• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

NEED HELP: Building new computer and don't know what to get!!!

M

mh454

Member
First off let me say I'm new here and I'm hoping I can get some of my questions answered. My current PC I built myself in summer of 2002. Decided the other day its time to upgrade to something new. I'm a gamer but not 'hardcore' so I need something that will play Doom 3 but doesn't have to be the best out there. I used to be up on whats the lastest and greatest but haven't paid attention to that stuff for the last year or so. What I need help on most is deceding on what CPU,mobo, ram and video card.

3.0 Ghz P4 OR AMD Athlon 64 3400 (Don't know which road to go on CPU)
good simple mobo (doesn't have to onboard audio, ethernet, whatnot but don't care if it does)
512 RAM (does 1 gig make that much of a differece on Doom 3?)
video card (like to keep this around $200...Radeo X700 maybe?..oh and whats this PCI Express?)

What I'm really looking for is the best bang for the buck. Thanks much!
 
In my opinion i'd go with amd. I'm currently building my own pc as well and i've been researching for the past few weeks. With the amd athlon 64's you dont have to worry about high end ram because timings wont matter. You can buy the amd processor with some cheap value select ram, saving yourself some money and I believe 512 should be enough. Personally i'm going with 1GB. I don't know all there is about all these new graphics cards, but i recently purchased the 6800GT which might be a bit too much for your budget because thats double what your asking.

PCIe is this new slot type which is looking to be the new wave of accelerating the home pc. Although at the momeny there is no significant gain in having PCIe over the AGP performance wise, it does allow the hardcore enthusiast to run 2 same video cards running at once, giving him/her double the power of 1 graphics card. From what i've read on these forums so far, many are suggesting its a waste of money at this point because there is no need for this much power as most of it doesn't quite add up to double the performance.

I'm not the brightest person on these forums and i'm sure you'll get lots of feedback from all the nice people here at anandtech.

oh and... Welcome to the community 🙂

hope you get what your asking for

-Ayman

EDIT: Generally people here at very quick at responding but just give it a few 😉
 
Thanks for info ayman. I did read somewhere else about the AMD's not needing the expensive RAM to get the most out of them. Another thing I just thought of is all the new mobo pictures I've seen, most have 4 RAM slots in two different colors (like purple,teal,purple,teal). What is that for? Thanks!
 
I would look at an AMD 64 S754. The S754 CPU's are slightly cheaper than the S939's, and the MB's are cheaper also.
With this you'll have to go AGP for graphics as the S754 boards do not have PCI-e support.
You can get 512 MB RAM now, and get more at a later time if you wan to save a little cash. 1 GB is ideal right now, but definitely not a necessity.

 
Hey mh, as far as the color schemes on the ram slots, no they mean nothing. Who ever made those boards is just weird, i have no clue why that was neccessary. The thing is with 939 pin board/cpu, you can run your memory in dual channel mode. This is just an increased bandwith level and improves overall performance. The color scheme doesn't mean anything and does NOT mean the sticks have to correspond with the colors in any way. Using slots 1&2 or 3&4 is what you need for dual channel.

In my opinion buying a skt 754 at this point is not worth it because they are very quickly being "phased" out and the socket 939's are still being developed even with the newer chips comming in the future. If you end up buying a 939 processor i would go with the 3000+ or 3200+ because they are at a fair price with great OC'ing abilities from the feedback i've been getting. If you want to spend that extra cash i'd deffinitely go with the 3500+ which is what i'm hopefully going to purchase in the upcomming week.

Now, for motherboards, its up to you... you can either go with something that supports AGP or PCIe. If i had the choice now i would deffinintely go with PCIe because thats already becomming the big thing today. AGP is already being out dated and ATI has completely given up on AGP based cards. Nvidia is still workin with AGP from what i know. PCIe is just a different "slot" type if you will and like i said before there is no proven fact of a noticable gain in performance over the AGP. You can still purchase 200$ such as the X700 or the 6600's but they will be PCIe, I THINK. Only thing with PCIe is the motherboards might are generally more expensive but thats how it is 🙂.

Please anyone correct me if i'm wrong about anything.

- Ayman
 
Depends on how long you're going to go before upgrading. Are you the kind of person who upgrades all at once? Or piece by piece? If the former, get s754. If the latter, get s939. Because in the future, mobos will only support 939, but if you're replacing the whole thing then you can just get a new mobo too. And s754 is a bit cheaper now, and the motherboards for it are better tested.

-fs
 
Originally posted by: flamingspinach
Depends on how long you're going to go before upgrading. Are you the kind of person who upgrades all at once? Or piece by piece? If the former, get s754. If the latter, get s939. Because in the future, mobos will only support 939, but if you're replacing the whole thing then you can just get a new mobo too. And s754 is a bit cheaper now, and the motherboards for it are better tested.

-fs
Click to expand...

^^
 
I think I would rather spend a little now and get the 939 and be able to upgrade in the future. Just went over to pricewatch.com and they list Athlon 64 3000 90nm 939pin and one without the 90nm. What is the difference between these too? Lets say I'm gonna go with a 939 Athlon 3200, what would be a good mobo with that (good brand like ASUS, Abit, etc.) What about mobo chipsets (any one better than another or is there just pretty much one choice for this combo).
 
Well to start off the difference between the 90nm and the 130nm is that the 90nm produces less heat and conserves more power. I am personally going with the 90nm because it should be an easier overclocker. I read today that the 90nm winchester is 1-7% increased in performance which isn't much but it does run cooler. Just because i'm me I am going with the more advanced chip because its not much of a price difference. The 90nm can be found for $285 at monarchcomputer.com which is the best price for the 90nm that i've found yet. It was $250 last night and just over night it went up 35 bucks! Kinda upset i wasn't able to buy it last night but i dont care b/c it still beats all other stores.

Your asking about 939 motherboards. I've brought it down to 2.... either the MSI Neo 2 Platinum or the Asus AV8. After being determined to buy the MSI for almost 1 week i think i'm going to change my mind and go with the asus because it is very stable and the MSI has been reported to have all kinds of problems by users. I might even wait a couple weeks for the DFI 939. It comes out late jan.

- ayman
 
For 939 mobos, many will recommend the MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum or Epox EP-9NDA3+ for AGP. The NF3 chipsets are generally preferred over the K8T800 chipsets (like in the Asus A8V and Abit AV8). I would wait for more boards if you want to go PCIe from the start.
 
1) Don't order from TigerDirect. Reseller rating's currently 6.85, and they're not well-liked around here.

2) The 3400+ 939 is a 130nm 3500+ with 800 HTT instead of 1000 HTT.
 
i would recommend the amd64 3400, a PCI-E compatible socket 939 mobo for AMD64's, Nvidia GF6800 PCI-E graphics card, 1024mb of pc-3200 ram, SB audigy 2, and drives that suit your needs best.
 
Originally posted by: brad
i would recommend the amd64 3400, a PCI-E compatible socket 939 mobo for AMD64's, Nvidia GF6800 PCI-E graphics card, 1024mb of pc-3200 ram, SB audigy 2, and drives that suit your needs best.
Click to expand...

I believe he said is isn't a hard core gamer.
 
mh, best way to tell if its the 90 or the 130 is to check what the core's name is. for example the 90nm's are winchesters while the 130's are newcastle

EDIT: sry the cores come in both 130nm and 90nm 🙂
 
Originally posted by: ts3433
1) Don't order from TigerDirect. Reseller rating's currently 6.85, and they're not well-liked around here.

2) The 3400+ 939 is a 130nm 3500+ with 800 HTT instead of 1000 HTT.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. Guess I will stay away from that setup. Getting off topic a little, are these 3400 939 90nm overclockable much? If so, which mobo is better for overclocking (Asus?).

Thanks!
 
The Winchesters (90 nm) CPU's OC very well. As stated, they run cooler and take less power than the Newcastles (130 nm). If you plan to OC, definitely get the Winchester core.
Also, the NF3 chipset is best for OC'ing. (Asus doesn't make a NF3 MB).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top