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Dec 29, 2005, 01:06 AM // 01:06
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#21 |
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Desert Nomad
Join Date: Apr 2005
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Ya, I have no experience, so I will eat the $80 more it costs, and get the 4200.
If it was a AMD Athlon 64 3000+, I would try to overclock it, but not a 4200+ or 3800+. Now, will a computer with 2 gigs of ram ATI Radeon 9550 256mb card AMD X2 4200+ and other stuff be better than A computer with 256mb of ram Pentium 4 1.7ghz ATI Radeon 9550 256mb card I think so, so this computer will pwn what I have now. ATI Radeon 9550 AGP card - FROM MY CURRENT COMPUTER CD-RW Drive - FROM MY CURRENT COMPUTER DVD Drive - FROM MY CURRENT COMPUTER Cool Tower Case - Recently purchased it Things I DONT have, but I am planning on GETTING: Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128307 RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145574 Processor: ATI Radeon 9550 AGP card - FROM MY CURRENT COMPUTER CD-RW Drive - FROM MY CURRENT COMPUTER DVD Drive - FROM MY CURRENT COMPUTER Cool Tower Case - Recently purchased it Things I DONT have, but I am planning on GETTING: Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128307 RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103547 Does it look like everything is compatable? Because my processor has 64bit support, do I have to use a 64bit OS? Is my motherboard revision ok for my processor? Please, don't suggest another graphics card. I know mine isnt good for the long run, but it handles GW fine, and Battlefield 2 on medium settings should run. Aggre/disagree? |
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Dec 29, 2005, 01:17 AM // 01:17
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#22 | |
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Wilds Pathfinder
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Chicago, IL
Guild: Black Belt Jones
Profession: R/Me
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Quote:
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Dec 29, 2005, 02:06 AM // 02:06
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#23 |
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Desert Nomad
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: England, UK
Profession: D/Mo
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Your 64bit Processor will run fine on the 32-Bit Windows XP, but with a 64-Bit Windows XP version, it'd be a wee-bit better I think? But don't get 64-bit if you don't already have it, save up for Windows Vista!
 Like Mr Dood said, Vista should be more Dual-Core friendly.  Also, your latest's posts links are broken, but I presume there from your original post links as they have all the dots so I'll presume again you tried to paste them to your post again (meaning your using the same Motherboard and RAM). On another note, they all look compatible to me. |
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Dec 29, 2005, 02:37 AM // 02:37
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#24 |
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Wilds Pathfinder
Join Date: Aug 2005
Guild: BEN
Profession: R/N
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well your setup won't 'pwn' games.. your going the wrong route for having a budget- look at the benchmarks on current video cards- your 9550 agp won't be able to even compare- it basically looks like a voodoo to the newer cards.. if your a gamer your going the wrong way =] spend more on the video card and less on the overpriced cpu's- you'll end up with a system that 'pwn's games and is fast enough for everything your looking to do.. without a budget sure go with the x2 and don't even mess with the others- but you'll be dissappointed until you get better video.. with what your lookin to do with it (gaming) it's better you start right and get a pci-e board anyway
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Dec 29, 2005, 03:00 AM // 03:00
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#25 |
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Desert Nomad
Join Date: Apr 2005
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My GeForce 4 ran Guild Wars fine.
My ATI Radeon 9550 runs it better. I think that my loading times taking a while etc (in guild wars) are caused by my ram etc. I will purchase a new video card in around a year or so. I am watching as prices steadily drop. In fact, I will probably end up buying another copy of Windows XP, a new hard drive, and 2 cd-rw/dvd drives and put back together the computer I have now, and put my vid card in it, then put my new video card/s in my other computer. Right now, I mainly play Guild Wars. I want to play CS:S, or Battlefield 2, but I can handle playing those on medium settings, and screw benchmark tests. All the benchmark tests I read told me that my current 256mb of ram, old ram at that, Nvidia GeForce 2 MX, and 1.7ghz Intel P4 didn't have a crap shot at running Guild Wars, where in fact they ran it pretty well. When I download and run the Half Life 2 demo onto my computer, same settings as above, but with ATI Radeon 9550, once it booted up, which took a while, it ran fine. I am looking for gaming in my new computer, and I am also looking for power. My current computer, and past build with the GeForce 2 MX show that gaming can be done! I am looking for an improvement in gaming. I was going to just upgrade my ram, but it is an old type, so I threw away that idea. When the time comes, I will purchase two 7800s and a new motherboard. Until then, I think that this computer will do fine. I don't want to know about all of the maxxed out cards, and builds that can run BF2 fine, I want to hear about the junk computers that can run it fine. Does anyone difinitively know if my new build will or will not be able to run Battlefield 2 on medium settings? |
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Dec 29, 2005, 06:23 PM // 18:23
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#26 | |
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Banned
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Cali!!!
Guild: cdxx/the420th.com
Profession: Mo/N
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Quote:
I would do the dual core 4800s the price is slightly higher but the performance is 2nd to none! Buy the best available processor you can afford spending an extra $150 to $200 dollars is quite worth the investment 4800s will be good for atleast 2 to 4 years before your next upgrade, also consider this when purchasing your mobo's. Overclocking is a tricky art and science many factors must be considered especailly cooling critical, extremely critical!! With the speeds of current hardware overclocking has become more for the extreme hard core gamer, if you havent had much expirence in this area i would recommend to avoid overclocking buy the best hardware availble for your dollar you will be quite satisfied with the results. Also consider dual video cards as a future upgrade if you are considering a mobo upgrade i recommend looking into dual pci-e slots for future upgrades no need to replace a mobo again if you plan on adding an additonal video card in the future duall everything is going to be pretty much be main stream in the upcoming months. Also consider Asus a8n mobos SLi;s series they ROCK!!!!!!! |
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Dec 29, 2005, 06:27 PM // 18:27
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#27 | |
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Banned
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Cali!!!
Guild: cdxx/the420th.com
Profession: Mo/N
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Quote:
Agreed I found Toms to be some what biased and inaccurate as to there information!! |
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Dec 29, 2005, 08:39 PM // 20:39
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#28 |
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Wilds Pathfinder
Join Date: Aug 2005
Guild: BEN
Profession: R/N
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yeah know what u mean- I own a geforce 4 and that's what I used to say before I got a higher end card.. heck I even got a voodoo 3500 running in a server that does'nt do games.. the high end 64's out right now are definitely for people without a budget.. you'll see no real difference unless your ripping- even that gonna be slim gains.. I guess I see things differently because I've pushed the supposed budget 64's and seen they are just as good as the higher end caches with some o/c.. long as you get a 939 you can always upgrade later when the next platform comes out.. overclocking is'nt really an art anymore like it used to- the voltage mods are done on most good motherboards and if you wanted to go higher with water cooling just better to go with a faster chip than volt modding the board- the nforce chipset is definitely the way to go too if your gonna buy a new mb.. sounds like this is your first upgrade in a long time- I can see you want the best for the least amount of cash why I was posting in here.. that memory your buying is overpriced too.. see guys who run the top end are'nt really elite- they just have alot of money to waste I guess.. I never buy cutting edge it goes out really fast- the only thing new out that's really impressed me is the 7800's with 512mb.. some real performance gains there but it still overpriced compared to an sli config- don't get me started on that nvidia quad card.. only a total newbie would buy that thing =]
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Dec 29, 2005, 08:57 PM // 20:57
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#29 | |
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Wilds Pathfinder
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Chicago, IL
Guild: Black Belt Jones
Profession: R/Me
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Quote:
By the way, with that mail-in rebate that memory is not a bad price. Memory problems can hose your whole Windows install and waste a lot of your time. I've had a lot of memory go bad in my day, and it's the pits. If you're going to spend the cash to get memory that can do a CAS Latency of 2, spending ~$200 for 2GB is not that bad. Then again that's me. I don't like to skimp on the memory, however there might be better deals out there. Can't beat Newegg's customer service, though. |
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Dec 29, 2005, 10:04 PM // 22:04
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#30 |
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Desert Nomad
Join Date: Apr 2005
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The only reason I am purchasing the mobo that I have selected is for the AGP slot. I would go with an ASrock which has PCIe and AGP, but it sounds sort of crappy, and it got bad reviews. I am fine with spending the extra on a new mobo later on, because all of my components are pretty up to date except for the vid card, so my 939 processor will still work in it, etc. Right now I have a $700 budget. I am going to get Mobo, RAM, and a Processor. Later when I get more cash I will go all out on the video cards.
I think I am going to get the AMD X2 4200+. I know I could save myself money, but it is worth it to me to have the extra .2ghz, making it 2.2ghz. I don't want to go any further in price than that. I am all set to order the parts, and I am going to do so IF I don't find a better deal on 2gigs of ram. How does DUAL CHANNEL work? Do you plug two stick of ram into two different slots as you usually would? or is there something different you do with dual channel? |
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Dec 29, 2005, 10:09 PM // 22:09
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#31 |
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Desert Nomad
Join Date: Apr 2005
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For RAM should I go with that dual channel, and I still am not sure of what the DUAL CHANNEL benefits are, or two of the following:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820223041 |
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Dec 30, 2005, 12:20 AM // 00:20
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#32 | |
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Wilds Pathfinder
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Chicago, IL
Guild: Black Belt Jones
Profession: R/Me
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Quote:
Dual-channel allows your memory controller to access system memory using two 'pipelines', which increases your memory bandwidth and allows for fewer sequential 'traffic jams', providing an overall boost in memory sub-system performance. Dual-channel has more to do with the memory controller (on the cpu in the case of Athlon64) than the memory itself. The most important thing is that the memory modules are the same, or 'matched', (and hopefully purchased at the same time so you don't get different revisions of the module), and that you're using 2 of them (sorry, Cannonfodder, but I did some more research and dual-channel does not work properly in other module configurations). They must also be placed in the proper slots on the motherboard. Consult the manual with the motherboard to find out which slots to put them in. This is a decent article about dual-channel: http://www.devhardware.com/c/a/Memory/Dual-Channel/ It's not the best article, but it's OK and doesn't get too technical. The Rosewill modules you linked to don't list any information about timings. This may or may not matter, but memory that will run at a CAS latency of 2 is desirable, especially if you don't plan to do much overclocking of the FSB. I'm sure the Corsair memory that you originally linked to are lower-latency modules, which would make them a bit faster. The Rosewill memory might run in dual-channel mode if the modules are close enough. Usually, if the revision of the modules are the same and their SPD settings come up the same they will probably run in dual-channel mode (~75% chance from what I've read). Last edited by Dex; Dec 30, 2005 at 12:32 AM // 00:32.. |
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Dec 30, 2005, 12:22 AM // 00:22
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#33 |
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Middle-Age-Man
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Lansing, Mi
Profession: W/Mo
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Oh Yes...always go with Dual Channel now a days. Go as fast as your bus speed will allow and then some....
I have PC-4200 in my Dell. It si 533Mhz speed...works great. The trick with Dual Channel it is best to always match in same pairs. I would go with sticks og 1Gb and get a min of 2Gb. (Or at least 2x512Mb sticks....just don't mix 2x1Gb..then...add 1x512Mb...it will wipe out your dual channel) When you upgrade you can upgrade in 1Gb sticks. I have read on the forums that you should not mix different size sticks. It will work fine but you can lose up to 25% overall effecency. There was a chart somewhere...I can't remember where it is...  *sigh*The poster above me article is not bad...explains allot. Last edited by Old Dood; Dec 30, 2005 at 12:27 AM // 00:27.. |
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Dec 31, 2005, 06:16 PM // 18:16
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#34 |
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Desert Nomad
Join Date: Apr 2005
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What is P ATA RAID, and SATA? I have absolutely no clue... should I be concerned with it?
Also, someone posted and talked about all sorts of random stuff like bus speed etc, what is that? And what the hell is the difference between http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145575 and http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145574 Corsair seems like a good brand, and I saw a set of dual channel one gig that ran a wee bit faster, but I am going to go with Corsair. I think that the only difference in the ram is the color. I am going to buy the white one, because it is cheaper. Last edited by Alias_X; Dec 31, 2005 at 11:05 PM // 23:05.. |
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Jan 07, 2006, 05:11 PM // 17:11
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#35 |
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Desert Nomad
Join Date: Apr 2005
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Yes, I am still here. As you might have seen in another post of mine, I am concerned about ordering a certain pair of OCZ dual channel sticks. They are "thick" with big heatspreaders, and I don't think they will fit in my motherboard. I am fine with that though, I had planned to just buy 2gigs of the cheaper Corsair Ram. I came across another motherboard that would support my hardware, so can anyone tell me the difference in the following two boards?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131541 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128307 I noticed one has an FSB speed listed, and the other doesnt. Also, what is SATA, RAID 0 , P ATA, etc? What do all of those terms mean? |
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Jan 07, 2006, 10:09 PM // 22:09
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#36 |
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Wilds Pathfinder
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Chicago, IL
Guild: Black Belt Jones
Profession: R/Me
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C&P'd from: http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/index....rddrivesupport
The above article also explains a lot of basics about buying a motherboard...wouldn't hurt to check it out. The three main types of PC hard drive interfaces on a motherboard are the parallel ATA (Advanced Technology Attachment), also known as the IDE interface, the serial ATA (SATA) and SCSI (small computer system interface). Most consumer motherboards you buy now will have a mix of parallel ATA (PATA)/IDE ports and SATA ports. Typically, you would use the PATA ports to plug your CD or DVD drives into, while you plug your hard disks into the SATA ports. The important thing is that your motherboard has interfaces that support your devices. Hard disks, for instance, come with either SATA or IDE attachments. You motherboard needs to have the right one for your hard disk (or visa versa). A very few motherboards support the third connection standard -- SCSI. SCSI is fast and can support more devices, but tends to be more expensive than its counterpart and is difficult to set up. EIDE/parallel ATA The EIDE interface evolved from the IDE interface, which supported both CD-ROM and hard drives. This then became UDMA (ultra direct memory access), which evolved from DMA and provided faster maximum data rates. In general, motherboards have one or two UDMA channels. Each channel can support two devices (so if you motherboard has two EIDE ports, it can support up to four EIDE devices). Up to UDMA33, a 40-pin cable was used for all drive connections. The next advance, UDMA66, required an 80-wire cable but was backwards compatible, in that it also used a 40-pin connector. To obtain a UDMA66 (or faster) connection, the motherboard and all devices you attach must support UDMA66. Ultra-UDMA is also referred to as Ultra-ATA or EIDE, and typically will be advertised as Ultra ATA33, Ultra ATA66, Ultra ATA100 and Ultra ATA133. Ultra-ATA 133 is the most common interface today, providing a peak data transfer of 133MBps. Serial ATA In addition to the above ATA ports, which are a parallel interface, newer motherboards now feature Serial ATA ports. Serial ATA is a replacement for PATA, being faster, easier to configure and using much less bulky cabling. SATA and PATA are likely to co-exist in motherboards for some time, however, as the older PATA is phased out. SATA hard drives work with current operating systems and are software compatible with parallel ATA. Adapters can be used to plug parallel ATA drives into SATA ports, but these are not a sure thing and not all adapters work with all chipsets. The biggest benefit of SATA is its increased data transfer rates. While the fastest performing parallel ATA drives offer data transfer speeds of 133MBps, SATA operates with a data transfer speed of 150MBps. SATA drives also take up less room within the PC case due to smaller cabling (making them great for use within compact systems), and are more effective than parallel drives for cooling. You will find at least two Serial ATA ports on the latest motherboards, with most boards boasting four or more ports. Unlike PATA, SATA works on a one-port, one-drive basis, so you don't need to "daisy chain" drives as you do with PATA. With SATA, drives can be arranged in RAID configurations for up to two drives. If the motherboard you are looking to purchase is enabled for SATA, it will be noted on the board packaging with the SATA working group's official logo, or in the motherboard manual. If you're really a bleeding edger, you can look for motherboards that support the new SATA2 standard, which is technically capable of speeds twice that of SATA. With current drives, however, the speed of the interface is not the limiting factor (150MBps is more than enough to support the peak speed of any available hard drive), so the benefits of SATA2 will not be seen for some time. One major benefit of SATA2 is a feature called NCQ (native command queuing). This feature organizes the flow of data from the motherboard chipset to the hard drive controller in such a way that the hard drive does not have to stress itself too much when retrieving your data. For example, if a set of data requests are sent at different times that are located near the centre of the hard drive, but there are also some requests within that group of data that are located on the outer edge of the disk, then the data requests will be organized so that all the requests for data near the centre of the drive are performed together and then the ones at the outer edge are performed together. This improves seek times as it cuts the amount of travel the hard drive heads have to go through. To benefit from NCQ, your hard drives need to support the SATA2 interface and so does your chipset. SCSI Pronounced "scuzzy", this interface allows users to connect up to 15 devices (depending on bus width) on a single SCSI port in a "daisy-chain" fashion. SCSI was originally developed by Apple and is supported by most operating systems. SCSI has also been through a variety of evolution stages, from the original SCSI, now known as "plain" SCSI-1, right through to the latest Ultra-320 standard, capable of 320MBps transfer rates. However, the increased performance and functionality of SCSI does come at a price: motherboards that feature dedicated SCSI ports are at the higher end of the spectrum, and are usually designed for servers. Here's a decent RAID guide: http://arstechnica.com/paedia/r/raid-1.html Hope that helps. You can find any of this stuff using good ol' Google... 
Last edited by Dex; Jan 07, 2006 at 10:13 PM // 22:13.. |
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