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Thread ID: 47076	2004-07-15 06:05:00	Buying a gaming beast...cont	Bigb88 (5876)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
252477	2004-07-15 07:46:00	I'd had about 4 of 5 different quotes from TLS, Computer direct, JDI, Ultra and even from a friend of mine that works at acer which was at cost...and this quote from DTC surpassed them all... I have done as much research as i know how and have based this system on what other people (and advice from PC World) have told me. I'm quite happy with what i see on the spec sheet, yeah maybe i could have done better by building a system myself or spending weeks finding the right combination but all i wanna do is play games damit... Cheers anyway Pete O'neil	Bigb88 (5876)
252478	2004-07-15 07:56:00	Well you seem content flushing $1500 down the toilet, we shall leave you alone to your madness. ;)	kiki (762)
252479	2004-07-15 08:13:00	> Well you seem content flushing $1500 down the toilet, > we shall leave you alone to your madness. ;) I shall agree. While the computer may be great, it seems you have flushed alot of money down the drain. It doesn't look very upgradable and future-proof...:8}	~~~~~ s y ~~~~~ (2054)
252480	2004-07-15 08:14:00	> Oh my, cancel your order - now! > > > AMD Athlon64 3200+ 754Pin > > You should be looking at a Socket 939 chip with > motherboard to match preferably Asus with that amount > of money . You are effectively paying for something > that will be non-upgradable in the near future . > > > ASUS X800XT Card > > Should be pretty good but who knows how long AGP will > be around for now . > > > 2x seagate 80GB HDD 7200rpm Serial ATA (RAID 0) > > According to Anandtech Raid-0 is useless for desktops > and offers no performance increase, just greater risk > of losing your data . So at the moment you should put > that into either Raid-1 for redunancy and good > backup, or use as two separate drives . > > > DVD Writer/RW > > Well I hope you got a good brand here . Dual layer? > Not every DVD writer is good . > > > 1GB DDR-400 Dual-channel > > Again I hope you got a reliable brand of RAM . At > least CAS2 or better at that speed . > > > 19" Phillips 109b5 CRT > > Might be ok, but . . . > > > Total cost: $3,880 . 00 > > At that cost I'd be expecting an LCD screen . You got > ripped off . Oh God where do i start, somebody is showing their ignorance . Theres nothing wrong with Skt 754 its going to be around for a long time and AMD will continue to provide updates . Skt 939 does offer some benefits, namely dual channel memory, but unless your a benchmark whore you wont notice it . I'd have to disagree with the Anandtech article i've got 2 120Gb PATA Seagate Barracudas in RAID and in games such as BFV and UT2k4 my load times are nearly half, you'll find many other websites on the net that agree with me . I have read the Anandtech article when it first came out and they make some good points but, in the real world there is a preformance increase especially in games and multimedia . Anyway most motherboard have onboard RAID so you may aswelll make use of it, the cost of 2 80Gb is that much more than the cost of a 160Gb and you get added preformance . Lite-On is a good brand, Dual Layer is the way of the future and if you havent already handed over the cash you might want to consider changing it to a dual layer drive . No real problem if you dont as single layer DVD still offer heaps of space and are compatiable with lots of players . Just remember you'll pay a premium for the latest hardware . Technically you dont have dual channel ram, what you have is a dual channel kit that is guaranteed to work in dual channel mode in motherboards that support it . This isnt a big problem and it has been shown that the Athlon doesnt really benefit all the much from dual channel memory . Twinmos ram doesnt have the tightest of timings, but then again you probably dont have any idea what timings are . There not overly important but tight timings do make a system feel snappier . Athlon unlike P4's do benefit from tight timings, so it might be worth considering some RAM with tight timings . Unfortunatly RAM with tight timings isnt cheap, if your interested in some ram with tight timings have at look some OCZ or Geil ram, in terms of quality they wipe the floor with Twinmos . I've got a Philip 107S on my spare system and its a awsome monitor, Philips make some of the best CRT's avaliable in NZ . Of course you can spend shitload on Sony etc but sometime you have to know when to say enoughs enough . Are you sure thats the right model number cause im having trouble finding it on the Philips site . Any how its on the acsent site, and from their specs it sounds like a very nice monitor . Good choice AGP is going to be around for ages, and i mean ages . Benchmarks have shown that PCIe offers no preformance increase over AGP . Plus both ATI and Nvidia use bridge chips to converter their AGP cards to PCIe, there are no true native PCIe cards on the market . These bridge chips negatively effect preformance . I dont think you got ripped off the graphics card will be contributing over $1000 worth perhaps consider down sizing to a X800pro and using the money you save to get better ram?	Pete O'Neil (250)
252481	2004-07-15 08:21:00	so if i changed to the "Socket 939 chip with motherboard " would this cost me less....where can i make these savings exactly?	Bigb88 (5876)
252482	2004-07-15 08:26:00	> so if i changed to the "Socket 939 chip with > motherboard " would this cost me less....where can i > make these savings exactly? Nah that will cost you more. If you want to make savings change the video card to a X800Pro as opposed to the X800XT. What motherboard does that system come with? Does that price include Windows?	Pete O'Neil (250)
252483	2004-07-15 08:41:00	So if i stayed with the X800XT, what RAM would you suggest i get pete? I'm not really worried about the overall cost, how much more would better RAM cost me?	Bigb88 (5876)
252484	2004-07-15 08:57:00	> Oh God where do i start, somebody is showing their ignorance . Theres nothing wrong with Skt 754 its going to be around for a long time and AMD will continue to provide updates . Skt 939 does offer some benefits, namely dual channel memory, but unless your a benchmark whore you wont notice it . Indeed you are . The advantage with the Socket 939 is you can put a combination of chips in it, ie . if you wanted to upgrade later you could put an FX-55 in it or similiar as a good upgrade . Socket 939 does seem to be their new flagship socket that they will support more than the older one . While there isn't many good motherboards out for it yet, they will get better with time and eventually you will see a good speed difference . With the amount of money he's spending, he should be expecting a top end system that performs at that level . At present he has wasted a lot of money for lower performance . > I'd have to disagree with the Anandtech article i've got 2 120Gb PATA Seagate Barracudas in RAID and in games such as BFV and UT2k4 my load times are nearly half, you'll find many other websites on the net that agree with me . I have read the Anandtech article when it first came out and they make some good points but, in the real world there is a preformance increase especially in games and multimedia . Anyway most motherboard have onboard RAID so you may aswelll make use of it, the cost of 2 80Gb is that much more than the cost of a 160Gb and you get added preformance . Well you can disagree with it if you want . I'm sure the people at Anandtech have many more years of experience in the IT industry than you . If it was me I would definitely get a Raid0+1 setup . I can't imagine how much it would suck having 160Gb disappear on you . I've lost 120Gb when my drive died and yes it is a pain in the neck to lose that much data . Fortunately I could afford some data recovery . Presently he's probably got himself two 80Gb drives with 2mb of cache which was a complete waste of time with probably no "preformance" benefits over a single drive with 8mb of cache . If you are going to go Raid-0, at least do it right! > Lite-On is a good brand, Dual Layer is the way of the future and if you havent already handed over the cash you might want to consider changing it to a dual layer drive . No real problem if you dont as single layer DVD still offer heaps of space and are compatiable with lots of players . Just remember you'll pay a premium for the latest hardware . Yes, get a dual layer Liteon then you'll be able to make backups of those 2x80Gb drives which could fail at any minute . :^O > Twinmos ram doesnt have the tightest of timings, but then again you probably dont have any idea what timings are . There not overly important but tight timings do make a system feel snappier . Athlon unlike P4's do benefit from tight timings, so it might be worth considering some RAM with tight timings . Unfortunatly RAM with tight timings isnt cheap, if your interested in some ram with tight timings have at look some OCZ or Geil ram, in terms of quality they wipe the floor with Twinmos . Well yes he should change his RAM . Why pay for a Gb of RAM with slow timings? It defeats the purpose of this "high-end" system he is trying to build . > I've got a Philip 107S on my spare system and its a awsome monitor, Philips make some of the best CRT's avaliable in NZ . Of course you can spend shitload on Sony etc but sometime you have to know when to say enoughs enough . Are you sure thats the right model number cause im having trouble finding it on the Philips site . Any how its on the acsent site, and from their specs it sounds like a very nice monitor . Good choice They are good . Not as good as a Sony with Apeture grill but would be fine anyway . I was saying with the price he was paying, he could have saved some money on other components and bought an LCD instead if that was his interest . Let's face it, CRTs are just a pain in the neck . Big and bulky, a pain to cart around, take up heaps of desk space and LCDs finally have some decent response times like 10ms . More than enough for gaming . If he has the money, why not . Better than flushing it down the toilet I say . > AGP is going to be around for ages, and i mean ages . Benchmarks have shown that PCIe offers no preformance increase over AGP . Plus both ATI and Nvidia use bridge chips to converter their AGP cards to PCIe, there are no true native PCIe cards on the market . These bridge chips negatively effect preformance . Again if you held off a little longer things can only get better . PCI-E is very new, so you can't expect too much at this stage . > I dont think you got ripped off the graphics card will be contributing over $1000 worth perhaps consider down sizing to a X800pro and using the money you save to get better ram? Yes the XT PE is the best offering Ati have so far, but you are only getting an XT which not quite as good and is only what, 5-10fps better than a Pro .	kiki (762)
252485	2004-07-15 08:57:00	Thanx again Pete, i'll probably go with the system that i'm getting built, maybe i will look at getting the RAM upgraded but other than that, and from what you've said, i'm quite happy... Gotta shoot now, 2am start tomorrow...i'll check back tomorrow and let you know how the system runs BFV and Farcry over the weekend. Good night all, maybe except KIKI :-), nah just joking, thanx all for your guys input.	Bigb88 (5876)
252486	2004-07-15 08:57:00	> So if i stayed with the X800XT, what RAM would you > suggest i get pete? > I'm not really worried about the overall cost, how > much more would better RAM cost me? Corsair, OCZ and Mushkin are very repuitable, any of these will be good. It will cost you a couple hundred more to get these, but it will be worth it if you intend to overclock your system. > I'm not really worried about the overall cost If this is the case, I suggest you get 2x WD Raptor 73GB HDD and set it into RAID 0. Have you thought about getting a Nvidia graphics solution instead? It performs about the same as the ATI and it has more features, check anandtech for more information. Michael Y	michael y (1623)
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