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Opinions on an "budget" upgrade suggestion

Discussion in 'Techno-Magic' started by Earl Grey, Jun 4, 2006.

  1. Earl Grey

    Earl Grey Mmm... hot tea! Veteran

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    Remove all ads!
    http://hardwarelogic.com/news/125/ARTICLE/1069/2005-12-05.html
    It's the "AMD platform" suggestion I want comments on, please.

    Edit.
    I see the link is down, so here are the components:
    Processor: AMD Athlon 64 3200+

    Motherboard: Asus A8N5X
    http://www.asus.com.tw/products4.aspx?l1=3&l2=15&l3=0&model=596&modelmenu=1

    Memory: Corsair Value S. PC3200 DDR-DIMM 1024MB Kit w/two matched Value Select 512MB

    Graphics: XFX GeForce 7600GT 256MB GDDR3, PCI-Express, 2xDVI/HDTV, 560/1400Mhz (actually the version in the article is the 590/1600MHz)
    http://www.xfxforce.com/web/product/listConfigurationDetails.jspa?productConfigurationId=186041

    Hard drive: Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB SATA2 16MB 7200RPM
    http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=133

    Case: Antec Sonata II Miditower (incl 450W power)
    http://www.antec.com/ec/productDetails.php?ProdID=08140

    DVD: NEC ND-3550 IDE DVD+R/+RW/DVD-R/-RW (Dual layer)
    http://www.nec.co.uk/ND3550.aspx

    [ June 04, 2006, 15:14: Message edited by: Earl Grey ]
     
    Earl Grey, Jun 4, 2006
    #1

  2. Wordplay Gems: 29/31
    Latest gem: Glittering Beljuril

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    Take 3500+, since the difference in price is just 20 euros (139€). Ensure it is venice-core and socket 939. With moboes it doesn't matter which one you choose, although MSI seems to have a pretty good rep. Abit also has pretty poor BIOS-update support (they still require you to have disks + DOS, grr).

    GPU seems to be fine too, don't know XFX, but I have GF7800GT and it works just swell. HDDs are pretty similar too, no differences, but I prefer Seagate over Western Digital (more reliable, I hear). Ensure that the PSU is at least somewhat good, since low-quality PSUs suck in more energy than they give to the PC. Antec has some varying quality PSUs, IIRC, so ensure yours is of the better end.

    [ June 04, 2006, 22:59: Message edited by: Wordplay ]
     
    Wordplay, Jun 4, 2006
    #2
  3. Disciple of The Watch

    Disciple of The Watch Preparing The Coming of The New Order Veteran

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    Ditto.

    They're pretty equal, actually.

    And for the GPU, I'd swap the GeForce for an ATI. I haven't followed the GPU market for some time, but my bro has a Radeon X850 Platinum and it kicks some serious butt. I've had some problems with my FX5200, too.
     
    Disciple of The Watch, Jun 4, 2006
    #3
  4. Morgoth

    Morgoth La lune ne garde aucune rancune Veteran

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    From personal experience I can tell you that ATI is crap, and NVidia is not.

    Bought the Ati x800Rx card for Oblivion two months ago, and that thing has been a constant pain in the ass so far.
    First the box came with the wrong drivers. It took me 30 minutes to find the correct one and that had a massive total size of 110 megabytes, can you say "bloatware"?
    Other problems are for example that movie files can not be displayed properly, the wmv and avi files are for example purple/green/blue or just refuse to display at all.

    And I never had any problems with the Nvidia cards, which I've used for over 4 years.
     
    Morgoth, Jun 5, 2006
    #4

  5. Wordplay Gems: 29/31
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    There is also another matter that favors nVidia in EU: taxes. Where nVidia can produce their products within the borders, ATI ships them from Canada (AFAIK), so their cards are automatically ~100 euros more expensive.

    This was also the first of the two reasons why I chose GF7800GT. The second was the fact that GF7800GT was almost top of the line and cost 330 € while ATI's equavalents cost about 500 €.
     
    Wordplay, Jun 5, 2006
    #5
  6. Disciple of The Watch

    Disciple of The Watch Preparing The Coming of The New Order Veteran

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    That is correct, ATI is Canadian. You bring up a good point here. Here in Canada, ATI and nVIDIA are pretty similar in pricing, and while ATI doesen't get the same benchmark results nVIDIA does, my personal experience with ATI has been more than satisfying, and I will definitively get another ATI when my machine gets upgraded. I'm a little fed up of nVIDIA. PoP:TTT freezes everytime I start a new game, and even a forceware upgrade didn't fixed that. :mad: :mad: :mad:
     
    Disciple of The Watch, Jun 6, 2006
    #6
  7. Earl Grey

    Earl Grey Mmm... hot tea! Veteran

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    AMD Athlon 64 3500+ just dropped from SEK 1850 to SEK 1095 on the site where I usually buy my computer items.
    Wordplay, it appears your prices are at least a week ahead of mine because when I read your post of 060604 the difference in price between the 3500+ and the 3200+ was SEK 455 which is ~Euro 50.
     
    Earl Grey, Jun 8, 2006
    #7

  8. Wordplay Gems: 29/31
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    They're finnish prices picked from MBnet's company comparison.
     
    Wordplay, Jun 8, 2006
    #8

  9. Abdel - Bhaal Spawn Gems: 13/31
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    If you want a budget system that can take down AMD FX processors than let me recommend the Pentium D 805 processor. This processor can be overclocked to 4.3GHZ and is dual core to boot. The only concern is providing enough cooling and having the correct power supply. But besides those tiny items the PD 805 processor beat out the FX60 in overclocking and speed. I would consider that CPU given you can get a 775 chipset board cheap these days, add in the $120 CPU and just spend $20-30 on a decent cooling fan. You would be all set and you would also have a dual core CPU.
     
    Abdel - Bhaal Spawn, Jun 12, 2006
    #9
  10. Disciple of The Watch

    Disciple of The Watch Preparing The Coming of The New Order Veteran

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    An Intel sold out? :mad: :mad: :mad:

    I have just got rid of my damn P4 Prescott in favor of an X2 Dual-core and let me say this: Intel, I hate you. Your noisy processors drove me to the verge of insanity, vented an unbelievable amount of heat, and that in itself was more enough for AMD to succesfully woo me over.

    I love my X2, which runs stunningly cool and silent (with some help from Zalman), and truly whips the old P4 in performance.

    So, basically, screw Intel.
     
    Disciple of The Watch, Jun 13, 2006
    #10
  11. Earl Grey

    Earl Grey Mmm... hot tea! Veteran

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    The latest Intel I owned was a 486sx... so I'm pretty firmly in the AMD camp.
    It was interesting to read about the Pentium D 805 though.

    Please, more comments on:
    - Antec Sonata II
    - Graphic card options (but absolutely not more expensive than the XFX GeForce 7600GT). Will there be a price drop in this area before mid-July?

    I have very little interest in overclocking. I want this to be quiet, cheap, easy and powerful. :D
     
    Earl Grey, Jun 13, 2006
    #11
  12. Blackthorne TA

    Blackthorne TA Master in his Own Mind Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    If you're still interested in AMD processors instead of the new Intel Core 2 Duos coming out next month, then at least wait until after next month to buy because there are expected to be major price drops right after the Core 2 Duo debut: http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=2800
     
    Blackthorne TA, Jun 13, 2006
    #12
  13. Disciple of The Watch

    Disciple of The Watch Preparing The Coming of The New Order Veteran

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    AMD processors would be pretty well-suited for you, then. My new X2 makes half the noise my P4 used to, and it's a freakin' powerhouse!

    Excellent choice. Some of the best cases you can find on the market. They're classy, and they're VERY quiet. Combine that with an AMD processor and you'll wonder if the comp is even running.

    As for graphic cards I can't help you much, as I haven't been following the market for a pretty long time.
     
    Disciple of The Watch, Jun 13, 2006
    #13
  14. Blackthorne TA

    Blackthorne TA Master in his Own Mind Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    Blackthorne TA, Jul 25, 2006
    #14
  15. Earl Grey

    Earl Grey Mmm... hot tea! Veteran

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    Yep. I placed my order today. :)

    Processor prices down, but memory prices have gone up over the last few weeks.
     
    Earl Grey, Jul 25, 2006
    #15
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