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[godspeedx]

I've been out of the "latest technology scene" since I built my own computer about a year ago. I just was asked to help build a computer that needs to have the "latest and greatest" everything, basically, and I don't know what all that is.

I'm up-to-date on Video Cards and Sound cards - Radeon 9800 vs. FX 5900 ULTRA (have one), Audigy 2 (I have also).

What I'm needing to know is what are the best processors, MoBos, and the fastest RAM out now. (P4 CPU, P4 MoBo - AMD CPU, AMD MoBo) Oh and also HDs.

Thanks a lot.

P.S.
This comp will act as a gaming machine/family computer.
Everything will be within reason, though. They're not looking for 2 gigs of RAM or anything.

 

[Tetsuo]

vid card - 9800xt 256
soundcard -Audigy 2 ZS
p4 cpu - 3.2c (2.4c for overclocking)
p4 mobo - abit ic7 max3
amd cpu - athlon 64 fx51 / 2500+ for the old xp's
amd mobo - asus sk8n / abit nf7-s 2.0 for the old xp's
hdd's - raptors are the only way to go (36gb/74gb)
ram - I believe the Kingston HyperX 4000 is the best performing ram out right now

 

[Nebor]

Intel P4 3.2ghz isn't ungodly expensive, around $400.
Abit IC7-G Max 3 875 motherboard.
1GB Corsair\Mushkin PC3500 would go well w/ a 3.0 or 3.2ghz processor. (Don't listen to the Buffalo fanatics)

for AMD
Athlon FX-51, very expensive, but the very fastest you can buy right now. I think around $700.
One of the FX-51 motherboards. Supposedly the VIA chipset is better than the nforce 150 right now.
1GB Registered PC3200. Must use ECC registered memory. That'll cost ya...

 

[DaveSimmons]

video card - Asus 9800XT (nice fan control, video-in)
p4 mobo - Asus P4C800-E (though the abit is probably fine too)
raptors - you can't buy the quieter second generation 36/74's yet, at least the 74s are supposed to be out Soon.

I'm not sure what the lowest-latency PC3200 is currently, PC4000 is overkill if not overclocking, unlike a $500 video card

 

[RussianSensation]

1. for Ram to get overclocking and low latency timings i recommend:

Mushkin Level 2 PC3500 2-2-2-5
OCZ PC3500 EL Platinum edition 2-2-2-5

2. As to not spend ridiculous amounts of money (Athlon FX 64) you could go with a 2.6 or 2.8 ghz processor at 5:4 ratio to get them up to 3.4/3.5ghz (with the aforementioned ram), or spend a bit extra and get 3.0ghz => I'd then suggest some OCZ 3700 Gold or OCZ 4000 EL for some nice 1:1 = 250FSB = 3.5ghz

3. Best Mobo for the money is Abit IS7 or AI7, otherwise go with ASUS P4P800-E or Abit IC7-Max3

4. Audigy 2 ZS is better than Audigy 2 and its ~$100

5. Antec 480 True Blue or Seasonic 400/460 or Fortron FSP-530GNA power supplies

6. get 36gb Raptor hard drive to run OS + 80gb WD 8mb cache for everything else or 120gb if need more space

7. Cases are often personal preference but Thermaltake Xaser IIIs are nice

8. 52x32x52 Liteon CD-Writer or Plextor 708 DVD-writer

9. SP-94 or SLK-900/947 for heatsink then you could put Panaflo fan or Vantec Stealth if you want quiet or faster fan for better cooling, if you wanan go quiet and good perfomance and less tweaking => Zalman 7000AlCu/Cu

10. Dont get more than 1gb of RAM because under windows XP it actually decreases performance

 

[Boonesmi]

latest and greatest = athlon64 and athlonFX

if $$ isnt to much of a concern then i would go with an athlonFX 51

if not wanting something very fast but not quite as expensive i would go with the athlon64 3200+ and a k8t800 mobo (the reviews of the albatron K8X800 Pro look nice... i also really like the asus K8V DELUXE)




for video card its gotta be an ati 9800 xt

for harddrive the new raptors are the fastest

 

[Corporate Thug]

Originally posted by: Tetsuo
vid card - 9800xt 256
soundcard -Audigy 2 ZS
p4 cpu - 3.2c (2.4c for overclocking)
p4 mobo - abit ic7 max3
amd cpu - athlon 64 fx51 / 2500+ for the old xp's
amd mobo - asus sk8n / abit nf7-s 2.0 for the old xp's
hdd's - raptors are the only way to go (36gb/74gb)
ram - I believe the Kingston HyperX 4000 is the best performing ram out right now

i agree with everything except the ram, GeIL pc4000 is rated cas 2.5 as where hyperX is cas 3

 

[InfraggableKrunk]

hmm true, but you can overclock the hyperx to about 526

shady you go to ucla too right, the maximum pc in ackerman had a review on the best high speed ram

although they didnt test geil..

 

[Vonkhan]

vid card - 9800xt 256 Check
soundcard -Audigy 2 ZS Check
p4 cpu - 3.2c Check
p4 mobo - abit ic7 max3 Check
hdd's - raptors are the only way to go (36gb/74gb) holding out till the new ones are available on newegg
ram - Kingston HyperX 4000 Check

Yeehaaa


Cooling:

Air: SP94 After installing a SLK-947, too lazy to go thru that crap again!
Water: ___________ (no idea, Swiftech?)
Budget Killers: Vapochill ... Prommy (clueless about these too)



Case:

CoolerMaster Wave Master TAC-T01-E1C for normal users
X-UFO Ultimate Aluminum Cube Case MODDAR in da hooooos!


PSU:
Antec, Enermax ... ?


Keyboard/mouse
Logitech MX Duo

Speakers:
Logitech Z-680

 

[mrgoblin]

I have heard very good things about the asetek vapochill unit. The black one with the window is seksi

 

[godspeedx]

Thank you very much!

I'll take a look at all this stuff on newegg when I get home from school today =0.

 

[goodole1]

Is WD the only group that makes the SATA Serial Raptor HD?
And I also understand that the standard PSU will not work with the serial drives; is this true? Or will the adapter work just as well?

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: RussianSensation


10. Dont get more than 1gb of RAM because under windows XP it actually decreases performance

I'm curious about the validity of this, and what the numbers are?

 

[dpm]

Originally posted by: goodole1
Is WD the only group that makes the SATA Serial Raptor HD? And I also understand that the standard PSU will not work with the serial drives; is this true? Or will the adapter work just as well?

Raptor is a Western Digital tradename for one of their drivetypes. WD aren't the only people who make SATA drives, though - if that's what you are asking. Maxtor and others also make them.

Standard PSU connectors won't work with SATA drives, unless you use an adaptor. Plug it into an adaptor and you are good to go.

Personally I'm using a non-SATA drive (maxtor 80gb) plugged into one of the SATA sockets on my NF7-S motherboard with the Abit SATA adaptor that came with it.

 

[InfraggableKrunk]

Dont get more than 1gb of RAM because under windows XP it actually decreases performance

Incorrect me amigo

XP supports up to 2gb of ram

and aslong as all the memory is the same speed, same mark and in the same setting you should see an improvement ( if you ever get to the 1g mark on memory resources )

 

[Kutter]

I recently built my system and when I was researching all the components I came across some benchmarks where they measured the speed of systems with 1GB vs 2GB of RAM and the 2GB systems were clearly slower (about 5-10%) - especially for gaming. There are a few apps that benefit from the extra memory - primarily Photoshop and some rendering apps.

I agree with most of the above, especially what "Russian Sensation" said. I went for the OCZ PC3500 EL Platinum edition 2-2-2-5 memory which works extremely well with the P4 3.2. The Mushkin Level 2 PC3500 2-2-2-5 is about equal but where I ordered my machine from it was about 25% more expensive than the OCZ.

Also it depends a little on your budget. For example the ASUS 9800XT is definitely the nicest card out there, but a 9800Pro is going to also perform very well and save you some $$$ making it easier to upgrade sooner.

Processor is the same - the P4 3.2 Extreme Edition is awesome but its a lot more than the regular 3.2. There definitely is a performance jump with the EE though. Also, the Athlon 64FX is a hell of processor as well. I went the Intel route but you really can't go wrong either way.

I am also a big fan of the Liteon DVD Reader. Its very fast at ripping DVD's. Pair this up with a Plextor 708A and you have a very powerful DVD "backup" machine.

Hard drives - the fastest is to go with a couple of Raptor 10k 36GB and set them up as a RAID 0. That's what I did on the system I just ordered. I then added a 250GB SATA WD as my storage drive. My OS and apps will go on the Raptors and everything else on the 250GB. The only downside with the Raptors in the RAID 0 is that if one drive fails you lose everything. I have an old 120GB Firewire drive that I will use to backup my Raptors.

MOBO - definitely go with something based on the 875 chipset. I like the ASUS P4P-800E but other choices are good as well.

Speakers - Z-680 seem to be about the best bang-for-the buck. The Klipsch Pro Media's are also very nice but in Canada they are almost double what the Z-680's are. It may be different elsewhere.

 

[oalvarez]

i just finished building a "latest and greatest" and within reason. i spent a lot of time researching what the best components were and their respective availibility. there will always be the arguements/differences, but for the most part, i think the list works, is reasonable, and can be purchased today. details as follow:

? 1 ANTEC PLUS1080AMG FILE SERVER TOWER W/TRUE 430W (PENTIUM 4 READY) ATX POWER SUPPLY (80mm FAN(BLACK))
? 1 ASUS SK8N NVIDIA nFORCE3 PRO150 CHIPSET ULTRA ATA133 ATX FORM FACTOR 1xAGP(PRO)/5xPCI/4xDDR W/SATA, RAID, USB 2.0 (CPU TYPE:AMD OPTERON - SOCKET 940)
? 1 AMD ATHLON 64 FX51 RETAIL BOXED 64-BIT SOCKET 940 W/COOLING FAN (3 YEARS WARRANTY) (ARCTIC SILVER 5 COMPOUND)
? 2 SEAGATE 160GB ST3160023AS SERIAL ATA150 7200RPM 8MB 8.5MS BA08636
? 1 CORSAIR TWINX1024-3200 Registered LL 2X64X64 400MHZ 2X512MB (MATCHED PAIR) 2-3-2-6 DDR DIMM W/HEAT SPREADER
? 1 ATI RADEON 9800XT 256MB AGP
? 1 LITE ON 52X/32X/52X BLACK EIDE INTERNAL CDRW LITE ON 16X-DVD/48X-CDROM INTERNAL EIDE BLACK AA21140-AA00482-
? 1 LITE ON 52X/32X/52X BLACK EIDE INTERNAL CDRW
? 1 LOGITECH MX500 OPTICAL MOUSE
? 1 LOGITECH ELITE USB KEYBOARD W/PS2 ADAPTOR (Black
? 1 TEAC 1.44MB FLOPPY DRIVE (Black) (Bare Drive)
? BA19732 2 COOLER MASTER SAF-B82 80mm DUAL BALL BEARING FAN FOR CASE W/3 PIN CONNECTOR


amd is going to come out with a "socket 939" perhaps in early 2004 which will allow for the use of "non-registered" memory. as for the omission of a sound card, it was purposely done as i am a fan of quality headphones, and the sound capabilities of on-board sound is just fine in my opinion.

the configuration was purchased via newegg.com and mwave.com. total cost under $2600.

good luck with your purchase