Advice on a new computer

[Psionicist]

(1) Actually, I believe the onboard sound and LAN is faster because it can use the motherboard FSB and not the PCI FSB.


(2) The Nforce2 codec isn't that bad, just more limiting. Unless you need 4.1/5.1 and headphones in at the same time or getting some nice soundblaster I wouldn't worry about it. Go check www.anandtech.com and see what they say in reviews of NForce2 boards.

Gariig

(1) It's a valid assumption but both the onboard sound and LAN use the PCI bridge (capable of about 133-110 MB/sek this is more than enough).

(2) "SoundStorm" is probably the best onboard sound I have ever experienced.

 

[gariig]

I guess I shouldn't say "faster"..I meant less CPU which is that your main concern should be.

Gariig

 

[mps42]

argument

<Begin opinion>

As a self-admitted computer geek, I hear this argument a lot. "The On-board (whatever) is faster than the aftermarket (whatever) because it doesn't have to go through the Bus."
Well, in my opinion, it's all a matter of perspective. While it may be true that you can move more information throught the PC's Front-Side Bus (FSB), if you use the on-board item, there's more info TO move than if you use a dedicated card because what you are essentially doing is Emulating the device and using brute force to do it.
Think of it this way: You CAN go faster in a Porche than you can in a Grand Caravan, but which one would you rather have if you gotta get you and six kids to Soccer Practice? The Caravan wins hands down 'cause it was DESIGNED to do what your trying to do.
This idea is why a onboard sound card will give you a 4 to 10 frame-per-second performance hit vs. a sound card, which will not.
This idea is also why my 14MHz Amiga 1200 STILL out multi-tasks my 1.7GHz PC. The Ami was designed and built to Multi-task both in hardware and software, the PC wasn't.
I am sure that somebody will argue with me on this, and I'm OK with that as long as their argument amounts to more than "you're stoopid".

< End opinion >

 

[Delwin]

I use pricewatch.com they have listings you can change inerds and it comes assembled.Check it out.

 

[Ristamar]

(2) "SoundStorm" is probably the best onboard sound I have ever experienced.

 

[LightPhoenix]

1. - What about the memory? Whats the difference from, say PC2700 and PC3200? I suppose its the memory speed, but I'm not sure. I know the motherboard has something about it that limits what type you can have.

As someone said above, the 3200 is only useful if your motherboard supports it. And in fact, I've seen some studies where PC2100 RAM runs almost as fast as PC2700 - though there's really no reason not to go with PC2700, since the cost between the two is negligible.

 

[Anime Kidd]

Thanks for all the advice everyone. I've done some more sifting through various sites and I've seen that some people have trouble with the Asus boards now.

I pretty much am now thinking I'm just gonna get the system I mentioned, but with a XP 2400+ or higher and 512 memory (2x256). As for the video card, Im just gonna go with the FX5200 128mb, or FX5600 256mb, for now and save until I have enough for the 9600, or maybe the 9800 if its low enough.

Edit --------------

How hard is it to add another HD? I've helped install one, but I don't remember the specifics. The only thing I remember is something dealing with little switches saying if the HD is either the primary or slave.

 

[mps42]

Ram

As far as the RAM goes, go with whatever matches the CPU you decide to get.
If I remember right it goes like this:
233MHz DDR = PC2100
266MHz DDR = PC2700
300MHz DDR = PC3200
400MHz DDR = PC3500

Hopefully that makes some sort of sense.

 

[drothgery]

As far as the RAM goes, go with whatever matches the CPU you decide to get.
If I remember right it goes like this:
233MHz DDR = PC2100
266MHz DDR = PC2700
300MHz DDR = PC3200
400MHz DDR = PC3500

Hopefully that makes some sort of sense.

Of course, it's the completely wrong sort of sense.

200MHz DDR = PC1600
266MHz DDR = PC2100
333MHz DDR = PC2700
400MHz DDR = PC3200

There are no JDEC standards for >400 MHz DDR, so 'PC3500' memory is just overclocked PC3200 memory.

 

[der_kluge]

I decided that anymore it is just as cheap, if not cheaper, to buy a pre-built system versus buying all of the pieces individually and putting it together, which I've done before as well.

I bought my last PC from http://www.cyberpowerinc.com and have been very pleased with it. Very good prices, from what I can tell, and you can configure them yourself.