well, i kno that you should get a new motherboard, and upgrade your cpu and ur memory ram, and also a video card, all those will increase ur speed by like 10x tim faster, well i spent about less than 300 for a computer, let c, a ATX case, P4 2.8 CPU, 512 RAM, 8X Radeon 9600 128 MB, 80 GIG of HD, and last a CDRW, tat basicly last me a few years, cost me not more than 300. i built comp for cheap, but also not cheap stuff
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it has eyes!!! -
The way you use your comp is probably very simular to mine. For me atleast, hyperthreading is great and I noticed a difference. If you google it, you'll know more about what it does. CPU preference is also up to you so just read up on the current stuff and what they are great for and chose the one best for you. You'll find Intel VS AMD is kind of like Import VS Domestics though. Alot of people hate the other brand so don't take personal biased online reviews too too seriously.
You can reuse your old hd but you may want to pick up a new one so you don't have to lose all the info you have on the older one currently. Use the new one as the primary and install the operating system on that and the old one as secondary. The new ATA HD are usually 7200rpm while older ones are 5400rpm so you should see a bit of a difference there as well. Or if you want to save money and don't have any important files on the old HD, you can just copy the important files to CDR and format it and use only that one. That's up to you. If you're only using 5GB of the old hard drive, it's safe to say you don't REALLY need another one. SATA aren't that much more than ATA so it's something to consider. I'm using 2 ATA's and I'm happy with it but my motherboard can support SATA (came with the cables) so if I ever switch, I can.
As for the case, mine has 3 LED fans, 2 stripes on the front of the case that lights up blue, and a nice looking panel under the floppy that changes 7 colors. This came with a 400W power supply and cost me $80CAD (about $65US??). My other case I had for about 3 years and the clear side panel never yellowed. 3 case fans (at least for me) are more than enough to keep my system running cool. Keep in mind my CPU is an older style P4 Northwood (mine is designated 3.0C) which runs cooler than the ones sold today which are Prescotts (same speed as the Northwood would be designated 3.0E). To hyperthread, you need a P4 CPU that has a 800mhz FSB (front side bus). Newegg still seem to stock the older P4 socket 478 Northwoods but the Socket 775 and Socket 478 Prescotts are available anywhere. Socket 775 is the newer style so that would be a better choice for future upgradability. Celerons are downgraded versions and come in both socket styles and don't support hyperthreading. AMD's seems to run hotter but can tolerate the heat. Either way, if you do get a CPU that runs hot, invest in a good aftermarket CPU fan and you won't have to worry as much about adding 10 case fans LOL.
I also added a $10 hard drive cooler as added precaution. The 12" neon bar was $10US so they are cheap. I have a Coolermaster Musketeer fan controller but.......it's just for looks and I seriously never use it to control my fans. I bought it for $20 though so I'm not complaining.
For a video card, you might as well get something semi low/mid range. My Radeon 9200 with 128MB onboard DDR ram (dvi and vga out, s-video out) can be had for $40. A Radeon 9600 with 256MB DDR RAM is about $80. Both are AGP. On board video shares the main memory (so if you set it to 64MB, it takes 64MB away from what ever you have) while a seperate video card has it's own memory built in. PCI-E is the future but they are still quite expensive compared to AGP cards. And for people like me, it's not going to make any difference whether I have agp or pci-e since I won't be using it to the full amount it's meant to be used.
After you decide on AMD or Intel, start by picking out a good motherboard. Mine has 6 USB ports in the back plus another connector so I can use the 2 USB ports on the front of my case. I use all the ports (webcam, printer, digicam, etc) so I don't have to keep plugging in and unplugging. It also supports SATA if I plan on that in the future, 5 PCI slots, and 1 AGP. And even if I cheaped out and got a Celeron CPU, it supports socket 478 Prescotts and Northwoods and hyperthreading so upgradability is high. The ASUS board also has a easy to use Bios and even a built in overclocker so I can just change the settings with a couple buttons to bump up the CPU speed 10,20,30%. If it fails, it automatically tells me so I don't damage the CPU. I had my 2.4C CPU running at 3.12 using this feature and was super stable.Comment
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Wow,
Thanks for the insight. I am going to look around to get a feel and idea for what CPU, MotherBoard and Case. I'll worry the petite stuff later.
If you got pics of your comp, please do post.. It'll give me an idea of things.
Anyhow thanks again..
hahahahahComment
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Anybody tried the AMD 64 motherboards and processor? I've been a intel guy all my like, even my 2.8Ghz HT P4 Laptop seems really slow for what it is.....Comment
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I would def recommend a 64 bit processor even if you only use a 32 bit OS. Reason is, the 32 bit AMD's seem to have stopped at 3200 or 3400, while 64 bit processors are continuing to be upgraded. They're at 4800 now. Plus you don't need a 64 bit OS or 64 bit apps to use it. It will run 32 bit processes fine.
Currently PCI-E is the latest and greatest, but I have no need to upgrade to it. I don't have an nvidia 7800, nor do I have the money to get one. Hell if you've got a shit load of money, you can buy 2 7800's and run then in SLI. That's like dual processors, instead it's dual video cards.........thats some extreme shit.
IDE hard drives can't perform. I've never used SATA, I only use SCSI. It's more expensive but to me it's like the difference between dial-up and DSL.
My current setup is
Asus A7V600-X
Via KT600 chipset - satisfactory, but not as well supported as intel.
AMD 3200+
1 gig 3200 RAM (ddr sdram) [400 mhz fsb]
Nvidia 5200 fx (it's good but cannot keep up with modern games)
Adaptec U320 SCSI hooked up to 2 160/mbs drives and one 80/mbs drive.
Creative SB live 5.1 - good but not for gaming.
on the stairs, she grabs my arm, says whats up,
where you been, is something wrong?
i try to just smile, and say everything’s fine.Comment
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How much did your machine cost you?Originally posted by accordaffairComment
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Just shy of 400 for the mobo/cpu/512 of ram plus some other addons from where I bought it. (Shims, thermal paste, screws, other crap) Another 100 for the case (Antec Sonata w/power supply) another 60 for the additional 512 stick of ram. 60 for the Adaptec scsi 320 card *used*. Most parts were transferred from my old PC. The 5200 was 90 when I got it, the SB live was 30. Etc etc etc...anything I forgot?
on the stairs, she grabs my arm, says whats up,
where you been, is something wrong?
i try to just smile, and say everything’s fine.Comment
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It might be because laptop P4's with hyperthreading are 533fsb while desktops are 800fsb. And alot of laptops still come with 5400rpms hard drives unless you have a high end one where you get a 7200rpm. Just depends on what you are comparing your laptop to. I just bought a nice midrange laptop too (Centrino 1.7, 512ram, 80gb hd, 15.4" widescreen, DL DVD +/- burner) but for the same amount, I would have had a sweet desktop. Oh well, that's the price you pay for portability.Originally posted by 92HondaEXComment
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True....I learned this the hard way...Originally posted by YK86Comment
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I was thinking of building me a desktop computer with a freakin' big harddrive for massive storage.... at least 300gigs would be nice, if not a thousand.... BAWAWAWAWAHAHAHAHA!!!Comment
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I say go for it, we are fast approaching terabyte capacity consumer desktops. Of course........since hard drive technology is preparing to be phased out it might not be wise to spend too much on it. When flash memory becomes standard fare they should be pretty cheap though.
on the stairs, she grabs my arm, says whats up,
where you been, is something wrong?
i try to just smile, and say everything’s fine.Comment
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Still debating which motherboard and processor to use....Originally posted by accordaffairComment
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Asus and AMD.
on the stairs, she grabs my arm, says whats up,
where you been, is something wrong?
i try to just smile, and say everything’s fine.Comment
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Hmm....may I ask why you prefer that? I know asus is overclockible...Originally posted by accordaffairComment
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Asus has been repeatedly voted as best Mobo manufacturer years in a row. I'm satisfied with mine. Check out http://www.tomshardware.com/index.html for this and more. As for processors, AMD delivers speed at low costs. I would recommend them.
on the stairs, she grabs my arm, says whats up,
where you been, is something wrong?
i try to just smile, and say everything’s fine.Comment
Comment