Building a PC...Need help

[sps16]

the chipset is the part of the mobo that controls the cpu or something like that

[Jaasper]

Think of the chipset like a wiring harness for a car. It ties everything together and gives you some extra features to go along with it. Main Chipset for AMD are SiS, Via, and NVIDIA2. Go with the Nvidia. On the the P4 side, try and stay with an Intel chipset, not SiS or Via. You'll have less problems.

[CasingBill]

AMD also run hotter and easier to crack if not installed properly.

[painball]

If I go AMD which mobo should I buy? I want one with 800MHz bus and I guess the nVidia2 chipset. Theres so many companys that make these parts its hard to tell which is best for the price

[sps16]

Originally posted by painball
If I go AMD which mobo should I buy? I want one with 800MHz bus and I guess the nVidia2 chipset. Theres so many companys that make these parts its hard to tell which is best for the price

i'm pretty sure they dont make a 800 fsb cpu, they are mostly 333 and then the 3200 is 400 and the amd 64 is 1600 fsb

[painball]

Well I thought they did. But the motherboard can have 800MHz bus right?

[sps16]

i think your thinking of p4's, they have ones that are 800 fsb, there is no amd chip that is 800 fsb

[painball]

so should I just stay P4 or go AMD? I dont know which amd mobo and processor to get though..

[sps16]

heres what i would do:
get any P4 that has 800 fsb the 2.4, 2.6, 2.8, 3.01 etc
and get the ASUS P4P800 Deluxe motherboard, i've built amd before and p4's are faster imo

[Jaasper]

AMD processors use to run hotter than P4s. The newer chips are no different heat wise than the P4s. The P4 is a faster chip than the Athlon XP, but is more expensive. It all comes down to how much you want to spend. You will get more asscessiories by going AMD (Cheaper Base)

As far as MB goes. If you noticed that people are [icking ASUS MBs no matter which chip they are using. You can't go wrong with an ASUS MB.

Just to compare apples to apples and oranges to oranges. Look at this.


ASUS P4P800 Deluxe($129) + INTEL P4 3.0GHz HT 800MHZ FSB ($381)

ASUS A7N8X Deluxe ($122) + AMD ATHLON XP 3000 400MHz FSB ($261)

These are what they would say comparable CPUs/MB. (The P4 is faster in this case thou.)

P4 1.8GHz 400Mhz FSB ($125)
AMD ATHLON XP 1800+ 266Mhz FSB ($52)

Now in this case the AMD is faster and a lot better buy.

Once you get up in the higher CPU speeds its better to go with the P4. It really boils down to how much you want to spend.

My advice would get the other parts of the PC first and choose you processor/motherboard last. That way you know what you have to play with money wise.

[sps16]

Originally posted by Jaasper
My advice would get the other parts of the PC first and choose you processor/motherboard last. That way you know what you have to play with money wise.

thats exactly what i'm doing, i am replacing my current comp b/c my server crapped out on me and its too slow. I've got a EPox 8rda+ with a xp 2000. I bought the motherboard for my next comp (p4p800 deluxe), i not sure if i want to go with the 2.4 or 2.6 p4

[Jaasper]

Like when I upgraded my existing system.
I needed a CPU.

What I ran into was by getting a new CPU, I needed a new MB. I looked into just using the one I had. I ending spending the same amount of money for a slower computer so I went with a new MB and CPU. which required new memory and a new video card. I also went with a new power supply just in case.

I upgraded from a (built this system when the PII 450 had just come out.)
ABIT BX6 Rev 2. mb.
Slot 1 400mhz Celeron.
128MB Pc100 Memory
AGP 3DFX Voodoo3 video card.
300watt non P4 ready PS. (no extra connector)
MX300 Diamond MM Sound Card.
10/100 Linksys Network card.

to

ASUS A7N8X Deluxe MB
AMD Athlon 1700+ throughbred (.13 micron)
512mb 333DDR
Nividia mx440 Video Card. (Now have a Geforce4 4200)
400Watt P4 PS.
OnBoard Soundstorm Audio
OnBoard 3com Nic plus a realtek nic (Dual nics)
(also added a Western Digital Special Edition 80GB HD too later)

I did all the above minus the HD and Newer Video card for just under $400 in Febuary of this year. I was looking to build the cheapest system I could get away with and still be able to upgrade to all the latest stuff later if I wanted too.

I prolly won't be upgrading this system again untill they come out with the new style BTX motherboard to replace the ATX style. Whats nice with this setup is that if I wanted to I could upgrade this system to the hottest Vid card out there and the latest XP chip and have a kick *** system if I wanted to spend the cash. Even if for some reason I wanted a P4 system I can switch over to a nice p4 system by just switching out MB and CPU for about the same money I spent to build this one in the 1st place.

Todays CPU so out pace the available software that the only things that really push the limits of them are games and lot of that is the Video Card not the CPU. You can spend a great big wad of cash and play all the latest games at 1600x1200 at 100+ frames per second or you can spend a lot less and play them at 1024x768 at 60 frames a second (30 frames a second is video quality). When i play games I turn alot of the fancier stuff off anyway because its just eye candy and most of the time gets in the way of playing the game. So I guess my point is buy the best you can that will do what you want goes back to my original advice 1st. Buy the MB and CPU last.

P.S.: sps16 - That Epox 8rda+ is one sweet little MB too. For the price I would go with the 2.6Ghz if your doing the whole 800mhz FSB. ($25 difference)

[sps16]

Originally posted by Jaasper
P.S.: sps16 - That Epox 8rda+ is one sweet little MB too. For the price I would go with the 2.6Ghz if your doing the whole 800mhz FSB. ($25 difference)

hehe yea i really shouldn't be cheap with the cpu 2.6 should be fine. I'm going to upgrade the parts as i go, probably do sata raid 0 with 2 60 gb drives, and a little more ram couldn't hurt. I've got a ti4200 too, i love that card its awesome

[Jaasper]

Originally posted by sps16

hehe yea i really shouldn't be cheap with the cpu 2.6 should be fine. I've got a ti4200 too, i love that card its awesome

Yeah, I upgraded video cards so I could do this.

<ImG SRC=http://www2.freepichosting.com/Images/79602/2.jpg>

I'm going to upgrade the parts as i go, probably do sata raid 0 with 2 60 gb drives, and a little more ram couldn't hurt.

Just make sure you use a controllor that is built into the mB. If you use an add on to do the Raid, you loose the speed advantage of SATA (PCI bus is only 33mhz and it will cap your transfer rate before you get to 150 of SATA) Thou it does make cabling easier. I was looking at the 12 channel 3WARE SATA raid card and drooling/dreaming. 12 250GB HD in a RAID 5 array, Can you say 2.75 TerraBytes... or knock it down to only 2.5 and throw in a hot swap spare.

[~WarpedRT#2~]

I just built a machine, and it's fast as hell too. I also have a Xaser III Thermatake case, which looks awesome!

I'd have to recommend an Asus motherboard, Intel chipset (the best). P4P800 deluxe to be exact, one of the best they make. Fix that to a 2.8GHz processer (overclockable), a nice sized hard drive, and a Radeon 9600 XT. Fantastic card, and is just wonderful, it's only a smidge slower than the 9800 for less than half the price. Forget the 9600 Pro. The XT is overclockable. Keep them cooled well, and you will have no problems. Get at least 512 DDR, that runs the correct speed, and dual channel them, for faster memory. Or get a full Gig. Later, you would get into liquid cooling, and really keep that stuff cool, or even phase change cooling! Anyone else seen that Mach 3.8 machine? Case temperature is -21* c!!!

Oh yeah, if you want to do that dual monitor stuff, just get a video card that supports dual monitors, not hard to find.