OT: Building A New System

Atrocities · #1 March 20th, 2004, 07:21 AM

I have come to realize that this HP (POS) is just not meeting my needs and my BLUE BoX, (AMD) is just to unreliable for continued use. So I must now consider building a new system.

The system will be Pentium 4.
Any suggestion on Mother Boards, Ram, and Such would be greatfully appreciated.

I will be buying most of my parts from http://www.enuinc.com/ or Fry's Electronics in Wilsonvile.

(I already have a GeForce FX 5700 card.)

Fyron · #2 March 20th, 2004, 07:29 AM

ASUS makes good motherBoards. ATI and nVidia are tied for video cards. Onboard sound card with the motherboard is quite sufficient in most cases.

I suggest you just cannibalize the old systems and buy as few parts as you need.

hicksz · #3 March 20th, 2004, 08:37 AM

Atrocities

How much money are you planing to spend on your new system? Also, do you have anything special in mind like a RAID 0 configuration? Are you going to have a 800MHz FSB setup with the P4? This will affect how much RAM you buy.

I would also look at www.newegg.com for computer parts too. They have a good reputation.

For MotherBoards, like Imperator Fyron said, ASUS is good. But I believe Abit is good too. I'm personally thinking about getting the "ASUS 875P P4C800-E Deluxe" when I upgrade. It will be awhile before the Athlon 64-Bit FX-51 comes down in price so I'm going to stick with P4 for now.

For Ram, I like "Corsair", "Crucial", and "Kingston". I feel they're all about the same in quality unless you want to overclock or buy a high-end RAM stick. I would recommend RAM Heatspreaders.

If you use on-board sound, I still recommend buying a cheap 20 dollar soundcard a month or two later in case it goes out.

Knowing that Valve Software used an ATI card for their Half-Life 2 presentation was enough to convince me to want one. I currently have Nvida.

Hope that helps.

[ March 20, 2004, 06:38: Message edited by: hicksz ]

Fyron · #4 March 20th, 2004, 08:44 AM

HL 2 would look the same on an equivalent nVidia video card...

hicksz · #5 March 20th, 2004, 09:06 AM

I know,

but it's the fact that Valve choose ATI to show off. Isn't that enough to convince you?

Of course their have been issues and conflicts with games working better with either Nvida or ATI drivers. Diablo 2 and System Shock 2 actually play better with my 3dfx Voodoo 2 than my Nvida card. I have also notice that current games have been choosing sides with a certain vendor. Nvida is the offical card of Deus Ex 2 or something like that.

[ March 20, 2004, 07:09: Message edited by: hicksz ]

Fyron · #6 March 20th, 2004, 09:18 AM

That is only because nVidia and ATI give those companies money to do so. It is just like all sorts of logo sponsorships in all sectors of advertising. It doesn't actually mean that those companies really think nVidia or ATI is so much better than the other.