mobo and graphics card which to choose?

B

bhxtyrant

Guest
im about to custom build a PC and am trying to decide on a few different types of hardware to put into it so i figured who better to ask then you all that probally build and modify lots of computers and know pretty much everything so here it goes first of all im am trying to decide what graphics card to get out of either the ATI Radeon 9000 pro or a geforce 4 ti4200 or ti4400. second the mobo i am thinking about two ones to choose from this one http://tw.giga-byte.com/products/7vaxp.htm or this one http://tw.giga-byte.com/products/7dx+.htm.i know the first one is a better mobo i think correct me if im wrong.which would be better for a PC that will be mainly used for gaming/image and flash animation editing/cd,dvd burning.and also could someone give me an estimate on how much the two mobo's listed will cost.thanks in advance
 
GA-7VAXP, I would go with this one. I saw this on pricewatch ( www. pricewatch. com for less then $120, which isn't bad. If you're planning on having your computer for a while, I would get the ATi card, if you have the money. If not, I would go with the Geforce 4400, it's an awsome card.

I may be overdoing it, but I wish to give a few recomends on the PC itself ( this is is you have the $ )

I would get the first Gigabyte board you mentioned. As for CPU, wait a little bit, and get anything above an AMD XP 2600, or the AMD XP 2800 ( if I am right those two will very shortly, come into existance )

As for RAM, with what you listed, what you're going to run, I would say get a Gigabyte of RAM, and be happy with it. You will always have a load free, and there is no slow down on my machine with this, an XP1900, and imagine what it could be like with an XP2800, or XP2600. Awsomeness.

Now for hard drive wise, I would say, for video editing, games, and everything else, get something that's 120GB. I have an IBM Drive, 120 GB ( check specs ) and I love it. Very fast. I would go with that, or a Western Digital. I hear Samsung recently made a 120 GB drive also, and I had a few Samsung drives, and I loved them all.

Maybe another thing that would be good, is getting a 40 GB harddrive, and simply installing windows on it, nothing more, and getting a 120 for everything else. That would be cool I thinks.

In terms of sound, for gaming, I think a soundblaster LIvE 5.1 would be good enough, unless you really really want cool sound, get an Audigy card ( but be warned, it's nothing that special )...

Just one thing about CDROM drives, honestly, if I was to get a CD drive, I wouldn't get about a 40X, because I had a 52X drive before, and I had really bad case of a disk going to hell, and taking the drive with it.

I think what I just wrote, would last you for a while in terms of speed, and just about anything else. This rig would surpass all gaming requirements :) Also, unless you have $ to give away, don't get more then a gig of Ram, you will not really benefit from it.

Sorry if any of info was uneeded, or it's stuff that you already know, but me just trying to spam less, help more.

Nick

Best of Luck, Write back pal.
 
get the GA-7VAXP [$120+].. or the GA-7VRXP [$100+] which is really good, kt333 and can be faster than the kt400 as long as you get pc2700 memory that's CL2. don't bother with the 7DX+ cuz it's an amd chipset which is more value-oriented and not for power-users or performance.

as far as video cards go, i think the 4200 is the best value out right now. the 9000 pro is slower but also a little cheaper. so that's up to you... which ever company you prefer. just realize that you'll quickly swear allegiance with that brand once you buy it and will despise the other.

that's why i say nvidia all the way. }:>
 
ok heres the specs list for the pc im going to build tell me what you think

430 watt power supply
GA-7VAXP mobo
i think im going go for the amd athlon xp 2200
1 gig of ddr ram
cooling fan will be an 80 mm i might modify the case to have dual 80 mm fans.
sound blaster live sound card
geforce 4 ti4400 graphics card
western digital 80 GB 7200 hard drive and a 40GB slave hard drive.
samsung dvd/cd-rw drive combo
as for the CPU case i like the american media systems gtower which can be seen here http://www.bestbuy.com/detail.asp?e=11168060&m=488&cat=552&scat=553
what do you all think?any improvements you all would make.thanks again for the advice :)
 
Looks real good. Just, I would suggest getting proper cooling for both harddrives, and as many fans and your ears can take. Also, go for a nice HSF, something like a Volcano 9
 
yes cooling is a definite must seeing as i might want to overclock it in the future i also think i will get this CPU case instead http://www.bestbuy.com/detail.asp?e=11080805&m=488&cat=552&scat=553
because it can hold to rear fans and to front fans while the other can only hold two rear fans the only setback is instead of 11 drive bays it has 8 but no biggie seeing as 8 should be plenty.also heres another question i was checking out mobo's on computermall.com and was reading specs on a mobo when i noticed it said Processor Installed ( Max )0/1 which means the mobo can have one processor now here the question any mobo can only have one processor or am i wrong?because i never saw a mobo that can have two processors.:confused:
 
yes there are dual cpu mobos

u could run dual xeons(pentium), dual amd mp, you could even run quad cpu

but duals, quad whatever else....probably overkill and not necessary for home use

heres example of dual cpu mobo $600
S2603UANM-RM.JPG


and quad mobo $1600
S2QE6.BMP
 
cool thanks for sharing i never knew that there where mobo's that had more than one processor im going to have to research it further now that its got my attention
 
Those multiple CPU boards are mainly designed for server use; for things like enterprize level database applications and such. That type of app can take just about as much CPU and RAM as you can throw at it depending on demand.

And, looking at [CpK]Bastid's pics on his previous post, you'll notice SCSI controllers. That's also something you don't see too often on a home rig simply because of price (SCSI drives are a bit faster but about 3x the price for equal storage).

As [CpK]Bastid said, it would probably be overkill for home use. Not many games or desktop applications "know" how to take advantage of multiple CPUs. You might notice some increase in performance, but I don't think the huge price increase can be justified.
 
that exactly what i was thinking im not planing on getting one lol to high in price $600 is alot for just a dual processor mobo considering a single processor mobo will run around $130 you figure $130 and $130 is $260 so wheres the extra $340 go?oh well every minute it seems new technology faster processors and everything else comes out and stuff that used to cost alot will lose its value so everyone should just wait when buying something like that.anyway heres another question ive upgraded my computer specs a little the list now stands at

Antec 400-Watt ATX Workstation Tower Case
400 watt power supply
GA-7VAXP mobo
amd athlon xp 2200
volcano 9 HSF
1 gig of ddr ram
sound blaster live sound card
ATI radeon 9000 pro
western digital 80 GB 7200 hard drive and a 40GB slave hard drive.
samsung dvd/cd-rw drive combo

now for the questions i am really thinking about overclocking once i build this PC so do you think ram cooling/hard drive cooling is neccesary?if so what would you recommend and is there anything else you would add?
 
hdd cooling not necessary but doesnt hurt:)

ram cooling....most of the better ram already come with heat spreaders.....or are you talking about active cooling the ram?
 
well out of the three types i checked out which are "ACTIVE MEMORY COOLING KITS" " PASSIVE MEMORY
COOLING KITS" and "DDR COPPER
HEAT SPREADER" i have not purchased the ram yet so im not sure if it comes with spreaders or not but in case it doesnt i assume the active cooling is best and the copper heat spreader would be second.and what i meant was is a type of ram cooling neccesary if im going to overclock my PC?
 
probably not necessary unless you're a hardcore overclocker or temp freak....

but then again extra cooling never hurts..well maybe your wallet.
 
Extra cooling is alaways good for you. If you have the $, cool everything :)
 
Originally posted by [CpK]Bastid
probably not necessary unless you're a hardcore overclocker or temp freak....

but then again extra cooling never hurts..well maybe your wallet.
ok on to an overclocking question there is a program on the gigabyte site called easy tune 4 thats used for overclocking and i am going to purchase a supported mobo and an athlon xp 2200+ processor how high do you think it could be O/C?
 
I have easy Tune 4 + 3. Both are ok programs, it can automatically over clock for you...but that's not very good overclocking...you can also do manual. I'll fill you more when I get back.
 
thanx for all the info and suggestions guys i really appreciate it.i just got prices from the net on all the parts i will need and to my suprise it only equals to about $1,300 less then i thought it would be considering to buy a pre built PC with the less ram will cost about $3000 easy with the only difference of 400MHZ.now its time to call the local PC store and have them order the parts for me :) cant wait to get this thing built and take it for an overclocking test run:D
 
all i can say is damnnnnnnnnnnnn!3917MHz good god that must be lightning quick
 
That's insane. That...very...very...fast...

BUT somehow I don't like the idea of liquid nitrogen being in my computer...lol what if it spills?
 

Members online

No members online now.

Latest profile posts

Also Hi EP and people. I found this place again while looking through a oooollllllldddd backup. I have filled over 10TB and was looking at my collection of antiques. Any bids on the 500Mhz Win 95 fix?
Any of the SP crew still out there?
Xie wrote on Electronic Punk's profile.
Impressed you have kept this alive this long EP! So many sites have come and gone. :(

Just did some crude math and I apparently joined almost 18yrs ago, how is that possible???
hello peeps... is been some time since i last came here.
Electronic Punk wrote on Sazar's profile.
Rest in peace my friend, been trying to find you and finally did in the worst way imaginable.

Forum statistics

Threads
62,015
Messages
673,494
Members
5,621
Latest member
naeemsafi
Back