Curse

Lynnrose · Oct 09, 2006, 02:54 PM // 14:54

There seem to be some of you who have posted in this thread who really know your stuff. I'm looking to buy a new computer to replace the five-year-old system I'm running right now -- Pentium4 1.75ish Ghz, 750ish RAM, old GeForce vid card. The current system is adequate to play GW and can limp through Civ4 (at low settings and only for an hour or two at a time before requiring a reboot). I don't play any other games atm and only do word processing, .mp3 ripping/burning, and other low-tech stuff with the machine. It handles all that just fine. In the future, I might start playing games like BF2, Doom, etc., but that can likely wait depending on the answer to the first question below. So . . .

Question 1: If my current system is (barely) adequate to do the things I want to do at the moment, should I wait six months for Vista (and maybe DX10 cards) to come out before buying a new machine, should I get a mid-line machine to use for the next couple years before jumping into Vista, or should I get a near-top line system now and upgrade to Vista/DX10 afterwards (this option seems likely to be overly expensive)? Any other suggestions along those lines will definitely be welcomed.

Question 2: If it's recommended I go ahead and get a pretty strong mid-line set-up now, how's this look? I'm not computer illiterate, but I don't feel comfortable building my own system. I found this one at CyberPowerpc.com. I've eliminated basic things like the mouse and keyboard. If anything else isn't listed and you think it should be, please comment. Here's the system:

CASE: X-Discovery Mid-Tower Case 420W W/ WINDOW & LCD Temperature Display [-$70]
CPU: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo X6800 Extreme Edition @ 2.93GHz 1066FSB 2x2MB L2 Cache [+$870] a Core 2 Duo 2.67Ghz is $500 less
CD: Sony DWQ-120A 16x Double Layer Dual Format DVD+-R/+-RW + CD-R/RW Drive [+$6]
CD2: 16X DVD ROM
FLOPPY: 1.44 MB FLOPPY DRIVE
FAN: CoolerMaster Liquid CPU Cooling Fan System Kit + 2 EXTRA CASE FANS
HDD: Single Hard Drive (400GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD [+$121] as opposed to a 250GB drive)
HDD2: NONE I have a 200ish GB drive I'm going to salvage from the current system
MOTHERBOARD: Asus P5N32-SLI SE Deluxe nForce4 SLI Chipset LGA775 Supports Core 2 Duo CPU FSB1066 DDR2/800 Mainboard w/GbLAN,USB2.0,IEEE1394&7.1Audio [+$105]
MEMORY: (Req.DDR2 MainBoard)2GB (2x1GB) PC6400 DDR2/800 Dual Channel Memory [+$180] (Corsair XMS2 Xtreme Memory w/ Heat Spreader [+$45])
MODEM: Creative Labs PCI 56K v.92 FAX Modem [+$16]
NETWORK: ADDITIONAL PCI 32 BIT 10/100 NETWORK CARD [+$9]
OS: Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition w/ Service Pack 2 XP Pro is $40 more
PRO_WIRING: None "professional" wiring is $19 extra
POWERSUPPLY: Apevia 600W DARK SIDE POWER ATX Power Supply [+$79] as compared to a 500W supply (ATX-AS600W)
RUSH: NO; READY TO SHIP IN 5~10 BUSINESS DAYS
SERVICE: STANDARD WARRANTY: 3-YEAR LIMITED WARRANTY PLUS 24/7 LIFE-TIME TECHNICAL SUPPORT
SOUND: Creative Labs SB Audigy SE [+$30]
SPEAKERS: (MULTI-COLORS) Creative Labs Inspire P7800 7.1 Surround Subwoofer Speaker System [+$61] (BLACK COLOR)
UPS: OPTI-UPS VS575C 575VA/345W UNINTERRUPT POWER SUPPLY [+$46]
USB: Build-in USB 2.0 Ports
VIDEO: ATI Radeon X1900XTX PCI-E x16 512MB VIDEO CARD [+$80] the 1950xtx is an extra $106 over the 1900xtx
PRICE: $2864 + $30 Fed Ex two day shipping

If you could put whatever response you give in "newbie friendly" terms, with the more details the better, that'd be very helpful. I'm sure others have similar questions, so I hope y'all will forgive me putting this question here instead of in a new thread.

Ghozer · Oct 09, 2006, 05:26 PM // 17:26

If your getting an SLI Motherboard, go for GeForce

however much I HATE GeForce this is the way, whilst you can use an ATI card on an SLI board, should you ever choose to use 2 GFX Cards (SLI / CrossFire) you cannot do such with ATI on an SLI Board..

I would also suggest If you do choose ATI, go for an AMD X2 CPU, not only is it better priced (lower) but 64bit applications and things that support Dual Core are better equipped for AMD (like how windows XP 64bit was released and it was ONLY for 64bit AMD Machines, you couldnt use it on an Intel machine)

Also, if your going for such a killer machine, i'd reccomend a Sound Blaster X-Fi over the audigy, OR go for the The Razer Barracuda AC-1 card (amazing card)

Also, Go for XP Pro, over XP home, (with the savings on the CPU you should beable to afford Pro over home) PRO has much better support for dual core..

Over the things I have discussed, there's some things to concider..

Should you choose ATI + CrossFire, You should ideally choose an AMD CPU and board, make sure its an Socket AM2 (not 939) as thoes are the DDR2 boards (that can confuse people)

also.. Why are you adding a second network card? the motherboard has one built in... (as do most motherboards now)

and are you planning to use a Dialup connection? why include a modem?? ;\

It also looks like the case comes with a PSU, so i'd look for a case that doesnt, and save a little $$ there also..

If you can, go for 2x DVD R/W drives, instead of a DVD R/W drive and a seperate DVD Rom, the price difference is negliable so you might as well..

You diddnt say what make the HardDrive is that you have chosen... a word of warning, avoid Maxtor like the plague, i have had 4 Maxtor SATAII in 3 months, (recently) every one has died with drive errors, I get a Seagate Barracuda SATAII, and there's not a problem with it, been running it almost a month now (on 24/7)

I cant see anything else i'd suggest, the ATI x1900XTX makes me jealous, as Im only on an X1800 at the moment, I'd love a 1900 but cant afford it

Over all, on a personal note, I HATE GeForce and dont like Intel much either... but the above I was trying not to be biased..

B Ephekt · Oct 09, 2006, 05:45 PM // 17:45

For those suggesting XP Pro over Media Center, you realize they're basically the same thing right? Media Center has all the features of Pro, except with the addition of the Media Center applications. If he wants the media functionality there's really no reason to opt for pro.

As for sound cards, you won't get any better than this for PC 7.1.

Ghozer · Oct 09, 2006, 05:56 PM // 17:56

But he was saying XP Home, Media Center or Pro are the best options for him on a system like that..

Aman · Oct 10, 2006, 01:25 AM // 01:25

i don't have a network and windows media center is lowest they got.\
Also is there a problem with my motherboard? people say it is a old mother board.

Mushroom · Oct 10, 2006, 04:32 PM // 16:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aman

i don't have a network and windows media center is lowest they got.\
Also is there a problem with my motherboard? people say it is a old mother board.

It is an older motherboard, with an even older chipset.

This is the norm when it comes to delaing with the "mass makers". They are often 2-3 stepd behind the technology curve. That was a pretty awesome board, when the Pentuim-D was a new CPU. But because it is LGA775, they simply put the newer chip in the old board and it works fine.

And AW will continue to sell them until they run out. They probably have several thousand in the warehouse. Do not expect that to change until they sell out of what they got.

I see this type of thing every day. 6 month old Compaq and Dell systems with SATA on board, but an IDe drive inside. This is because they still have a lot of IDE drives, so will continue to use them until the supply is gone. Plus they save about $5. Multiply $5 by the volume they sell, and it turns into big money.