From the ground up

[NoxiousEle]

Hey folks, it's Embries.. I seem to have forgotten my log in. I've got a computer question for all you hardware wizards out there.. that means you Lud. The only reason you guys haven't seen me in EQ2 is simply cause my PC couldn't possibly run the game. Well, it finally took a dump on me so I'm working on putting together a new PC. I'm just a little unsure on some of the finer details of certain pieces of hardware.

1) The processor - prescott core? And is socket 478 the way to go? I've decided against AMD, so don't try to convince me, hehe.

2) Video card - I'm leaning toward a Raedon 9800PRO, BUT I'm lost when it comes to ASUS vs. Sapphire vs. ATI. Are all these things ATI, or is one superior to the other? Or is a Sapphire 9800PRO completely different from a ASUS 9800PRO and just use the same core? And is NVidia any better for the buck?

3) MoBo - I've been told go with an "intel motherboard". Is that just referring to the chipset being intel? Such as an ASUS mobo with an intel 875PE chipset, or is there an actual Intel motherboard somewhere?

4) AGP vs PCI Express?

Any help you gusy could give me would be much appreciated. Hopefully, you'll all see me soon if I can get this thing going.

Embries

[Vanuth]

Yes yes I know I'm not lud...hehe but if your trying not to spend too much money on a vid card get a NVidia Verto (500mhz one, dont remember model number and too lazy to look for it haha) they're about $70 now and I can run EQ2 with it just fine and I'm running it off of a 701mhz compaq 5000 series with 596 ram (dont ask how i ended up witht hat im not sure)
and as far as the mobo goes i have one lying around that says Intel on the box yet the name brand of it is some random generic so I'm thinking their referring to chipset. I personally like AGP better as well. Sorry if this is badly writte really tired, huge show last night hehe
_________________

[Renvik]

Processor: No socket 478, it's outdated and you'll have a narrow selection trying to find a prescott 478 motherboard. Go with a socket LGA775 and a prescott Intel if you're going down the Intel route (be prepared to spend extra for the Intel though).

Next lets do motherboard since that will depend on what video card you get. Any board that uses an Intel CPU uses an Intel chipset (865PE etc.) but don't buy an Intel manufactured board, they are a rip off. Get a MSI board. They are inexpensive, packed with features and rock solid. Another good one is ASUS, but they are much more expensive. Get one with PCI-express. This is a big deal. It doesn't cost any extra but makes a huge difference in video performance.

Video card: my advice is always NVidia, though there are very good ATI cards. I just put a bottom-line $90 NVidia 6200 PCI-Express in an AMD 64 3500+, and it has double the 3D benchmarks of my Intel 2.8GHz with a 5700 Ultra AGP 8x (a card that was much more expensive brand new). If your budget is $100 for a card get an NVidia 6200, but if you can scrap the dough, the 6600 GT is a sweet sweet card for $200. Almost triple the performance of the 6200. As a side note, card label makes very little difference. ASUS, Chaintech, eVGA, etc cards all perform nearly exactly the same. Some offer special software that only works with their card, but I have yet to find any of these special offers worth any kind of price difference.

I've been very impressed recently with the newest Athlon 64s, and if it came down to an Intel 3.5 GHz with a $90 Nvidia card or an Athlon 3500+ with a $200 Nvidia card, I'd take the Athlon, and it would be a cheaper system.
_________________

[Beau]

Hey there,

I just ordered our second computer from Cyberpower tonight as my current machine is about to go Tango Uniform. WeÂ?ve had the one the wife uses now for about 2 years and its still rock solid, compared to the Gateway I use that is about the same age. IÂ?m not sure what your budget is, or if you just want to build it yourself, but for just over $1,500 I was able to configure a pretty good system.

Â? Side-window case w/500w PSU
Â? MSI 915P Combo-F w/INTEL I915P Chipset Socket 775 PCI Express w/SATA, Gigabite LAN & 7.1 sound (supports DDR & DDR2)
Â? (Sckt775)Intel Pentium 4 CPU 640 CPU w/HT Technology 3.2GHZ 800FSB 2MB Cache, 64 Bit
Â? 2048 MB (512MBx4) PC3200 400MHz Dual Channel DDR MEMORY (Corsair Value RAM-maybe not the best brand name but certainly better than the 768MB on the machine I use now)
Â? Seagate 120GB 7200RPM Serial ATA 150 8MB Cache
Â? NVIDIA Geforce 6800 ULTRA 256MB 16X PCI Express (I had to call back and change out the 420 PSU that came with the case for the 500w one after reading this card uses 2 molex connectors from the PSU)
� SONY DWD-22A Dual Format 16X DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW Drive Dual Layer
Â? SONY 52x CD Drive
Â? 3 case additional case fans (lighted of course )

IÂ?m no computer techie for sure, but after pricing out just the video card and RAM alone that was almost 2/3 of the total cost. You might want to check them out if you have never been there.

Okee

[NoxiousEle]

Well I think I've got my new system squared away and will be ordering it tomorrow. I've decided to go with the AMD 64 based on several recommendations since I started asking questions. I was only going with Pentium after what Lud had said in a post a few months back about Intel being better than AMD hands down. I've gotten the impression from several people that that all changed when the 64 came into the picture.. however "theroetical" 64-bit processing may be at the moment. But just from personal experience, my AMD 800Mhz didn't let me down once for 5 years. Whereas my bro's Pentium 4 2.8 has been giving him serious problems for most of the time he's had it.

I wanted to go sturdy and expandable, not hardcore gaming.
Here's my setup:

- Thermaltake Mid-Tower w/ 120mm fan x 2, side window, toolless
installation and digital temp readout
- Thermaltake 420w SilentPurePower PS
- ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD
Motherboard
- MSI NX6600GT-TD128E Geforce 6600GT 128MB GDDR3 PCI-Express
x16 Video Card
- AMD Athlon 64 3500+ ClawHammer/Hammer Integrated into Chip FSB
Socket 939 Processor Model ADA3500ASBOX
- Samsung 7200RPM 120gig HD SATA150
- ASUS DVD ROM Drive
- INNOCOM 56k modem
- Crucial 1028MB DDR400 RAM
- And Microsoft Windows XP PRO 64-bit Edition to boot

TOTAL: $1,097

And I bought a Samsung SyncMaster 930B 19" TFT-LCD the other day for just about 300 bucks.

All this for the EXACT same price as an Intel 3.2GHz Prescott with a Raedon 98000PRO AGP video card and a FAR inferior socket 478 MoBo w/ other similar necessary hardware.

[Renvik]

That will turn out to be a killer system. I love that motherboard, and I have fantasies that involve SLI and two 6800 Ultras, but I don't want to scare anyone.

[NoxiousEle]

Yeah, I love the SLI feature on that MoBo. Down the road when they make a game that can slow down that video card, I'll either go dual 6800Ultras or see what another 6600GT and 2 more gigs of ram will do for me. I went for upgradeability with this system, which is why I opted for overkill on the MoBo.

Thanks for your help guys, and maybe you'll see me in EQ2 soon!