Ok, I've been out of the hardare loop for a while

[Jumpem]

I'm thinking about a new PC once I get settled into my new job. I need recommendations on components. I don't want low-end stuff, but I don't want expensive ultra high-end either.

I need:
Motherboard
RAM
CPU
Harddrive
DVD Burner
Sound Card
Video Card

I'm thinking a WD Raptor for the HDD. What's hot in CPU's these days? Are the dual core chips out, who's on top? And I have no idea what's going in the ATI vs. Nvidia war.

Thanks guys!

 

[n7]

More info needed.

Budget & what the computer will be used for.

 

[SlitheryDee]

ATI is on top with the x850 in the ultra high end segment. Nvidia is king of the midrange market with the 6600GT. Looks like the AMD dual cores are going to be significantly superior to the intel dual cores.
As n7 said what are you going to do with your new rig? In most normal use scenarios I think I would recommend an A64 for best performance, but intel does have some strengths.

Edit: Between the ultra high end and midrange lies the really good deals, particularly the ATI x800xl which is a steal at ~$300.

 

[Fisher999]

bump!

 

[Jumpem]

Originally posted by: n7
More info needed.

Budget & what the computer will be used for.

No fixed budget really. For a CPU I want something midrange $250-$400, higher if there's a good reason. Same with video card, maybe step down from the $400-500 cards.

It'll be used for coding, lots of excel/word, games. The usual home user stuff.

 

[Jumpem]

Originally posted by: SlitheryDee
ATI is on top with the x850 in the ultra high end segment. Nvidia is king of the midrange market with the 6600GT. Looks like the AMD dual cores are going to be significantly superior to the intel dual cores.
As n7 said what are you going to do with your new rig? In most normal use scenarios I think I would recommend an A64 for best performance, but intel does have some strengths.

Edit: Between the ultra high end and midrange lies the really good deals, particularly the ATI x800xl which is a steal at ~$300.

I was thinking about an nforce4 board and one of the new AMD64 x2's. Not sure how high they're priced though. Is that my best bet? I know intel has been introducing new P4's, but I lost track when they started renumbering everything.

 

[FerrisBuller]

Originally posted by: Jumpem
I'm thinking about a new PC once I get settled into my new job. I need recommendations on components. I don't want low-end stuff, but I don't want expensive ultra high-end either.

I need:
Motherboard
RAM
CPU
Harddrive
DVD Burner
Sound Card
Video Card

I'm thinking a WD Raptor for the HDD. What's hot in CPU's these days? Are the dual core chips out, who's on top? And I have no idea what's going in the ATI vs. Nvidia war.

Thanks guys!

I'm in the same boat... I've been to a few sites, Newegg, mwave, Directron. I'm looking at a pre-built system. AMD preferably. This will be a home system used for photoshop, some CAD in the near future, games (of course!), spreadsheets (Excel, Access), presentations (PowerPoint).

I know I can go with Falcon Northwest, Alienware, but there just too pricey for me right now.

 

[Jumpem]

Originally posted by: FerrisBuller
I'm in the same boat... I've been to a few sites, Newegg, mwave, Directron. I'm looking at a pre-built system. AMD preferably. This will be a home system used for photoshop, some CAD in the near future, games (of course!), spreadsheets (Excel, Access), presentations (PowerPoint).

I know I can go with Falcon Northwest, Alienware, but there just too pricey for me right now.

I built my current pc using newegg and mwave.

 

[FerrisBuller]

Originally posted by: Jumpem

Originally posted by: FerrisBuller
I'm in the same boat... I've been to a few sites, Newegg, mwave, Directron. I'm looking at a pre-built system. AMD preferably. This will be a home system used for photoshop, some CAD in the near future, games (of course!), spreadsheets (Excel, Access), presentations (PowerPoint).

I know I can go with Falcon Northwest, Alienware, but there just too pricey for me right now.

I built my current pc using newegg and mwave.

Probably what I'll end up using....

 

[Gadzookie]

here is a decent little build
Antec Black ATX Mid Tower "SLK3000-B" 45.00
ENERMAX Noisetaker Series 420W 76.00

AMD Athlon 64 3200+ 190.00
CHAINTECH NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra 84.00
Corsair Value Select 512MBx2 83.50
Seagate Barracuda SATA NCQ 80GB 68.00
NEC 16X Double Layer DVD±RW 48.99
Rosewell ATI x800xl 269.99

Total 865.48

 

[n7]

Okay, i'm not from teh USA, so i dunno prices very well, but i'll list what i would be building if i was in your shoes.

Mobo - DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 Ultra-D
CPU - AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice core (if you can wait for them), or 3500+ if you are not OCing
RAM - Corsair Value Select 2x512 kit
HDD - 74 GB WD Raptor + 200 GB SATA Seagate for storage (or just skip the Raptor if the budget is tighter)
DVD RW - NEC 3520
Sound Card - Audigy 2 ZS
Video Card - PCI-e ATI X800XL
Case - personal preference for that
PSU - OCZ 450W ModStream PSU


There.
Others may have better suggestions, but that's my recommdations.

 

[shoRunner]

are you overclocking?

 

[Jumpem]

Originally posted by: shoRunner
are you overclocking?

I have a P4 1.8 @ 2.4, but this time around I won't be overclocking. Reliability and stability will be key. This time around I don't want to deal with the quirks that come with it just for a few more fps.

 

[SlitheryDee]

Originally posted by: n7
Okay, i'm not from teh USA, so i dunno prices very well, but i'll list what i would be building if i was in your shoes.

Mobo - DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 Ultra-D
CPU - AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice core (if you can wait for them), or 3500+ if you are not OCing
RAM - Corsair Value Select 2x512 kit
HDD - 74 GB WD Raptor + 200 GB SATA Seagate for storage (or just skip the Raptor if the budget is tighter)
DVD RW - NEC 3520
Sound Card - Audigy 2 ZS
Video Card - PCI-e ATI X800XL
Case - personal preference for that
PSU - OCZ 450W ModStream PSU


There.
Others may have better suggestions, but that's my recommdations.

I like this build, the venice cores are probably going to be even more overclockable than winchester. The athlon x2s will be very nice as well and this MB will allow you to upgrade when prices drop. As it is the intel dual cores are coming out with extremely competitive pricing. I think in some instances you only pay like $80 for the second core over a similarly clocked single core. The AMD dual cores are going to be a bit higher priced but much better overall, especially if you don't want to sacrifice gaming performance in the switch to dual core.

 

[MobiusPizza]

Yeah I agree that Intel dual cores have aggressive pricing. But merely because the don't even have to change the design. The production is just to take 2 slow P4 and stick together on a single package. While AMD's DC CPUs are 'true' dual cores.
Did I say each core of the Intel CPU are slower than single core counterpart? A 3Ghz P4 single core can be had for $80 bucks. That's why.

 

[Ike0069]

Originally posted by: n7
Okay, i'm not from teh USA, so i dunno prices very well, but i'll list what i would be building if i was in your shoes.

Mobo - DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 Ultra-D
CPU - AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice core (if you can wait for them), or 3500+ if you are not OCing
RAM - Corsair Value Select 2x512 kit
HDD - 74 GB WD Raptor + 200 GB SATA Seagate for storage (or just skip the Raptor if the budget is tighter)
DVD RW - NEC 3520
Sound Card - Audigy 2 ZS
Video Card - PCI-e ATI X800XL
Case - personal preference for that
PSU - OCZ 450W ModStream PSU


There.
Others may have better suggestions, but that's my recommdations.

I like this setup also. But I would change a few things.
I would personally choose the MSI Neo4 mainly beacause I don't lke the DFI layout, and I'm kind of partial to MSI. But the DFI is a good board, and THE best NF4 OC'ing board.
If you go with the DFI board, don't get value RAM. The DFI is picky about which RAM it likes, so research that carefully. The Corsair VS may work, but if you check the DFI Street you will see why I would say this.
I would go with a 6800GT over the X800XL just for the SM 3.0 that will be used in the newer games (X800XL uses SM 2.0). Won't make a big difference, but I'm just stating what would be my choice.

 

[Fisher999]

Originally posted by: Jumpem

Originally posted by: shoRunner
are you overclocking?

I have a P4 1.8 @ 2.4, but this time around I won't be overclocking. Reliability and stability will be key. This time around I don't want to deal with the quirks that come with it just for a few more fps.

I couldn't agree more Jumpem. I'm putting together the parts right now for an Athlon64 3000+ "Winchester" (maybe a 3200+) . My gaming needs are not that high so I went for an Asus/Radeon x700 PCI-E.

I like you feel that stability is the key so I'm holding out on the mobo choice (Socket 939/PCI-E) trying to find concensus here at Anandtech on a STABLE, RELIABLE platform. Of course the opinions go all over the place.

 

[Fisher999]

Originally posted by: Ike0069

Originally posted by: n7
Okay, i'm not from teh USA, so i dunno prices very well, but i'll list what i would be building if i was in your shoes.

Mobo - DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 Ultra-D
CPU - AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice core (if you can wait for them), or 3500+ if you are not OCing
RAM - Corsair Value Select 2x512 kit
HDD - 74 GB WD Raptor + 200 GB SATA Seagate for storage (or just skip the Raptor if the budget is tighter)
DVD RW - NEC 3520
Sound Card - Audigy 2 ZS
Video Card - PCI-e ATI X800XL
Case - personal preference for that
PSU - OCZ 450W ModStream PSU...

I like this setup also. But I would change a few things.
I would personally choose the MSI Neo4 mainly beacause I don't lke the DFI layout, and I'm kind of partial to MSI. But the DFI is a good board, and THE best NF4 OC'ing board.
If you go with the DFI board, don't get value RAM. The DFI is picky about which RAM it likes, so research that carefully...

I really like this rig too. I was considering the DFI Lanparty UT nF4 Ultra-D also for my new system but it has too few standard 32bit PCI slots for my needs. FYI, this board is the "base" for their higher-end SLI boards. It has TWO PCI-E X16 slots, and at least in earlier revisions of the board, employing a "bridge" mod in the Ultra chip explained in this article on fhe DFI board here at Anandtech and this other article here at Anandtech one can put the board into DUAL video mode, use two PCI-E graphics cards and have 90% of the performance of a true SLI setup. However, be warned nVidia, as pointed out in the article on the DFI board, is determined to keep users from being able to do this with the Ultra chip; they want you to buy boards with their SLI chip.

Anyway, I've heard, as one person has already pointed out, that the board can be RAM picky and I little bit finicky to set up at the beginning but it has a HUGE fan base and you will probably be really happy with this board should you decide to use it.

I really like the OCZ power suppy too. However, one other option you could consider is this Enermax EG565AX-VEFMA2.0-SLI ATX12V 535W Power Supply . It has dual 12V rails, uses active PFC, is SLI capable (in case you go with an SLI board) and has the Enermax name to stand behind it. It does, however, use Enermax's 2 fan setup and may be a little louder than the P/S units, like the OCZ, that us a single 120mm fan.

 

[Fisher999]

Originally posted by: SlitheryDee
I like this build...

I don't mean to jump on this thread but I purchased this 1GB Patriot RAM suggested by SlitherDee in his response at my thread over here. I made the mistake of buying the RAM before the MOBO, not a good idea, so I'm wondering, since you said you recently purchased this RAM slitheryDee, on what mobo are you using your Patriot RAM.

High on my list right now is either this MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum , this GIGABYTE GA-K8N Ultra-9 or this ASUS A8N-SLI Socket 939 . The reason I would consider the Asus SLI board vs the Asus A8V-E Deluxe is because the latter does not have firewire. The Asus A8N-SLI board is only $15 more than the Asus A8V-E Deluxe which is less than the cost of a PCI firewire card ($20) which would eat up a PCI slot.

Any opinions on these 3 socket 939, nForce 4 boards???

Thanks,

Greg

 

[akshayt]

For gaming amd 64 is better otherwise overall apart from gaming for many things intel surely is really better.in overall score amd 64 may even loose but if gaming is to be given top priority then:

amd 3200 venice - 3800venice depending on how much you can spend
you may go for 3500venice

as much ram as you can afford,atleast 1gb for highest pure gaming
512mb X 2 ddr corasir xms as fast as you can afford atleast pc3200
1gb X 2 ddr corsair mxs as fast as you can afford atelast pc 3200
preferably ddr 500

cas latency = 2.0


256mb geforce 6800gt for about 310$ maybe be leadtek

 

[FerrisBuller]

Originally posted by: n7
Okay, i'm not from teh USA, so i dunno prices very well, but i'll list what i would be building if i was in your shoes.

Mobo - DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 Ultra-D
CPU - AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice core (if you can wait for them), or 3500+ if you are not OCing
RAM - Corsair Value Select 2x512 kit
HDD - 74 GB WD Raptor + 200 GB SATA Seagate for storage (or just skip the Raptor if the budget is tighter)
DVD RW - NEC 3520
Sound Card - Audigy 2 ZS
Video Card - PCI-e ATI X800XL
Case - personal preference for that
PSU - OCZ 450W ModStream PSU


There.
Others may have better suggestions, but that's my recommdations.

Those are some good choices... I"ve been out of the loop on hardware for a bit so I'm not familar with = Mobo - DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 Ultra-D.

Definitely the Venice chip though...

I've got to do a search on the NF4 board and see what, if any benefits are over, let?s say, the Asus A8V-E Deluxe Board.

 

[Fisher999]

Originally posted by: FerrisBuller
...I've got to do a search on the NF4 board and see what, if any benefits are over, let?s say, the Asus A8V-E Deluxe Board.

I have been shopping for Socket 939 boards and both the Asus A8V-E deluxe and the DFI LANPARTY UT nForce 4 Ultra-D boards have been candidates so I can tell you right now Ferris what some of the significant differences are between the boards feature-wise.

For starters the DFI board uses the nVIDIA nFORCE 4 Ultra chip and the Asus A8V-E Deluxe utilizes the VIA K8T890 chipset. They both provide AMD Athlon64FX, Athlon64 and Sempron Socket 939 CPU support.

They each offer the newer 24 pin P/S connector.

The DFI has 2 PCI-E x16 slots, the Asus A8V-E Deluxe, like most non-SLI boards only has one PCI-E x16 slot. That creates a trade-off in the number of standard 32 bit PCI slots. The DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 Ultra-D has one less 32 bit PCI slot (2) versus (3) 32 bit PCI slots on the Asus. Next, DFI chose to use (1) PCI-E x1 slot and (1) PCI-E x4 slot while that Asus provides (2) PCI-E x1 slots.

Furthermore, they BOTH have built-in firewire provided by (1) IEEE1394 jack on the back I/O panel. However, the Asus maintains legacy support for parallel connections by providing a LPT port on the back panel and support for legacy serial connections via an on-board header connector and a provided serial back panel bracket. The DFI supports neither legacy LPT nor serial connections.

Although they BOTH have built-in Gigabit LAN, the DFI board has (2) built-in Gigabit LAN chips; (1) Vitesse VSC8201 chip and (1) Marvell 88E8001 chip. The Asus, on the other hand, has (1) Gigabit LAN chip onboard, a Marvell 88E8053 chip. Therefore it is NOT a coincidence that the DFI board has the word "LANPARTY" in it's name, lol. The Asus, however, does offer AI NET2 (?) and offers a little wirless LAN antenna in its "package" of goodies. I'm not sure what AI NET2 is so if anyone knows please enlighten me.

They BOTH have 2 Parallel ATA 133 connectors onboard for connection of up to 4 PATA devices. The difference between the two is that the Asus board has no RAID support for these channels while the DFI has support for Raid 0 or 1 on these PATA 133 channels.

The BOTH have the SAME built-in onboard sound via the 8 channel Realtek ALC850 chip. However, they differ in that the Asus board offers only S/PDIF OUT via either its coaxial or optical jacks on the back I/O panel. The DFI board supports BOTH S/PDIF OUT and IN via 2 coaxial jacks on its back I/O panel.

In terms of even more important things like RAM support; well they are equal there with EACH offering support for DUAL CHANNEL memory using 4 184-pin slots for PC3200 DDR allowing up to 4GB of RAM.

They both offer plenty of USB 2.0 support. The DFI has support for 10 USB 2.0 connections via (6) ports on the back I/O panel and two on-board (2x) header connectors. The Asus board offers up to 8 USB 2.0 connections via (4) ports on the back panel plate and two onboard (2x) header connectors. Since Asus provides (1) back panel 2-header USB 2.0 bracket it has (6) USB 2.0 port connections "out of the box" same as the DFI. The difference is to have the (6) USB 2.0 ports on the Asus board requires eating up one back panel bracket slot while the DFI provides (6) ports on the back I/O panel.

Finally, In terms of the all-important Serial ATA (SATA) the DFI board supports SATA 300 and RAID 0 or 1 via (4) onboard SATA connectors. The Asus, on the other hand, offers SATA 150 and RAID 0/1 or JBOD (Just a Bunch Of Discs) via ONLY (2) onboard SATA connectors.

I hope this has been helpful!

Greg

 

[Fisher999]

Originally posted by: FerrisBuller
...I've got to do a search on the NF4 board and see what, if any benefits are over, let?s say, the Asus A8V-E Deluxe Board.

In effect Ferris, the DFI board is geared for GAMERS and OVERCLOCKERS while the ASUS board is geared more for your mainstream user.

Greg