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  • #1

    Building a new computer system, comments wanted

    I'm building a new computer system (to replace my 4.5 year old system), and would appretiate any comments:

    Motherboard:
    ASUS P5AD2-E PREMIUM

    I did consider the P5GD2 Premium, but it has a much smaller list of qualifed vendors for memory - how seriously should I take that list?

    CPU:
    INTEL PENTIUM 4 550 3.4GHZ, though I might consider the 540 3.2GHZ version.

    Memory:
    2 x Kingston 1024MB 533MHZ CL4 DDR2 DIMM

    Video Card:
    ATI ALL-IN-WONDER X600 PRO 256MB PCI EXPRESS

    For graphics capability and video capture.

    (I'm used to ATI's AIW capture cards. Are there any better quality capture boards?)

    Hard Drive:
    MAXTOR 250GB MXDX6B250S0 SERIAL ATA 16MB 7200RPM

    For the main drive (It has 16mb Cache hoping that it's quiet and fast ). For a secondary drive (video capture), I already have a 120GB Maxtor 8mb IDE drive. At some point, I might build a RAID 5 our of sata drives, but not in the near future.

    Power Supply:
    I was thinking ANTEC NEO POWER480 480W UL & FCC POWER SUPPLY

    I'm not yet sure about the case. I was thinking of maybe the ANTEC P160 ALUMINUM MID TOWER, though the ideal case would be screwless, have 5 5.25 bays and 5+ 3.5 bays, be light and have 120mm fans.

    I already have a monitor, DVD, etc.

    Advice? Critiques?
    "I read a book twice as fast as anybody else. First, I read the beginning, and then I read the ending, and then I start in the middle and read toward whatever end I like best." - Gracie Allen
    Tags: None
  • #2
    are you particularly attached to intel ? amd's amd64 line offers better performance for comparable price, particularly for gaming...
    B♭3

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    • #3
      CL4 RAM? GAH! GAH! GAH!

      I can't even stomach buying CL3.

      I'm a CL2 man, myself...
      "The issue is there are still many people out there that use religion as a crutch for bigotry and hate. Like Ben."
      Ben Kenobi: "That means I'm doing something right. "

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      • #4
        I just got a new mobo and processor... Athlon 64 3500+ on an Asus A8V Pro.

        I agree with QCubed... go with the Athlon 64... be sure to get socket 939, that way you can upgrade to Athlon FX in the future.
        To us, it is the BEAST.

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        • #5
          Originally posted by Q Cubed
          are you particularly attached to intel ? amd's amd64 line offers better performance for comparable price, particularly for gaming...
          Not completely attached to intel, but for high end stuff I'm more interested in video capture/editing than gaming (I'll do some gaming, but a majority of the games I play are adventure or strategy, and when it comes to FPS, I'm not a 53 thousand frames per second kind of person - as long as I can play it, I'm happy.)
          "I read a book twice as fast as anybody else. First, I read the beginning, and then I read the ending, and then I start in the middle and read toward whatever end I like best." - Gracie Allen

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          • #6
            Originally posted by Asher
            CL4 RAM? GAH! GAH! GAH!

            I can't even stomach buying CL3.

            I'm a CL2 man, myself...
            How does it affect performance?
            "I read a book twice as fast as anybody else. First, I read the beginning, and then I read the ending, and then I start in the middle and read toward whatever end I like best." - Gracie Allen

            Comment

            • #7
              Originally posted by Edan
              How does it affect performance?
              CL4 = 4 cycles latency
              CL2 = 2 cycles latency

              Takes 4 cycles to access instead of 2.
              "The issue is there are still many people out there that use religion as a crutch for bigotry and hate. Like Ben."
              Ben Kenobi: "That means I'm doing something right. "

              Comment

              • #8
                Not completely attached to intel, but for high end stuff I'm more interested in video capture/editing than gaming (I'll do some gaming, but a majority of the games I play are adventure or strategy, and when it comes to FPS, I'm not a 53 thousand frames for second kind of person - as long as I can play it, I'm happy.)

                Ah, that's trickier. Intel traditionally performs better when it comes to multimedia applications.

                I don't know what the benchmarks are these days, but it's my understanding that Intel still edges out AMD.

                Since Intel's coming out with Pentium 4's with x86-64 instructions later this year (as in, 64-bit intel processors), maybe you should stick with them then.

                Incidentally, though, no video editing program currently is optimized to use 64-bit processing, so... right now, Athlon 64's advantage is kinda useless.
                B♭3

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                • #9
                  One day somebody's going to have to explain to me what 8 megabytes or more of cache on HD is needed for...
                  This is Shireroth, and Giant Squid will brutally murder me if I ever remove this link from my signature | In the end it won't be love that saves us, it will be mathematics | So many people have this concept of God the Avenger. I see God as the ultimate sense of humor -- SlowwHand

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by Ari Rahikkala
                    One day somebody's going to have to explain to me what 8 megabytes or more of cache on HD is needed for...
                    Caching data fragments.
                    "The issue is there are still many people out there that use religion as a crutch for bigotry and hate. Like Ben."
                    Ben Kenobi: "That means I'm doing something right. "

                    Comment

                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Asher

                      CL4 = 4 cycles latency
                      CL2 = 2 cycles latency

                      Takes 4 cycles to access instead of 2.
                      I couldn't even find CL2 DDR2 memory. I did find CL3 DDR2 memory, but mostly they were smaller sized modules, and the 1GB CL2 module I did find cost about 75%(!) more (although it was ECC and registered) I'm pretty sure I'd rather have more memory than faster memory.

                      I also looked at Kingston's Memory Search Engine, and it didn't list any CL2 or CL3 modules as compatable with the motherboard.
                      "I read a book twice as fast as anybody else. First, I read the beginning, and then I read the ending, and then I start in the middle and read toward whatever end I like best." - Gracie Allen

                      Comment

                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Ari Rahikkala
                        One day somebody's going to have to explain to me what 8 megabytes or more of cache on HD is needed for...
                        It's much faster than the 8MB versions, I'm waiting for the price to drop myself to buy one.
                        Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing?
                        Then why call him God? - Epicurus

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                        • #13
                          Originally posted by Asher
                          CL4 RAM? GAH! GAH! GAH!

                          I can't even stomach buying CL3.

                          I'm a CL2 man, myself...
                          Eugh Asher, he's talking about DDR2, I'm not even sure you can get CL2's for DDR2.

                          Go for the AMD64 and get DDR1 memory ( well, with AMD you're going to have to as they will not use DDR2 until 2006 and might even skip it)
                          Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing?
                          Then why call him God? - Epicurus

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                          • #14
                            Originally posted by Sava
                            I just got a new mobo and processor... Athlon 64 3500+ on an Asus A8V Pro.

                            I agree with QCubed... go with the Athlon 64... be sure to get socket 939, that way you can upgrade to Athlon FX in the future.
                            Unfortunately, it's not going to matter all that much. AMD is not going to push their proc's alot until the new ones come out... for which, yep, you need a new socket and thus new MB).
                            Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing?
                            Then why call him God? - Epicurus

                            Comment

                            • #15
                              Upgradring from CL3 to CL2 is like, what, 5% performance boost at best, probably less. This is with DDR1. I couldn't comment on CL4/DDR2.

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