AMD 64 system opinions

[Mainframeguy]

I am hoping/thinking depending on time and funds about making the move to 64 bit...

I don't really want to skimp and so probably will not reuse any of my components from my XP3000+ rig. I have come across this prebuilt which seems pretty close to what I would aim for and, by my rough calculations, the price seems so close I am wondering what I would get from my own build. Probably with my own build I might change the mobo (I think the site is less than specific and has a typo, must be ECS mobo).

I did ask the seller about their PSU and it is the Hiper 420W dual fan silent model - that impressed me as it is the sort of one I might choose, excellent value PSU and with quiet options for when not gaming.

Anyway - I am still at the toying stage and really would appreciate feedback on that particular rig in the context of build myself.

oh yeah, and he offers a choice of case styles, nothing amazing, but hey to me this will be a box down under the desk it is how the guts work that gets me.

 

[Steevo]

Looks good.

I dislike his "dumb down" approach to customers. With computer "pretend" memory.

 

[ming]

Well I'm still waiting til my next 'planned' upgrade which is due summer 2005... a bit of a wait since I first thought about it back in Nov 2003... but hopefully most of the newer stuff are out by then.
60% certain to go for an AMD64... not sure which, depends on funds.

 

[Sazar]

seems quite expensive for what you are getting tbh...

i have a feeling you might be able to assemble a system new by yourself with teh same specs for cheaper... I know I could in the united states...

 

[Mainframeguy]

... a bit of a wait since I first thought about it back in Nov 2003... but hopefully most of the newer stuff are out by then.
60% certain to go for an AMD64...

patience is a virtue - reward yourself with PCI expresss and know it was all worth waiting for?!!

Looks good.

I dislike his "dumb down" approach to customers. With computer "pretend" memory.

completely agree - the pizza metaphor is a complete joke to me, let's face it no one spends this kinda money on Pizza and (I hope) his computers are not consumables.....

I think I'll give him that feedback - but he may well have a good handle on selling to "semi-informed" ebayers and actually (whilst offending us) be simply doing good business....

... I know I could in the united states...

aye - there's the rub, I do believe we pay premium for either shipping or latest things through distros here.....

Anyone have any opinions/interpretations/suspicions of what he is offering RE mobos? The biggest thing holding me back (because my time is valuable and in short supply for building) is that I have always found SOMETHING falls short in anything prebuilt and budget (just listen to my XP3000+ with the QTEC whirring under the desk now, noise was the issue there AFTER I swapped ram sticks!) but if I build myself, well I have only myself to blame! In this case it is just so MANY of the components (mobo excluded) are ones I could have virtually chosen myself....

*scratches chin*

 

[Sazar]

are there any online stores you shop from?

it will be easy to price and provide info about a system in your budget based on the inventory.. and then you can decide if you wanna go ahead and get the ebay rig or not...

 

[Scott Thomas]

www.newegg.com is a good one.

 

[Sazar]

i don't think they are a british e-tailler though...

but yes... newegg is good... half my stuff is from there...

 

[Mainframeguy]

are there any online stores you shop from?...

EBuyer (E-Buyer?) is the only one I have used more than once, although second time involved an RMA they seem effective, so I will follow up on that.... excellent advice and will post back because it should be interesting....

My guess is they may not have stock for an exact rig match, but adjustments can be made and I have an ASUS bias mobo wise anyway - or maybe Albatron regarding the AMD 64 socket need actually (speaking of which, Tuffgong, if you look in how are you finding that mobo I commended to you?)

 

[ShepsCrook]

Could probably build a better one for less I'm sure.
I think I could.

 

[Sazar]

i will price it per component for a basic setup for approx 900quid... using ebuyer.com

processor 3200+ == 149.01 quid after VAT...

k8t800pro chipset abit board == 66.93 after VAT...

I got a k8t800pro chipset (which should have locked agp/pci) coz I could not verify if the nf3 boards were nf3-250 or not... as is stock performance w/o oc'ing should be the same or better than an equivalent nf3 chipset...

1 GB ddr400 memory OCZ, 2-2-2-5 timings == 196.22 after VAT

with the memory if you choose to oc you may have to up the volts... appears that with extra tight timings this memory can demand upto 2.75volts (stock is around 2.5/2.6) when you overclock it... but you should have no problems running it at stock clocks...

maxline III maxtor 300gb drive with 16mb cache == 160.80 after VAT...

case with powersupply... == 74.01 after VAT

dvd burner plextor 12x dual/layer dvd burner == 68.72 after VAT

9800pro 128mb video card... checked and the product specs list it as having 256bit memory == 139.03 after VAT

total == 854.72 after VAT not counting shipping and handling... but you would be paying shipping and handling for the components on ebay anyways...

the motherboard has builtin sound and ethernet and unlike the ebay one is a name-brand product... same with the case... the video card is also a major upgrade...

you can add more memory if you wish by choosing a slower video card and smaller hdd... or a slower cpu... 1 gig is more than sufficient for now (through next year easily)... if you want another optical drive you can add it too

 

[ShepsCrook]

Could go with a smaller HD and be fine too. No need for a machine to have 300GB unless it's a server. I'd go with a different board. The video card you should get and try to overclock to XT speeds if you have the R360 core. The DVD burner is fine if it's the SATA model. Then you'd be smart to go with an SATA HD. The ram is a good pick. Case and PSU I might upgrade just a bit for power reasons. But aside from that, he's got a point. You could easily build a MUCH better computer WITH name brand equipement for LESS.

Sounds like some commercial huh...

 

[Sazar]

Could go with a smaller HD and be fine too. No need for a machine to have 300GB unless it's a server. I'd go with a different board. The video card you should get and try to overclock to XT speeds if you have the R360 core. The DVD burner is fine if it's the SATA model. Then you'd be smart to go with an SATA HD. The ram is a good pick. Case and PSU I might upgrade just a bit for power reasons. But aside from that, he's got a point. You could easily build a MUCH better computer WITH name brand equipement for LESS.

Sounds like some commercial huh...

within the budget from the site in question thats about the best you can build... there were only 2 k8t800pro boards that i saw... I picked the cheaper one..

the hdd is not a bad option tbh given the performance figures...

optical drive I grabbed a decent little do with good speeds all round...

case and psu are adequate for the needs of the system in question...

video card is also more than adequate... prices jump exponentially once you go beyond the one in the list above...

www.ebuyer.com

check out the prices there in pounds after VAT and put the selections you suggest as alternatives it'll be easier that way...

 

[Maveric169]

Well IMHO I would be a bit leary of spending $1000+ on anything from ebay. Don't get me wrong, I am sure there are allot of good honest reatilers on ebay, but the comp scams of the past still makes it a no go area for ME.

I spent approx $2000 to build my PC 3 years ago, that includes EVERYTHING. I know exactly what I have got, and that what I have is/was the best I could get for what I paid for it.

A friend of mine bought a PC a year ago about from Ebay, Featured retailer with over 3500 feedback rating, Claimed to have a AMD Athlon XP2500+ CPU, Crucial PC2100 512 X 2 RAM, Realtek CD-ROM, etc, etc. Paid $1700, bragged to me about how he got so much better a system for $300 less than me. When he gets the PC he found out he got ripped off.

What he got was a Athlon XP2200+ OC'ed to the XP2500 Level, Some no-name RAM with homemade stickers that emulated Crucial's, and a Realtek CD-ROM. The PC wouldn't even stay up cause of the OC and stock CPU cooling setup.

And you know how it went from there, ebay wouln't do anything, neither would the seller. Bottom line = Screwed.

I guess my point in all this is, if you can build it yourself, even for a small cost increase, it is allot safer, you know exactly what is in your rig, and the you have the pride of knowing you did it yourself.

 

[Sazar]

yep.. thats basically how i feel about it...

there are some companies that have some sales deals on ebay for surpluses and the like and thats a safe buy but generally when you are dealing with no name motherboards/cases/psu's and memory it is perhaps better to go with something you make yourself...

 

[Mainframeguy]

Thankyou kindly Sazar for saving me that trouble, excellent job!

You seem to have particularly picked up on two of my needs that some might not have guessed:-

1. Quietness - I appreciate the case choice and believe that PSU will be good to go on initial config - could always consider upgrade if raid etc adds to load.

2. Although the 300 GB might look like overkill I think not because one of my aims has always been to use machine for processing the home DV from my cam onto DVD format, anyone doing that will know you can never have to large a HD.

Point taken about more than 1GB ram being overkill, plus this is matched and looks good from what I can see. The mobo, yeah I was aware of that (surprised EBuyer not offering more choice though!) if Tuffgong let's me know of his experience I may go to another etailer for the Albatron, heard good things about it. Lastly I think I can see where I had gotten too excited about thiis Ebay deal, I was mixing that graphics card up with an Ultra or something, had no idea it was below the 9800 level, thought it was superior.....

Now I just have to persuade the family about the budget and clear some space for the build - by the time it gets to my birthday I hope I'll have this up and running (December).....

Thanks to everyone for their input (still like to hear from Tuffgong or other Albatron user though)

[EDIT] PS - didn't you forget a CPU cooler in there!? [/EDIT]

 

[Sazar]

the a64 is a retail version... ie it comes with a cooler already...

if you are not overclocking it will adequately cover your needs... i am using a stock a64 cooler right now... its not as good as other coolers out there for build but its sufficient for my needs and i have a slightly warmer cpu than what you will be running

there are other mobo's on ebuyer but there was not much information about em so i just stuck one of the more featured ones (for audio and what not).. unlike the nforce2 setup for the AXP cpu's... all the onboard audio for the a64 range is pretty much the same... there is no nvidia APU right now and unlikely will be present till the nf4 comes out (or nvidia releases a discrete solution)

the 5700 is a slower card than the 9800pro... you need to go to a 5900ultra or higher to get comparable dx8 speed and the 9800pro will still be faster for shader performance... if you are going to be using linux it is preferable for you to get an nvidia card (ie a 5900ultra or something like it)... else the 9800pro is sufficient for most of your needs...

as I said for the system you can trim edges and add other components to your desire depending on your requirements... I just provided a basic overview of what you CAN afford if you went and built something and in light of that the guy on ebay is over-charging for lower quality components...

 

[Mainframeguy]

I have just discovered the Sonata, whilst a good case, is probably not going to meet my quietness needs - so I am going to have to see where can sell me an Antec 3700BQE in the UK by etail. Hopefully there is one and it doesn't take the budget way over - no disrespect Sazar, just wanted to post back incase anyone new to forum comes over this thread as basis for their build....

[EDIT] WHoaaaa - it's cheaper cool see here all I loose is a firewire port and some bright blue leds that might annoy me in the end anyway.... [/EDIT]