Yet another new PC... what do you think of my picks for $1300?

ski · 01-20-2003, 08:26 AM

Pentium 4 2.66 GHz 533 MHz FSB
*** Some 8x AGP motherboard with onboard sound... please post suggestions ($120-$200 range) ***
Crucial 512 MB PC2100/2700 (depending on mobo which YOU should post your suggestion on

)
Maxtor 120 GB 7200 RPM 8 MB cache hard drive
Crucial Radeon 9700 Pro 128 MB
3 Windowed case LINKY
Antec 450 W Power Supply
Lite-On 16X DVD-ROM
Lite-On 48X CD-RW

This is for a friend, unfortunately, not me

8X AGP mobo suggestions? Serial ATA would be nice, but he'll upgrade before that goes mainstream. Doesn't need to have hyperthreading because the P4 3.06 is the first CPU to have it, and he'll most likely get a new board with SATA if he upgrades his CPU down the road.

sbp · 01-20-2003, 11:06 AM

Looks good to me.

As for the motherboard, 8X AGP provides no performance benefit. Thats why my pick for a P4 motherboard is [say it together now] Asus's P4PE

smurphy · 01-20-2003, 11:18 AM

If you are dead set getting a new P4 system now then limit your choice to the new granite bay chipset boards. The P4 is great, fast and quiet but is really limited by DDR's memory bandwidth. The granite bay chipset has better bandwidth and is almost as fast as an i850E RDRAM system and alot faster than the i845PE.

Here are some links,
http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.html?i=1748&p=1
http://www.aceshardware.com/read.jsp?id=50000337
http://www6.tomshardware.com/mainboa...125/index.html

I am waiting for the Springdale chipset to be launched in April that has all of the Granite Bay stuff but with native DDR333/400 support and Serial ATA (included in the ICH5).

My i850 is still very fast but my RDRAM is going, I have ECC but when used it gives memory errors and seems fine as long as it is not enabled and being cheap I don't want to replace it when I know I will be upgrading in a few months.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Scott Murphy

ski · 01-20-2003, 01:19 PM

No performance gain with 8X AGP? You mean right now, or even later in the future? I would imagine that when higher end games like Doom III and its future spawns come out, the extra bandwidth would help.

~~Cantacuzene~~ · 01-20-2003, 01:32 PM

No gain period. Current FSB and motherboard architecture means there are bottle necks which prevent it from being a help. In the fture when fsb are higher and mobos are better designed with it in mind it help, but if you are not planning on upgrading mobo's then its worthless.

sbp · 01-20-2003, 03:03 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by skiAtomic
No performance gain with 8X AGP? You mean right now, or even later in the future? I would imagine that when higher end games like Doom III and its future spawns come out, the extra bandwidth would help.

AGP crawls compared to the memory on the videocard.

256MB videocards will be increasingly available during the reign of Doom III and its future spawns.

ski · 01-21-2003, 12:32 AM

Sounds like the Asus P4PE will be a good choice. Now to find a good deal

Thanks for clearing up the AGP question.

01-20-2003, 08:26 AM	#1
ski Admiral Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Utah Posts: 5,420	Yet another new PC... what do you think of my picks for $1300? Pentium 4 2.66 GHz 533 MHz FSB * Some 8x AGP motherboard with onboard sound... please post suggestions ($120-$200 range) * Crucial 512 MB PC2100/2700 (depending on mobo which YOU should post your suggestion on ) Maxtor 120 GB 7200 RPM 8 MB cache hard drive Crucial Radeon 9700 Pro 128 MB 3 Windowed case LINKY Antec 450 W Power Supply Lite-On 16X DVD-ROM Lite-On 48X CD-RW This is for a friend, unfortunately, not me 8X AGP mobo suggestions? Serial ATA would be nice, but he'll upgrade before that goes mainstream. Doesn't need to have hyperthreading because the P4 3.06 is the first CPU to have it, and he'll most likely get a new board with SATA if he upgrades his CPU down the road.

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01-20-2003, 11:06 AM	#2
sbp Chief of Naval Operations Join Date: Dec 1999 Posts: 11,037	Looks good to me. As for the motherboard, 8X AGP provides no performance benefit. Thats why my pick for a P4 motherboard is [say it together now] Asus's P4PE

01-20-2003, 11:18 AM	#3
smurphy Lieutenant Junior Grade Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Igloo in Canada Posts: 144	If you are dead set getting a new P4 system now then limit your choice to the new granite bay chipset boards. The P4 is great, fast and quiet but is really limited by DDR's memory bandwidth. The granite bay chipset has better bandwidth and is almost as fast as an i850E RDRAM system and alot faster than the i845PE. Here are some links, http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.html?i=1748&p=1 http://www.aceshardware.com/read.jsp?id=50000337 http://www6.tomshardware.com/mainboa...125/index.html I am waiting for the Springdale chipset to be launched in April that has all of the Granite Bay stuff but with native DDR333/400 support and Serial ATA (included in the ICH5). My i850 is still very fast but my RDRAM is going, I have ECC but when used it gives memory errors and seems fine as long as it is not enabled and being cheap I don't want to replace it when I know I will be upgrading in a few months. Hope this helps. Cheers, Scott Murphy

01-20-2003, 01:19 PM	#4
ski Admiral Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Utah Posts: 5,420	No performance gain with 8X AGP? You mean right now, or even later in the future? I would imagine that when higher end games like Doom III and its future spawns come out, the extra bandwidth would help.

01-20-2003, 01:32 PM	#5
~~Cantacuzene~~ Banned Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Atlanta, Georgia, USA Posts: 8,700	No gain period. Current FSB and motherboard architecture means there are bottle necks which prevent it from being a help. In the fture when fsb are higher and mobos are better designed with it in mind it help, but if you are not planning on upgrading mobo's then its worthless.

01-21-2003, 12:32 AM	#7
ski Admiral Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Utah Posts: 5,420	Sounds like the Asus P4PE will be a good choice. Now to find a good deal Thanks for clearing up the AGP question.

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