NEW COMPUTER!

Deadman · Post by **Deadman** » Mon Dec 22, 2003 10:27 pm

Pentiums 2004 processor info

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/hardware/chips/ ... 040,00.htm

more to come.

Realm · Post by **Realm** » Mon Dec 22, 2003 11:36 pm

Ah, Juan and EMP, I bask in the radiance of your skillz. You guys explain this shit so well. One change you didn't mention, EMP, is that BTX style cases (as opposed to ATX) are supposed to come around this year. Supposedly they've been reworked for better, more efficient airflow. I don't know if motherboard manufacturers will be effected by this or not, any word?

Juan The Pirate · Post by **Juan The Pirate** » Tue Dec 23, 2003 1:17 am

http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.html?i=1876

Here is a very good article on BTX if you haven't read anything on it.

Realm, actually the biggest change will come to the motherboard in BTX cases. The entire plan is the rework the board for a better air flow and work with existing case designs to lessen noise and create a more passive airflow system.

This also helps with the change to PCI Express and Serial ATA changes that EMP was talking about. By changing all the standards at once, people aren't going to be caught having a mix and match of standards on their boards (minus the serialATA).

The article has very good pictures and diagrams to explain the many changes to the form factor, and I am quite excited about the changes. Looks like I will be building a new computer next summer too.

One side note Dead, you may end up waiting your entire life for a computer that will encompass all the new technology you want. Though you may want to wait for a 64 bit processor. I forsee at least 2 good years for the system you are designing with only needing a vid card upgrade (cause those have become almost yearly events)

Realm · Post by **Realm** » Tue Dec 23, 2003 1:25 am

Thanks for the link man, awesome article.

Deadman · Post by **Deadman** » Tue Dec 23, 2003 11:46 am

Thx for the article, yeah i know that I would have to upgrade a few things yearly, like vid cards. Can't think right now i will edit this post later, lol

Evilmagicpirate · Post by **Evilmagicpirate** » Wed Dec 24, 2003 4:26 am

Deadman wrote:Ok the BIG question on my mind is
WHICH IS BETTER FOR GAMING- Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon XP?

When you're buying a computer and are on a limited budget the most important thing to look for is not overall performance but the Price/Performance ratio.. That is, what hardware will give you the best performance for the smallest price.

AMD 2600XP for $104 on Newegg - that alone is a good price for this fast a processor, however the true value is that you can overclock these from the spec 1.9ghz to 2.2ghz (which is the same as the fastest AMD XP3200)!! So there you have it, what is essentially a XP3200 (usually valued at $320) for two hundred dollars saving! Also compaired to the latest P4 at $399. So now you ask yourself, what is more important, having the absolute top of the line CPU, or having one that is almost the fastest but saving 2/3 of the price?
[All prices taken from NewEgg]

Ofcourse, you also need a motherboard that can support DDR400 RAM (which would be anything less than 12 months old) and some reasonably fast RAM cabaple of handling a 192mhz Front Side Bus (DDR3200). (the XP2600 has a multiplier locked at 11.5 so a 192mhz FSB is required to reach 2.2ghz). You could probably pick this up for <$200 for both RAM and MOBO.

The other thing is to consider is a P4 2.4ghz system {check those rave reviews!}. These will also easily OC to a P4 3200 (and have the added benifit of Hyperthreading). However, you are looking at paying an extra $50 for the chip alone, then little extra premiums on the board and you will need faster (thus more expensive) RAM. However, that being said, the price differences may not be that significant and the performance for the P4 will probably be slightly better from the higher FSB.

Also, the other BIG component of a gaming system will be your Video Card. As I said before, if you have the cash the Radeon 9800 non-pro is the best price/perform ratio for higher end cards.. .. Or the Radeon 9600 non-pro for Middle range. Both these cards are also especailly good because they can be overclocked to the same speed as their PRO brothers - for free! Stear clear of anything less than a 9600 or equivalent Geforce.

As for which to buy, the XP or the p4, the Radeon or the FX, thats really a matter of personal preferance. I would say that you are probably best off going for the P4 2.4ghz OCed to the 3.2ghz, and a Radeon 9800np OCed to a Pro. However, the performance that system will give you compaired to an Athlon or a GeforceFX or the same speed will depend on the game because they're all pretty much neck and neck right now with no real clear leader. *

* However, the top of the line AMD64 smashes everything else even in 32-bit mode. However, you are paying $733 for that chip alone, which I would suspect is out of budget.

Evilmagicpirate · Post by **Evilmagicpirate** » Wed Dec 24, 2003 5:02 am

Unless you absolutly must have the PC today.. pretty much ignore what I said above.. This article from Overclockers.com summerizes everything very very well.

To Summerize:
"AMD looks like it plans to move away from socket 754 [socket 754 is current AMD XP socket] to socket 939 for mainstream systems in 2004... Socket 939 boards should be out and plentiful within the next six months... [Socket 939 is similar to AMD64 socket, but with one less pin and reworked for higher bandwidth]
Along with them ought to come Newcastle chips. The smaller cache will reduce performance, perhaps 5% for non-office use"
(Bold Parts added by me.)
Basically, that says only 5% performace loss in games for half the price and remember these chips will still be atleast 30% faster than todays top of the line chips.

They conclude"
"we think a socket 939 Newcastle is going to be the first decent buying opportunity for the average person reading this, or at least one you won't be kicking yourself for three-six months later. "

That sounds like pretty good advice to me! Read the article to get the whole picture.

Juan The Pirate · Post by **Juan The Pirate** » Wed Dec 24, 2003 5:28 am

Just to add on to what EMP said, right now you may find some socket 940 chips out there.

Don't buy these... why?

939 is actually the 940 chipset with one less pin. Why? Because the original 940 were designed for registered or buffered RAM, which is rare and expensive. They reworked it to use unbuffered RAM, the norm.

The more you know...

Deadman · Post by **Deadman** » Wed Dec 24, 2003 10:17 am

Yes that is good advice indeed. Very good article. cool site too. Thanks, the info and sites are much appreciated. It is fine if I wait, waiting till the new mobos and CPU's come out is just fine with me, I will have more money then and much more time to research the soon to come products.

i just like this smiley

looks like those gold fish with crazy eyes. lol. sry wasn't thinking.

Silviar · Post by **Silviar** » Wed Dec 24, 2003 1:14 pm

phylof · Post by **phylof** » Wed Dec 24, 2003 4:43 pm

I just finished my PC. I spent far more than I could have if I would have bought the stuff online, but like, support local business and blah. Anyway, this is what I have now:

Athlon XP 2700+
512 DDR3200 (soon to be 1gb and dual channeled)
Gigabyte 7N400-L mobo with nForce2 chipset
Radeon 9700 Pro
WD 80gb 8mb cache HD
Lite-On 4x DVD Burner
various pretty lights
Fan Controller in 5.25 bay for light control, though it is being funky, so that may not last
RaidMAX 868 Scorpio case w/ 450w supply

Realm · Post by **Realm** » Wed Dec 24, 2003 4:46 pm

Very nice man. In fact, I would call it faultless.

Deadman · Post by **Deadman** » Wed Dec 24, 2003 4:54 pm

very nice.

/wish i had one right now

lol

Juan The Pirate · Post by **Juan The Pirate** » Wed Dec 24, 2003 5:03 pm

holy snap!

My computer is just like that except for some brand differences such as I have an Nvidia 5600FX and an additional 120 from a Seagate, but damn, it's dead on!

Realm · Post by **Realm** » Fri Dec 26, 2003 9:20 am

I've got some questions pertaining to VGA cards that perhaps you guys might help me with. I'm trying to wrap my head around some things. Like thisRadeon 9800 has 128 MHz of memory, a core speed of 325 MHz and is $259 on Newegg as seen in the link. However, this Radeon 9600 XT has the same memory and effective speed (128 and 600), but 500 MHz core speed and it is $189. What makes the price difference? Is that particular 9600 XT better than that particular 9800? Or does the chipset itself make all the difference? Which is a better value? And how valuable in a dollar amount are core speed, effective speed, memory, and chipset? Another example: this MSI GeForce FX 5900 has 128 MHz of memory, but its effective speed is 850 MHz, and its price on Newegg is $289. But this Gainward GeForce FX 5900 has 256 MHz of memory, but only 700 MHz for an effective speed. It's $299. The core speeds are the same-400MHz. Which is better, and which is better value? And why? Any help understanding all this would be appreciated.