Gamers PC

[Young Teck 06]

Alright, I was planning to construct a gaming PC to be used for gaming mostly and some media (like Photoshop 7 and such.)

I planned out a guide below on what I want to put inside of it, performance wise for right now and I have not selected the core parts, just my performance idea.

Can I get some thoughts if this will be good enough for what I am seeking:

1. Intel P4 2.6GHz CPU
2. 500W PSU
3. Maxtor 120GB HDD
4. DVD-RW/CD-RW Burner Combo
5. SoundBlaster Audigy Sound Card
6. ATI Radeon 9200 (256MB) Video Card
7. 1GB of Memory
8. {- Still Deciding -} Water Cool System or 120mm Fan
9. PCI Network Card
10. 1.44MB Floppy Disk Drive

That is all the statistics I have for the PC so far, I'll make my final decision on parts at a later date. Another thing I am still deciding is the fact of a water cooling system or fan. Fans are good and last long but I heard water cooling system can be better in some ways that a fan can't, but then again you have to dis-assemble the PC core system to refill with the special water solution.

Anyway, does the above sound like a gaming pc?

[mikeandike22]

you should just mod one of the alienware pcs they have some sick pc's for running games and they have announced that they have a comp that runs a pt4 4ghz processor.

[Young Teck 06]

Sounds like something that has been overclocked from 3.6GHz, stupid thing is that their prices are expensive. Another place is http://www.go-l.com and they have a desktop pc with 6GHz, now that is OVERCLOCKED for sure.

[Young Teck 06]

Plus, another thing is that you have to be enrolled on their credit card thing to be able to pay monthly, which was my only option, but I am only 16 and cannot get their credit card. Anyway, I would purchase one off of eBay, but IDK. Got anyh help there for me Mike.

[mikeandike22]

i donnu get a site that offers something useful and add a paypal doante link to it or just do wat my bro did and put the donate link in his sig. Or mow lawns and shovel snow my bro makes like $300 on a good snow day.
6ghz must be really unstable even overclocking from 3.2 to 3.6 could be unstable on some machines.

[Young Teck 06]

What are they going to donate to me for though. Hmmmmm, I am trying to get my teen site online which will be subscription based only, plus the freelance work I am doing is for one of them PCs.

[Catweazle]

OK, on topic, eh?

That's a tad light on for a modern gaming rig. Matter of fact, looking at the display card chosen it's a LOT light on!

AMD Athlon64 is currently the best choice for gaming, not Intel. It'll do just as well as the Pentium for Photoshopping as well. Socket 754 is good enough and keeps costs down. Look for a decent and affordable Socket 754 NForce3 250 chipset motherboard, and an Athlon64 3200+ if you can fit it in the budget. Match it with at least 512Mb of PC3200 RAM, and 1Gb is better. Being cooler running than the latest Pentiums, it won't need either water cooling or a 120mm case fan ;)

Display card is the most important factor for games and you shouldn't accept anything less than a Radeon 9600XT or an NVidia FX5900XT bare minimum! A Radeon 9800 Pro is still a decent card and is an affordable option also.

The Athlon64 for socket 754 probably won't go much past 3200+, but the addition of a better display card later on would keep that rig gaming for a long time to come anyway, so it wouldn't matter.

If funds are too tight, you could drop that back to an Athlon64 2800+ and have room for a processor upgrade later as well (although I wouldn't bother personally) and it'd still belt the piss outta that Pentium 2.6GHz ;)

[Young Teck 06]

Well, I got speeding through it, and really, media type stuff is more AMD, Intel is said to be a better investment into a gaming PC.

I would get an 3.6GHz but so much for the high price.

I would choose nVidia most likely because of the reason being they are more better. But anyway, I'd rather just do like Mike said, and purchase a Alienware PC for best guessing.

[Catweazle]

You're living in the past with that idea that Intel Pentium is better for gaming. the Athlon64 processors beat their Pentium equivalents in games performance hands down ;)

[Young Teck 06]

What, alright, so you say. AMD is nothing but piece of trash, in gaming wise. Media is what its great for.

[Catweazle]

You're a rather rude Young Teck, I think. :confused:

Do you actually know the difference between an Athlon XP processor and an Athlon64 processor?

[rcrevolution]

woot I have a 9600Xt yaay, BTW my AMd 64 3400+ is in!!! now I just need to wait for my ram to come in WOOT!

[mikeandike22]

im pretty sure the 64 stands for 64 bit wich is the best and most expensive type of processor you can get.

[rcrevolution]

well yeah it stand for 64-bit but most expensive, not really P4 extreme edition sells for $900-$1000

and best maybe for games, p4 with HT is the beter one for multi-tasking.

[Catweazle]

best maybe for games, p4 with HT is the beter one for multi-tasking.

Not quite right. More RAM is the thing which improves multi-tasking, not really the processor at all.

The hyper-threading (simulation of dual-processors) of the more recent Pentium 4 processors is of benefit only to those types of software application which are written to make use of it. Very demanding tasks like real-time video editing and the serving of huge amounts of data from a database for example. The type of computing tasks most commonly associated with Workstation computers rather than desktop computers. Everyday computing applications and PC games make no use of the feature at all.

[Young Teck 06]

The price of Intel P4 Extreme Editions just makes me wanna cry :sad:

[Catweazle]

Especially when their performance doesn't really exceed that of their much cheaper Athlon64 conterparts ;)

[Young Teck 06]

Yea true, I need a new video card, for this darned The Sims 2 game. Whenever I try and install the game, it doesnt autorun and it doesnt manually Run >> D:/RUN either. Stupid thing.

[Coconut Monkey]

What, alright, so you say. AMD is nothing but piece of trash, in gaming wise. Media is what its great for.

I suggest you drop that belief ASAP - it's quite outdated! In fact, you've got it the wrong way round. Intel's P4/Prescott is good for media and AMD's A64 is good for gaming!

Still don't believe us? Then it's time to whip out the proof.

Doom 3? AMD.

Variety of Directx 8 gaming applications.........AMD!

Another gaming comparison......guess who? AMD!

Getting a bit predictable isn't it?

[Young Teck 06]

I would get the highest rated one, but its too expensive, I could buy a whole new PC with that much money.

[rcrevolution]

thats what I ment when I said multi-tasking I was refering to the HT

Ht= hyper threading

not to be confused with the

ht= hyper transport.

i dont know why amd and intel does this, we're only human STOP CONFUSING US!!! :evil:

[Catweazle]

Not sure what you're suggesting there, rcrevolution. Are you perhaps suggesting that because a term with 'hyper' in it has been associated with an Intel product, then no AMD product should use anything which also has 'hyper' in it's name?

Hyperthreading is the parrallel processing of 'streams' of data, in a way which simulates dual processors rather than a single one. Even when the feature is enabled on the processor, it hardly ever gets used, because hardly any programs can make use of it.

Hypertransport, a feature found on newer AMD processors, is a memory management technology, not a processing technology. With AMD Athlon64 and AthlonFX processors, the memory management unit of the system is located on the processor, rather than being left as a function of the motherboard chipset's northbridge chip. The feature is constantly in use, enabling the motherboard chipset to be less complex, and enabling the computer system to operate without a traditional 'front side bus' arrangement being in place and acting as a 'bottleneck'.

[mikeandike22]

is there a motherboard that supports both intel and amd (i dont mean one that can run both at the same time) just in case you wanted to remove your processor and switch to another brand with out buying a new mb.

[Catweazle]

No. Never has been, never will be. The technologies and internal architecture of the processors are entirely different.

A motherboard which did that would really be TWO motherboards!

[mikeandike22]

i think if i ever learn computer engineering that i would make some mutant motherboard that could do that or just make a case that already has two mbs in it it would sort of be a tight squeeze maybe i could attach the second one on the back like an extra tire on the back of a car (that would be a site now wouldn't it).

[Coconut Monkey]

Hypertransport, a feature found on newer AMD processors, is a memory management technology, not a processing technology. With AMD Athlon64 and AthlonFX processors, the memory management unit of the system is located on the processor, rather than being left as a function of the motherboard chipset's northbridge chip. The feature is constantly in use, enabling the motherboard chipset to be less complex, and enabling the computer system to operate without a traditional 'front side bus' arrangement being in place and acting as a 'bottleneck'.

Quick correction - hypertransport is not the onboard memory controller found on Athlon 64 CPUs. It is basically a new type of front side bus - the main data "highway" on a motherboard. It offers high speed full-duplex transfers (google it for more detailed specifications). Vanilla A64 CPUs and FX models come with a single hypertransport link to communicate with the rest of the system. Opterons can come with many more for potential multi-processor communication (thus removing the bottleneck of a single front side bus).

[Catweazle]

It's actually a bit more than a 'new type of front side bus'. It's actually a complete new standard of system interface, only part of which is implemented in the Athlon64/FX processors and motherboards. If fully implemented it's a replacement standard for system interaction which is designed to even outperform the PCIE standard.

I've described the implementation a little more fully in this article.

[rcrevolution]

Ok I am refering to both being abrivated Ht on websites. I dont know how that was confusing.

and I believe AMD 64 only runs up to 800MHz FSb but the hyper transport allows it to double its FSb to 1600Mhz since its a full duplex or something like that, I completely saw that written in a different forum, didnt make it up.

anyways look at it 99% of the motherboards for amd 64 say FSB up to 800mhz only 1 or 2 say 1600mhz.

can someone help me, I really need this help.
Can someone go on newegg and search for a good motherbaord for a AMD 64 3400+ for under $120, or just a little over. I cant find one, everyone seems to have a major defect in its bios system or something else.

I need these stats.
mobo for a amd 64 3400+ with the full use of the FSb
agp x4/x8
2-3GB 3 slots or 2 (perferably 3) for PC32000 RAM
Nforce 3 250 chipset
and some sort of firewire.
anything else I dont care what it has.

so can anyone help me plz?

[alc6379]

No. Never has been, never will be. The technologies and internal architecture of the processors are entirely different.

A motherboard which did that would really be TWO motherboards!

Actually, I thought that initially, AMD was pin-compatible with Intel. That was WAY back in the day, though, and I've even forgotten which chips they were...

All I remember was that AMD was coming out as a cheap Intel replacement, and then they eventually moved into their own light, and moved into their own socket format.

[Coconut Monkey]

Actually, I thought that initially, AMD was pin-compatible with Intel. That was WAY back in the day, though, and I've even forgotten which chips they were...

All I remember was that AMD was coming out as a cheap Intel replacement, and then they eventually moved into their own light, and moved into their own socket format.

Initially, AMD was making chips for Intel! But yes, after setting out on their own, they did make CPUs for the socket 7 format (K5s). They then moved into super socket 7, before utilising the EV-6 bus architecture in their slot A format with the birth of the Athlon.