What do you guys think of this setup?

[DAICA]

ok im in a mist of building a computer for a friend
and money is pretty much no object to him. So tell me
what u think of this setup, any suggestions to make it
an even better system(no scsi suggestins please.
Oh and btw, he doesnt know anythigabout computers
and he just wants the biggest and baddest system
on the block.


*ASUS CUSL2 motherboard
*INTEL PIII 933MHZ (he wants Intel)overclocking is possible
*ATI Radeon AIW(loves the blue pcb)or Guillemot Geforce2 Ultra Pro
*512MB Crucial PC133 cas 2(seen crucial commercials)
*Creative Labs soundblaster LIVE platnum
*Lite-On FS020 full tower case
*Pioneer 16x DVD
*Plextor 12/10/32
*Kenwood 72x cd rom
*IBM 45GB 75GXP ATA100
*3Com NIC(has cable)
*Creative Labs DTT3500 speaker system
*Sony CPD G500 21" monitor
*and of course all the little nik naks that i did not mention

Im placing an order mid-week so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

thanks

 

[BA]

If money really is no object, why not dual 933's? drool..

 

[jinsonxu]

INTEL PIII 933MHZ
Not much overclocking for this.

 

[osage]

AMD

 

[okydoky]

I am one of those AMD freaks, but I can be objective. It looks impressive. The only suggestion I can give from experience is on the Pioneer DVD drive. The slot load is cool but the tray load mechanism will last longer. I had a Pioneer 10x slot for 5 months before the darn thing gave in.

 

[DAICA]

Im thinking of getting a PIII 1Gig and call it a day. I dont want to run over to his house everytime something happens to the computer. I might just let everything run stock. Btw I couldnt bear to look at the price difference b/w the 933Mhz and 1Gig even thought its not my money. It just hurts.

OH yeah, did anyone bother adding any of this stuff up yet?....I DIDNT.

 

[jinsonxu]

If he's really your friend, do him a favour and persuade him to save the dough and get the AMD. It'll probably be 1.1 or 1.2Ghz TBird plus extra left over for a huge HSF.

But some reasons why people like intel....
.They want brand.
.Intel's has a long standing record.
.AMD's early chipsets were problematic. (Until the KX133 and KT133 came out)
.AMD's early chips were lousy. (Until the Athlon)
.Intel has alot of OEM contracts.
.Intel has long since had reliable chipset support. (BX)
.AMD's chips are HOT.
.AMD chips have no in built diode to shutdown the CPU when temperatures exceed threshold. Intel has.
.AMD's chip seem fragile (Inproper HS installation)
.AMD's 3DNow optimisations are not as widely used nor as properly implemented as Intel's SSE.


Let me think of some more....


.Intel's FPU cannot compare with the Athlons.
.Intel's chips are more expensive.
.The Celerons get asskicked by the Durons.
.Intel has alot of problems lately.....
.Intel chose Rambus. Yucks

Let me think of some more....

 

[jimmygates]

Since money is no object I would get the Sony F500R monitor


-Jimbo

 

[HellRaven]

What do I think about this setup? That your friend doesn't know much about computers and makes far too much money

First - he SHOULD go AMD.

Second - 512mb is overdoing it for anything but servers and graphics. I think 384 is plenty. Nothing wrong with crucial cas2. Mushkin would probably be a little better but like I said, no biggie.

Third - I was going to say forget going with a GF2 Ultra, but this is a killer rig and perhaps it is worth it to go with the ultra. With a high quality 21" 1600x1200 does look good and with an ultra you can actually run that res at an acceptable rate.

Fourth: Sony G500 21" is overpriced. Get a KDS Avitron or Samsung NF series and you will save a ton of money and get equal or better quality.


Stop thinking going AMD means you will have more headaches! AMD did have problem early on in the Slot-A athlon series but they and Via have worked hard and Athlon based systems are not much, if at all, harder to set up than ANY Intel system. The only hardware component you even have to really be careful of is the heatsink. As long as you get an AMD approved one and install it carefully, there will be no problems. On the software side, installing the latest Via 4-1 drivers, downloading latest BIOS and drivers, etc are easy enough.

Not to slam your friend too much, but he is basing his decisions on brand name recognition and believe it or not, well known brand name does not always equal the best performance. I have a problem with people that do not research the thing they are spending large amounts of money on. You wouldn't go down to the local BMW dealer and pick out one that looked pretty and you saw on a commercial so why treat computers differently (ignoring the rather large differences in price ). Your going to using (driving ) this machine pretty often so why not do some research and find out what the real best deal is. The marketing people tell you what you want to hear, that is their job.

You would save some cash by taking the suggestions above. Money IS an object whether you like it or not and saving some while still having a killer box is even better than just building a killer box.

 

[kyoshozx]

How about 2 10k scsi hard drives.. and a raid controller. If money isn't a problem I'll definately do that.

And for monitor I would definately get the Sony GDM-FW900 24INCH, but $2400 for a monitor is an overkill in my mind.

 

[AMB]

There is just about one thing that I think you should change, apart from going AMD:

Change to a Videologic DigiTheatre DTS

 

[Noriaki]

<< Change to a Videologic DigiTheatre DTS >>

That's what I was going to say.
If price is no object get some real speakers...those Cambridge speakers are not terribly great...there's better for the price, and MUCH better for more..if price is no object the DigiTheatre DTS rocks...

I'd say AMD is the way to go because of the price, but he wants Intel and price is no object so I'll leave that alone.
I have to agree 512MB is a little overkill but agian..price no object..
The only thing I'd change is consider going Dual CPU. With Whistler just around the corner SMP will be available in everyones OS soon enough, so games will start to use it. You get diminishing returns the more money you spend...but you said price is no object so...

 

[Vegito]

I have the CUSL2 with 512MB, not sure if it takes a single 512MB. I'm using two 256MB Crucials.. and I do have 512MB stick I can test.. but I'm pretty sure it doesn't take 512MBs...

 

[PCResources]

First of all, if money is no object, why not SCSI? It will surely make him happier than 512MB instead of 256.

Then there is the choice of CPU.... I would get a 760 with DDR and a 1.2GB T-bird Athlon, there isn't much to say about this except, it would be a LOT faster.

Patrick Palm

Am speaking for PC Resources

 

[Dulanic]

You said he wants the baddest system... Well A Intel 933 wont be that. A T-bird 1.2 Ghz will kick its arse. I mean if your building his sytem obviously he doesnt know a ton so why is he requesting the CPU? I mean if he honestly wants Intel for a valid reason, of which I cant think of a single one, I guess go with it. But really save money and get more.

 

[Vegito]

Opps, i was wrong, dled the manual and it does support 512x1.. have fun..

 

[DAICA]

ok i got the videocard dilema out of the way. He's gona buy both cards and pick whichever one he likes better and give me the so called cheesy one. I hope he picks the radeon even though i love it, the ultra is one badass mofo. Im tryn to sway him towards the amd processor and so far its no go. He loves everything brand name, and he said he hasnt heard much of anything about it. Thats one reason why he wants the sony monitor (he has a sony vega TV for his bedroom and a whopping 64&quot;size? sony hd TV for his living room) and everything that has seen advertisements for.

thanks for the many suggestions guys, im looking into it right now.

 

[Jason Clark]

It's WEGA not vega And there is no 60+&quot; WEGA So it's a projection XBR probably.

Off topic a bit but darn do those XBR400 36&quot; wegas look sweet.

 

[Impact55]

Woah he is loaded if he's just giving you a free video card..

 

[Zenmervolt]

Phillips is coming out with a sound card family that ought to be able to kick the SB LIVE! Platinum's off the podium, at least from the stats I saw. However, as unless you can convince your friend to wait, the SB LIVE! will be more than enough overkill.

 

[CHiMPBizKiT]

Ahhh ... the things I would do with $4000 to spend a computer system. Can you say ... one mother of a system?

 

[DAICA]

Zuni,
I know there is no vega that is that large, i was referring to a 64&quot; projection HD TV. Btw its pronounced vayguh not wega, sorry if there was any confusion (check out the sony website if you doubt me ). He can pay for the system with about 3 to 5 days of work. Hes a doctor with his own practice. Im gettn that itchy finger to order everything tonite. I still havent figured out the total for all the components yet. O well .

 

[Aybara]

I myself don't think I would buy a computer for $4000 even if I had it. In 2 years you're lucky if its worth even half that. Of course, I'm not a CAD designer, or into graphics to need all that power

It WOULD be nice to have such a computer though hehe. Maybe if someone donated to me? Anyone? no?

 

[Losty]

well...might as well get the 5.1 platinum live...
dang this guy is loaded...

 

[HaVoC]

Largest W(V)EGA is 35.&quot;

DAICA: Sounds like your friends depends on you for computer knowledge and has too much money for his own good. So, why not do him (and his wallet) a favor and put an AMD Thunderbird 1 Ghz in that rig? All you need to do is say you put in an Intel 1 gig chip inside and just change the BIOS screen to say INTEL RULES or something like that. Add a nice Intel Inside PIII sticker on the case front for good measure.

I think most BIOSes give you the option of displaying an optional bitmap graphic on bootup. He will never know the difference unless he takes off the HS/F and looks at the chip. To prevent that, warn him that if he takes off the HSF or even opens the case, the computer might not boot again due to electro-static discharge and polarization-mode dispersion. Long jargon words like that will probably confuse him and cause him to think &quot;better safe than sorry&quot;

Just had another thought....why not charge him for an Intel PIII 1 Ghz and use the aforementioned AMD bait-and-switch and pocket the difference! That would be pretty funny.

Even funnier would be to stealthily switch the front PIII sticker for an AMD Athlon sticker while he isn't looking and see how long it takes him to notice it. If he asks you about it then say that some of the earlier PIII stickers had a defect where they change into AMD stickers after a few days due to a printing error. He will probably believe you since you built the system. If he starts hasseling you punish him by enabling a BIOS password that won't let him boot his rig. Make the password &quot;ACTUALLY,_AMD_RULES&quot; so that he will have to type that in when you finally give him the privilege of booting up his computer.

Lastly, if you are really devious you can do this: Start reinforcing his loyalty for Intel and give him all sorts of slanted benchmark sites (Sharkeyextreme and MaximumPC come to mind) that will make him a die-hard Intel Zealot. Don't mention the AMD issue and introduce him to these great forums and tell him to establish himself as the Intel Guy. Then, when he is at the peak of zealotry, send him an email with W_CPUID.EXE attached and show him the truth that his own beloved rig is an AMD INSIDE machine! That would be the grand comedy of comedies!

Oh, BTW, if you do decide to follow my recommendations make sure this guy is not your best friend or anything like that. Far be it from me to destroy good friendships, but mediocre friendships are meant to be severed!