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Opinions on new system config?
I'm planning to purchase a new computer later this week (at last!),
but first I would very much like some 2nd opinions from some of the many knowledgeable folk in this group to hopefully spot any egregious errors I may have made before I begin plunking my money down. I'll be getting the core of the system as a barebone from mwave.com, and then adding the hard drive and videocard myself. (I'm not quite confident enough of my hardware abilities to do CPU and MB installation just yet.) Here is the system spec I'm planning on as of today: CPU: AMD Athlon64 3000+ (socket 754) MB: MSI K8N Neo Platinum (socket 754, NForce 3-250Gb chipset) Case: Antec Sonata (w/TruePower 380 PSU, if I understand correctly) Video: ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 256MB DDR 8X AGP HD: Samsung SP1614C 160GB, SATA, 8MB buffer, 7200rpm DVD burner: Pioneer DVR-107BK 8x8 DVD-RW RAM: Kingston 512MB DDR400 PC3200 KVR400X75C3A/512 (one stick for now) FDD: Mitsumi 1.44MB OS: MS Windows XP Pro w/SP1 (DSP/OEM) All told, the entire system above looks like it will run me around $1175-1200, which is just about the upper limit of my budget. Here are the things I plan to use this machine for (sorted roughly in the order of their importance to me): - Software Development (for Direct3D, Windows, and web) - Games (flight sims being the most power hungry examples) - 3D graphics rendering (in Bryce, trueSpace, etc) - 2D graphics editing (in Paint Shop Pro) - Multitrack digital audio recording and editing (Sonar, Wavelab) - DVD viewing (using PowerDVD, probably) - Video editing (only infrequently, performance is not a major concern) Allow me to also ask a few pointed questions, and pre-respond to the most obvious issues: Q) Should I put in a separate DVD reader to avoid wear and tear on the burner? In the past I thought it was better not to use a burner for a primary drive, but perhaps that is not the same sort of issue anymore? (I don't have any need to rip and burn simultaneously.) Q) Is the Radeon 9800 Pro a good match for this system, or will some of its power be wasted? Should I step down to a 9700 or something? I do very much want good Direct3D9 performance that will last me for a while. Q) Will this model # of Kingston RAM do the trick? I don't know as much as I ought to about various types of RAM. A) I've read that the latest Audigy2 cards don't get along with this MSI motherboard and/or the Athlon 64's (e.g., BSODs), so for the moment I am just planning to see how well the onboard Realtek audio works for purposes of gaming and DVD playback. I already have a Gina 2496 that I will be putting into the system for purposes of digital audio recording. (If anyone can confirm or contradict the reports of problems with the Audigy2 with this other hardware, I'd very much like to hear it!) A) I don't want to wait around for socket 939 MBs. For business reasons I need to have a machine running XP Pro in a matter of weeks, not months. (I also dislike being an early adopter of just-released gear, MBs in particular ... been bitten by that before) A) I expect to be using this as my primary machine for at least a few years. Let's put it this way: my current machine is a P3-550 that I've been nursing along for about 4 years now, and I'm still not TOO upset with it yet (except when it comes to flight simming and 3D rendering, where it just isn't pulling its weight anymore). Any opinions would be appreciated! - David |
#2
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- Software Development (for Direct3D, Windows, and web)
- Games (flight sims being the most power hungry examples) - 3D graphics rendering (in Bryce, trueSpace, etc) - 2D graphics editing (in Paint Shop Pro) - Multitrack digital audio recording and editing (Sonar, Wavelab) - DVD viewing (using PowerDVD, probably) - Video editing (only infrequently, performance is not a major concern) Sounds like you will get a big performance enhancement if you just start with 2 sticks of 512MB RAM instead of one. Q) Should I put in a separate DVD reader to avoid wear and tear on the burner? In the past I thought it was better not to use a burner for a primary drive, but perhaps that is not the same sort of issue anymore? (I don't have any need to rip and burn simultaneously.) You could add a CD-RW as a primary drive for $30-40. Or you could get a used CD-ROM drive on eBay for peanuts until you get some more money. Q) Is the Radeon 9800 Pro a good match for this system, or will some of its power be wasted? Should I step down to a 9700 or something? I do very much want good Direct3D9 performance that will last me for a while. It honestly depends on your video resolution. A 15-inch monitor with a max1024x768 resolution may never need to harness the power of a 9800pro. I have a $70 Geforce 5200 ultra in my gaming system and I haven't seen a real need to upgrade yet. If I were buying today I'd probably get a 9800pro, but if you're strapped for cash you could certainly get a 9600pro or something similar and still play new games. |
#3
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"Mystic" wrote in message om... I'm planning to purchase a new computer later this week (at last!), but first I would very much like some 2nd opinions from some of the many knowledgeable folk in this group to hopefully spot any egregious errors I may have made before I begin plunking my money down. I'll be getting the core of the system as a barebone from mwave.com, and then adding the hard drive and videocard myself. (I'm not quite confident enough of my hardware abilities to do CPU and MB installation just yet.) Here is the system spec I'm planning on as of today: CPU: AMD Athlon64 3000+ (socket 754) MB: MSI K8N Neo Platinum (socket 754, NForce 3-250Gb chipset) Case: Antec Sonata (w/TruePower 380 PSU, if I understand correctly) Video: ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 256MB DDR 8X AGP HD: Samsung SP1614C 160GB, SATA, 8MB buffer, 7200rpm DVD burner: Pioneer DVR-107BK 8x8 DVD-RW OK, dual layer DVD burners are out, and the same price as the single layer burners. This seems to be something that many builders aren't aware f. -Dave |
#4
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i'd go with the nec nd-2510a or lite on sohw-832s dual layer dvd burner
instead of the pioneer. |
#5
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I would consider PC3500 RAM vs PC3200. I suffered from constant crashes with
Kingston HyperX PC3200 on my AMD64 3200+ system. After reading the forums at AMD ( http://forums.amd.com/index.php? ) I installed Mushkin Level 1 PC3500. I have had no problems since. With the PC3500, I can use the "Performance" setting in the BIOS (which provides a mild O/C of 416MHZ [processor at 2048 instead of 2000] ). If you find you are not happy with the onboard sound, check out the M-Audio Revolution 7.1. Works flawlessly, very simple but effective software interface. 64 bit drivers are available. Since you plan on during photo/video work, I would go with the ATI 9800 Pro 128 MB version, and put the savings toward 1 GB of RAM instead of 512 MB. Good Luck, Fitz |
#6
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On Mon, 21 Jun 2004 16:41:03 -0400, "Dave C." wrote:
| OK, dual layer DVD burners are out, and the same price as the single layer | burners. This seems to be something that many builders aren't aware | f. -Dave True, but they don't seem to be widely available yet. Last time I checked Newegg only had one NEC model. There is a persistent rumor (Ssshhh! Don't tell anybody!) that the Lite-On 812S can be converted to an 832S (dual layer) merely by flashing it with the latest 832S firmware. The fact that Lite-On has recently added a statement to their firmware page saying any model flashed with the firmware of a different model is no longer under warranty only adds credence to the rumor. This is no big deal yet, though, since dual layer media is scarce now and reportedly will be very expensive when it first becomes generally available. I imagine the big money-grubbing studios are unhappy about in-home dual layer burners since they'll no longer be able to thwart copying by padding data to make a two hour or less movie extend onto the second layer of commercial DVDs. Larc §§§ - Change planet to earth to reply by email - §§§ |
#7
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"Mystic" wrote in message om... I'm planning to purchase a new computer later this week (at last!), but first I would very much like some 2nd opinions from some of the many knowledgeable folk in this group to hopefully spot any egregious errors I may have made before I begin plunking my money down. I'll be getting the core of the system as a barebone from mwave.com, and then adding the hard drive and videocard myself. (I'm not quite confident enough of my hardware abilities to do CPU and MB installation just yet.) Here is the system spec I'm planning on as of today: CPU: AMD Athlon64 3000+ (socket 754) MB: MSI K8N Neo Platinum (socket 754, NForce 3-250Gb chipset) Case: Antec Sonata (w/TruePower 380 PSU, if I understand correctly) Video: ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 256MB DDR 8X AGP HD: Samsung SP1614C 160GB, SATA, 8MB buffer, 7200rpm DVD burner: Pioneer DVR-107BK 8x8 DVD-RW RAM: Kingston 512MB DDR400 PC3200 KVR400X75C3A/512 (one stick for now) FDD: Mitsumi 1.44MB OS: MS Windows XP Pro w/SP1 (DSP/OEM) All told, the entire system above looks like it will run me around $1175-1200, which is just about the upper limit of my budget. Here are the things I plan to use this machine for (sorted roughly in the order of their importance to me): - Software Development (for Direct3D, Windows, and web) - Games (flight sims being the most power hungry examples) - 3D graphics rendering (in Bryce, trueSpace, etc) - 2D graphics editing (in Paint Shop Pro) - Multitrack digital audio recording and editing (Sonar, Wavelab) - DVD viewing (using PowerDVD, probably) - Video editing (only infrequently, performance is not a major concern) Allow me to also ask a few pointed questions, and pre-respond to the most obvious issues: Q) Should I put in a separate DVD reader to avoid wear and tear on the burner? In the past I thought it was better not to use a burner for a primary drive, but perhaps that is not the same sort of issue anymore? (I don't have any need to rip and burn simultaneously.) Yes, I like the Lite-on DVD-ROM/CR-RW combo drive. Mostly because DVD burners as "readers" are often very slow. Q) Is the Radeon 9800 Pro a good match for this system, or will some of its power be wasted? Should I step down to a 9700 or something? I do very much want good Direct3D9 performance that will last me for a while. The way the 9800 Pro are sub $200 now, I'd go for it. Another few months (at least) of future proofing. Q) Will this model # of Kingston RAM do the trick? I don't know as much as I ought to about various types of RAM. Sure. A) I've read that the latest Audigy2 cards don't get along with this MSI motherboard and/or the Athlon 64's (e.g., BSODs), so for the moment I am just planning to see how well the onboard Realtek audio works for purposes of gaming and DVD playback. I already have a Gina 2496 that I will be putting into the system for purposes of digital audio recording. (If anyone can confirm or contradict the reports of problems with the Audigy2 with this other hardware, I'd very much like to hear it!) I have an MSI mobo and swapped out an original Audigy, for an Audigy 2ZS platinum. No problems! A) I don't want to wait around for socket 939 MBs. For business reasons I need to have a machine running XP Pro in a matter of weeks, not months. (I also dislike being an early adopter of just-released gear, MBs in particular ... been bitten by that before) A) I expect to be using this as my primary machine for at least a few years. Let's put it this way: my current machine is a P3-550 that I've been nursing along for about 4 years now, and I'm still not TOO upset with it yet (except when it comes to flight simming and 3D rendering, where it just isn't pulling its weight anymore). Any opinions would be appreciated! - David Looks like a great combo to me. And the price is right on, too. |
#9
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On Mon, 21 Jun 2004 12:13:31 -0700, Mystic while doing time wrote:
I'm planning to purchase a new computer later this week (at last!), but first I would very much like some 2nd opinions from some of the many knowledgeable folk in this group to hopefully spot any egregious errors I may have made before I begin plunking my money down. I'll be getting the core of the system as a barebone from mwave.com, and then adding the hard drive and videocard myself. (I'm not quite confident enough of my hardware abilities to do CPU and MB installation just yet.) Here is the system spec I'm planning on as of today: CPU: AMD Athlon64 3000+ (socket 754) MB: MSI K8N Neo Platinum (socket 754, NForce 3-250Gb chipset) Case: Antec Sonata (w/TruePower 380 PSU, if I understand correctly) Video: ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 256MB DDR 8X AGP HD: Samsung SP1614C 160GB, SATA, 8MB buffer, 7200rpm DVD burner: Pioneer DVR-107BK 8x8 DVD-RW RAM: Kingston 512MB DDR400 PC3200 KVR400X75C3A/512 (one stick for now) FDD: Mitsumi 1.44MB OS: MS Windows XP Pro w/SP1 (DSP/OEM) All told, the entire system above looks like it will run me around $1175-1200, which is just about the upper limit of my budget. Here are the things I plan to use this machine for (sorted roughly in the order of their importance to me): - Software Development (for Direct3D, Windows, and web) - Games (flight sims being the most power hungry examples) - 3D graphics rendering (in Bryce, trueSpace, etc) - 2D graphics editing (in Paint Shop Pro) - Multitrack digital audio recording and editing (Sonar, Wavelab) - DVD viewing (using PowerDVD, probably) - Video editing (only infrequently, performance is not a major concern) The onboard audio is 7.1 Realtek alc850 which will perform a lot better than an M-Audio and only slightly slower than an Audigy 2 ZS. It should be more than adequate for your needs. The same is true of the Pioneer 107 top 5 performance. If you're lucky when the DVD/RW burns out there will be 12x dual layer multi-format burners under $80. LG, LiteOn, Pioneer are all solid choices but I think the LG-4082 can read DVD-RAM. http://www.videohelp.com/dvdwriters.php I've got burnt with a Kingston PC133-256 but after several returns I got a stick that worked. When I add up the memory cost, not getting the rebate (not Kingston's fault) and the (2) RMA shipping costs that is some expensive memory. Mushkin would be better. |
#10
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If you installed the original driver package that was on the CD, that was
probably the problem....they had a problem with it and promptly released a revised version via the website. Subsequent updates have performed without problems ("not ready for prime time" was right on, but it was software, not hardware). I was lucky enough to find that info via a couple of reviews prior to buying the card. That was the driver package included with the original release of the card...I would imagine by now they have updated the included CD with viable drivers. I rarely install drivers included with hardware, but use the latest release from manufacture websites. Fitz |
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