for a couple years yet Plus it's cheaper than buying case + PSU seperate. Another advantage to a tower case like this is better airflow and cooling if you are overclocking. It even includes a bracket for an 80mm fan for hard drive cooling

great case