Ok dear masses of 4ch, I have a dilemma. What the hell should I stick in my new computer.
Currently spec'd at today's prices and equipment, this is what I'd seriously consider (all prices from newegg.com, in USD):
Shuttle XPC Black Barebone System for Socket 939 AMD Athlon 64 CPU, Model SN95G5 - $329.00
AMD Athlon 64 3200+, 512KB L2 Cache, Socket 939 64-bit Processor - Retail - $240.00
WINTEC AMPO 184-pin 512MB DDR PC-2700, Model 35144588-P - $62.50
ATI Radeon X700 PRO Video Card, 256MB DDR, 128-Bit, DVI/TV-Out, PCI-Express, Model "100-437402" -RETAIL - $203.00
SAMSUNG 120GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive, Model SP1213C, OEM Drive Only - $80.00
Samsung 16X DVD�RW, Model TS-H552B/WBCH Black, OEM Bulk - $56.99
Currently I'm not planning on building until sometime in February, mainly waiting for Shuttle to release an nForce4 with PCI-E and a card to go with it. Any other recommendations in addition/instead of the parts litsed?
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Anonymous2004-12-24 18:14 (sage)
>>1
Helpful hint. Do not "stick" things in your computer, lest you get electrocuted.
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Anonymous2004-12-24 20:17
Aye, this can be solved with an Fu-Fme addon... but I do not need one of those (after all, Shuttle cases have only one 5 1/4 bay.)
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Anonymous2004-12-24 20:57
why would you get an X700 Pro instead of a 6600GT? especially if you're going to get an nF4--SLI support is fun, plus the 6600GT is a *lot* faster than the X700 Pro (it's closer to the X700 XT but, IIRC, is still faster overall).
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Anonymous2004-12-24 22:58
Spring for the 6800 GT!
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Bibby Noblett2004-12-25 11:50
Only problem with nVidia cards is that you don't always get smooth gameplay even with the higher framerates!! ATI cards don't get this problem as bad!
That really depends on your PC, I'm running on a GF5700 and I get good gameplay on any DX8, OpenGL, DX9(non-c) game.
If you're planning to play more OpenGL games or use *nix, I suggest getting an nVidia card since their drivers "actually" work. If you're just gonna game, ATi all the way.
the correct question would probably be "IS DUKE NUKEM RDY BEFORE MY COMPUTER IS AN ANTIQUE?"
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friggincornflakes2004-12-27 3:53 (sage)
My advice: Save your money, get a machine that is under $800. Yes, it is very impressive when you buy a high-end processer and all the cards and chips that make your games run smooth as a baby's ass, but it's still going to become obsolete.
If you're a true technophile and you truly know what you're doing then I can't stop you, but from a poor college student's point of view, it's better to buy a less expensive machine and put the money you save towards buying a new computer a couple years from now. I know you're going to want to upgrade in 2008 or so from the machine you're about to buy, you might as well start saving early.
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Anonymous2004-12-28 11:34
Warning: The nForce LAN controller is apparently disabled in the Shuttle Socket 939 XPCs and replaced with a third party one. This unit doesn't support the nForce hardware firewall! Why they did this is beyond me. I really wanted a 939 SFF PC too. The Socket A shuttle I have is a sweet little box
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Anonymous2004-12-28 16:53
>12
Considering this will be replacing a laptop I bought in 2001, this is going to be my first new machine in a while. I don't intend on topping 1000$ if I can help it, but I need a significant speed increase regardless (850MHz P3 anyone?)
And I too am a college student. Been one for 4 years now :)
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Anonymous2005-02-12 2:13
I have to say that unless you really want a small pc, dont go for the shuttle XPC. They tend to be very proprietary and more expensive that a normal pc. If you get the Chaintech nForce 4 board from newegg, the price for the board is only 119, and a decent, smaller case will leave the price well below the 329 for the XPC.
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Anonymous2005-02-12 7:37
>>14
Unless you're playing games, encoding video, or rendering, 850MHz is more than enough.
If you're in college, you're probably best off not doing any of the above. Do you really need the temptation?
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Anonymous2005-02-12 21:20
>>16
Unless you're playing games, encoding video, or rendering, you can get by with a 486/66 with 32MB of RAM running Windows 95. If all you do is email, word processing, and Web surfing, this will be perfectly adequate.
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Anonymous2005-02-13 3:10 (sage)
>>17
Maybe you're being sarcastic, but that's true. Well, as long as you use an older or alternate OS.
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Anonymous2005-02-14 9:33
>>18 Mozilla won't run on that little ram (maybe you can force it to, but it would be miserable). I'd be very surprised if modern versions of IE would either.
And surfing the web with an older browser is a less-than-impressive experience.
IMHO, the minimum would be pentium/200mhz/64 megs/windows 98
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Anonymous2005-02-14 15:42
There are quite a few options other than Mozilla. If you go for a small system, why use one of the heaviest browsers out there?
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Anonymous2005-02-14 15:52
Go to PriceWatch.com and look around. You can build an Athlon XP 3200 system with a gig of PC3200 memory, a GeForce FX 5700 256MB video card, a 120GB hard drive, and a cheap generic WinModem (useful for sending faxes even if you have broadband) for around $600.
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Anonymous2005-02-16 17:21
...and I looked at PriceWatch again today, and learned that, if you're willing to take a chance on a cheapass generic 500W power supply in the cheapass generic case, a "PC Chips" brand motherboard, and use a cheapass two-year-old "GeForce4 MX" video card, that comes down to around $450. Four hundred and fifty bucks for an XP3200 system with a gig of memory, a 120 GB hard drive, a DVD drive, and a CD burner.