Help Please....N00b in the house.

[OpeD]

he i am lookin to buy some new hardware....i have a few mates who know what they are on about but they have this whole amd/intel rivalry going on and i think they are just saying it becuase they just like the idea of the brand name.

so this is what im lookin to get, if anyone sees any major issues could you just put a msg up and let me know.

1* 2.8GHz Intel Pentium® 4 CPU "Northwood"(800FSB) HT 512k Cache.

2* Abit AI7 - 865PE FSB 800 DDDR400 SATA RAID AGP 8X uGuru 6CH Audio SPDif 1394.

3* Corsair Value Select 1Gb DDR 400 Mhz (paired memory) (2x512 pc3200).

4* 128Mb ATI Radeon 9800 Pro DVI/TV DDR **OEM**.

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im either going to get that intel chip or this > Athlon 64bit 3000 32/64Bit CPU S754, if this is the better option then what mobo should i get???

i use my pc for gaming and general stuff like d/ling tunes and movies ect.

any help is much appreciated.

cheers.

 

[bandikoot]

Well a 2.8C Ghz combined with a 9800pro certainly makes for a good gaming computer for the money. Myself, I would substitute in the A64 3000 that you mentioned. What MoBo you get depends on if you ever want to overclock or not. There are some boards based off of the SIS chipset that are good and inexpensive, but they didn't add in overclocking options. Additionally, the nf3-250s are starting to finally appear, but I've been busy with school so I haven't kept up enough to give you a company . A quick google search will turn up a number of benchmarks, (such as xbitlabs and anandtech) pairing a 9800pro with these processors so you can judge for yourself too. Additionally, if you are not buying right at this moment, new tech is on the horizon.

 

[Snaggle]

The choice between P4cs and amd 64s is not clear cut.

P4s are better at video encoding,have more mature mobo and use multiple hard drives better and are less picky about ram.

The Amd 64's run cooler and should last loner and have less freeze ups than p4s;but as hypertransport is a new technology and overclock 64 that fail tend to fail because of the hypertransport-so they might not last longer.They're much superior in gaming and generally slightly better in general usage.The msi k8t neo-fis2r and the asus k8v have been the two best mobo so far(both on the via k8t800 chipset);but the nforce 3 250 mobos which are just coming out will be slightly better. The foxconn 755 a01-gekrs on the sis chipset is a cheaper and just as good alternative mobo. The advantage of using cheap single channel ram is also a great chip on the side of the amd 64 with ram prices being what they are.I would also at least look at mushkin ram.

 

[Oracle]

Your setup seems just fine.
Although, if gaming is your thing, AMD is the name.
If not, this setup will be most satisfying as it's still pretty good for gaming.
An nForce3 250Gb based motherboard (like the Asus K8N-E Deluxe) would be the way to go for an AMD 64-bit platform. It may not come cheap though.

 

[HardWareBoss]

Buy the Abit IS7. Do you plan on OCing your Cpu?

 

[TheRod]

What will you do with your PC most of the time :

GAMES = AMD
Video/Audio encoding = Intel

You will surely play, because you plan to get a Radeon 9800 PRO, you should buy an AMD Athlon 64 2800+/3000+ with a nForce3 250 (Socket754) based motherboard - these will be available soon. There is not much difference in gaming performance between AMD and Intel, but AMD have the edge.

If someone tell you that Socket754 will not be "upgradable" in the future answer him that the actual P4 Socket will not be too. Both AMD/Intel will bring a new socket to the market around June.

--
Lookin' to fill that <font color=blue>GOD</font color=blue> shape hole!

 

[OpeD]

thanks for all the replies people...it really is a hard one to make.........but i by the looks of things im going to get the AMD.

im not to obsessed with my rig being cutting edge all the time.....maybe overclock a little bit but not all the time, my pc basicly never gets turned off and i hear that running a overclocked pc 24/7 is no good!

just gotta figure out if i want to wait for the nForce3 250 (Socket754) or get one of the other ones mentioned in the thread.

i want the rig to be reasonable and play the new games for at least 3 years.

thanks again people.

 

[OpeD]

also someone has said that my corsair RAm wont work with the A64....true?

 

[endyen]

The corsair is not a problem with the nforce 250 boards.
The problem stemmed from too low total system latency. The corsair would be ok on the older boards, just at slower timings than by spd.

 

[Snaggle]

"GAMES = AMD
Video/Audio encoding = Intel"-the Rod

True;but your next statement is debatable the nforce 250 is no better than the via or sis alternative chipsets and he's not going to overclock so the cheaper mobo are just as good;unless he needs the built in firewall.The two Mobo out with the nforce 250 are not great.The chaintech znf3-250gb pro zenith is not for overclockers and offers nothing but the built in firewall for an extra $60+ The Msi k8n neo is better;but if you're not overclocking anf already have a firewall why pay more,when neither mobo performs better than the sis or via alternatives at stock speeds?

 

[TheRod]

If you don't plan to overclock much VIA based motherboard will be good for you. nForce3 250 will be better if you plan to overclock or use the hardware firewall feature.

--
Lookin' to fill that <font color=blue>GOD</font color=blue> shape hole!

 

[TheRod]

You are right, nForce3 250 will be good for people who will need the GigE+Firewall and/or good overclocking potential. I'm pretty sure ABIT, ASUS, MSI and DFI will make overclocker friendle nForce3 250 MB.

--
Lookin' to fill that <font color=blue>GOD</font color=blue> shape hole!

 

[endyen]

Abit doesn't show any Nforce3 boards in socket 754, the others do. I hope Abit changes thier mind.