# advice on new compy



## diroga (Mar 16, 2005)

this computer is for the family. no hard core gaming or graphics rendering, mostly internet and word processing.

mobo
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-185-010&depa=1

RAM
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=20-223-002&DEPA=0

CPU
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-104-160&depa=1

do all the parts agree wiht each other? what type of heat sink/fan do i need for the cpu? i went with AMD because it is cheaper than intel chips. what type of power will i need to run that plus 1 dvd/cd drive hdd and a floppy? 350W?


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## mgoldb2 (Mar 16, 2005)

What Is your budget?

Becasue for a little extra money you could go with a socket 754 sempron 2600+ which would give you much better performance.  I would conisder getting 512 ram because windows xp can quickly use up 256 ram.

I can give better recomendations once I know your budget.


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## atomic (Mar 16, 2005)

you can get a socket A Sempron 2600+


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## Praetor (Mar 16, 2005)

> you can get a socket A Sempron 2600+


Yes but if you can get a S754 chip compared to S462 then theres no reason for the S462


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## diroga (Mar 17, 2005)

i'm going to be using win2kpro. A 754 sempron 2600+ is 1.6ghz but the cpu i pick was 1.8ghz. will the sempron run fastere because of the larger cache?


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## mgoldb2 (Mar 17, 2005)

diroga said:
			
		

> i'm going to be using win2kpro. A 754 sempron 2600+ is 1.6ghz but the cpu i pick was 1.8ghz. will the sempron run fastere because of the larger cache?



It will run faster but not because of the cache.  first of all the 200HTT is better then the 133fsb.  The socket 754 chips has a on-die memory controller that gives it a advantage.  To put plainly the socket 754 chips is just a better arctecture then the socket A chips.

Anouther reason is it appears that amd is moving away from socket A and trying to replace it with socket 754 being there budget version.  I am not certain but I believe that only the socket A semprons are not discontinue from the socket A line.

Again it would be helpful if you said a budget for this computer.


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## diroga (Mar 17, 2005)

below $200 would be nice. i already have the video card and drives. so a 1.6 is faster than a 1.8. how noticable is the differenece? the computer doesnt have to be that great.


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## mgoldb2 (Mar 20, 2005)

diroga said:
			
		

> below $200 would be nice. i already have the video card and drives. so a 1.6 is faster than a 1.8. how noticable is the differenece? the computer doesnt have to be that great.



I personally never uses a sempron yet but I would think the difference should be notiable between a socket A and socket 754 cpu.  There should especially be a notable difference between a duaron and a sempron.

if you have $200 for motherboard, cpu, ram then I would do something like the following.

cpu sempron 2600+ skt 754 $79
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-104-226&depa=1 
motherboard  GIGABYTE "GA-K8NS" $73
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-128-259&depa=1 
Ram 512mb pc3200 $45
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-150-619&depa=1 

Total: $197

If this to much money then I guess you could go down to a socket A board.  I still think you should get something better then a duron that is a really old cpu.


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## diroga (Mar 20, 2005)

so for $100 more i could get better preformance? again this computer doesnt have to amzing or anything. it has to be better than a P3 666Mz/133 computer. the computer is for my non computer inclinde parents so with a better system would it be more reliable?


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## 691175002 (Mar 20, 2005)

diroga said:
			
		

> so for $100 more i could get better preformance?



For more you can almost always get more performence


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## mgoldb2 (Mar 21, 2005)

diroga said:
			
		

> so for $100 more i could get better preformance? again this computer doesnt have to amzing or anything. it has to be better than a P3 666Mz/133 computer. the computer is for my non computer inclinde parents so with a better system would it be more reliable?



reliable might not be the word I use because reliabilty have alot to do with the software installed.  You would definally see better performance for the $100.  The nice thing about what I recommend is that it should do all basic tasks like office quickly.  The cpu I chose will handle all basic tasks quickly.  I chose 512 ram instead of 256 because at least I try to avoid having the dreaded windows need to increase virtural memory message and then the whole computer starts going at a snail pace.


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## diroga (Mar 21, 2005)

the ram is a good price for the amount. i will be using windows 2000 pro, so the memory demand is not that high. the mobo is ATA 133 but will it work with my old ATA 66 HD? also i have an AGP 2x video card will that work on that mobo?


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## mgoldb2 (Mar 21, 2005)

diroga said:
			
		

> the ram is a good price for the amount. i will be using windows 2000 pro, so the memory demand is not that high. the mobo is ATA 133 but will it work with my old ATA 66 HD? also i have an AGP 2x video card will that work on that mobo?



The harddrive should work without a problem.

The video card not going to work but I doubt you can find any new mobo that still uses agp 2X.  A 8x agp slot will work with 4x and 8x video cards.


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## mgoldb2 (Mar 21, 2005)

Since you computer will be doing no gaming.  I guess you dont need a great motherboard espcially since you proberly not planning on OC at all.  So a option is instead of picking the motherboard I chose instead go with a gigabyte via k8m800 board that has intergrated graphic.  This will fix your problem with not having a graphic card that works on new motherboads.  This board only cost $68.  The chipset not the best but quility wise gigibyte products are usually reliable.

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-128-262&depa=1

This is only a good option if no gaming will be played.


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## diroga (Mar 21, 2005)

are you sure i cant step down the bus or something for the AGP? it wont automaticaly do it or anything?


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## mgoldb2 (Mar 21, 2005)

diroga said:
			
		

> are you sure i cant step down the bus or something for the AGP? it wont automaticaly do it or anything?



I pretty sure it uses a different voltage that cant be changed


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## diroga (Mar 21, 2005)

ok then intergrated video it is. is there a way i can find out how good the intgrated video is on that mobo? it doesnt give its specs.


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## mgoldb2 (Mar 21, 2005)

This what I could find on it

Integrated UniChrome™ Pro IGP
- Dual pixel pipelines
- 128-bit 2D/3D engine
- 200MHz engine clock speed
- up to 64MB shared memory

MPEG-2 hardware acceleration

Not great but I doubt what ever card you had that agp 2x is that great either.  Should work fine as long as you dont plan on playing any new video games.


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## diroga (Mar 21, 2005)

it sounds better that my geforce 256. the games that would be played are counter strike other games made before 2000. starcraft and the like.


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## Kristjan (Mar 21, 2005)

for editing documents and for such things i'd suggest an emac (www.apple.com). just an different point of view.


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## diroga (Mar 21, 2005)

im not sure how compadability is looking for mac PC in the future. it would be nice to get one but i doubt it will happen.

how about a package deal like this?
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-135-184&depa=0


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## mgoldb2 (Mar 21, 2005)

diroga said:
			
		

> im not sure how compadability is looking for mac PC in the future. it would be nice to get one but i doubt it will happen.
> 
> how about a package deal like this?
> http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-135-184&depa=0



If that all you want to spend fine but my point was trying to avoid using a socket A motherboard and use a socket 754 instead.  You get better performance and options out of a socket 754. Also I just not a big fan of ECS.  I usually avoid the budget motherboard company they tend to give me trouble from personal experience.


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## diroga (Mar 22, 2005)

heck it's not my money....754 it is.


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## Praetor (Mar 24, 2005)

> are you sure I cant step down the bus or something for the AGP? it wont automaticaly do it or anything?


If you mean something like AGP8X or AGP4X then yes, if you mean the voltage than nope



> heck it's not my money....754 it is.


Good call


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## diroga (Mar 24, 2005)

will the fan and heat sink that comes wiht this cpu http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-104-209&depa=1 be good enough? i wont be OC it.


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## mgoldb2 (Mar 25, 2005)

diroga said:
			
		

> will the fan and heat sink that comes wiht this cpu http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-104-209&depa=1 be good enough? i wont be OC it.



If you dont OC then the heatsink and fan for the cpu that comes stock should work fine.


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## diroga (Mar 25, 2005)

so what is the differance between these boards? they are basicaly the same except for the chipset. how do you tell which is the better chipset? the $10 differance?

Gigabyte
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=13-128-262&catalog=23&manufactory=BROWSE

ECS
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=13-135-170&catalog=23&manufactory=BROWSE

how many watt power suply do i need? 1 hdd, 1 floppy, 1 or 2 CD/DVD


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## mgoldb2 (Mar 25, 2005)

diroga said:
			
		

> so what is the differance between these boards? they are basicaly the same except for the chipset. how do you tell which is the better chipset? the $10 differance?
> 
> Gigabyte
> http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=13-128-262&catalog=23&manufactory=BROWSE
> ...



Those are the same chipset.  both are VIA K8M800.  If you ment to say company then gigbyte definally the better company.  I am a little bias against ECS due to extremly bad luck I have always had with them.

Up to you which one you go with.  It possiable you would have better luck then me with ecs.


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## diroga (Mar 25, 2005)

i havent heard much of ESC. all i hear is good complements about gigabyte. how much wattage to i need?


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## mgoldb2 (Mar 25, 2005)

diroga said:
			
		

> all i hear is good complements about gigabyte. how much wattage to i need?



Yeah Gigabyte motherboards have always worked great for me.

I would recommend around a 400 watt psu of decent quility.

for your system something like this would proberly be fine.
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=17-153-006&depa=0 
Some people would say the 12v line is a little weak at 18A but I think it would be plenty to handle this system.


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## diroga (Mar 25, 2005)

i found in one of those small desktop compaq's a 230 watt psu. it was very small. hard to think that could power 3 drive and a mobo

anyways, i plan on buying the case+psu at a local computer store so i avoid the shipping. is 400W a bit much? 300 good?

18 Amps? on a computer??


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## mgoldb2 (Mar 25, 2005)

diroga said:
			
		

> anyways, i plan on buying the case+psu at a local computer store so i avoid the shipping. is 400W a bit much? 300 good?



300 watts might be fine for this computer.  You cant go wrong with a 400watt one thoe.  I usually stick with 400watt power supplies to be on the safe side.  You really cant have too powerful of a powersupply.  I would see how much a good 300watt psu cost compare to the 400watt one I showed.  If the price not much differenct then just go with the 400watt one.

edit: just to point out the PSU I showed on newegg says that it free shipping for this particular item.


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## diroga (Mar 25, 2005)

my dad wants a new case that isnt as big as our curnet one. i'll check localy first then consult the internet.

question about the gigabyte mobo. it looks like there is a second power plug on it, a 4 pin conector. it is between the usb/aduio and the heat sink. do i need a specal psu for that?

will the cpu stock heat sink and fan fit into the slot wiht that black clamp thing on the board there?


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## mgoldb2 (Mar 25, 2005)

diroga said:
			
		

> my dad wants a new case that isnt as big as our curnet one. i'll check localy first then consult the internet.



Just make sure the case you choose can fit a ATX motherboard and PSU.



			
				diroga said:
			
		

> question about the gigabyte mobo. it looks like there is a second power plug on it, a 4 pin conector. it is between the usb/aduio and the heat sink. do i need a specal psu for that?



Yeah most motherboards these days have 2 powerconnectors to the motherboard.  Most of todays PSU comes with connections for both.



			
				diroga said:
			
		

> will the cpu stock heat sink and fan fit into the slot wiht that black clamp thing on the board there?



I am pretty sure it will.  The heatsink it comes with is ment for skt 754 motherboards.


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## diroga (Mar 25, 2005)

> Yeah most motherboards these days have 2 powerconnectors to the motherboard. Most of todays PSU comes with connections for both.



so i have to check the psu for this power plug? will the computer work wiht out the second power plug?


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## mgoldb2 (Mar 25, 2005)

diroga said:
			
		

> will the computer work wiht out the second power plug?



No I very much doubt the computer would work without both power connectors pluged in.


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## diroga (Mar 25, 2005)

i need to read the manual for the mobo before buying the psu then.


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## Praetor (Mar 25, 2005)

> will the computer work wiht out the second power plug?


There are very few exceptions (actually i can only think of one ... and its only a potential cuz im too lazy to check) ... so no it wont work without the ATX12


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## diroga (Mar 25, 2005)

i need to look for ATX12  psu inside the case? any other nuances should be aware of?


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## diroga (Mar 30, 2005)

my computer teacher said that those 4 pin connectors are for P4's not AMD's. is he right? the picture for the mobo shows the 4 pin connector but the specs say it is an AMD.


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## Asobu (Mar 30, 2005)

The p4s were the first to use it but AMD also uses it now.

So no... your computer teacher isn't right.


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## diroga (Mar 30, 2005)

well he is 22....anyways i cant find the right power plug for that 4 pin thing on any modern atx psu?


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## Asobu (Mar 30, 2005)

What motherboard are you getting?

How much can you spend on a PSU?

P.S. I'm only 19


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## diroga (Mar 30, 2005)

this is the mobo http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=13-128-262&catalog=23&manufactory=BROWSE


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## Asobu (Mar 30, 2005)

Heres a 350 that should do just fine for what you want

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=17-171-002&depa=0


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## diroga (Mar 30, 2005)

i plan on buying a case wiht a psu inside at a local computer store to save money on the shipping. http://www.4dcomputers.com/cgi-bin/start.cgi?type=javascript


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## Asobu (Mar 30, 2005)

Pretty much any PSU you buy today will have the ATX12 on it.  If it says P4 ready it will definitely have it.


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