I'm still planning my future computer. (Calling all geeks)

[Asher]

It's so boring these days to do computer building threads.

Mid-range Athlon motherboards tend to be slightly more expensive than mid-range P4 motherboards, mid-range P4s tend to be slightly more expensive than mid-range Athlons -- in the end they roughly cancel out.

I'd go for an Intel over a comparable AMD anyday, but that's just mostly because I appreciate the R&D that Intel is doing about technology in general, and AMD is much more of just a chip maker who adopts technology once IBM, Intel, etc. develop it before them and tweaks it.

I would venture that the Pentium 4 is more forward looking than an equivalent Athlon. SSE2 is still gaining in use, and once the Athlon 64s come out, AMD will support SSE2 as well. For the higher end Pentium 4s, HyperThread can give large performance boosts for optimized programs, but almost no programs are optimized for it today, but will be in the future...

[Kaak]

I think it is the best board out right now, closely followed by the MSI 6565 you hit the nail on the head...

[monolith94]

[Asher]

Another upside with choosing an Intel platform is you can use Intel's chipset and avoid Via/SiS/ALi/Nvidia chipsets.

[monolith94]

An upside to choosing Apple is that woman will moan with pleasure on your bed every night.
apple = chick magnet

[MRT144]

do chicks really like ****gy haired nerds that wear birkenstocks?

[monolith94]

They like shåggy haired nerds that wear birkenstocks and use apple computers as much as they like shåggy haired nerds that wear birkenstocks and use pcs.
Proportionately, there are many more of the latter.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Asher
I'd go for an Intel over a comparable AMD anyday, but that's just mostly because I appreciate the R&D that Intel is doing about technology in general, and AMD is much more of just a chip maker who adopts technology once IBM, Intel, etc. develop it before them and tweaks it.

The biggest thing that Intel has ever done is VLIW, I am not sure if that's such a good idea. IMO, that's the biggest blunder Andy Groove made. He could have went with a less ambitous RISC design, sort of like what Apple did when shifting to the PowerPC from MC680x0. Intel could have also repackaged and sold the Alpha chips. That could give Sun a nice run for its money.

[Asher]

Intel went with VLIW because that's what HP wanted. HP contacted Intel with the ideas, thought the project would work only if someone like Intel made the chip for them.

And I would think the biggest thing Intel ever did was invent the microprocessor.

I'm not too sure VLIW/Itanium is a blunder at all. Look how fast that chip has become recently, IIRC it's still the fastest in floating point.

The compiler technology is getting better, of which VLIW is quite dependent on, and the chips are also getting way better. Madison and Deerfield are pretty cool...

[General Ludd]

OK, I think I am going to go for a whole new computer, and this is what I've got picked out now:

ASUS A7N8X  (Dual LAN)		        $110
Athlon XP 2400			        $125
PC3200 DDR 512MB		 	$068
GeForce4 TI 4800			$165
CD R/W Drive			       *$030 (Basic CD ROM for old computer)
Sound Blaster Audigy			****
Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9		$085
Monitor, Speakers, Case, ect...        ~$200 (?)
                                        ----
                                        $783
				    ~$1400-$1600 CDN

*I am still going to carry over my soundcard and CD R/W Drive. I have two sound cards so that's fine, but I'll need to buy a cheap-o CD ROM for my old computer.

I got those prices from pricewatch.com, and have tried to over-estimate. (hopefully I succeeded, because that price is right at the edge of what I want to spend)



The only things I am not sure are:

The video card - I know nothing about them, and am just going with the GeForce4 TI 4800 because it is the most recent one I've heard of, and relatively cheap. I also read something about some new ones coming out in a couple of weeks?

The Hardrive - which I also know nothing about, but just picked that one 'cause it sounded nice.

I don't know about the monitor and all that, either, but I think that should be easy enough to just pick out at the store.


I looked at geting a pentium, but it did seem alot more expensive, and I wasn't so sure about the motherboards available for them right now. (I think I see why you suggested I wait a few months, now)



Man, I wish my money would hurry up and get here so I can spend it and stop waffling over what I want to get.

[Asher]

Video card is very hard to choose.

Nvidia just launched some GeForce FX 5200 and 5600s, that are fully DX9 capable (GeForce 4 Tis/GeForce 3s are DX8, GeForce 4 MXs are DX7/DX8 hybrids), but they're not available yet. They're about in the pricerange of the Ti4800 card you listed, but probably quite a bit faster and forward-looking.

ATI also has their new Radeon 9xxx series, which have chips that are on the highend and lowend.

If possible, I'd go for a DirectX 9 chip. A Radeon 9xxx (excluding 9000, which is DX8...), or GeForce FX chip of some kind.

[Asher]

And I'm not sure what you mean about Pentiums being "alot more expensive".

Using Outpost.com...
2.4GHz Retail P4: $189 (http://shop3.outpost.com/product/3359822)
2400 Retail Athlon XP: $169 (http://shop3.outpost.com/product/3493403)

Intel i845 motherboard (for the P4): $137.99 (http://shop3.outpost.com/product/3436863)
Asus KT400 motherboard (for the Athlon): $159.99 (http://shop3.outpost.com/product/3439743)

Looks pretty even to me. And I'd take an equivalent Intel over AMD anyday.

[OneFootInTheGrave]

Yes go for radeon 9500 pro now or 9600 if they'll be out by the time you are going to buy your PC...

[OneFootInTheGrave]

Intel sucks for most games (apart from Q3)...

[Asher]

Originally posted by OneFootInTheGrave
Intel sucks for most games (apart from Q3)...

Last time I checked, Intel dominates almost all game benchmarks, while AMD held on in a few x87-intense workstation apps...