Which chipset?

[rahim]

Hi all,

After 3 yrs living with my PIII 600Hz, I finally decided that I have to get a new PC. Therefore, I did some reading and need some advice. My budget is around $1000. My main intention is to convert my 8mm video tapes to DVD (got 25 tapes starting from 1991), a lot of photoshop and sometimes for games.

I've just got a broadband connection, and planning to do some wireless networking but this should be around middle of next year after my new house ready.

Anyway, I would like to choose the latest 775 chipset, but a little bit worried about its life. I heard that Intel is working on new dual core which 775 will be abandoned later. And it is a little expensive now for the new RAM that might not work for the new chipset.

AMD Athlon socket 939 looks interesting too. But with a ADSL connection, I would like to have my PC "always on". Some friends says that I need a lot of fan to cool the AMD chip.

Then, back to 865 chipset, which look nice in the budget point of view.


Please advice.

Thanks

 

[Praetor]

Anyway, I would like to choose the latest 775 chipset, but a little bit worried about its life. I heard that Intel is working on new dual core which 775 will be abandoned later. And it is a little expensive now for the new RAM that might not work for the new chipset

Dual core, [1] wont be around for some time, [2] when it comes around it will be uber-expensive so prepping for it now wont make a big difference and [3] Dual core is mostly a feature of the processor rather than the motherboard. As for the issue of DDR2 ... it will be supported in later chipsets (well.. until they get DDR3)

AMD Athlon socket 939 looks interesting too. But with a ADSL connection, I would like to have my PC "always on". Some friends says that I need a lot of fan to cool the AMD chip.

Well your friends need to read a bit more from both sides ... the AMD heating problems were with improperly cooled, overclocked AthlonXPs which has since been worked out and furthermore, intel is not without its heat fallacies (prescott anyone?)

Then, back to 865 chipset, which look nice in the budget point of view.

Well if you get a 865 then you shouldnt have to worry much about DDR2. DDR2 is really only a viable option on 9X5 boards (which in addition to costing more, introuce the added expense of PCI-Express graphics)

Now to answer your question: exactly how much and how intense of a gaming experience are you looking for?

 

[rahim]

Thanks Praetor for your quick reply, really appreciate it.

Talk about gaming, I'm 37 years old and all my life I've been playing on PS1 and now PS2 for the last 3 years. I love Madden NFL 2005, EA baseball and Tiger Wood PGA Tour (All EA sports titles). And that is how far my gaming experience is. After 3 years, my PS2 is giving me a lot of problem lately and I don't blame it. It has served me well. That's why I'm moving to PC game.

I'm not looking into serious gaming. Just to free up my mind after work before sleep.

Are you suggesting that I should look into 865 and AMD 734 chipsets?

Thanks

 

[Praetor]

all my life I've been playing on PS1 and now PS2 for the last 3 years

Im so sorry

That's why I'm moving to PC game.

w00t good choice

Are you suggesting that I should look into 865 and AMD 734 chipsets?

Here are some prospects for you, shooting for that $1000USD mark

Intel Route
CPU: Pentium4 530 (3.0GHz), Socket 775 Retail ($175)
MOBO: ABIT AS8 ($85)
VIDEO: GeForce6800GT 256MB AGP8X ($390)
RAM: Corsair ValueSelect 1GB Kit ($150)
HDD: Hitatchi 250GB 7200RPM 8MB ($140)
OPTICAL: Samsun 16X DVD Burner ($60)
CASE + POWER: Basic Cheapo case and 400W PSU (dont use this PSU if you plan to OC) ($30)
Net Cost $1030
Ok so it was a bit higher than I was hoping for and I really skimped out the optical and case/psu but :shrug: Newegg is more expensive than im used to

AMD
CPU: Athlon64-3000 Newcastle (S754) ($145)
MOBO: DFI Lanparty UT NF3 ($100)
VIDEO: GeForce6800GT 256MB AGP8X ($390)
RAM: Corsair ValueSelect 1GB Kit ($150)
HDD: Hitatchi 250GB 7200RPM 8MB ($140)
OPTICAL: Samsung 16X DVD Burner ($60)
CASE + POWER: Basic Cheapo case and 400W PSU (dont use this PSU if you plan to OC) ($30)
Net Cost $1015

$1000 is a tough margin to squeeze everything into ... espeically 6800GT, 1GB Corsair and a 250GB drive ... with the AMD system you'll prolly wanna get a better proc cuz as it stands the Intel one is a tad ahead here. Bump the budget to $1100-$1200 and you got a sweet system

I'm not looking into serious gaming. Just to free up my mind after work before sleep.

Ok so now you say that dammit

AMD
CPU: Athlon64-3500 (WInchester) ($260)
MOBO: MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum ($135)
VIDEO: GeForce 6600GT ($240)
RAM: Corsair ValueSelect 1GB Kit ($150)
HDD: Hitatchi 250GB 7200RPM 8MB ($140)
OPTICAL: LiteOn 52x32x52 ($20)
OPTICAL: Pioneer 108 ($75)
CASE + POWER: Basic Cheapo case and 400W PSU (dont use this PSU if you plan to OC) ($30)
Net Cost $1050
Shuffle a few things around and you got a nice system here

 

[rahim]

Hi Praeto,

Finally bought my new PC system. I decided to get the LGA 775. (I feel that my main purpose for the new PC is video editing and rendering and saw some review which shows this chipset better than AMD Athlon64). Bought the system in a hurry. Made few mistakes. (When you have 3 kids jumping up and down and a wife... sometimes you've no choice but to hurry up)

CPU Intel P4 3.0G
MSI 7068 915P Combo (Mistake here... Only take max 2GB)
RAM 512MB Kingmax DDR2 533 (256MB x 2 stick... what a mistake.. no more slot)
160GB Sata Maxtor Hardrive
17" Samsung SyncMaster 793DF
Benq 16X DVD Dual Layer Writer
Powercolor 256MB X600 Pro PCI express (Not sure... right choice or not )

Then I added components from my old PC;
TV and FM tuner
WD 160GB Hardrive
HP 4x CD-writer ( I made this myself when I was with Sony... So it was free)
Snazzi IEEE 1394 Video capture card

When I brought home and install... First thing is the CPU fan is very noisy.... 4600 rpm trying to cool down the presscot at 58 C.... Is this normal? You are right about the heat problem... Not only AMD has this heat issue.

Still playing around with the PC. Since my old PC is a P3, my new one feel blazingly fast.

Total cost: Malaysian Ringgit 3370 / USD 3.8 = USD 887.00

 

[Cromewell]

It's interesting how Preator can take $150 off the a system with a lesser videocard and somehow raise the overall system price by $35...not that I don't know where the extra $$ came from but the original system with a 6600GT instead of a 6800GT should be plenty for what he wants to do.

On to that hotbox prescott 3.0...my 3.0 runs at 44C under max load, which leads me to think it's running OCd.
You can put ddr and ddr2 into that board, the problem being the ddr2-533s additional bandwidth would be wasted if you put ddr400/433 on the other slots.
2GB max is enough for the next few years (at least, should your computer last that long) and for most people 1GB is more than enough.
The x600Pro is not the best choice but it's not awful and should handle most tasks with ease as long as no games at full detail are being run, even at full they should run half decent.

 

[Praetor]

(I feel that my main purpose for the new PC is video editing and rendering and saw some review which shows this chipset better than AMD Athlon64)

1. Depends on the type of rendering (movie rendering or animation rendering)
2. Its not so much the chipset but rather the platform as a whole

MSI 7068 915P Combo (Mistake here... Only take max 2GB)

2GB is plenty. When you go an buy 2GB of good memory you'll realize you'll not be able to afford more

Benq 16X DVD Dual Layer Writer

Try and avoid Benq burners...

... First thing is the CPU fan is very noisy.... 4600 rpm trying to cool down the presscot at 58 C.... Is this normal? You are right about the heat problem... Not only AMD has this heat issue.

58C is warmer than I thought but not unexpected. As for noise I dunno, noise doesnt bother me (i dont want a dainty computer)

It's interesting how Preator can take $150 off the a system with a lesser videocard and somehow raise the overall system price by $35...not that I don't know where the extra $$ came from but the original system with a 6600GT instead of a 6800GT should be plenty for what he wants to do.

LOL note the proc jump, S754 is a lot cheaper than S939 man

The x600Pro is not the best choice but it's not awful and should handle most tasks with ease as long as no games at full detail are being run, even at full they should run half decent.

Indeed, if you're planning on no gaming or very very light gaming something like a 6200/X300 might even be good (save money)