VOGONS


First post, by yanker2112

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VOGONS,

First, thanks to all of the admins and mods for the valuable help. This site is a godsend!

Second, I'm thinking about building a system from scratch, and I am curious to hear the opinions that are out there. Has anyone ever posted a poll as to what components perform best when combined into one box?

In particular, I'm looking for info on: main-boards, CPU's, graphics cards, sound cards, and OS's. Suggestions for Hard Drives and optical drives would be nice as well.

I know I'm probably opening a can of worms here, but perhaps there is a consensus on a few of the components that I have mentioned above.

yanker2112 😀

Reply 2 of 17, by yanker2112

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Good question, Snover. Perhaps I should set some parameters. Assuming we are talking about the system itself and not peripherals (printers, scanners, cameras, etc.), shall we start the 'bidding' at $1800 US. This sounds like a decent place to start.

Heh, I know, one could smoke half of this amount just on the mobo and chip, let alone the a/v cards.

I'm just looking for trouble, aren't I?:)

Reply 3 of 17, by Snover

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ASUSTeK SK8V mainboard - ~USD$231
Kingston 1GB Kit HyperX Reg ECC DDR 400MHz (because Crucial doesn't sell 400MHz RAM and Corsair XMS is not ECC) - ~USD$423
AMD Athlon64 FX-51 processor - ~USD$758
ATi Radeon 9800 PRO 256M video card (as much as I hate to admit it, it's better than what nVidia's offering right now) - ~USD$428
Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 SATA - ~USD$98

$1938 Okaaay, so a little over the mark 😉
And oh look, I smoked over half of it on the mobo and chip. 😁

What? You still need a power supply, and a case, and a CD/DVD drive? Fuck.

Yes, it’s my fault.

Reply 4 of 17, by [vEX]

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Snover wrote:
ASUSTeK SK8V mainboard - ~USD1 Kingston 1GB Kit HyperX Reg ECC DDR 400MHz (because Crucial doesn't sell 400MHz RAM and Corsair X […]
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ASUSTeK SK8V mainboard - ~USD1
Kingston 1GB Kit HyperX Reg ECC DDR 400MHz (because Crucial doesn't sell 400MHz RAM and Corsair XMS is not ECC) - ~USD3
AMD Athlon64 FX-51 processor - ~USD8
ATi Radeon 9800 PRO 256M video card (as much as I hate to admit it, it's better than what nVidia's offering right now) - ~USD8
Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 SATA - ~USD

38 Okaaay, so a little over the mark 😉
And oh look, I smoked over half of it on the mobo and chip. 😁

What? You still need a power supply, and a case, and a CD/DVD drive? Fuck.

Damn, that would be one kickass system!
Perhaps even change the 9800Pro for the XT (I believe the only difference is that it's clocked faster, haven't really looked into it)?

Antec P182B | Asus P8Z77-V PRO | Intel i5 3570k | 16GB DDR3 | 4TB HDD | Pioneer BDR-207D | Asus Xonar DX | Altec Lansing CS21 | Eizo EV2736W-BK | Arch Linux (64-bit/x86_64)

Reply 5 of 17, by yanker2112

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Heh, Nice work! So you WOULD go with the AMD 64 chip. I'm a bit leary, I was under the impression that there were/are some compatiblity/functionality issues with these new 64 bit chips.

What's the deal with the Pentium 4's? You no likey?

Personally, I like the ATI cards more so than the nVidia cards. (this could be because of my personal bias toward nVidia, ever since they bought out VooDoo, then shut them down, AND then discontinued VooDoo support, (dicks.))

Reply 6 of 17, by Snover

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Compatibility problems? Err, no. That's the strongpoint of the x86-64 architecture: it runs native 32-bit apps. Pentium IV chips are overpriced pieces of crap. Seriously. The Athlon64 FX kicks even the Pentium IV "Extreme"'s ass in 32-bit apps much like the Athlon XP kicks comparatively clocked P4's asses.

*blink*
nVidia bought most of the assets of 3Dfx who made the Voodoo line of video cards. They didn't buy 3Dfx. It's a moot point anyway since they were doomed anyway, it wasn't nVidia's fault that they died. Thinking that 16-bit was good enough and not using AGP were their downfalls.

Yes, it’s my fault.

Reply 7 of 17, by Reckless

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64bit CPUs for the desktop are a complete and utter waste of time for a few years yet. Sure, AMD's kludge chip may be faster than the P4-EE but how much cheaper c/would it be without the 64 bit capability?! I've absolutely no need for over 2GB of process RAM space on my desktop - none whatsoever! On servers, I need/want & have full 64bit chips so I can load our memory unfriendly server apps in 😀

Reply 8 of 17, by yanker2112

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Snover,
Question: Which CPU has the 'built-in' slowdown/shut-off to prevent frying of the CPU? Is this something inherent in the CPU, or on the mainboard? I seem to recall someone addressing this issue somewhere in these forums.

I agree with you on the overpriced Intel Pentium chips; but how else do you expect Intel to pay for their marketing blitz for Pentium chips?

BTW...You didn't mention anything about the ATI vid cards, what gives?

While we're at it, what are your thoughts on a sound card for the 'system' that you propose?

Reply 9 of 17, by Reckless

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I know my name's not Snover....

Vid card - maybe Snover has an nVidia preference (as do most people it would seem).

Sound card - if it's all games then Audigy 2. If music as well then M-Audio does a real neat card for a few £'s (or $'s) more.

Reply 10 of 17, by Snover

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yanker,

Every QUALITY mainboard I've seen manufactured in the last couple of years has an option in the BIOS for an emergency shutdown if the core gets too hot (configurable depending on how much you want to risk frying stuff).

Regarding the video card, I said "as much as I hate to admit it, it's better than what nVidia's offering right now." Sure, you could do with a 9700 Pro, but then you have no bragging rights. 😀

And sound, the SK8V has built-in 6-channel audio by VIA with S/PDIF and analogue outputs.

Yes, it’s my fault.

Reply 11 of 17, by yanker2112

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Heh, I like your style! Curious though, how come only one HD? I have enough crap to fill at least half of a 120 Gig. HD. Besides, I will probably set up a multi-boot system, so disk space (and quick access) is a concern. Thanks for your insight(s), VOGONS, now I have a reason to save my pennies.😀

Reply 13 of 17, by yanker2112

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.....Aren't you having enough problems with Microshit's Windows XP and Internet Explorer? They've got more holes than a Swiss cheese. (ie: Security Updates several times a day, viruses, worms, etc.)

Why not stick with something that works, such as WIN 98-SE. I realize that Microshit will no longer offer support for 98 after January, but hey, there's plenty of info on the Web.

IMHO, a new OS from Microshit is bound to be trouble,just look at the problems with XP.

You must the adventurous type.😁

Last edited by yanker2112 on 2003-11-23, 16:08. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 14 of 17, by Snover

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I valued stability over functionality so I chose Windows 2000. Then I thought it was hosed so I installed XP. It turns out it was the game that was broken, not the OS. >.< In any case now I have the nice shell with the 32-bit icons and the hiding taskbar icons and the fixPOPF and a system that NEVER BLUESCREENS...it's nice.

The reason there's only one hard drive is because...it would be too much money otherwise. 😀

I've attached what I'm gunning for for my next box in PDF format.

The thing that absolutely pisses me off about the SK8V mainboard is that it has NO 64-BIT PCI SLOTS! RARRR!

Attachments

  • Filename
    dreambox.pdf
    File size
    47.61 KiB
    Downloads
    500 downloads
    File license
    Fair use/fair dealing exception

Yes, it’s my fault.

Reply 15 of 17, by yanker2112

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Sweeet!!!! Hey, Snover, Me thinks I shoulda' given you more money to play with....but then, where will it end:)

Tell me, what would you charge to build and set up a kick-ass system similar to the one on your wish list? Of course, I'm gonna want a multi-boot, multi-gamer box😕

Actually, $3K ain't that much more than what I dumped on this old PIII some years ago. 😁

....still counting, (and stealing) my pennies.....yanker2112