Help me choose my new computer specs

[Jeff-Canada]

Hi,
I play BF1942 a lot, so maybe some of you know me. I dont really post messages, so I think this is my first here. Anyway, Im buying a new computer but I am kind of out of touch with hardware these days. I currently have a 2Ghz, Nvidia 4200ti and 512mb of ram. Its super-sluggish for playing Doom 3, and with half life 2 coming out soon (maybe?) I want to get something faster, plus my case gets too hot and I have to leave the side cover off etc.... Anyway, I have a budget and I was thinking of getting the following system. Are there any major bottlenecks in these components? I know there are some components missing from the system (dvd-drive etc...), but I am just going to take them out of my current system and put them into the new one.
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CPU:INTEL PENTIUM 4 - 3.0EGHz 1MB Cache (RETAIL) Hyper-Threading
Motherboard:INTEL D865PERLX AGP8X 5PCI SATA w/ SOUND LAN
Video:ATI (SAPPHIRE) RADEON X800 PRO 256MB GDDR3 DUAL-HEAD TV DVI
Case:Nikao CA-Z-Alien (black) with 500W power
Memory:1GB DDR400 (2 x 512MB PC3200) DDR Memory
Speakers: ALTEC LANSING 5.1 VS3151 5 SPKS(5W+10W)+ SUBWOOFER(20W) 50W
Hard Drive: WD 200GB Serial-ATA 7200RPM 8MB Cache WD2000JD

I know there is faster stuff out there, but I want to keep to a budget of under $1,900CDN (about $1,400 US $$$) Hope I didnt post this in the wrong forum and Thanks in advance for any inputs.

[Bullhead]

looks good. I'd rather AMD over Intel just b/c of cost, but that's a solid system. No real bottlenecks, no shitty equipment.....should be a winner.

[Tommy Boy Profile]

that looks like a rocket of a system to me...what an upgrade from what you have!

Good luck!

[Mr. Slayer Profile]

Originally posted by Bullhead
looks good. I'd rather AMD over Intel just b/c of cost, but that's a solid system. No real bottlenecks, no shitty equipment.....should be a winner.

I'm with you about having AMD. I always use AMD products and I am very impressed to say the least. They do run a bit hotter than the Intels but I think you get a lot for performance out of them, however.

[JimmyTango Profile]

I prefer Intel, just for the Intel chipsets which are far and away the best out there. Plus, how easy it is to overclock the P4's.

I woudl go with an Abit or Asus MB over the Intel, as Intel hinders tweaking.

[inmate#655321]

Ready Jeff?

Okay.. I have a 2.4 ghz intel (prescott) with only 256 megs of ram (rdram) and a Radeon 9800pro. The video card makes the biggest difference in the system for me. I borrowed Doom3 from a friend, desperate to play it although the requirements call for 384 megs of ram. It runs FINE on my system.

Now my suggestions.

Great choice in Hard drives, memory and video card. No complaint there at all. If you get the memory, make sures its Mushkin (l22 cache) or Corsair. Both are known for the best Ram and best warranty.

Processor.. Don't waste your money on an extreme edition. Go with the 875 chipset but get a 3.2 or 3.4 prescott instead. They run smoother and a helluva lot cheaper.

MotherBoard. There are only two Pentium boards on th market I would buy right now. The Asus P4C800e Deluxe of the Chaintech 9CJS Zenith Series. The Asus board is the MOST STABLE around. Alienware uses them standard with gaming systems. They both have onboard lan and sound. Great feature with the Chaintech though is a soundcard that isn't built into the board so if it goes, you won't have to replace the whole board, just the soundcard attachment. The chaintech also has a digdoc and comes witha remote. A little Austentacious maybe but well worth it. The Asus board is one of the best overclockers on the market, in case you care

Case.. I don't know nikao. I prefer Thermaltake or Lian-li myself. You'll need anywhere from a 430-600 watt power supply, especially depending on the amount of fans your case has. I suggest looking for cases based on CFC. Thats the amount of circulation the fans produce. You'll want 250 and greater. My case has 5 fans. 3 intakes and two outakes. CPU outakes are a bonus.

Speakers. The Logitech z-5300's will be about all you need. 280 watt THX certified. 5.1 surround. You can go balls out and get Bose of the Klipsch 5.1's but you may want to conserve on those.

I'm kind of a hardware freak when it comes to gaming. Its an addiction. Check your prices on Pricewatch and REMEMBER TO BUY RETAIL! OEM will not give you any warranty you can live with. NewEgg.com usually has some great prices too.

Any questions, let me know

[Pierce Profile]

Yeah Definately go with a good, quality case. The Lian-Li PC-70 series is quite nice.

[Edogg]

Processor.. Don't waste your money on an extreme edition. Go with the 875 chipset but get a 3.2 or 3.4 prescott instead. They run smoother and a helluva lot cheaper.

he didnt list the extreme edition. it says 3.0 e which is the 3.0 prescott.


Anyways, here are my suggestions for your situation Jeff:

For processor, Dont get a prescott. They actually run hotter, use more power, and perform less per clock cycle than the p4 c. Go with a 3.0c or a 3.2 c.

for motherboard, I suggest the Abit Is7-e. It runs under $100 nowadays. it has decent onboard sound and lan. It performs just as good as the 875 chipsets because Abit found a way to include GAT(Game Acceleration Technology I think) on the 865pe chipsets. It also is a great overclocking and tweaking board if you decide to go that route in the future. If you can spend a little bit extra, go with the Abit AI7 instead.

The only other thing I would change is the video card. I really think you should go with the 6800 GT over the x800 pro. It runs the same price. The GT is actually faster than both the x800pro and x800 XT in Doom 3. It has 16 shader pipelines, versus the x800 pro's 12. Because of That, the Gt should perform better than the x800 pro in future dx9 games, especially at higher resolutions with AA and AF turned on.

[inmate#655321]

True, Doom3 was built with nVidia in mind but thats about it. ID software has always been nVidia biased. Stick with ATI. Halflife 2 and every other game in the next year will run better.

[Baddreams]

Originally posted by inmate#655321
True, Doom3 was built with nVidia in mind but thats about it. ID software has always been nVidia biased. Stick with ATI. Halflife 2 and every other game in the next year will run better.

Actually id used to be 3Dfx biased back when nvidia made shit cards.


Back to topic: That system looks good. May I highly recommend Mushkin memory? Get a good matched set with nice low timings (2-2-2-6) and you'll have a smoking system. The Mushkin PC3200 Level II stuff is really good.

[[victory]zanon*]

hi jeff , i yust got my self a amd athlon 64 3000+ and it is fast it lowds maps so mutch faster. but my bro told me to wait for the intel 64 bit prossesor ... but no waiting for me:D

[RCglider Profile]

Looks like a good setup.

Not intending to start a AMD vs Intel thread, but if your main use for the rig is gaming, AMD is still the way to go.

Since you used Doom 3 as an example, here are the results for that game AMD vs Intel.

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2149&p=7


I was playing BF42 the other night with a guy that had a A64 3200. His loading times were unbelievable even compared to a oc'd P4 3.2c @3.7 another guy had. I was impressed. That said, it doesn't matter what brand you have as long as you're happy with it.

[Irish]

I'm sure after getting waffled with all this info he wished he never placed this post.

Jeff--Your core setup is fine. Run with it as is. You'll spend days shifting through the varying opinions on every aspect of a PC.

[RCglider Profile]

Originally posted by Irish
I'm sure after getting waffled with all this info he wished he never placed this post.

Jeff--Your core setup is fine. Run with it as is. You'll spend days shifting through the varying opinions on every aspect of a PC.

True, but he probably wants to get the biggest bang for his buck, and the P4 3.0e compared to a similarly priced A64 may not be the best choice. It's possible he never considered an AMD. I'm telling you they really are fast.
Right Bullhead?

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2149&p=7

[Baddreams]

RCglider makes a good point. I'm an AMD fanboy at heart, I just couldn't pass up a p4 2.4c oc'd to 3.5 for $270 at the time (especially when a 3.2 p4 was the fastest thing and it was $900!!).

AMD makes excellent processors and you should consider them. Actually you should take the top 10 CPU's from that benchmark page and divide the price of the cpu+MB+ram by the FPS it got. Then go with what gets the best bang for the buck.