New PC

[(wraith_)]

So, I'm sick of using a laptop as my main machine.

This is what I'm putting together:

- AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Socket 939
- MSI K8T NEO2-FIR Motherboard
- 512 MB x 2 Corsair XMS PC3200 Memory
- Sapphire ATI Radeon 9600 Pro, 8x AGP, 256M RAM, 128-bit interface (nVidia just doesn't excite me anymore)
- Audigy 2 Value (I won't stand for the on-board audio... but I'm not spending $200 on a sound card, either).
- 80G WD SATA Hard Drive, 7200 RPM (I also have two IDE harddrives I plan to use from my current setup for permanent storage).
- XP Pro (ignores collective sigh from the Unix crowd).
- Antec Sonata Case w/ 380W Power supply (This is a sexy case, I've used it in desktops I've built for others).

This is gonna run me just under $1100.00, including shipping. I'm always out of touch with pricing... is this a good deal? I'm going through Newegg. Anybody have any negative experiences with the hardware listed above?

I plan to use a 15" CRT I won from work for the time being for the display. If I upgrade, it is going to be to LCD, which is not in my price range just yet. I plan to use a Pioneer DVD-R I have as optical for the time being. I plan to upgrade to a Dual Layer Burner in the near future.

I plan to test just how reliable Open Office is when I get this system. I'm too lazy to go through the hassle of uninstalling Office on my Laptop and going through the MS "Lick My Wang to Transfer Software to a different Machine" procedure, haha.

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[Madeye]

It sounds reasonable to me. I'd opt for a 9700pro though, you can find a secondhand one for about the same price - just make sure whoever used it last never O/Ced it, because the ones that were bought when they came out and O/Ced are starting to die out now - just look at computer forums lol, loads of 9700 card burning out questions. A ti4400 or 4600 will do too, if you can find one for less than 60$ and can cope with being limited to DX8.
If you can stretch to it I'd got for the Saphire 9800Pro Atlantis. I don't know the price of them now but they were cheap here in the Uk a few months back. The 9600pro card will bottleneck your PC a little. So would the Ti cards really, but they're cheaper.

[JCE3000GT]

Other than the video card and OS (which I won't comment on to be fair) I like you system setup so far, infact it almost mirrors mine. You're not going with the new Gigabyte Socket 939 with PCI-E or another brand with PCI-E? Here's some linkage:

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...128-268&depa=1

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...152-049&depa=1

I like MSI myself, but they are behind in releasing the PCI-E mobo for AMD64's. Just a thought.

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[(wraith_)]

After much prodding from many people (here and elsewhere), I decided to go with a Radeon 9800 Pro. That, and Newegg put it on sale for ONE day and made it a little more worthwhile.

I'm still sticking with AGP for now... PCI-E (both vid. cards and PCI-E capable mb's) is a little overkill for what I do now, and would have put me over my max budget.

I can't wait till I get this thing. Last time I listen to college kids who tell me laptops are practical to use as your ONE computer.

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[JCE3000GT]

> I can't wait till I get this thing. Last time I listen to
> college kids who tell me laptops are practical to use as
> your ONE computer.

Until they put in GOOD graphics cards in notebooks they won't be practical for gamers as thier main computer. Most of the graphics cards share memory from the main system memory or just aren't suited for gaming...even the ATIs and nVidias that come on some HP/Compaq and other models aren't up to the task.

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[Madeye]

I suppose someone could design a mobo standardised chipset specifically for gamers, one with inbuilt RAM that can only be accessed by the GPU, if they'll ever produce GPUs that will make use of the onboard GFX RAM. What do you reckon?

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[JCE3000GT]

> I suppose someone could design a mobo standardised chipset
> specifically for gamers, one with inbuilt RAM that can only
> be accessed by the GPU, if they'll ever produce GPUs that
> will make use of the onboard GFX RAM. What do you reckon?

Companies won't do this because that would mean everyone would just get notebooks and not desktops and thus the company would lose too much money since alot of people buy both. I personally would like to have a laptop as a desktop but the video card is what's keeping me. Saves a crapload of space.

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[(wraith_)]

The other issue is the overheating. This laptop is currently going through it's second refurbishing of heat disbursemnt mechanisms in as many years.



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[MooglyGuy]

Companies have been making laptops that have graphics cards with separate video RAM for years now. Hell, my Gateway laptop from the first half of 2002 does so with its Mobility Radeon M6 (about halfway between a Radeon 7500 and a Radeon 8500).

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[Madeye]

I haven't got a clue about laptops really. Do they use low profile cards or do they use slot in chips?

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