****System Buyer's Guide****NEW UPDATE 12/01

[blckgrffn]

Amen. I remember the day that I realized that shopping around was pretty pointless, NewEgg's service and shipping more than made up for the $1 more you might pay there. Now I have to be careful, and look around. Sigh, indeed. NewEgg gets my business for now - their online RMA and keeping your invoice for you is really great if you are running a semi-business of it, and so I am willing to pay a small premium for the redundant book keeping. If I start seeing this level of service other places, though, I may have ditch all my NewEgg gear (t-shirts, pens, etc and move on. Hopefully they realize the displeasure that we are expressing and stick to their best prices, always, slogan.

Nat

 

[EGGO]

Thank god that my MSI made it to the high-end. I was ready to give it back, hee hee.

 

[jpeyton]

Evan put up the *Official* Mid-Range System.

Check it out here.

 

[trexpesto]

Originally posted by: jpeyton
Evan put up the *Official* Mid-Range System.

Check it out here.

For the gamer, gotta go with 9800 Pro at least.
Edit it's down to $184

Edit: 512Mb of C2.5 Mushkin PC-3200 is $70 at newegg, saves $34.
Could use existing headphones instead of speakers, saves $56 + tax + shipping.

 

[shaowq]

Hey sup people...im new to these forums as im sure you can tell and i just had a few questions about some of the upgrades that im thinkin of doin for my comp

This all started about 2 years ago and this is what im running

Asus A78XN mobo or watever you call it, W/ N-Force
AMD XP-2800 333FSB
512 MB PC-3200 (1 stick not 2 sticks of 256)
60 Gig 7200 RPM primary HD, 120 Gig 7200 RPM 8MB Cache 2ndary
Radeon 9500
Onboard Sound
Onboard Lan


My system is still very well equipped to run anything that comes it's way but i just wanna upgrade some stuff.

So all suggestions are welcome.

First question i had is about sound cards. Obviously i wanna get a new sound card to replace my onboard sound because there IS a huge difference when i put in my normal SBlive from my other computer.

I'm looking at a SoundBlaster Audigy 2Zs right now. Is there a big difference between audigy 1 and 2? Should i go the extra mile and get the platinum edition instead? I AM on a budget but i guess i can really save some more to afford the platinum version.

Next is my speakers. Im thinking of getting the Logitech Z-5300 mainly because of the price. If i had the money i would definately go with the top of the line klipshe 5.1 system instead. But instead of spending the 300+ dollars for that system...i can get the Z5300 for less than half the price which is why im considering the non plat version of the audigy too.

Next up is my video card. I wanna get an AIW so i don't need my TV in my room as well. My friend suggested just to get a TV tuner card instead and save some money. But doesn't putting in more cards on your computer make it work harder? She told me to get a winfast 2000 deluxe and that'll cost me around 80 dollars. Where as the radeon 9800 AIW will cost me another few hundred. There should be new video cards coming out soon too so she told me to wait and the prices will go down.

My ram is a concern of mine but it's not a big deal, i can just look around for some cheap solution, or maybe just go with some kingston. Anywaiz...those are my current upgrade prospects. Any/All suggestions are welcome. Thanks guys

 

[EGGO]

You didn't happen to mean to press the new thread button did you?

 

[shaowq]

not really...but maybe i should

 

[jpeyton]

shaowq,

Musically, I've heard the SB Audigy2 ZS is much better than the older Live! series. It would be better in games too just for the support of newer versions of EAX. I wouldn't go the extra mile for the platinum, because I don't need the Live! Drive and I don't care much for hardware DTS decoding.

Get the 5300 speakers; you will love them!

Your 9500 is still a good video card, especially if you only game lightly. If that is the case, get a tuner card. I would pass on the Winfast 2000 and get one of the following: Compro Gold+ Tuner, or the Hauppauge PVR-250. The Compro is much cheaper and offers *the best* tuner quality of any lower cost tuner. Read the reviews online; they all rave about the quality of the video. The PVR-250 is the card to get if you want to record or timeshift TV (like a TIVO) on your computer, because it has hardware MPEG encoding and also very good tuner quality. It costs about twice what the Compro does, however. The Compro can also timeshift and record TV, but it'll be a little harder on your system because it lacks hardware MPEG encoding.

Both the Compro and Hauppauge offer better quality and a better value than any ATI AIW card.

RAM; just get some cheap Mushkin or Corsair PC3200 from Newegg or ZipZoomFly.

 

[shaowq]

jpeyton thank you for your post, i really appreciate your input and hope to hear more from people.

 

[DakoPhalanx]

Hi, I'm about to buy a new pc soon, I'm just wondering if these specs are compatible and able to run most applications and games for the next 3 years.

Case: $77 18? (301-SL) Black/Silver Case w/Transparent Side Panel 4xFan 400W P4 PS USB 2.0

Power Supply: $109 Enermax 470W EG475P-VE P4 Power Supply w/Noise Taker

Motherboard: $165 Asus P4P800-E-Deluxe S478 865PE Chipset 1AGP8x/5PCI/4DDR, w/Sound Gigabit Lan SATA Raid USB 2.0 IEEE1394 ATA-133 Raid

CPU: $305 Intel® Pentium® P4 3.2E ? 800MHz FSB Retail (1MB Cache)

Harddrive: $142 Maxtor 160GB HD 7200rpm 8MB (SATA)

DVD Rom: $36 LiteOn 16x DVD ROM drive

Memory: $218 x2 512MB PC3200 400 Mhz 184pin DDR (Kingston KVR400X64C3/512)

DVD RW: $132 Pioneer DVR-108 internal 16x16 DVD±RW drive (OEM)

Video Card: $319 ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB DDR AGP8x w/S-Video & DVI-I Box

Sound Card: $162 Creative Labs Soundblaster Audigy 2 ZS Gamer 7.1 Retail Boxed

Subtotal: $1,665
Total: $1,906.43

All prices are in CDN funds, but its about $1,450 USD

Any suggestions on what to add or take out or change would be appreaciated.

Thanks In Advance.

 

[shaowq]

IMO it looks pretty good. Are you set on getting a pentium?

Because my suggestion is to always go with AMD's. I am just very partial to AMD's because of their performace/overclocking ability. My AMD XP-2800 is supposed to run at 2.8 gigz but it really runs at 2.1. Perfomance wise i wouldn't be surprised if it ran almost up to par with your new 3.2 gig pentium that'll cost more. Only real problem with the AMD's are the heat problem which is easy to solve...just get a better heatsink.

If u go AMD, it would obviously be the AMD 64's and the 2800-3000. I would get an MSI motherboard for good reviews. My friend just got everything hooked up and it's running like a dream.

With that kind of system i would also probably get Hyper Threading Kingston instead of their usual stuff. It's of course not neccessary but it really kicks ass.

Not sure why you want to get a DVD rom when you're going to get a DVD burner. Cuz the burner will read dvds as well. Keep in mind you won't be able to burn regular data and music CD's with that DVD burner. So u can spend like 10 bux more and get the Lite-On 48x24x48 CDRW Dvd Player combo. It also plays DVD's at 16x. I just got one and it's working great.

As for your dvd burner, i hear that the NEC dvd dual layer burners some of the best on the market right now. There's another brand im forgetting but NEC is very good brand to go with guaranteed.

Thats just my 2cents. Hope it helps and gives u something to htink about

 

[DakoPhalanx]

I was considering AMD, but since I don't overclock I would rather just buy Intel. Every PC that I have bought so far is Intel based, so I guess i'm in partial to that.

I thought DVD RW burner's are able to burn CDR's and CDRW's, but at a lower speed? Can anyone confirm this? I would rather upgrade to a DVD burner since my current pc already has a CD burner.

I heard NEC was good, but my local computer store doesn't supply NEC. I was considering Plextor, but that's a bit overpriced for me so I went with Pioneer.

Any of you guys know if LG or LiteON DVD burners are worth buying over Pioneer?

Once again thanks for any input.

 

[jpeyton]

Stick with Pioneer.

 

[Gamingphreek]

Well Pioneer is good, i prefer Liteon or plextor but Pioneer is fine.

Your PSU should be fine however you said something about the next 3 years. Currently only the OCZ powerstream PSUs have BTX compatibility so keep that in mind.

There are 2 really big changes you need to make.

#1. Even if you are goingintel DO NOT get the prescott (ie revision E chips) unless you are going to be using exotic cooling and OCing upwards of 5ghz. Get a good northwood.

#2. DO not get that 9800Pro. 319 is a rip off. Even 219 is a rip off. Best Buy has a sale going on this week where you buy DoomIII then buy a 6800NU and get the 54$ off doomIII. Also the card comes bundled with Far Cry, and it is an EVGA so you can even step up to a 6800GT if you so desire. I swear if i hadn't have gotten my 590)XT about 6months ago that would be what i would get(In terms of video card deals).

-Kevin

 

[ciwell]

DVD Burners can't do CDs? When did that come about. The ratings I have seen when shopping around for DVD burners all show CD read/write speeds as well.

 

[nick1985]

Originally posted by: DakoPhalanx
I was considering AMD, but since I don't overclock I would rather just buy Intel. Every PC that I have bought so far is Intel based, so I guess i'm in partial to that.<BR><BR>I thought DVD RW burner's are able to burn CDR's and CDRW's, but at a lower speed? Can anyone confirm this? I would rather upgrade to a DVD burner since my current pc already has a CD burner.<BR><BR>I heard NEC was good, but my local computer store doesn't supply NEC. I was considering Plextor, but that's a bit overpriced for me so I went with Pioneer. <BR><BR>Any of you guys know if LG or LiteON DVD burners are worth buying over Pioneer?<BR><BR>Once again thanks for any input.

why does not overclocking rule out AMD?

 

[whitelight]

Originally posted by: ciwell
DVD Burners can't do CDs? When did that come about. The ratings I have seen when shopping around for DVD burners all show CD read/write speeds as well.

DVD burners do burn CDs as well.

 

[bigpow]

Any info on how good/better that Speeze FalconRock CPU Cooler over Thermaltake Volcano 9 is highly appreciated.

Thx

 

[imported_Reck]

Take out the samsung 997Df they are freaking junk. The viewsonic A90f+ is much better and the screen is very flat unlike the samsung. It's also the same price.

 

[kojak61]

With all these new changes coming in the next few months I have been thinking of holding off on the full blown rebuild of my system and go with a few minor upgrades. Now I want to be able to play Half Life 2 when it comes out let me know what you think. My current systems complete specs are listed at the link below, so what i want to do is move my XP 2200 from my KT333 chipset board to a Nforce 400 ultra. I have 2 mushkin DDR2700 256mb sticks and a Radeon 9600 with 256mb ram. Then sometime next year maybe pci express and ddr2 will be available for the athlon 64. And socket 939 prices will settle down. What do think? I was looking at these boards: ASUS "A7N8X-E Deluxe, BIOSTAR "M7NCD PRO", CHAINTECH "7NJL6, and EPoX "EP-8RDA3+.

 

[ronnaZ]

Mac's what i'm buyin

 

[trexpesto]

Low-end Socket A mobos now have 5$ shipping...

 

[Gamingphreek]

Originally posted by: kojak61
With all these new changes coming in the next few months I have been thinking of holding off on the full blown rebuild of my system and go with a few minor upgrades. Now I want to be able to play Half Life 2 when it comes out let me know what you think. My current systems complete specs are listed at the link below, so what i want to do is move my XP 2200 from my KT333 chipset board to a Nforce 400 ultra. I have 2 mushkin DDR2700 256mb sticks and a Radeon 9600 with 256mb ram. Then sometime next year maybe pci express and ddr2 will be available for the athlon 64. And socket 939 prices will settle down. What do think? I was looking at these boards: ASUS "A7N8X-E Deluxe, BIOSTAR "M7NCD PRO", CHAINTECH "7NJL6, and EPoX "EP-8RDA3+.

Hmm i have the Asus board. If your not OCing much then it is awesome. However if you plan on OCing get the NF7-S. Hell i would get the DFI Lantparty Infinity best Sckt A board out there.

-Kevin

 

[Ardan]

Originally posted by: Reck
Take out the samsung 997Df they are freaking junk. The viewsonic A90f+ is much better and the screen is very flat unlike the samsung. It's also the same price.

Junk? Yeah right. Have you even bothered to try the 997DF?
I have seen an A90F+ and it isn't "very flat" because it also isn't a trinitron screen. It isn't irritating on either screens, but you can see it more prominently on the A90F+, and lets not forget about the space saved when using the 997DF. It also has some really really clear text.

My friends have bought 997DFs after seeing mine, and they all love the monitor.

Do not remove the 997DF from your guide, because it is a very nice screen. The dissenters are easily outnumbered by the positive experiences, just go and check.

 

[imported_Reck]

I've spent months using the A90f+. The 997 is curved in a very bad way. The screen is curved more on the four corners so it's unevenly curved as well. Seriously you didn't spend much time with the viewsonic, it's way flatter and what little curve there is is even down the side. The people who thought it's good were coming from garbage monitors anyway. Maybe mine was defective but I'd doubt it, I've never used such a poor monitor. You get what you pay for...