New Rig I'm looking at...looking for opinions

New Member
💻 Oldtimer
Joined
Dec 3, 2002
Messages
2,490
Best answers
0
I'm about due for a new computer. Sometime this month I think I am going to buy. I'm going through a website that has individual components that they put together for you; the price was pretty decent for the rank of the stuff I'm getting. I just wanted to ask everybody here if I was maybe getting screwed on any of these parts, I.E. if they work poorly, etc.

CASE: X-Discovery Mid-Tower Case 500W W/ WINDOW & LCD Temperature Display (Silver Color)
CPU: (939-pin) AMD Athlon™64 X2 3800+ Dual-Core CPU w/ HyperTransport Technology
MOTHERBOARD: (Sckt939)ASUS A8N-SLI nForce4 SLI Chipset SATA RAID Dual PCIE MB w/Gb-LAN,USB2.0,IEEE-1394,&7.1Audio
MEMORY: 1024 MB (512MBx2) PC3200 400MHz Dual Channel DDR MEMORY (Corsair Value Select)
VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA Geforce 7600 GS 256MB PCI Express x16 Video Card
VIDEO CARD 2: NONE
HARD DRIVE: 80GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 8M Cache 7200RPM Hard Drive
Optical Drive: LG GWA-4161 16X DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW DRIVE DUAL LAYER (BEIGE COLOR)
SOUND : HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO

I didn't want all of this onboard stuff (the IEEE1394, the usb2, the high-def 7.1 audio, or the network card) but a friend of mine told me I could save a lot of money and use the motherboard's stuff for sound/networking etc. because it's actually very good on its own.

I know it isn't top of the line, but I just wanted to know if anybody saw any glaring horrible ideas with buying any of these parts.
 
Lost in space
Banned
💻 Oldtimer
Joined
Sep 20, 2003
Messages
3,211
Best answers
0
I see nothing wrong with it. Personally I'd go for a bigger hard drive but that's me. 80 gigs might be just fine for you. And I also feel a 3800 is perfect for the price and today's games. (I assume it's for games with a rig like that) if it's for games, I'd go with 2 1gb cards of ram, they're not that much more expensive, not on new egg anyway.
 
Live free or die by the sword
Retired Forum Staff
✔️ HL Verified
💻 Oldtimer
Joined
Dec 1, 2001
Messages
7,416
Best answers
0
Location
North East Pennsylvania
The only question I have is whether or not your mobo has support for SATA 3.0GB/sec. Make sure it does, otherwise, it should be an excellent performer.
 
New Member
💻 Oldtimer
Joined
Dec 3, 2002
Messages
2,490
Best answers
0
Well there's a few things to consider.

1.) 80 gigs is plenty for me, because everything on my computer is on my interchangeable X drive, which is 160gigs. So it's way more than enough.
2.) I planned on getting the two 512 sticks so that once I get the computer, I could put the two it comes with into my OLD computer (Hell, probably won't even work). I can get 2 gigs of ram wicked cheap after the fact but the site I'm ordering through charges pretty heavy for it (well, compared to newegg, anyway).

The board, I'm pretty sure, supports SATA 3GB/sec. I'll double check to be sure but I'm fairly positive it does, it just didn't list it in the 'quick view' I pasted that stuff from.

Thanks for the input. If you all think it will be a good performer, that makes me feel much better about buying it.
 
New Member
Retired Forum Staff
✔️ HL Verified
💻 Oldtimer
Joined
Apr 7, 2003
Messages
1,478
Best answers
0
Honestly, I wouldn't get an AMD chip--or a P4/D at this point. I realize there's always something "on the horizon," but I'm in the market to upgrade, myself--and the guys on Anandtech's forum seem to all agree--even the AMD fanboys--that Intel's next chip, "Conroe," is leaps and bounds better than both the current AMD and Intel chips, and that AMD has absolutely nothing to respond with it in turn. Supposedly it comes out in about 5-7 months.

Other stuff looks mostly good, although I'd get an Audigy 2 or an X-FI rather than On-board audio, but I'm a bit of a budding audiophile. Oh! One last thing. I myself bought a Dual-Layer DVD burner a few months ago. It's nice, however I have only had cause to burn a single DVD-DL. They are (or at least were, the last time I checked) outrageously expensive. $24 for three DVD-DLs? That's crazy. Plus, all the DVD-DR media/drives that I've seen limit DL burning to 4x. That's very, VERY slow, especially since you're burning 8.5GB instead of 4.7GB. It takes like forty-five minutes.

So I bought a stack of 100 16x DVD-Rs for like $25, they burn in 5-6 minutes, and they work great.
 
Live free or die by the sword
Retired Forum Staff
✔️ HL Verified
💻 Oldtimer
Joined
Dec 1, 2001
Messages
7,416
Best answers
0
Location
North East Pennsylvania
Considering that he doesn't have top of the line now, why would he wait for a Conroe . . . and consider spending $1200 on just the CPU.
 
New Member
Retired Forum Staff
✔️ HL Verified
💻 Oldtimer
Joined
Apr 7, 2003
Messages
1,478
Best answers
0
You really think they'll be that expensive? If someone wanted to future-proof their computer, I think that the upcoming processor for which the competition has no competitionis a pretty good bet.
 
New Member
💻 Oldtimer
Joined
May 14, 2003
Messages
1,929
Best answers
0
SailorAlea said:
You really think they'll be that expensive? If someone wanted to future-proof their computer, I think that the upcoming processor for which the competition has no competitionis a pretty good bet.
Considering how they currently price their best, I'd say it's in the ballpark price.

Looks good, Pride.

I know it isn't top of the line, but I just wanted to know if anybody saw any glaring horrible ideas with buying any of these parts.
None from me. Also, are you saying you're going to put 4x 512MB RAM into your new computer? As in, 4 sticks of 512? May not be the best of ideas if you're going with AMD 64.
 
New Member
Retired Forum Staff
✔️ HL Verified
💻 Oldtimer
Joined
Apr 7, 2003
Messages
1,478
Best answers
0
But what makes you guys think that the Conroe will be an equivalent to the current Pentium "Extreme Edition" chips, rather than a spectrum-wide replacement as Pentium-->2-->3--etc have been?
 
Live free or die by the sword
Retired Forum Staff
✔️ HL Verified
💻 Oldtimer
Joined
Dec 1, 2001
Messages
7,416
Best answers
0
Location
North East Pennsylvania
SailorAlea said:
You really think they'll be that expensive? If someone wanted to future-proof their computer, I think that the upcoming processor for which the competition has no competitionis a pretty good bet.
I am absolutely positive that they will price it near that level.

Take a gander at this *cough*

They only get more expensive Alea, I remember when top of the line intel cost you $500 and that was outrageous.

And as far as not having any competition, I wouldn't count AMD out just yet, they recently procured a serious technological edge that can only be done on SOI, which Intel fails at horribly. I'm not ready to buy into the Conroe hype yet, though I'm happy that intel is getting off their high horse and getting in the dirt of pushing technology, not rehashing it.
 
New Member
💻 Oldtimer
Joined
May 14, 2003
Messages
1,929
Best answers
0
SailorAlea said:
But what makes you guys think that the Conroe will be an equivalent to the current Pentium "Extreme Edition" chips, rather than a spectrum-wide replacement as Pentium-->2-->3--etc have been?
Well then what makes you think'll be worth it to go with a low-bo Conroe than an X2 3800+?

Cucumba and I have each others back, yo!
 
New Member
Retired Forum Staff
✔️ HL Verified
💻 Oldtimer
Joined
Apr 7, 2003
Messages
1,478
Best answers
0
It was my understanding that the entire "NetBurst microarchitecture" was being replaced by the "Intel Core Microarchitecture", of which the desktop version is called "Conroe."

Considering NetBurst has been being used since (when, 2000? 2001?) it seemed to me that they would be replacing all Intel chips with the new design.

After a bit of searching, found this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Core_Microarchitecture

It seems to me that they are releasing a new architecture that will be industry-wide, not just the "Extreme Edition" equivalent, but a leap forward as with the previous transitions from P1->P2->P3, etc. Am I wrong?
 
New Member
💻 Oldtimer
Joined
May 14, 2003
Messages
1,929
Best answers
0
SailorAlea said:
It was my understanding that the entire "NetBurst microarchitecture" was being replaced by the "Intel Core Microarchitecture", of which the desktop version is called "Conroe."

Considering NetBurst has been being used since (when, 2000? 2001?) it seemed to me that they would be replacing all Intel chips with the new design.

After a bit of searching, found this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Core_Microarchitecture

It seems to me that they are releasing a new architecture that will be industry-wide, not just the "Extreme Edition" equivalent, but a leap forward as with the previous transitions from P1->P2->P3, etc. Am I wrong?
Well even if so, the question remains:

Well then what makes you think'll be worth it to go with a low-bo Conroe than an X2 3800+?
=)
 
New Member
Retired Forum Staff
✔️ HL Verified
💻 Oldtimer
Joined
Apr 7, 2003
Messages
1,478
Best answers
0
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! :p

I told you guys, even the AMD fanboys on AnandTech's forums are going crazy about the Conroe. Even the 2.4GHz version was supposedly outperforming anything AMD currently has, and there were no future prospects rivaling it from AMD.

I don't pretend to be an expert on the subject, but like I said.. I'd wait just a few months and find out.
 
New Member
💻 Oldtimer
Joined
May 14, 2003
Messages
1,929
Best answers
0
SailorAlea said:
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! :p

I told you guys, even the AMD fanboys on AnandTech's forums are going crazy about the Conroe. Even the 2.4GHz version was supposedly outperforming anything AMD currently has, and there were no future prospects rivaling it from AMD.

I don't pretend to be an expert on the subject, but like I said.. I'd wait just a few months and find out.
Key word "supposedly". The GeForce 6800 was supposedly getting 15,000 points on 3DMark03 with an actual photo (yes photo) provided, but it proved very wrong. I'll go neutral with you for now (=P) and just wait for it to be reviewed.

Also, not trying to sound asinine about this, but it's ignorant to say "there were no future prospects rivaling it from AMD". AMD will most certainly pull something out if it has to.
 
New Member
Retired Forum Staff
✔️ HL Verified
💻 Oldtimer
Joined
Apr 7, 2003
Messages
1,478
Best answers
0
I'm just repeating what people (like I said, even the AMD fans) were saying.
 
New Member
💻 Oldtimer
Joined
May 14, 2003
Messages
1,929
Best answers
0
SailorAlea said:
I'm just repeating what people (like I said, even the AMD fans) were saying.
Actually...


Wow, that is.. fast. Hm. Let's hope it scales well with price ranging. And SaiyanPrideXIX, I'm extremely sorry for dragging this thread off-topic. Let's bring it back with a good note =).
 
New Member
💻 Oldtimer
Joined
Dec 3, 2002
Messages
2,490
Best answers
0
it's alright. I knew about the Conroe thing, but you'll also notice i didn't get one of the fast AMD Athlon Dual Cores, either. My price is in consideration, but also my main gripe here is video power--my current computer is pretty gimped. So the Athlon dual core on the SLI board is a pretty cost effective solution.

Either way I wasn't really worried as to whether or not this stuff is top of the line--I know it isn't. My only worry was that some of it would suffer from GeForce2 disease unbeknownst to me. That is, I was worried it was going to be a piece of crap once I got it and actually used it.
 
Lost in space
Banned
💻 Oldtimer
Joined
Dec 21, 2003
Messages
3,608
Best answers
0
Make sure to get teh dual core patch when you get your new pc. Also I would consider getting better memory, the memory controller on the AMD64 chips like low latency memory. Just make sure that isn't Cas3 value select memory too.

If you really want to get a rig setup with 2gb of memory, but you'll be spending more, and as stated above you'll actually lose performance buy using 4x512 sticks in a AMD64 setup. It's due to the memory running at a higher command rate.
 
New Member
💻 Oldtimer
Joined
May 14, 2003
Messages
1,929
Best answers
0
General Overlord said:
If you really want to get a rig setup with 2gb of memory, but you'll be spending more, and as stated above you'll actually lose performance buy using 4x512 sticks in a AMD64 setup. It's due to the memory running at a higher command rate.
Higher timings/latencies*.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Top Bottom