Computer Building-More Help?

[xTrinity Luvx]

Okay. SOme of you helped me out on some computer stuff the other day on parts, etc and what to get :)

THis is ONE of the estimates that the builder gave me on getting a good PC for designing built...

Um... He hasn't gotten back to me with what I suggested, but this is what HE suggested for a designing computer

ECS Intel Pentirum 4 Motherboard with Celeron Class 1.7 Proccessor, 333 BUS VIA Chipset Processor

60GB 7200RPM

3D Subwoofer & Speaker

Sound Blaster LIVE PCI Adapter

AGP Graphic Card 64 MB Adapter

CDW Burner 32x12x48 with NEO Software

56K Moden Data Fax Voice

512 SDRam/ DDR Optional

All that came out to about $1000. Which I guess it normal. LOL

Does that sound decent?? If any of you computer XPerts have any suggestions, or think that wont' work, please.. input is VERY welcome :)

THANKS!!!!!!!

[telekinesis]

I'm not a computer hardware pro, but I know DDR is much better than SDRAM!

Sorry for the lack of help :(

[Raydred]

If this is for graphics and/or gaming, you dont want a celeron Motherboard, because you'll have to get a celeron processor. (which suck.)

Go with a P4, or an Athalon Board and processor.

"AGP Graphic Card 64 MB Adapter"

what kind of card is this? what brand?
If you want great graphics, go with an Nvidia Geforce 3 or 4 card, its great =)

hmm, if you're looking for cheap prices on some of the best hardware out there, go here www.pricewatch.com you can find anything!! =)

And if you go with Pricewatch prices, you can easily spend under $1000 and get the best equiptment.

if you want i could price some stuff for ya, and tell ya what i'd get =)

[telekinesis]

Raydred, could you give me any recomendations for a new computer. But again, only if you have time and want to!

Graphics: top of the line
Case: anything cool but not too expensive and pointless
Memory: top of the line
Monitor: Anything with a flat screen and 17" or bigger
Processor: top of the line pentium
????: ?????

I just don't have a clue about hardware.....

[h88]

Am feeling good with my PC though:

Intel Pentium 4 2.4 GHz
Original Intel Motherboard, something 845.
512 MB DDR Ram.
Philip's 17" resoulution is really cool, not sure if same in Flat-Panels.
Graphic: ATI Offcourse, if u want something for video editing, i would recommened Pinnacle.
CD: i liked the combo cd, DVD + CDRW together from hp.

h88

[sintax321]

Definatly get the DDR ram. Also get an AMD XP much better chip then Pentium and cheaper. Also for a card get a Asus GF4 128 it runs at about $300 but it is worth it.

[xTrinity Luvx]

Also get an AMD XP much better chip then Pentium and cheaper. Also for a card get a Asus GF4 128 it runs at about $300 but it is worth it

What is the AMD XP? Is that the processor....????

And is the Asus GF4 128 a better Video Card than the Nvidia GeForce 3???

[Niann]

Top of the line eh?

P4PE - i845PE chipset, Gigabit LAN, 6 PCI, 1 4X AGP, 3 DIMMSockets, PC2700/PC2100/ mem, Retail Box, Includes Intel P4 3.0 GHz CPU $849.00

ATI Radeon 9700 Pro- Graphics Card 128MB DDR SDRAM - 8x AGP - Dual Head - DVI - TV Out $315.00

512MB PC2700 (DDR333); notoverclocked; 6ns chipset; Bulk/OEM package; LIFE TIME warranty $130.00 (each)

Case, as long as its got a good power supply, pick one you like. $75.00-$150.00

Same deal with the Monitor pick one you can stare at for a while. $250.00-$500.00(Tube, expect more for a good LCD)

Don't forget about the HDD, CD-R/RW, DVD-ROM(Or DVD-R if cash is not an issue), FDD(Number 1 most forgotten item when building a new system) Keyboard, mouse, etc...

Trinity, Ditch the Celeron, and go with a True P4. The added command sets and power is worth the few extra dollars. Everything else looks about right. Just make sure to find out what graphics card they mean. GeForce 3-4 is supurb. If you plan on capturing/exporting video go with a ATI Radeon All in wonder 8500 or similer.

The GF4 is a GeForce 4, and it most likely has more ram, so yes it is a better card. =)
Cheers!
-Niann

[sintax321]

What is the AMD XP? Is that the processor....????
And is the Asus GF4 128 a better Video Card than the Nvidia GeForce 3???

Yes AMD is the new line of processors u can get up to a 2.4ghz for $300 or u can go for a smaller one.

The Asus GF 4 128 is the same as a GeForce 4 just cheaper around $100 cheaper.

[kaotic]

form what ive heard and seen, the radeon 9700 blows the geforce4 out of the water

[sintax321]

Ya the price is also $600. I don't think she will need that much vidoe card. A low end 128 will do nicely. If you want to go crazy then ya the radeon is the way to go.:)

[xTrinity Luvx]

okay so I contacted my Builder nad told him to change these three things... I hope I got this right


*Athalon Mobo Motherboard and Processor
*512 MB DDR Ram
*Asus GF 4 128 Video Card

[sintax321]

Are u still getting a pentium or a AMD?

*edit* Guess I should read a little closer *edit*

What size of proccesor. 1.2 -2.4 ? How big?

[h88]

Pentium...lol

[Niann]

Yeah... Intel... But, that just me =)

=)

Cheers!
-Niann

[mdipi]

i have talked with a lot of 3D designers and they all say AMD. i saw the 9700 on TechTV and i started to drool! its such a nice board. i gotta up grade this thing soon...although its better than ithought...

[Ryall]

FOR NIANN

You seem to be pretty knowlegeable... what would you pick between these two grfx cards:

Matrox Parhelia 128MB

Radeon 9700 128MB

I will be using for mainly design and graphic work on a multi screen setup, not so much gaming.

Peace

[Raydred]

Dan, yea i'll price ya a machine =) I think i know what you want =) a gamming machine / graphics machine (cause why would you want a computer if you dont do graphics?! lol)

=)

[sintax321]

Phil is right with Intel you are buying a name not a processor. Brand Names will cost u no matter what u buy. AMD doesn't seem to gouge u for there name. Plus it is a more stable chip than an Intel

[telekinesis]

What do you mean I don't do graphics, that's all I do on my computer; besides download music and talk on AIM.

This need to be able to use 3ds max to it's full extent. My problem right now is memory and my crappy TNT2 64MB graphcis card and my *cough*SDRAM*cough*

So you think you could hook me up with some info on those specifications. Any more help then you can message me on AIM. Thanks again bro!

[Ryall]

DAN

Go the the site Ray suggested, www.pricewatch.com you can price a machine in like 5 mins.

The system Niann suggested (which is pretty much as good as you get), with an even more powerful video card and 1024Megs of DRram is like $1800.00 (US) (also that is with a SWEET case, liquid cooling system [the iceberg system], SB pro Platinum sound card & sweet speakers, but no monitor, or CD/Floppy drives - as I am using my old ones), if you didnt want a 3.0GHz CPU you could power down and save some money with an AMD... anyway, check it out - like I said that site www.pricewatch.com is awesome and it takes seconds to find cheap stuff and swap compnents.

Hope this helps... I've been looking at a lot of stuff this evening.

Peace

PS Ray.. thanks for giving out the info on that site it is sooooo cool!!!!

[Ryall]

Dan: also I've been doing research of a while now for my system (which will be used for the same stuff you want - and the best of everything) so if you have any questions I could probably throw some info your way.

Peace

[telekinesis]

I'm down, hit me up on AIM if ya want!
methodan48

[j0se]

amd amd amd

avoid intel's celery
:)

the problem with asking teh hardware verndor is that he/she may be tempted to get rid of some 'hard-to-shift' or agein stock

that spec he gave you was a little suspect

for design work i would consider at least double the RAM in the original spec - especially if youlike to work with lots of images at once (with the money you save on the processor (if you buy AMD) you could invest in lots of RAM)

DDR is a little more expensive than DIMM but it operates on both the up and down cycles so you get better performance (and thee's a strong possiility that it will become the standard anyway, so you'll still be able to use it on a newer board in future

if you're using win98 there's a limit on how much pysical RAM you can use (it doesn't work well at all with anything above half a gig)

win2k and above don't have that problem

amd processor
and recommended mboard
2 gb of ram
the above recommended graphics cards
good hdd (7200 rpm) & 8 g of cache (most top brands are pretty much as good as each other)

that would be pretty impressive - the rest of the stuff (like cdrw's etc) are more or less on the periphery - some hardaware does not operate at the speed 'it says' if the software doesn't support those data bus transfers to begin with (it's a bit like having a dual processor machine running win98 - the OS doesn't run better, because it's not designed to run on 2 processors - so it can't load balance)

are you on a dial-up connection? if so, i'd stick to an external modem - it's a little dearer (but not much) and has 3 benefits:
1 - an internal modem uses motherboard resources
2 - if an internal modem 'hangs' you'll need to reboot your machine if you want to go back on line - an external one you just switch off and on
3 - this is a very remote possility, but i've seen it happen once! - during a thunderstorm, a bolt could strike a tel post and send a surge down the line... all the way to your connected modem... and fry it.
:)

[Niann]

I have two ATI cards, 8500 All in wonder, and Radeon 64DDR VIVO. I use them for Digital video editing, and digital sound editing (SB audigy plat) I would say go with the 9700, I have had good results using an ATI card. I also have a PC with a GeForce 4 64mb DDR card, and my 8500 allows premire to render faster, and it keep up with photoshop better.

Cheers!
-Niann

[mjULTRA]

i also recomend AMD over Intel, and DDR ram over SDram.

Personally i despise windows XP, and will do what i can to avoid running it on a machine.

IMHO, $1000 is a little low for an optimal graphics machine, but a budget is a budget.

Bottom Line: You get what you pay for, even if it is just a highly advertised name..

BTW, good job on the raver forum..

[morse]

Man you guys TOTALLY jacked all I was gunna say! lol

haha, You should see what my system is... Sad, Pitiful, you know, the works... I just cant afford to upgrade :)

I'v been building computers for people for a number of years now... Here is what I would go with.

1024 meg of Ram. You wont run out any time soon. You can even go with SD.

NVidia graphics card. 128 onboard. Don't go for an ATI product, in my experience the graphics arent nearly as good, and their software sucks.

Get an AMD processor, they always outperform Intel. Something over 1 gig should do you, unless your going for really huge stuff, then pop for maybe 2 gig. Processors are WAY over-rated.

Harddrive... I would get maybe a 30 gig, but I dont know the type of files you are playing with. I would also jump for a 20 gig mobile drive... You can store encryption and keep it with you, plus I move around a lot, so I can take my programs and crap with me so if I have some free time...

As to a monitor... I have a 17in viewable, and I crave a bigger one. I would just get a regualr oldschool monitor, none of this flat pannel crap. Color depth and crispness is better on this thing, and it is WAY cheaper.

I would get a DVD burner, but I have no experience with these. My current ROM burner is 40x burn... I can burn an Audio CD (a full one) in about 3 minutes...

[upuaut]

(aside - Trinity, have I been seeing you in the freezetag servers or is it someone else using the same name as you? Just wondering.)