I am getting a new computer, I have around $2600 to spend (that might not seem much but that is like all my money I've earned over a long time). I plan on building it myself with parts ordered off the net. I wrote a list of parts down about 2 months ago but that is pretty old now so i've decided to plan it again from scratch, but I'm not entirely sure what the best parts would be now.
I was going to spend around $500-$700 on a graphics card, I am looking at GeForce4 4800s, or GeForceFX 5600, or Radeon 9700.
for CPU I was choosing between Barton 2500XP or 2800XP. I dont know much about motherboards so a tip on a motherboard to suit the processor would be nice.
for RAM i was looking at DDR333, probably 512 MB of it. Again I'm not sure what to buy although I've heard Corsair RAM is good.
HD wise I want an ATA-133, because I've heard that ATA-100 is too slow and SATA is too fast. 120GB should be plenty for me, getting an 80gb drive is also a comprimise i am willing to make.
If anyone could give me advice on these specific things to buy and the prices that would be great.
BTW this will be the computer I will be taking to DGA's, I havent gone to one yet but my friends and I are hoping to get a few places in the coming months so look out :)
for a very good mother board look at the NF7-S from abit,
SATA isnt that much faster then ata-133
Corsair memory is very good, but very pricy too, if you are going to get it, make shure you are overclocking it, because there is no other reason to get one,
the xp 2500 has enuf grunt to be good, and a fair bit of OC'ing potential
Definatly get a radeon 9700/9800 the fx's arent worth it for the price, and you want a dx9 card, which rules out the ge-force 4
to get cheap prices head here : www.razorprices.com its a search engine for computer parts in australia
I recomend getting a good network card. Many times I have been thankful I have a good one in my comp, The intel pro's are normaly of high quality
Thanks for the replies so quick :) Also big thanks for that razorprices site, I didnt know about it so I was sitting there with a 6 IE windows open displaying gamedude, auspcmarket, etc :roll:
-- AMD Athlon XP2500 (Barton, 2.08ghz, 333FSB) "70 This would probably be your best choice as you're paying double that to get the XP2800 (200Mhz faster). If you had the money it would be very nice to go for the 400MHz Barton range, but it's super pricey.
-- Abit NF7-S Socket A Mainboard (V2) $240 Is there really a choice here? If you're not getting this you're getting the ASUS A7V8X Deluxe, however a number of people are experiencing nForce driver related issues on that board.
-- 512meg CORSAIR XMS3200LL (Low Latency, 400mhz, Extreme Memory Speed) $250 Arguably the finest DDR400 chip on the market. You don't need anything higher than 400MHz; your motherboard will not support higher, and your CPU will only be running 333.
-- 120gb SeaGate 7200rpm Barracuda V SATA $300 I'd highly recommend buying a SATA drive over an ATA100/133 drive, through my experiences and those of my friends who have purchased them, there's no turning back now. Alternatively you can pick up 120gb SeaGate 7200rpm ATA drive with 8mb cache for $40 less. If you're spending this much on new parts, why not spend the extra $40?
-- HERCULES ATI RADEON 9800Pro (128mb version, not 256mb) $850 If you were going to spend as much as $700 on a video card, why not just go the little extra the latest and greatest? If you'd rather now you can pick up a Hercules or Gigabyte 9700 Pro for $700 easily.
Thanks to everyone who replied to this, heh gamers underground lives up to its name definately, I thought darwin had nothing before i visited these forums and heard about DGA but it has tons of people highly skiled with computers.
Also thanks for the good mannered response to a n00b like me :) .
Don't go anything that's non-pro in regards to ATi video cards, it is just shooting yourself in the foot. i agree with all of the above recommendations about Abit, the 2500+ etc
looks like you will have a computer to rival (ie it's almost the same damn thing :)) the one i am about to purchase....
bitch :P
also, you better be getting a good case (lian li or antec) and a good monitor for that setup ;)
Quote from Odyssey: Corsair suck, get Winbond, Samsung or Kingmax
i love corsair but i tdoes depend on the mobo, some mobos dont like corsair, corsair use samsung chips, but the two machines i have running on corsair thrive on it, at ultra high speeds, very stable.
Another tip - if you do end up getting a motherboard based on the nForce2 chipset (IMO, you'd be silly not to!), then get two sticks of RAM (ie, 256x2 if you want 512).
They perform better in Dual Channel mode - minimal improvement, granted, but better performance nevertheless.
looks like you will have a computer to rival (ie it's almost the same damn thing :)) the one i am about to purchase....
bitch :P
also, you better be getting a good case (lian li or antec) and a good monitor for that setup ;)
Yeah the monitor is one thing I forgot about when i was considering stuff to buy... ATM i have a 17" LG Studioworks monitor that works well and is non-blurry, but I may get something a bit different and recently i have been thinking about the idea of getting a 19". I also heard a rumour going around that the Bureau of Meteorology are selling off some 21" monitors for cheap because they will be replaced by new 23" ones... can anyone comment on that?
And as for case... I will be getting a good one dont worry although I'm not sure which :)
Thing about old monitors, my electrical engineering department at RMIT has some pretty huge 23" monitors but they're about dinosaur old and refresh and res rates aren't too fancy - which I'd suspect the bureau to have the same. Screen sharpness is also some to be desired but they do their job when developing PCBs pretty damn well.
1. I've got a recommendation from a friend to go for a Mitsubishi monitor, his friend told him that they work well for him :roll: ... I've got a feeling I can get a more reliable tip from someone on this board
2. Case wise, should i go with or without inbuilt PSU, and what power PSU should I get?
the problem you get with a lot of PSU's is that they don't actually put out the specified wattage... antec's do. a 380w should be ok unless you're running like 3-4 hard drives and a few optical drives etc.
my recommendation is to get a lian li and an antec 480w or 550w... leaves room for upgradeability later on and atm they are relatively cheap.
I've run an Athlon with two CDROM drives, two HDD's, a Radeon 9700, 5 case fans and an A drive on a 350watt Enermax... Not a single problem, ever. As long you have a good quality PSU, 400watt would be appropriate if you're not running stupid amounts of hardware.
As for monitors, Mitsubishi diamondtron flats are great, Sony tubes, affordable.
Here are the parts for the final machine, I've thought through everything on this list but I couldnt have done it without the feedback here :D ... if you see something you think is a bad choice please let me know... so here it is (these prices are from razorprices or from specified website):
[list:85bff99be9] CPU: AMD Athlon Barton XP2500------------"69 from Gamedude MoBo: Abit NF7-S v2.0-------------------------$240 from Secretnet Video: Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro----------$770 from Simline Solutions RAM: King-Max 512mb DDR400--------------"59 from Gamedude HD: SATA Seagate Barracuda 120GB-------$293 from The Disc Shop Monitor: 17" Philips 107T41------------------$245 from Scorptec Case: Xaser II 6000 Plus---------------------$285 from Scorptec PSU: Antec True Power 430W---------------"55 from Scorptec Optical: LG 48x24x48x16x DVD/CDRW-----"50 from Scorptec Keyboard: Logitech Elite----------------------$85 from Scorptec Mouse: :wink: Logitech MX500-------------------$79 from Scorptec [/list:u:85bff99be9]
Now all I need is the skills to use it :P j/k I have plenty skill already :wink:
Quote from rec: I wouldn't get a Philips monitor if they gave me money, but that's just through my own personal experiences. :)
As for your mouse, spend an extra $25 and get an mx500.
couldnt have said it better myself. Mx500 are 1337 ;)
oh and with the monitor. i have found a second hand dealer that sells (mainly through Ebay) second hand cheap ex-corperate monitors.
http://vs84242.server-store.com/
mainly 21" sonys. that are all excellent monitors. my next monitor will be through this guy. and he says only $80 freight as well. most other sites charge "10+. he rotates the monitors around often. so keep an eye out for new ones. :)
i like the philips monitors... own personal experience ;)
Static, check out the library's monitor (the one that the teachers use at the desk) and that is a 107T... pretty good but i prefer the flat aperture grille monitors :)
btw, i recommended the 400+ PSU (reliable brand) for upgradeability.... is everybody blind?
btw, i recommended the 400+ PSU (reliable brand) for upgradeability.... is everybody blind?
Another reason to get a 480W PSU instead of say, a 400W PSU is the fact that the Antec PSU's at Scorptec are only separated by about "0-15 a model, so the 480W one is only around $20 more expensive than a 380W one, and currently 480's are on special.
I'd rather buy a big PSU now for an extra $20 than take the chance of running out of power on a small one then spending $200 getting a new one.
EDIT: I might actually tone down the 480 to a 430 so I can buy the MX500, it will probably serve me better in the long run then 50W of power I will never use.
StaticRevenger are you aware you will need a power adaptor for the sATA Seagate drive? It looks like this and will cost just a few dollars :arrow: [Image: http://www.auspcmarket.com.au/images/info/cb-satapower.jpg]
I don't like Corsair because they are overpriced and I have spoken to a few people that have had problems with them. They don't really OC well either. I had two nForce2 Asus boards that cracked the shits with Corsair 433 ram. I solved the problem, but an inexperienced person may just give up so I don't recommend this ram to n00by users. :wink:
Sapphire 9700 Pro Ultimate Editions are available at gamedude.com.au and auspcmarket.com.au for those people interested. They are better than the Zalman ones because the Sapphire cards have ram sinks on their version (and silver is prettier :) ).
Quote from Flammable: i find them uncomfortable. Flamm we're talking about computer hardware here, not G-Strings! :shock:
Quote from Odyssey: StaticRevenger are you aware you will need a power adaptor for the sATA Seagate drive? It looks like this and will cost just a few dollars :arrow: [Image: http://www.auspcmarket.com.au/images/info/cb-satapower.jpg]
Thanks for telling me that, I thought specific cables and stuff like that would be included in the box but i guess not...
Quote from rec: He'll only need a huge PSU if he plans to do extensive case modding or he decided to raid a series of drives etc...
but look what happened with the 9700 series of video cards... lo and behold there was more power consumption necessary. if he gets a good PSU now then he won't have to upgrade it for a long time. (i've still got a 350w here that has been around for yonks and it is running a pretty good computer with no hassles (a few hard drives, optical drives galore and an athlon) but that isn't what i meant by the recommendation.
hell i'd rather have the extra few watts (and spend the extra) and never have the slightest chance of EVER having a problem then risk a lower wattage at that tiny little bit of savings.
maybe it's just me though. but that is one thing that is ALWAYS overlooked by the majority of people when purchasing a computer, even by people that claim to have built computers for ages...
You would be amazed what a good psu can do to fix stability issues. Also even if he's running an average computer with a monster psu the psu will run cool. The new psu's coming out have the sATA power cable on them. The down side is if anyone gets a psu now they will have to get the adaptor as I pointed out above (no biggie really).
Pic below is a psu with sATA power cable (black) :arrow: