Larian Studios Forums General Chat Buying a new pc

OK THAT'S IT: this piece of cow feces (laptop) has crashed for the last time. (Memory errors (working on half the memory (256 is not XP friendly)))

So I'm going to buy a new pc (Desktop):

Any suggestions on specs:

I'm thinking of:

754 pin motherboard
AMD 64 bit processor
at LEAST 1 Gb RAM
2 HD of 200Gb MINIMUM
A decent grafic card (Nvidia prefered have had bad experiences with ATI)(and that is powerfull enough for <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/div.gif" alt="" />² and GTA:SA )
other things like DVD drive I can salvige of other pc in my house.

Any sugestions, user experience or comments like:
I'm happy with my grafic card of "insert brand and number"
only 400 GB <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cry.gif" alt="" />
AMD is crap use intel


please keep it technical: no referring to dell.com or alien ware.

AFAIK from reading, you want a 939 not 754.
How about a 10k SATA HD for gameplay--the raptor--and a big slower drive for storage.

Yeah I also wanted a 939 motherboard but reviews say it only gives a 6% performace boost for twice the money.

I'm thinking of a

AMD Athlon64 - 3700+ 1Mb L2 s754 - Boxed

prosessor or less

As for serial ata Yes it's faster but it's not reflected in proformance once HD can write to memory without the processor it would indeed be a performace boost (heard somewhere they were working on that). But since this is not yet the case . I am however thinking of a raid 5 controller to adress the speed issue and since I am considering to upgrade later to 4 HD Raid 5 seems better DVD/CD drive over network.

I've just heritaged some money (not enough to get e decent pc though...) and was allso thinking of getting a pc (even though I can't afford it with the money I get...). It won't be a new pc, since that means there was an old one, and there sin't. Not one that I own anyway... It's at times like these you realize you know VERY little about pc's btw. At least when it comes to prices...

Übereil

Yeah some how those price drops you hear about aren't that large then you hoped for. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

[quote]Yeah I also wanted a 939 motherboard but reviews say it only gives a 6% performace boost for twice the money.
But in the future if you upgrade...

What about the case?

I'm one of those users that't don't upgrade theire PC's. I just buy a new one a nd give the obsolete pc an other function like file server or basion host in a DMZ Or PC for my parents Since I banned them from my PC's (Virus, spam, spy ware they just can't click no <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" />).

I leared the hard way not to upgrade (bought a motherboard just before the release of pentium 2 and guess what sockets uncomatable)

Case, now that you mention it some design would be nice <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />

1) i would go for a AMd as well
2) make shure you have dual channel memory.
these special made "identical" memorie slots.
can write and read at the same time.
make shure your mother board supports it.
3) use a primary disk a 36 or 72Gb raptor 10.000 RPM SATA disk, secondaruy 12Mb cache maxtor 200Gb
4)put in a creative audigy2 soundcard, for the sound experiance of your life
5) buy the logitec Z680 speakers set for "hearing" this sound experiance
6) buy a ATi 3d grafics card. X800XT if you got he mony or a spinoff = budget version (but not the x600xt!) x600xt < 9800
Pro
7) buy a motherboord that supports pci express.
8)buy a logitex MX1000 mouse , the best game mouse you can have.

is money really not an object, morbo?

good choice on AMD as u won't be wrestling with upgrade issues that intel processors & their many pin versions have. plus for the same amount of performance, AMD is cheaper. just make sure u have ample cooling for the processor. maybe water-cooling? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/think.gif" alt="" />

as for RAM, yes as bean said it dual channel & make sure the board can support the latest RAM technology. that way, u have less worry when it comes to future upgrades.

as for HD, since SATA hard disks are just a little more expensive than normal IDE/ATA (about RM30 difference at my place), it's not something out of your spending power to own & going RAID on it will be preferable. after all, most motherboards now have RAID controllers.

talk about motherboard, morbo, think motherboard first. that together with the processor will be the most enduring part of your system so u may want to consider stability, upgradibility, & the built-in technology. if u don't have that many cards to plug in, just go for a mini/micro-ATX board.

& as for sound, bean has good taste. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/up.gif" alt="" /> i also recommend creative soundcard but only if u have matching speakers to go with it. otherwise, 5 channels of audio will go to waste if u're only using 2.

people keep having problems with ATI cards. over here at my place, the source is always power supply units, which do not provide stable enough current for the graphic card. yes, ATI is very susceptible to this. at least 450W.

as for case, no point in getting a flashy one if u're going to tuck it under the desk or the system will be in your room where nobody is allowed entry. i say just use any old case that u have in hand, so long as it provides ample space for ventilation & upgrades.

sorry i can't be of much help.

2. Yep dual memory was already on my checklist
3. Seriously does SATA give a performance boost doesn't it move the bottleneck to somewhere else? I am thinking of a small primary disk for OS on top of 2 200Gb HD.
4. exelent expensive taste <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/disagree.gif" alt="" /> (I'm thinking of salvaging my creative audigy 1 out of my old pc.)
6. On grafic cards I can't comment yet haven't had time to read the reviews
7. Yep PCI expres is also on th list

Yep I agree completely.

BTW what do you suggest: Using RAID 0 that has no redundancy but standard on MB(1 HD crash and i'ts over) or RAID 5 since I am concidering having 4 HD in my PC at one time and no CD/DVD drives.
I'll guess I'll start with RAID 0 and work my way up in time

Jävla fikonspråk <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/memad.gif" alt="" />!

If I whant to get something out of THIS I better start learning about computers.

Übereil

RAID 0 sounds like a good start, morbo. & comparing audigy 1 & 2, it makes almost no difference. no point spending a lot just to get a little better.

if u are really into so many hard drives, more than 4 in fact, why not IDE card that u can use to plug more IDE devices? chances are some applications may not work on such system. best to have 2 separate power supply units for such venture. 1 PSU for all the hard drives & another for the motherboard. this means u may have to resort to open-case configuration.

Well my dream pc would have a SCSI RAID 5 controller.

A man can dream can't he <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cry.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cry.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cry.gif" alt="" />

From what I have read, RAID 0 gives no discernible speed increase except in bootup time and has the downside of increased risk to loss of data--with 2 HDs the chances of 1 of them failing is doubled. And if 1 fails you lose all your data as there is no redundancy.

I have seen good reviews on the Antec Sonata.

BTW I am planning to get a new one too, but not until next year.

and I'm planning a new PC in 3 months... finally

maybe if you wait a bit more you would be among the first ones to have a nanotube based memory PC <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/silly.gif" alt="" />

well if really it exists one day...

IBM and Nanotubes...

nano tubes == nanites == borg == invasion == borg defeated by windows joke

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ROFL.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ROFL.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ROFL.gif" alt="" />

@ Morbo =>

The best things you can do for yourself here go to Falcon Northwest web site and use their build your own computer page.

Check out the prices of each piece of hardware and when you have a decent idea as to what you want, print out that page.

Then just look for a computer that comes closest to the things you want in your rough draft print out. It doesn't have to be exact, but with MFGR and Model numbers of each piece of hardware you can use to look up the specifics of each item.

Of course, if you are like me, you won't be able to afford all of that, but you can aim for it. With a few sacrifices in hardware quality you can find yourself a comparable computer that will meet your desires.

I myself bought an HP Pavilion A330N only because it had the AMD Athlon processor.
I disabled some of the chipsets and bought audio and graphics cards that I liked better. I also completely wiped my computer and installed only the software I wanted. If you do this remember to copy your Drivers folder for the future just in case you need them.
I’m bias, I prefer the AMD over the Intel due to their individual use of PIPING in their processors. Then after that I changed the jumper settings to a few things to overclock my computer. I wouldn’t advise this unless you know exactly what you are doing.

Anyway, I work on this stuff for a living and it all comes down to personal tastes.
If you are mainly into FPS games then you’ll need a better computer than what I got; because, in 3 years you’ll be at the bottom of the heap again. Try to aim for 7 to 10 years before your next computer when you buy a new one.

Oh well, I’m rambling.

Kyra_Ny <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/freak.gif" alt="" />