Is now a good time to build a computer?

[Kenshin]

I know Moore's law says that computer speeds double every 6 months so no time is ever a good time to build a computer, but still....

For the record, I'm looking for a hardcore gaming computer that I'll probably also be doing programming/compiling and digital video editing on. So, yes, I'm looking for it to be fast.

Right now I'm looking at:
A mid to full size case, 300-350W power supply
AsusA7M266 motherboard
AMD 1.2 GHz Thunderbird
256 MB PC2100 RAM
GeForce3 (or maybe the 64 MB DDR Radeon from my current machine)
10/100 Mb NIC
16X Panasonic DVD-ROM
16x12x32 (I think) Plextor CD-RW

I'm also going to salvage from my current box:
Sound Blaster Live! Platinum
56K modem
60 GB HD (IBM 75 GXP - 7200 RPM, ATA-100)

I figure I might hold out for a better motherboard because I think I want IDE RAID support - just for the extra IDE chains, not for an actual RAID setup, since my current machine has 3 hard drives, and I've gotten used to the space. The A7M266 also has only two DIMM slots, which could be bothersome later on.

I'm thinking now's as good a time as any, since AMD's DDR stuff is fairly new, and that means that whatever mobo I end up with should support processors made for the next 2-4 years or so. Plus things are pretty cheap (except for that damn GeForce3), and the jumps in processor speeds seem to be slowing down a bit, and it looks like the Palomino chipset is still a ways off. Hell, if nothing else, you figure the DDR Durons'll be coming out in a year or two, so I should be able to upgrade to those when the time comes, right?

All things considered, seems like as good a time as any to me. Let me know if I'm smoking the crack pipe on that one, okay?

[cruelpupet]

Personally I am an Intel fan. I know the Thunderbird can outpreform a P3, but I just feel more comfortable with an Intel chip.
Plus with the new Asus CUV 266 motherboard, even the P3 has DDR Ram support.

[giambona]

What OS do you plan on running? If you're running Win2k, or are planning to get Whistler, I would definitely recommend that you get 512MB of RAM and get a slightly slower processor. NT takes advantage of the RAM much more than it does processing power.

[sbp]

I agree Kenshin its time to build now. Cpu prices won't be dropping much if at all over the next few months. AMD keeps pushing the palomino tbird back. Now its suppose to come out in 3rd quarter {maybe in Sept.}. :disa:

Unlike tbirds using a PIII with ddr memory is a waste. Reviews of PIII DDR mobo's show much such a minimal performance gain its not worth it. Athlons and durons on the other hand have a double pumped system bus. With higher speed tbirds like 1.333 Ghz and above you'll see the benefits of ddr ram coming into play since the sdram will be holding back performance.

[spigidygak]

Its always a good time to buy a computer. You just have to bite the bullet some time. Or else you'll always end up waiting. The main thing is knowing what you need and not buying anymore than necessary.

[Darksword]

I built my 1Ghz T-Bird rig back in September and the same system now can be built for about $500 less. Prices will always drop for the most part, but you can't wait forever. Make sure you find the best deals that you can on your components. Might want to hold off on a GeForce3 until the price comes way down. ;)

[cruelpupet]

Originally posted by spigidygak
Its always a good time to buy a computer. You just have to bite the bullet some time. Or else you'll always end up waiting. The main thing is knowing what you need and not buying anymore than necessary.


Definately agree with spigidygak... I would also suggest not going top of the line on everything. Certain things change too fast, like processor and video card. Most of the other stuff stays around for a few major upgrades, like Sound card, and hard drives. So spluge more on those

[AmRivlin]

I just put together a system with (Hopefully a celeron 700 oc'd maybe Chosen knows what I mean) and with 256ram, it will hold it's own, yet my real hard core system will be in summer 2002, I will need it for class.

[AmRivlin]

Originally posted by chosenfool
(crossing fingers for AmRivlin's system-to-be)


ME TOO, I am taking the chip to a local friends to test it out, I believe my RMA is shipping today...

[Kenshin]

By RMA, I hope you mean RAM. My first thought was "Gee, he just put it together and he already needs RMAs on parts?" ;)

[froggystyle]

you dont have to buy it all right now you can start as the right parts get in...id get the crucial ddr ram sooo cheap
maybe get the 1.33 athlon. use your radeon till vid prices fall... as far as the board... i dont know... im just looking foreward to well priced 10000 rpm hard drives that will realy get things going with the ata 100 controler... id wait on the burner cause the 24 speeds are coming soon 12 to 16 isnt a big difference but 16 to 24 is huge.... I dont see sound cards changing all to much so that isnt a worry.... thats about all the help i can offer

[froggystyle]

on a side not...i dont see any reason in the world to go with an intel chip right now..they have been pretty much all around outclassed at this point.....but then again i hear that that 1.7 is comming soon...maybe it wont be absurdly priced in about 6 months if you wanna wait that long...or blow and excessive wad of cash on april 15th when it comes out

[AmRivlin]

Originally posted by Kenshin
By RMA, I hope you mean RAM. My first thought was "Gee, he just put it together and he already needs RMAs on parts?" ;)

:) I meant "RMA" Return Materials Authorization

I recieved a shitty BX board with a clock multiplier of a whopping 4x

[clutchy]

I kindof hate to say this, since i'm such a die hard AMD fan, but if you're planning on doing alot of digital video editing you might want to look into the p4 from what i've heard that's kinda what it was designed for, streaming video and such. Then again there's that nice little 1.33 out there that just smiles and smiles. i had my 1.2 running at 1.32 and it smoked the p4 1.5 on sisoft sandra whet, dhry, and sse2 tests hehe kinda funny. Hey it's your choice though man, but i'm running 200sys bus and 256 pc133 not ddr so hey that would send that 1.33 screaming. good luck and i'd wait awhile for the gf3 to come down a little in price not only for that reason, but not all of today's programs have really been optimized the dx8 and whatever else the gf3 uses.

[Kenshin]

Thanks, Clutchy, I'll look into that. To be honest, unless I find benchmarks that show a significant difference between video editing times (putting together a working 'demo' - I forget the term - in Premiere as well as final rendering), it probably won't matter. For one of my classes, I did all my vid editing on a 450 MHz Pentium II. Believe you me, that taught me patience. :)

As for the GF3, yeah, I have to wait for the price to come down because unless Asus puts out a "Deluxe" vid-capturing GF3, I'll need to buy a dedicated capture card as I'll be swapping out my Radeon DDR VIVO. On the other hand, I should consider getting a dedicated card anyway.... Hm. Any suggestions? (I'll probably end up with a Pinnacle card, though I heard about some Win2K incompatabilities - one more thing I need to look into.)

[clutchy]

sorry man u've gone out of my realm i have no info on vid cap cards at all. Maybe i should look into getting into some of that stuff. (subliminal message starts here... go AMD go AMD go AMD, AMD is better than intel.) k sorry. good luck with your choice man. Don't worry you'll probably love whatever you get, it's just one of those things.