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pc configuration

Posted: Fri Feb 27, 2009 1:50 pm
by Greg_BigPhpAmator
Hi. I am looking for advice. I am going to build desktop tower 4 me as I am still working on P4:).
I dont know anything about current technology and what is new. I know I need something powerfull (for multitask in graphic, some game maybe...) I would like to go with Intel but dont want to spend $1500 just for tower. Could you advice me something reliable (something not developed yesterday but something still on top).
Please advice all configraion motherboard, processor, graphic..... and what is important to know if buying/building new computer (I know AGP is old input now:).
Thank you all.

Re: pc configuration

Posted: Mon Mar 02, 2009 6:19 pm
by JAB Creations
Socket AM3 is the way to go...

AM3 X3 720 Black edition are very easy to OC. Rumors are that you can convert them in to quad cores with a simple bios tweak though I have yet to flash my bios.

AMD socket AM2+ and Intel socket 775 are both slated to be discontinued this year. Since Intel is being lame and making two sockets you'll be forced to spend minimally $700 for 3GB, a motherboard, and a CPU. So socket AM3 is here now and much more affordable unless you're trying to play Crysis at 2560x1600 which there is no productive point in doing so except for overinflated egotism and a run away sense of materialism.

Have a gander at socket AM3 motherboards however I must forewarn you about buying Asus products; they will RMA you a used and defective product if you RMA with them, not worth the risk. I'm currently using this GIGABYTE GA-MA790FXT-UD5P motherboard of which you can read my review on Newegg and see pictures of my parts here on the forums. :wink:

As far as a new video card is concerned you have two choices right now, ATI or nVidia. I'm running an 8800GT though I will later this year switch to ATI though I'm happy with my computer right now. The reason I won't go with nVidia is because they are being very deceptive about marketing their video cards and I can only advise staying away from them until they get their heads screwed on straight.

In general you'll want from most important to least the following considerations...
1.) If you're going to do any video games you need a video card with no less then a 256 bit memory interface...that is the bus between the memory and the GPU. If it's smaller then 256 bit then if you overclock the memory you will have to overclock 2MHz on a 128 bit memory interface to get the same effective performance ratio of a 1mhz overclock (on the memory).

2.) If you plan on playing at resolutions of 1680x1050 I highly recommend no less then 512MB of video memory. Be forewarned again, if a model doesn't come with 1GB but some manufacturers sell a card with 1GB it's simply a cheap tactic to make you think it'll perform better, it won't. Pick a card, tell me what you want to do with it, and I'll help you determine if it's the best for your budget.

3.) Do you want to do a multi-GPU setup? If you don't game much like me probably not, one card will usually suffice.

4.) Do you have enough power for the video card setup you want to run? I recommend no less then 500 watts for a single card setup, preferably 600 watts and no less then 700 watts for a two video card configuration.

Hard Drives

Are you doing important work on your system? I run two RAID 1's inside my computer for maximum reliability. If you want both performance and reliability I'd recommend considering doing a RAID 0 for your C:\ and a RAID 1 for your D:\. In XP you can set your My Documents folder to an entirely different folder/drive so I always set it to D:\. Note that Vista and Windows 7 are both lame ducks and you'll have to manually move each folder individually so both OS's (and pretty much all future Microsoft OS's) are effectively dead in the water as far as serious production environments are concerned.

With a hard drive you'll want to consider...
1.) RPM (7200RPM is standard, 10,000 available on Raptors if you want to do RAID 0 in a serious fashion).

2.) Cache (16MB is now standard, 32 is now high-end).

3.) Warranty, I only recommend hard drives with a five year warranty.

You can find all this by using Newegg's advanced search options. You can really maximize the performance for your money if you choose wisely. Good luck and I'm subscribed to this thread to help you out more if you need.

Re: pc configuration

Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2009 6:05 pm
by Stryks
It's quite possible to put together a quite snappy machine for the money you are talking.

I agree with JAB on most things, though I think the RAID setup is total overkill for all but a fraction of users. Regardless of RAID configuration, frequent backups are vital in any sort of system producing valuable work, so the redundancy issue becomes less of an issue anyway. A single 1tb SATAII hard drive will keep you sorted for some time to come (partitioned of course) and represents good speed and value for money.

I'll go out on a limb here and suggest that you consider going for an Intel Dual Core (LGA775) CPU. JAB will object to this for some quite sound reasons, primarily that the 775 line is coming to an end. My response is that if you are not a regular system upgrader, odds are that you will want a new motherboard when you get a new CPU in 4 or 5 years anyhow, so why not go with something tried and true. Plus, it's going to help with the budget. As a guide, I generally advise to go with the best you can afford, so if your budget will take the step up to the AM3, then by all means that is the route to take. The Intel i7 is the step up if you want to go with Intel, but you may need to sell a kidney to pay for it.

I'll assume that you'll be running 32 bit XP or Vista, so I'll suggest 4gb of RAM, and for normal use a 256mb PCIe video card is fine for the average user. Keep in mind that 32bit operating systems can only map 4gb of RAM (including video RAM) so if you get 4gb system RAM and a 1GB video card, your effective system RAM will be 3GB (regardless of what it reports). In terms of general performance for non game-intensive use, you'll see far more performance gain from the system memory than the video memory. But the more intensive your graphics needs, the better the card you'll need and the more RAM will make a difference.

Get a good case and good quality power supply too, it's worth the investment. I'm a big fan of Silverstone cases at the moment.

Cheers

Re: pc configuration

Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2009 7:30 pm
by JAB Creations
I am going to object Stryks. :twisted:

The main reason being that not only will LGA775 die off this year, why buy only a dual core when you can get a triple core for the same money...on a system that will allow you to upgrade the CPU alone in two or three years? Those Intel parts will disappear while AMD will still be selling socket AM3 parts. Additionally rumor has it that Intel is screwing over customers earlier then expected (expected being the total demise of nVidia and AMD), read more here...
http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?optio ... 1&Itemid=1

Vista is suicidal...why build an awesome system and then crap it down with such a horrible OS? 32-bit XP will work fine and I can still use 3.4GB out of my 4GB of RAM which is still more then I need.

Re: pc configuration

Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2009 8:12 pm
by Benjamin
I just wanted to chime in and say GO AMD!!

I prefer AMD chips. I'm sure there are arguments both ways, but I've been pleased with them, plus sometimes I root for the little guy. I know intel was using some shady business tactics in order to stiffle AMD. That's good enough reason for me to buy and recommend their chips.

Re: pc configuration

Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2009 8:45 pm
by Stryks
JAB Creations wrote:I am going to object Stryks.
Hehehe ... I thought you would. And if I'm being honest, I'd have to say I'd swing the way of the AMD myself. But yeah, I'd expect to see the 755 chips fall in price a bit as people move to the newer formats, and I just thought I'd throw it out as an option. I mean, we know so little about what the OP really needs.

And yes, I know your views on Vista :lol: , and for the most part I have to agree. I'm still on 32bit XP myself. I got a new laptop with Vista and bailed out faster than I expected - upgraded to XP. :P

I could actually stand Vista if they made an app to change all the configuration to just look and act like XP. Keep the core but ditch the new interface. I just don't have time to relearn everything.

As for the memory, the 32bit Vista is the same as XP so there's no advantage, and seeing as there are 64bit versions of both, there's no reason to push one over the other. But I am concerned that Microsoft will kill off XP support sooner than expected and force my hand.

Anyhow ... cheers

Re: pc configuration

Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2009 9:03 pm
by Benjamin
Stryks wrote:Keep the core but ditch the new interface.
That would be good but it seems that the core is XP, Vista is the new interface.

Re: pc configuration

Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2009 9:10 pm
by JAB Creations
Aero theme for XP...
http://customize.org/xpthemes/62024

I won't buy products from a monopolist company when I can help it...plus I was using my socket 939 system for as long as I could make it last. I didn't feel like having to replace all my equipment for a couple of stupid pins and throw out perfectly fine RAM.