Hello all,
I'm in the process of putting together a pair of new computers for my parents. They are currently running an TBird 1.2 and an Athlon 650 (archaic!). My main reason for upgrading them is that I'm tired of troubleshooting PCs with antiquated hardware, lack of driver support, and the general all around icky feeling of dealing with old hardware. There is probably nothing much worth salvaging in the old PCs, save for the case and hard drive.
This is where I turn to the expertise of the forum-goers here at Anandtech for some advice. My main goal is to provide an integrated solution for them. I'm tired of failing NICs, sound cards, video cards, etc... I'd like a solution where sound, lan, usb2, firewire, etc are all integrated onto the motherboard (as most motherboards today are). A second objective is to make these PCs are future-proof as I possibly can.
Budget. Well, budget is not so much the issue as value. I want to make sure I get the best bang for the buck. For chip, board, and ram, I envision spending roughly $300-$400 on each of the PCs.
Scope. Keep in mind that neither of these systems are performance systems. The primary use of these PCs will be to browse the web, email, and simple word processing, etc. I may occassionally borrow one of their PCs to do some encoding or ripping; but that is most likely few and far inbetween. As for gaming, I would like to run simple games smoothly (at least on one of the systems). My brother is 10; so he doesn't need 60 fps on Doom3, or Farcry. The system should be able to handle games like WC3, FFXI, WoW, or maybe even Guild Wars. I don't necessarily need to play these games at 1600, nor do I need every little graphics option tuned to max. Just so long as its "playable." I would like these systems to last (for better or for worse) around 5 years.
My main concern here is the 64bit processors, and whether or not to go PCIe. I've narrowed down my choices to a few; but feel free to recommend others.
For a 32-bit AGP solution, I would most likely go with the Sempron 2800+ w/ 256KB L2 paired with an NF3-250 chipset as recommended in Anand's Entry-Level Buyer's Guide. This route has the advantage of reusing one of my old Ti4600's for video card (although its near the end of its life). [Price: ~$200]
I am concerned here, however, with not embracing the 64bit processors as well as PCIe video cards. I'm afraid that newer 64-bit operating systems will antiquate current 32-bit operating systems, and I'll be forced to upgrade again to keep these computers up-to-date. Another concern is that as this Ti4600 dies, I will have difficulty replacing the video card with an AGP solution. I'm not so much afraid of lack of AGP video card availability, as I am for having to pay more for the AGP flavor of a card than the PCIe flavor (we are already beginning see this trend).
One compromise is to select one of the socket 754 NF4 Ultra boards that have become available. This would eliminate the AGP/PCIe concern; and I can always upgrade out the Sempron chip if I ever found the need for a 64-bit processor. [Price: ~$230]
But I got to thinkin, if I were to buy an NF4 Ultra board anyway, I may as well pay a little more and buy myself an A64 chip outright. I could benefit here by skipping the 754 socket altogether and going straight towards the 939. Thus, an alternative solution would be buy a A64 3000+ Venice processors and pair them with a feature-rich NF4 Ultra board. This is undoubtly the more costly of the solutions; but it would ensure me with a more future-proof solution. [Price: ~$300, $400 w/ decent video card]
I'm trying to justify whether or not the extra $100-200 difference is worth the 64-bit / PCIe platform?
Thanks in advance!
I'm in the process of putting together a pair of new computers for my parents. They are currently running an TBird 1.2 and an Athlon 650 (archaic!). My main reason for upgrading them is that I'm tired of troubleshooting PCs with antiquated hardware, lack of driver support, and the general all around icky feeling of dealing with old hardware. There is probably nothing much worth salvaging in the old PCs, save for the case and hard drive.
This is where I turn to the expertise of the forum-goers here at Anandtech for some advice. My main goal is to provide an integrated solution for them. I'm tired of failing NICs, sound cards, video cards, etc... I'd like a solution where sound, lan, usb2, firewire, etc are all integrated onto the motherboard (as most motherboards today are). A second objective is to make these PCs are future-proof as I possibly can.
Budget. Well, budget is not so much the issue as value. I want to make sure I get the best bang for the buck. For chip, board, and ram, I envision spending roughly $300-$400 on each of the PCs.
Scope. Keep in mind that neither of these systems are performance systems. The primary use of these PCs will be to browse the web, email, and simple word processing, etc. I may occassionally borrow one of their PCs to do some encoding or ripping; but that is most likely few and far inbetween. As for gaming, I would like to run simple games smoothly (at least on one of the systems). My brother is 10; so he doesn't need 60 fps on Doom3, or Farcry. The system should be able to handle games like WC3, FFXI, WoW, or maybe even Guild Wars. I don't necessarily need to play these games at 1600, nor do I need every little graphics option tuned to max. Just so long as its "playable." I would like these systems to last (for better or for worse) around 5 years.
My main concern here is the 64bit processors, and whether or not to go PCIe. I've narrowed down my choices to a few; but feel free to recommend others.
For a 32-bit AGP solution, I would most likely go with the Sempron 2800+ w/ 256KB L2 paired with an NF3-250 chipset as recommended in Anand's Entry-Level Buyer's Guide. This route has the advantage of reusing one of my old Ti4600's for video card (although its near the end of its life). [Price: ~$200]
I am concerned here, however, with not embracing the 64bit processors as well as PCIe video cards. I'm afraid that newer 64-bit operating systems will antiquate current 32-bit operating systems, and I'll be forced to upgrade again to keep these computers up-to-date. Another concern is that as this Ti4600 dies, I will have difficulty replacing the video card with an AGP solution. I'm not so much afraid of lack of AGP video card availability, as I am for having to pay more for the AGP flavor of a card than the PCIe flavor (we are already beginning see this trend).
One compromise is to select one of the socket 754 NF4 Ultra boards that have become available. This would eliminate the AGP/PCIe concern; and I can always upgrade out the Sempron chip if I ever found the need for a 64-bit processor. [Price: ~$230]
But I got to thinkin, if I were to buy an NF4 Ultra board anyway, I may as well pay a little more and buy myself an A64 chip outright. I could benefit here by skipping the 754 socket altogether and going straight towards the 939. Thus, an alternative solution would be buy a A64 3000+ Venice processors and pair them with a feature-rich NF4 Ultra board. This is undoubtly the more costly of the solutions; but it would ensure me with a more future-proof solution. [Price: ~$300, $400 w/ decent video card]
I'm trying to justify whether or not the extra $100-200 difference is worth the 64-bit / PCIe platform?
Thanks in advance!