Skuzzy & other hardware gurus: advice on new pc to buy?

[OIO]

I'm looking at:

RAIDMAX COBRA 822 BLACK GAMING CHASSIS
420 WATT DUAL FAN ATX POWER SUPPLY
GIGABYTE K8NF-9 SOCKET 939 MAINBOARD
AMD ATHLON 64 3500+ SOCKET 939 RETAIL CPU
AMD RETAIL HEATSINK AND FAN
1024 MB PC3200 DDR MEMORY (2X512 MB)
256 MB NVIDIA GEFORCE 6800 PCI EXPRESS GRAPHICS CARD
7.1 INTEGRATED AUDIO
ONBOARD 10/100/1000 NETWORK CONTROLLER
56K V.92 PCI/FAX MODEM
16X DUAL LAYER DVD+/-RW READS AND WRITES CD'S AND DVD'S
16X DVD-ROM
WESTERN DIGITAL 200 GB 7200 RPM SATA DRIVE
3.5" 1.44 MB FLOPPY DRIVE
3 N 1 KEYBOARD, MOUSE, SPEAKERS
WINDOWS XP HOME
OPEN OFFICE SOFTWARE BUNDLE
MCAFEE VIRUSCAN ONLINE W/ 90 DAY FREE UPDATES
PC ANGEL LE SYSTEM RECOVERY SOFTWARE
1 YEAR PARTS AND LABOR WARRANTY


or at :

Brand    ABS
Model    ULTIMATE M5-64
Operating System    Windows XP Home SP2
Form Factor    Mid Tower
Colors    Black
Power Supply    Antec True550W Power Supply;+3.3V@32A; +5V@40A; -5V@0.5A; +12V@24A; -12V@1A; +5VSB@2A
CPU
CPU Type    Athlon 64
CPU Speed    3500+(2.2GHz)
CPU L2 Cache    512KB
CPU Socket Type    Socket 939
Chipset    ASUS A8V Deluxe K8T800Pro
Memory
Memory Speed    (2 x 512MB) XMS Extreme Memory, 2-3-3-6, 3.2GB/S, Twin 1024-3200C2
Memory Capacity    Corsair 1GB
Hard Drive
HD Capacity    200G(SATA)
HD RPM    7200rpm
Optical Drive
Optical Drive Features    16x Sony DVD ROM, 16X Sony DVD +/- RW Drive
Supplemental Drive
FDD    1.44 MB Floppy
Audio
Audio Chipset    Realtek ALC850
Audio Channels    8 channels
Graphics
GPU/VPU Type    nVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT/350MHz, 256MB GDDR3/1000MHz, 256-Bit, DVI/TV-Out, 8X AGP
Communications
LAN Chipset    Marvell 88E8001 GbE Gigabit Lan PCI Controller
LAN Speed    10/100/1000Mbps
Front Panel Ports
Front USB    2
Front IEEE1394    1
Front Audio Ports    2
Back Panel Ports
COM    1
LPT    1
PS/2    2
TV-Out    1
Rear USB    4
Rear IEEE1394    1
RJ45    1 port
S/P DIF    2 port
Expansion
External Bays    2x 3.5" external bays, 4 x 5.25" external bays
Internal Bays    5x 3.5" internal bays (For Hard Drive)
PCI Slots (Available/Total)    5 total
AGP    One AGP 8X/4X

?

Course i currently have an SB audigy i'd be putting into the system.


Which would be better in terms of gaming perfomance? both are priced the same, from different companies.

[StarOfAfrica2]

My personal choice would be the second one.  Thing to watch is the video, being AGP on that one vs PCI express on the 1st one.  AGP will probably be gone after this generation of motherboards, but then there's no guarantee PCI express will stick either.  They have invested alot of time and money into it though, so it will surely be around longer than the older AGP.  

That said, either combo should last you for quite awhile, by then  you may be ready to upgrade the video card again anyway.  Its a risk you take.  I just think the second sounds like a better quality rig.

[eagl]

The second one has a faster video card.

[DAVENRINO]

Originally posted by eagl
The second one has a faster video card.

Prsonally, I would build my own with the best parts of both but if I had to choose  I would go for the second even though it isn't PCI-Express.

Second doesn't have a DVD burner but they are very cheap now. Second has much better vid card, much better PSU, prolly higher quality RAM since the first one doesn't specify.  First one is Nforce chipset and second is VIA.

[eagl]

First one is probably more upgradable, due to pci-express.  The thing is, with the AGP 6800GT when you get around to upgrading it, the next generation of cpus will also be out so you may choose to step up another whole generation again.

Either one should handle dual core cpus though.

[Siaf__csf]

MORE RAM makes it fasterrr!

Be sure to get PC6000 brand any slower sucks.

[OIO]

skuz?


one computer is from newegg the other is from cheapguys computers.


im not looking for top of the line stuff.. my pc is 4 years  old now and when I built it it wasnt top of the line either.

[Siaf__csf]

Stay away from 'brand' computers if you want price/performance.

The higher option would be better with a quick look. The lower option is branded comp and it's based on outdated technology (AGP) so I wouldn't get one anymore.

I'm not saying the top comp is the best you can find evar but it looks better than your lower option.

[Kev367th]

2nd one is identical to my setup mobo/cpu/mem/vid card.
You won't be dissapointed.

Couple points -
Corsair makes a DDR400 TWINX 2-2-2-5 memory stick that is actually cheaper than the slightly slower one in your post.

Make sure the 3500 has a 'Venice' core. That way if in the future you add two more memory sticks you can still run them all at DDR400. Older cores will only really work reliably at DDR333 with all 4 banks populated.

[Siaf__csf]

It's impossible to make a proper comparison without knowing the price for each setup.

[OIO]

siaf, they both carry the same price.


Thats why im  asking which would be better performer of the 2.


Just FYI,  I built my own system back in 2000 which im still using today. AMD 1.4GHZ 512 ram (now its 1 gig) with Gforce4Ti4200. Im still using this machine and it runs fine... but the games I run now (Star Wars Galaxies, AH2) its lacking in performance so I do need an upgrade.


The Athlon64 looks like a good leap from my current system. I dont want the top end of stuff since its obvious it will old tech 4 months later.. I just want a rig that will run my stuff

The only thing im interested in being able to expand in the future with the new system is of course, ram and video card. I'm not familiar with PCI-E or SATA HDD technology, i've been out of the loop for 3 years now hehe.

[Siaf__csf]

Then it's a no brainer.. choose the PCI-E setup.

Or do what I'd do. Contact an online shop, lay out the components you need, choose a box and cooling method and have them set it up for you.

Usually these places charge around $80 for the setup so you end up with top-of-the-line hardware and 20-30% lower price than with brand computer.

[eagl]

If you want to be able to upgrade the vid card later, siaf is right - go with the pci-e setup even though it comes with a slower vid card (6800 instead of 6800GT).  

The longer you wait, the cheaper it will be.  The venice and san diego A64s are on the street and they're at the same price as the winchester and slower newcastle cpus, but they're a touch faster and cooler.  If you can wait a bit, most of the .13nm A64s will be gone and you'll see the winchester cpus also starting to go away or drop in price as people start asking for venice cores by name.

And then of course the dual core cpus will hit the street in a few months, and that should further lower single-core cpu prices.

Or buy whatever comes in the bundle right now if the price is low enough, and upgrade the cpu later on.  I guess what I'm saying is try to get a cut-price cpu since there are 4 variants of the A64 out there right now that all have similiar performance and speed rating, but some are brand new and some are a year old.  The older ones ought to be cheaper (newcastle, winchester) so shop around and see what they're offering.  If it's the same price, then you want Venice.  I'm not sure what the difference is between the San Diego and Venice models...

[Siaf__csf]

You forgot the San Fransisco and New York variations eagl. Not to mention Berlin and Lancaster cores.



Really, forget the variations. A64 will blow chunks of his old CPU regardless of the type he gets. It's not beneficial to further confuse him with CPU jargon when he's not even sure about the basics.

[Kev367th]

Venice core - 512Kb cache
San Diego core - 1Mb cache