Community archive

Ask something
Discussion Locked

Building a new pc

0 helpful
7 replies

by hophead1

Closed to new repliesThis discussion is closed. It stays readable, but it takes no new replies.

I am thinking of building a new pc, and would like to know your opinions on what I am planning on purchasing and any details I may have left out.
MotherBoard-Intel D865GBF
Processor-Intel P-4 2.4 ghz 512 cache 533mhz fsb
Antec TruPower 430W atx12v psu
2 each-ultraExtremeMemory 256 mb pc3200 DDR 400mhz
1 Chieftec dragon performance case w/sidefan
Seagate 80GB Serial ATA HD 7200/8MB/9.5 S-ATA-150
Pacific Digital Mach 52 Internal 52X24X52 cd-rw
Monitor, keyboard, printer, mouse, speakers and cdrom from old system.

7 replies

by guruofdos

You could build a PC as good for about 30% less money!

533MHz FSB P4?!!! On a motherboard with 400MHz RAM?!!!!!

S-ATA HDD?!!! What's up with an IDE UDMA133 7200 with 8.5mS access time for perhaps 60% of the cost of a S-ATA Drive??

A 3.04GHz AMD Athlon XP would benchmark at 12% better than the P4 you suggest and cost 40% less.

Just my opinion!

by djent

I have built some 865 and 875 machines. I use Asus P4P800 boards for th 865 and P4C800 for 875 they are both rock solid and fast. Pass on the G chip, the P chip supports 533 & 800 FSB. I would get a Hyper threading CPU, 2.8 or 3.06 with PC400 DDR(400 mhz dual channel). I like the SATA drives, better technology, but I like Cheetah 15K U320 SCSI with Adaptec 29320R controller much better, <4ms access time and >60MBs sequential IO per Adaptec EZSCSI benchmark. Are you looking for price or performance?

by nizam_s

i think u can use an aopen mother board which is bundled with many utilities that will help the user in a great way like easy restore,noise reduction and Bios flash without Bios battery

by thechas

I generally recommend AMD based systems. (for the cost savings and improved performance)

If you are going to go with an Intel based system, I recommend Intel motherboards.
You generally have fewer conflicts with an Intel board.
I looked at the D865GBF.
I try to avoid boards with built-in sound, and on board NICs or modems.

If you are planning to run multi-media applications, you may want / need to install a separate sound card.

As to the hard drive, I agree with GuroOfDOS that an ATA133 drive is a better value.
However, since the IDE controller on the board only supports ATA100 transfer speeds, the serial ATA drive may provide better overall performance.

Unless the price is a lot higher, look at getting an 800MHz CPU.
If the price is a lot higher, this would be a good upgrade in a year or so.

What OS do you plan to install?
If Windows 98 / Me, drop the RAM down to 384MB. The core Windows 9X code can have problems with more than 511MB of RAM.

If XP, install as much RAM as you can afford.
The way RAM design changes, in a year or so, you may have problems finding compatible RAM.

What are you planning for video?
On-board video (Intel in particular) does not provide good performance for games or intensive graphics applications.

At 266MHz, the RAMDAC is slower than the one on my 3 year old 3dfx card. (350MHz)

If the PC will be used for word processing and web surfing, this is fine.
However, for digital video, gaming, and graphics art applications, you will want a separate video card.

So, you might want to check out a different motherboard that does not have the sound and video built-in.
Most people who build their own PCs are looking for better performance than they can get with retail PCs.

The 865PERL or the 875PBZ may be better choices depending on how you plan to use your PC.

Chas

by mrbill-

Win 9X has problems with a CPU of 2Ghz+, that is from MS web site. I recently upgraded my home system from 800Mhz PIII to a 2.4Ghz PIV and am having probs with some programs working, I have Win9x. Also over 512 Mbs RAM can be run by tweeking registry, but get XP so you don't have to work so hard and it is more stable than 9X.

Do not use a piece of trash Seagate. Get Quantum, Maxtor or WD EIDE, or for faster speeds go SCSI.

by hal 9000

With this "New" computer. I generally recomend an AMD for home use and Intel for business use.

But I would buy a M'Board with seperate video rather than the inbuilt video wich is always second-rate to a even halfway decent AGP video card and you are only enguaging in "False Economy" by going with a M'Board with everything built on. Nowdays with most M'Boards you will get a sound built in and maybe even a LAN adaptor but for any serrious sound you will want a really good sound card and disable the onboard sound, by having everyhting built in to the M'Board you are down on your knees begging for problems as while there will be no conflicts once the most minor thing fails on the M'Board you have to replace it and with the way Intel is constantly changing their CPU sockets it is unlikely that you will be able to use any of your existing components other than the case once you need to replace the M'Board and all it's drivers.

There are a few other things as well the 2.4 C Intel P4 is currently the bottom of the range so I would be looking at something faster and with an 800 MHZ FSB to make use of that Dual Channel memory that you will be capable of using and while Intel make some really good M'Boards their chipsets are better and I personally prefer to go with an ASUS or ABIT M'Boards rather than an Intel one.

Just one last thing and this is only knit picking but I've had a lot of Seagate HDD fail over the years and a lot more than any other brand that I've ever used and since I work in a place where HDD are never allowed out of the place when these fail they are never returned for repair/replacment so I have a whole wall of HDD's waiting for destruction and most of them are Seagate.

But on the other hand a friend bought a computer from someone else while he lived a long way away and he got a Seagate HDD which lasted all of 4 months and when I sent it away under an RMA they replaced it in a very short time but it only lasted for 2 months and when it failed it was no longer covered by warrantie so I ended up putting a Quantum in it and 12 months latter it hasn't missed a beat the original Seagate only lasted for 4 months and the replacment lasted 2 months {just long enough to get it out of warrantie.}

This discussion is closed to new replies.