Could someone help with a build?

X

xhail

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 21, 2002
Messages
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I have not kept up to date on computer tech lately due to school really putting a whooping on me. A friend of mine has asked me if I would be able to help him put a computer together after Christmas. He's been using an old HP P3 800 computer that his parents handed down to him. He's looking to purchase something that is somewhat "future proof" if possible.

I currently have a P4 and an AMD XP system that I build about a year ago. I've let him try both systems and he seems to prefer the P4 system over the AMD system. So he's set on getting a P4 3.0C as the CPU.

Here is where it gets a little hairy for me. I don't want to build him a computer that will require a new mobo when the next gen vid cards come out. So I am looking to get a good mobo with PCI Express for the vid card instead of an AGP slot. I checked newegg and couldn't really find anything from the main-stream mobo manufacturers.

Here is the system i am looking to build:

P4 3.0C
1G of PC4000 RAM
PCI-E mobo (looking for stability and ocing ability)
Nvidia 6600 PCI-E card
on-board sound is fine
on-board ethernet

plus HDD, DVD-R, etc.

More than anything, I am looking for recommendations on a good PCI-E motherboard.

Thanks
 
First, ditch the "C" model P4, and go with a LGA775 chip. I think they are the model "E"; but not sure on that.

Then go with any board with the Intel 915P or 925X chipset, like the Abit AG8 or AA8. My rec. would be the Abit AG8. Abit always makes a top quality board and that one is no different. It isn't as pricy as the AA8, but still a very good board. They AA8 has more bells and whistles though if the money is there.
 
if he is into gaming, i highly recamend u try to convince him to get a A64, A64 is better then intel for gaming, hands down (and lately, well, mostly everything)
 
xhail said:
Here is the system i am looking to build:

P4 3.0C
1G of PC4000 RAM
PCI-E mobo (looking for stability and ocing ability)
Nvidia 6600 PCI-E card
on-board sound is fine
on-board ethernet
Click to expand...

Intel has been phasing out the "C" series, Socket 478 CPUs for a while. I don't know of any motherboards that support a Socket 478 and PCI-E.

If you are determined to go with Intel, I would recommend this board and a 3.0E Socket 775, since it will accept regular DDR memory whereas most require crappy DDR2.

A better idea would be to build an A64 system. It is unlikely the old AMD your friend tried out was A64, probably an Athlon XP or something and right now AMD has a clear advantage over Intel in gaming.
 
I tried to convince him to try an AMD 64 bit CPU... but he seems rather hesitant to try an AMD solution for his gaming PC. And yes, the other AMD computer he tried out was an AMD 2500+ XP.

I'll try to convince him again, but if he decides to go with an Intel solution, I will probably go with:
P4 3.0E
Abit AG8 915P
1Gig of PC4000 DDR1 RAM
nVidia 6600 (PCI-E) (any manufacturer recommendations?)
plus miscellaneous drives, etc.

Edit: would an Antec 430W True Power Supply be sufficient for this build?

Is upgrading the vid card to a 6600 GT worth the extra 50-70 bucks?

Thanks again for all your help!
 
xhail said:
I tried to convince him to try an AMD 64 bit CPU... but he seems rather hesitant to try an AMD solution for his gaming PC. And yes, the other AMD computer he tried out was an AMD 2500+ XP.

I'll try to convince him again, but if he decides to go with an Intel solution, I will probably go with:
P4 3.0E
Abit AG8 915P
1Gig of PC4000 DDR1 RAM
nVidia 6600 (PCI-E) (any manufacturer recommendations?)
plus miscellaneous drives, etc.

Edit: would an Antec 430W True Power Supply be sufficient for this build?

Is upgrading the vid card to a 6600 GT worth the extra 50-70 bucks?

Thanks again for all your help!
Click to expand...

show your friend this where the 3.0GHz Pentium is the second slowest processer, beating only an old Athlon XP in most of the games

and definitly get the GT, I think the regular 6600 is probably slower then a 9800 Pro

and yes the Antec True Power 430W should be fine
 
He should really go for a athlon because they are way better for gaming and also you can tell him that the Athlon64's are "futureproof" because they will support "longhorn".

...Dan
 
If he wants something "Future Proof" tell him to get a Mac. They won't release anything significantly new for awhile.
 
do you really need RAM that fast? Overclocking...? or no? I thought the tighter-timings-thing only applied to A64's..
 
Buckus said:
If he wants something "Future Proof" tell him to get a Mac. They won't release anything significantly new for awhile.
Click to expand...

:p thats halarious :p

and anyways, i am talking out of my ass here, but, for RAM isnt the 4000, 3200, 3500, etc. rating just the amount of bandwith? arent the timings the speed? because i am getting ram that is 3200 with 2-2-2-5 timings (for an a64 though) and i can easily buy ram that is 4400 with higher timings (lower is better) for a fraction of the price.
 
gamekid said:
:p thats halarious :p

and anyways, i am talking out of my ass here, but, for RAM isnt the 4000, 3200, 3500, etc. rating just the amount of bandwith? arent the timings the speed? because i am getting ram that is 3200 with 2-2-2-5 timings (for an a64 though) and i can easily buy ram that is 4400 with higher timings (lower is better) for a fraction of the price.
Click to expand...
keep your PC3200
 
well put wiggin. too often people ignore the latency which in my opinion has such a large impact on RAM speeds.

xhail, im really not sure your friend will even be able to tell the difference between a A64 and P4, coming from that 800mhz ANYTHING will seem incredable. a little note of warning though, Im not aware of any A64 mobo with PCIe for saie at the moment. you might have to wait until closer to christmas or even after.
 
Longkid said:
well put wiggin. too often people ignore the latency which in my opinion has such a large impact on RAM speeds.
Click to expand...

so...tighter timings benefits everything..? hmmm..
 
Good advice from everyone... if this were my system build, I would definitely build an AMD 64 PC. In fact, if he were willing to buy my P4 3.0C. That's the only other thing that had me a bit worried, the lack of mobos with PCI-E on them. This computer will be built after X-mas so hopefully something comes out by then.

If he decides to go with the P4 3.0E build, I will put in 1 Gig of PC3200 with tight timings. I was hoping there was some kind of godly RAM out there that was PC4000 with good timings, but all I see on newegg are the varieties that have CAS of 2.5 or 3.

If he were to buy my computer for some reason instead of going with a brand new system, could you give me reasonable price for a sale?

P4 3.0C (overclocked from a 2.4C)
1G Geil PC3200
Asus P4P800 Deluxe
ATI Radeon 9500@9700
120G HDD (IDE)
160G HDD (SATA)
Lite-ON 48X CDRW
NEC 3500 DVDR
Antec True 430W
Chieftec Aluminum case with side window
 
xhail said:
Good advice from everyone... if this were my system build, I would definitely build an AMD 64 PC. In fact, if he were willing to buy my P4 3.0C. That's the only other thing that had me a bit worried, the lack of mobos with PCI-E on them. This computer will be built after X-mas so hopefully something comes out by then.

If he decides to go with the P4 3.0E build, I will put in 1 Gig of PC3200 with tight timings. I was hoping there was some kind of godly RAM out there that was PC4000 with good timings, but all I see on newegg are the varieties that have CAS of 2.5 or 3.

If he were to buy my computer for some reason instead of going with a brand new system, could you give me reasonable price for a sale?

P4 3.0C (overclocked from a 2.4C)
1G Geil PC3200
Asus P4P800 Deluxe
ATI Radeon 9500@9700
120G HDD (IDE)
160G HDD (SATA)
Lite-ON 48X CDRW
NEC 3500 DVDR
Antec True 430W
Chieftec Aluminum case with side window
Click to expand...

that's a pretty nice system

if you sold all those parts online, I think you'd probably get somewhere around $800
 
If you still have some questions about RAM latency and performance check out this article. Its fairly easy to understand.

http://www.ocfaq.com/article.php/overclocking/63

Looking at that configuration, assuming you bought everything new, Id say you had $1000 - $1100 put into it. I'd ask somewhere in the neighborhood of $800 for it. I think thats a good deal for both of you.
 
Thanks for all your help!

I'm going to keep trying to convince him to go the A64 route with his new PC. Hopefully a good PCI-E board comes out sometime after X-mas.
 
I think I got my friend to consider an AMD 64 bit PC build for his gaming/entertainment desktop. The only catch is that the motherboard would need to have PCI-E for the vid card. I know there are no mobos that have this yet, but I keep hearing/reading about something around X-mas time. Does anybody have any idea when an AMD mobo with PCI-E might be out?

Thanks for all your help again!

Edit: My friend is one of those guys that doesn't like to upgrade the whole computer every 2 years or so. He would rather just buy a little memory upgrade, or a new vid card when his computer gets slow for future games. If he gets a mobo with an AGP slot, will he need to get a new mobo in the near future due to video cards going exclusively PCI-E? Or will AGP always be an option for a couple years to come?
 
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