Need Opinion on Very Good New sys

[Dangerous]

Need Opinions of system and how tailored anyone thinks it is for my Usage .. or is it more than I need.

ZT ENTERPRISE PC A5349 (Recent Price Break on FX-53 Sys because of FX-55 and 4000 coming out this week and for PC World readers only as that where the add with link is shown exclusively.. otherwise it doesn't)

http://www.ztgroup.com/2004_nov_pcw-amd.asp (pictured on Right)

$1,899

AMD Athlon? 64 Processor FX-53 + 1600FSB w/ HyperTransport

ASUS A8V Deluxe K8T800 Pro Chipset Main Board
w/SPDIF Out & Firewire ( Support RAID 0, 1 )

1.0GB PC3200 Dual Channel DDR400

Seagate® 160GB Serial ATA/150 (8MB Cache) 7200rpm Hard Drive

256MB ATI RADEON? 9600 XT w/TV-Out & DVI

New" 16x DVD±RW & CD-RW Combo Drive
8-Channel Codec Audio
10/100/1000 Gigabit LAN

ICooler Master MID Tower Chassis w/450Watt Power Supply (He pictures/uses the Cavalier on this sys, which I love)

Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional Edition

Logitech® Internet Keyboard & Optical Wheel Mouse
Logitech® X-220 3-Piece Speakers w/ Subwoofer
Microsoft® Works 7.0
3-Year Limited Warranty*

Now.. I am not a Gamer; and don't really need a an FX-53.. Though I am an intense optical and page View user. (like going thru hundreds of Pictures on an Auction site in rapid succession, as well as stock trading online)
I spend alot of time online and want to get myself something fast and Fun.
(BTW, have Viewsonic VP191B now which I will harness the system to)

SO.. I can knock the Price down to $1370 (-530) by Lowering the FX-53 to a 3500+/939 which is still very future upgradeable, lowering the Video card to a Radeon 9200/128 from the 9600/256. Should I lower on card?

Another concern is the Speed of the hard drive and it's Cache..
Something on my current (and last) corrupted Windows ME Dell gets overburdened at my usage and tells me I don't have enough "system resources" .. BUT there is plenty of my 512mb to spare .. so I'm figuring this "lack or system Resource" might be Cache (NO one seems to know what that means)... Thus....

If I want to Re-Raise the price $150 (to $1520) so I can have a 300mb Maxtor/Maxline with the new 16mb cache. Speedier and less likely (I think) to be overburdened by my intensive page/picture use/surfing.

I don't however need anywhere near 300mb Hard drive... so I was thinking about adding a 10,000 RPM drive/S instead to solve the problem/Be Nuts (and make me Racier and the system happier).. But the WD 37 and 74GB are too small for these new XP systems unless you get at least 2....

SO I found the New Seagate Cheetah a 6th Generation 10K 146GB hard drive that is a Perfect size and desirable (for me) single component. It lists @ $600 however,,
Although NEW OEM versions sell for 280-$300 on ebay.. haven't inquired how much he/ZT wants.

******


Opinions on System and how it is for my usage.. my choice of upgrades downgrades... etc????

Thank you .. Dangerous (a little knowledge is 'Dangerous';;; thus my handle) .. and ty in advance

 

[Dangerous]

I've got a week to decide.. but any opinions would be welcome.

I don't think the price wil change on the coming AMD announcement as the above and other sysytems pretty much have discounted that.. esprcailly the above which is a Brand New ad.

thx

 

[crimson117]

My advice for your needs: Less processor, more ram, and research the new 6600 cards from nVidia.

 

[Dangerous]

Originally posted by: crimson117
My advice for your needs: Less processor, more ram, and research the new 6600 cards from nVidia.

Thx.. That's why I did downgrade from the FX53.. to the 3500 (also skipping down thru the 3800 which is still $'s.. while the 3500 has come way down).. but wanted to stay in the 939 realm for future upgradeability. Going down to a 754/3400, while not losing any noticeable speed, won't have a long an upgrade life.

The "Lack of system Resources".. doesn't show up as lack of RAM... Not usually anyway. (tho it HAS happened). Many/Sometimes I have 256 of my 512 left and still get the message..
I put in a free download Memory Optimizer (http://www.snapfiles.com/get/bmemopt.html) which shows me real time how much I have at any second.
Not a great program but adequate (MemMonster is better but not free).. and it also zips me right back up to 300mb (of my 512) when the RAM gets below 50mb or any point you set it for.

Also what do you think of the new 16mb Cache Hard drive/ or 10K Hard drive as Helping..
Or is that Just throwing money out the window with my needs? and I should even go for 2gb of Ram instead?

 

[otispunkmeyer]

yeah fx-53 is way too powerful for u..........but stick with 939 for the upgrade path,

if ur not doin any gaming either...u dont even need a 6600, a cheap 9200 will do, unless of course u wanna have the option of gaming, in which case the 9600xt isnt really enough anyways

 

[Dangerous]

Originally posted by: otispunkmeyer
yeah fx-53 is way too powerful for u..........but stick with 939 for the upgrade path,

if ur not doin any gaming either...u dont even need a 6600, a cheap 9200 will do, unless of course u wanna have the option of gaming, in which case the 9600xt isnt really enough anyways

Thanks for your response too.

anyone on whether a 'Premium' Hard Drive would also help Or help Relative to their Cost?
(ie New Maxtor 250/300MB with 16mb Cache instead of usual 8MB on all other drives....... OR Seagate 146MB, 10,000RPM)

 

[Corporate Thug]

9600XT is a pure and utter waste of money at this point, as is the FX for your usage