CPU Building (Prelim)

[Smartiepants]

Well I'm starting to build a new desktop, because, well mine sucks. So right now its only in the planning, and seeing if I can scrape some cash together. I don't know a whole lot about computers, well about enough to know that I know nothing at all. But after a whole lot of forum prowling and asking dumb questions here is what I have come up with so far.

AMD Athlon XP 2500+
Zalman CNPS7000A-AlCu Ultra Quiet
Asus A7X8-UAY
OCZ 1024 EL Dual Channel Platinum Edition
Antec Sonata
Seagate Barracuda 120GB ATA Fluid Dyamic Bearing
ATI All-in-Wonder 9600 Pro
LiteOn CD-RW/DVD Combo

And where other than memory express is a good place to be getting computer stuff?

[Khyron]

Re: CPU Building (Prelim)

It won't hurt to have that much ram but it's certainly not needed. It will just end up getting used as cache. A 2600 barton is only 10 bucks more. Shrug. Get what you need and who knows - by the time a gig is needed you might be on your next pc. All in wonder is overkill if you aren't doing video capture etc...

Khyron

[Kor]

Re: CPU Building (Prelim)

I think you already mentioned that you plan to use the PC as a TV so the All-In-Wonder makes sense. The 9600 series ATI cards are without a doubt the best bang-for-buck right now. I disagree with Khyron on the memory issue, I have > 1GB of ram on both of my machines and I definitely use it all. However I may be a special case since I use some greedy tools for my work.

A word of caution about Memory Express. Their prices on CPU's and Memory are not all that competitive if you look at market pricing (wholesale). In fact I suspect that all of the stores in Calgary are somewhat price-fixed. I have ordered CPU/Mem in the past at more than 60% discount. Also, I believe that the wholesale cost of the P4 is closer to that of the Athlon than the retail prices of Memory Express indicate. Lastly, when I upgraded my machine last summer, the combined cost of a P4 plus Mainboard was less than the similar Athlon plus Mainboard because even through the Athlon cost less, the P4 Mainboard products were cheaper.

A place that I sometimes shop at is called Alberta Computer Warehouse formerly Alberta Distribution. They sell some good stuff and some not-so-good stuff, but if they have what you are looking for they often beat Memory Express. http://www.albertacomputer.com/

You might also want to try Macrotronics. In general I would say that their prices are high, however they often have sales (they will likely do a boxing day sale) and I have seen them sell stuff below cost.

Finally, sometimes you just can't beat Staples/FS. If you check out this site, http://www.redflagdeals.ca you can find discounts and coupons (and even mis-pricings) at these locations that add up.

On the web I have heard both good and bad things about http://www.ncix.com but I have never shopped there. There is also http://www.dell.ca both of these websites also often have discounts through RedFlagDeals that make a big difference.

There is also a site where you can buy Dell's "lease returns" as refurbished components directly from Dell. They back them with a limited warranty and sell things like Monitors at ridiculously low prices. I can't remember the URL though. :(

[Flanders]

Re: CPU Building (Prelim)

ATA over SATA?

I'm a fan of www.shoprbc.com

[Billip]

Re: CPU Building (Prelim)

Yeah I would go Serial ATA.

[R_Ethug]

Re: CPU Building (Prelim)

you guys do know 1st gen SATA has no benefits over regualr ATA setups.. well its a tiny bit faster and the cabling is smaller the prices are a bit better now though. Why do you think all the drives pretty much are ATA100 not 133 because the speed increase doesn't do jack. That being said 2nd Gen SATA will kill PATA drives. My new system come spring is going to have SATA though. 2 37gig WD Rapters @ 10000RPM setup in RAID 0 for my boot drive then 2 250 gig PATA for stoage.

but honestly i talk computers all damn day at work and don't want to talk computers to dubbers haha... talk cars instead

[Tuna]

Re: CPU Building (Prelim)

I like this thread as I'm going to be getting a new PC early in the new year. I'm very new at all this so I've been reading too. This is good, keep posting y'all.

Jason

[QuA]

Re: CPU Building (Prelim)

I've got a 9600 Pro for sale $210 =) I had to put that in there.... but if you are not planning to get a used 9600 PRO get a 9800SE and do a softmod =)

I like this thread as I'm going to be getting a new PC early in the new year. I'm very new at all this so I've been reading too. This is good, keep posting y'all.

Jason

[Kor]

Re: CPU Building (Prelim)

I think he said before he needs the TV functionality right Nick?

I don't think the price difference of the 9800 over the 9600 warrants the performance increase yet.

Well I should not post this because a friend of mine might get angry. However, if enough people were interested in a sort of "group buy" these would be some prices he could maybe get (if I bugged him). We would also need to split shipping.

Intel P4 / 2.8 GHz 533 Mhz $251
Intel P4 / 2.66 GHz 533 Mhz $211
Intel P4 / 2.0 GHz 400 Mhz $163
AMD XP-3000+ Barton $267
AMD XP-2800+ Barton $188
AMD XP-2700+ 333MHz $162
AMD XP-2600+ Barton $136
AMD XP-2500+ Barton $119
AMD XP-2400+ $108

Note: CPU's are Box not OEM

DDR 256 MB PC3200 INFINEON $41
DDR 256 MB PC3200 SAMSUNG $44
DDR 256 MB PC3200 KINGSTON $52
DDR 512 MB PC3200 INFINEON $79
DDR 512MB PC3200 SAMSUNG $84
DDR 512 MB PC3200 KINGSTON $100
HYPER X 512MB KINGSTON PC3200 $152

Other CPUs or Memory including Flash Mem send me a PM.

I am not saying this is guaranteed or anything but if a handful of people want to buy CPU's/Memory I can ask him.

[Flanders]

Re: CPU Building (Prelim)

lsc2g -- but if your mother board doesn't support SATA, then you'll be stuck with ATA for the next few years. This might not matter now, but heck 2 years ago I thought a 40G hard drive was HUGE! (and i recently put in a 2nd 120G).

So this machine is driving your TV, eh? I'd reccomend a DVB satellite tuner card. www.dvbcanada.com -- i just got the visionplus1020, and am loooooving it

[R_Ethug]

Re: CPU Building (Prelim)

my current board has SATA raid so no worries

[Smartiepants]

Re: CPU Building (Prelim)

Yeah in university res you can get cable but a TV would take up a fair bit of extra space so thats why the allinwonder would do well for me, I'm not sure about the hard drive yet, but I have heard good things about the barracuda's so far in terms of noise and stuff, and if you have to live in the room with your computer noise could get to be a problem.

[R_Ethug]

Re: CPU Building (Prelim)

nick for a HD get a western digital.. and make sure you get a 8mb cache one they still have 3 year warranties where the rest are just 1

[Flanders]

Re: CPU Building (Prelim)

The last of your worries should be the noisy hard drive! I'd get a quiet power supply (the fans on those can be vicious!) along with a quiet (or adjustable speed) CPU fan.

[Smartiepants]

Re: CPU Building (Prelim)

Apparently the Sonata is remarkably good for that, and for the HD seagate has a good reputation as quiet and reliable, so not sure there, cause my hard drive pisses me off like you wouldn't believe.