New System Build - Advise please, you know you love it!

[lancer]

Ok this is what i have so far, its not all based on whats percieved to be the fastest, but what i think is based on all the charts and reviews i've seen, but any input is greatly appreciated.

CPU: AMD 3800 Venice $280
Motherboard: Either the Asrock 939Dual (depending on if i am upgrading my v/card straight away) or the Asus A8N-E (which one?) $60-$92
Asrock: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157081
Asus:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131530

V/card: EVga 7900GT (this is my choice so far)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130281
Memory: already have it
Case: Asus Vento 3600 (but this could totally be revised if i need to save the money)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811173008

Monitor: I want a widescreen 17-19" widescreen, no idea what is good, but this is something i'd like to keep the cost down on.

My budget is about $1100 i guess so that gives about $300 for an lcd (is this possible?).

I already have the drives, but maybe i might get a new DVD drive as well, probably black.

Any ideas or advise is appreciated.

 

[madmatt]

Re: Default New system build - Advise please, you know you love it!

Yes, $300 will work. 19" Dell UltraSharp. Let me look for a coupon that could bring the cost down close to that mark.

 

[lancer]

Re: Default New system build - Advise please, you know you love it!

cool thanks is that 19" a widescreen?

 

[Sazar]

Re: Default New system build - Advise please, you know you love it!

Nope, it's not.

The 2007fpw is the closest widescreen display from dell. A little over $400 for that though.

http://www.buy.com/prod/viewsonic-1...egrated-vga-speakers/q/loc/101/202066865.html

Decent flatpanel with decent specs.

http://www.newegg.com/product/Produ...5209.005+Black+19"+8ms+Widescreen+LCD+Monitor

Another one but I have heard up and down reviews on it. It does have a cheaper price though

Only analog though

 

[lancer]

Re: Default New system build - Advise please, you know you love it!

that acer was the one i was looking at, is there a big difference between digital and analog displays, probably a dumb question.

 

[Sazar]

Re: Default New system build - Advise please, you know you love it!

Depends on the content.

For me, I digital typically looks a little sharper and clearer when working with vibrant pictures.

Otherwise there is not that big a difference.

In some situations, more so than others.

 

[madmatt]

Re: Default New system build - Advise please, you know you love it!

Dell UltraSharp 1907FP 19-inch Flat Panel LCD Monitor with 3-Year Warranty
$339.00
$271.20
[You Save $67.80]

19-inch, LCD, Up to 1280x1024 Pixels, 300 cd/m² Brightness, 700:1 Contrast Ratio, 0.294 mm Pixel Pitch, Analog / DVI-D / USB Connectors

 

[Sazar]

Re: Default New system build - Advise please, you know you love it!

But it's not widescreen

However, it is a better product IMO because it offers more for the money.

 

[madmatt]

Re: Default New system build - Advise please, you know you love it!

No, sorry. I didn't mean to say it was widescreen. Very good flat panel for the price.

 

[lancer]

Re: Default New system build - Advise please, you know you love it!

does anyone have any opinion on the CPU, i occasionally need to multitask, but mostly i am only doing one thing at one time, and especially on the pc i plan to build it really is mostly for games and not much else apart from internet and downloading etc.. but at most only two major programs will be running at one time apart from the usual antispyware, virus programs.

So baring in mind a single core right now is a lot faster and cheaper, would you suggest i go for single or dual core, bearing in mind i don't multi task much at all.

 

[fitz]

Re: Default New system build - Advise please, you know you love it!

So baring in mind a single core right now is a lot faster and cheaper

At the price point you are looking at, single core is not a lot cheaper.. for $15 more you could go dual core with the Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Manchester

NewEgg has it for $295

edit: from what I can tell, your case also doesn't have a power supply. If you don't have one already, you can plan on tacking on another $75-100+ for a decent power supply (less if you want to go cheap on yoru power supply - not recommended). You could go with an antec Sonata II that isn't nearly as flashy looking but does come with a semi-decent Antec PowerSupply.

 

[lancer]

i already have a psu, so i don't need to worry about that.

The x2 3800 manchester is a lot slower than the 64 3800 venice, in most single apps, it performs better for multitasking and video editing though. I only know this through various cpu charts etc..

So if anyone actually has any real world experience with amd dual core verusu amd single core in relation to say game speed or overall pc speed, i'd like to know.

Just because they both say 3800 doesn't make them equal.

If you look at this chart, this is way i was going with the single core 64bit 3800 venice, its far cheaper than all the processors in its area, but it is also faster than a lot of the cheaper ones. and certainly faster than the x2 3800.

The snag here is that possibly this year i may want to start making professional dvd's at home as well as at work, and possibly programming as well in which case the x2 3800 would certainly be the prefered card.

Maybe the real world comparision between them is such that there is not enoough of a difference to matter, if that is the case i would certainly get the x2.

ok now i've talked myself into a corner now i really need help, perhaps mental help haha.

 

[fitz]

The x2 3800 manchester is a lot slower than the 64 3800 venice, in most single apps, it performs better for multitasking and video editing though. I only know this through various cpu charts etc..

So if anyone actually has any real world experience with amd dual core verusu amd single core in relation to say game speed or overall pc speed, i'd like to know.

I wouldn't say that they are a lot slower. Straight clock speed is 2.4Ghz on the single core to 2Ghz on the dual core but the L1 cache on the Dual core is bigger on each core (64k vs 128k+128k). Most comparisons I have seen have about a 3-5% drop in performance on most office/business applications with some a little more and some a little less.

Just because they both say 3800 doesn't make them equal.

I never said they were equal
I was just drawing a minor issue with you saying the single core was a lot slower and more expensive when I believe to be only slightly slower (on office/business) applications and only slightly more expensive.

My view is that for most applications aren't CPU bound anyway and you won't notice a real drop in daily computing and when applications are more CPU bound, they tend to be written to be multi-threaded applications that will really shine in a multi-core/multi-CPU environment.

 

[LordOfLA]

Personally I'd recommend a variation on the spec in my sig (though lean to dual core x2 4200/4400 and 7900GT/GTX)

 

[fitz]

Personally I'd recommend a variation on the spec in my sig (though lean to dual core x2 4200/4400 and 7900GT/GTX)

LOL.. should I dare to post my (lack of) system specs? It would make you all weep and cry with terror and the sheer antiquity of it all.. I'm trying to prevail upon my wife the need to buy some new gear - actually, rather similiar to the specs you have listed in your sig (With a dual core x2) I may try to hold out until the AM2 sockets come out this summer though.

edit: nice Cooling setup Lord!

 

[lancer]

AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Winchester the x2 4200 is only about 10% faster than the x2 3800 but more than $100 more, so not worth it.

» Asus A8N-SLi Premium Way too much for a mobo in my opinion $160 is too much, plus i'll never be o/cing ever. Although i actually was considering it until i saw the price. (just looked again and they have a refurbished one for $110, may be a possibility now).

» 1536MB Crucial CAS3 I don't need any mem as i already have 1.5gb of samsung mem now

» BFG Geforce 7800GTX OC » The 7900gt looks like a good buy

Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music Edition » Already have a good an Audigy or something, sound isn't that important to me.

2 x Hitachi T7K250 250GB SATA 2 (RAID0) + 1 x Seagate 200 GB (On it's own as backup for my stuff) Already have 1 200gb drive, 1 150gb drive, 1 80gb drive and 1 50gb drive, i think i have enough storage for now haha, when they all die i'll go over to SATA

» Dell 2001FP 20.1" TFT LCD » The cheapest widescreen dell offers is about $500, but i still may look into it.

Dell 1226H 19" CRT Thats why i'm getting a widescreen to i don't have to get two lcd's as i don't think much of having the two sides of the lcds blocking the middle part of the image.

» Logitech z5500 Speakers: Already have great surround sound speakers altec lansing i think

» N2O2ArCO2NeHeCH4KrH2 Cooling Can't even say anything because i have no idea what this is? haha

So yeah i'll follow what you have kinda haha

 

[lancer]

Fitz do what i do, just buy the **** and dare her to say a thing whilst standing over her 200 pairs of shoes.


What is so great about the AM2 anyway, should i wait for them?

 

[fitz]

Nothing really great about the AM2. Only want to wait because AMD will begin to phase on the 939's after they introduce the AM2 sockets..

The mounting is different for the heatsinks/fans so any heatsink you buy for the socket 939 may not work in an AM2 - I'd like to preseve any investment I make as long as I can (thus my old-ass system that still works fairly well).

The only other thing that the AM2 provides right away is the DDR2 capability which, right now, doesn't do a whole lot.

The actual CPU architecture doesn't really change, just a slight bump in clock speeds (and the obvious *slight* change in pin layout) with the AM2 socket is officially in production. DDR2 doesn't provide much extra performance right now either..

It's more about future proofing a little bit more than if I bought into the 939 sockets now.

As for my wife's shoes.. well, she honestly doesn't have that many so I can't hold that over her.. and she does ask me before buying them too..

 

[Sazar]

The memory controller is different.

 

[fitz]

The memory controller is different.

I know.. DDR2 as I mentioned