custom built PC

[silent h3ro]

I had the impression that the Athlon 64 was better, especially with the release of the 64bit windows.

Anyway, my preliminary order woul be this;

Ur gonna see some serious ghosting with that 30ms monitor.

[browser]

@ Gam3Guy- how bad would the ghosting be and will it only be on fast gaming or also on action movies.

@ Virtualbody1234-what are the advantages of 939-pin processors or your motherboard? I thought that 754 was better

Also, in terms of compatibility, would the computer I posted before work?

[lynx]

@ Gam3Guy- how bad would the ghosting be and will it only be on fast gaming or also on action movies.

@ Virtualbody1234-what are the advantages of 939-pin processors or your motherboard? I thought that 754 was better

Also, in terms of compatibility, would the computer I posted before work?

Socket 939: 128bit memory pipeline, Hypertransport speed 5xFSB (=1GHz)
Socket 754: 64bit memory pipeline, Hypertransport speed 4xFSB (=800 MHz)
Winchester chip runs a lot cooler.

Alternative mobo is Abit A8V, slightly cheaper than the MSI board with almost exactly the same features (only 5.1 sound, but that matches your proposed speakers), has SPDIF out & in.

The spec you gave is fully compatible, but you should consider a higher quality PSU (with possibly a lower rating). Remember that EVERYTHING in the computer depends on the PSU, for £14.46 that one can't possibly be high quality.

Have you considered PCI-Express mobos?
An X300SE graphics card will give you about the same performance as the 9600 Pro for a lot lower price. Against that you will pay more for the mobo so it balances out in terms of cost, but you give yourself more options for future upgrades.

[browser]

Can I use the X300 on the motherboard i have now, because the graphics card says PCI-Express, do I need a special mobo?

[lynx]

As you say the X300 is PCI-Express so you would need a PCI-Express mobo, it won't fit your current mobo.

But PCI-Express is replacing AGP for graphics cards, just like AGP replaced PCI a few years ago. Most new graphics cards are now PCI-Express, with a few of the higher spec Nvidia cards also available in AGP.

[browser]

Thanks. But my current graphics card works on my board, right?

edit: about the PSU, ebuyers highest rating is 600w, and I have the 500w. Should I look elsewhere? I'm getting all my stuff from ebuyer (to save on shipping costs), so if normal use isn't too strenuous on this PSU, it would be ok. This PC is for a friend (i know, i know.....i shouldn't build one if I don't know that much.....but you have to learn at some point). He doesn't know much about computers and doen't use it for much more than internet surfing, occasional downloads, listening to music, and playing a few games (not many...prefers his PS2).

I appreciates everyones help in this thread

[Storm]

DONT, whatever you do, get that PSU........ thats a death trap.......

the psu is the heart of your computer....... and if your comp gets a heart attack (which you can bet on with a 15 pound psu rated at 500 watt), it can take out other components with it.......

get a antec or enermax psu (or at least something that costs you 35+ pounds


also, check out this thread....... itll give you lots of tips on building comps......

https://filesharingtalk.com/vb3/showthread.php?t=83312

[browser]

What about this;
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...duct_uid=43172

Is it compatible with the motherboard/whatever it needs to be compatible with?

[lynx]

That should be ok, but even better is this one.

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...duct_uid=86751

Same price, higher rating, and it has Sata power connectors too. I don't think you need those for Maxtor drives, but why not have more for the same price?

[harrycary]

If you want to invest in the latest and are planning on getting an AMD, then socket 939 is the way to go.

This is not a performance issue either. It has to do with future upgrades. The socket 939 is probably going to be the type AMD will use when they release dual core processors. (AMD hasn't commited to it quite yet but industry insiders expect them to anounce this soon)

Any other style of CPU will deny you future upgrades once dual-core technologies become the norm. And dual-core, while slower clock speeds, will surpass the performance of any single-core CPUs currently available.(think of them as 2 CPUs in 1)

As far as PCI Express is concerned, it is the future but right now there are no video games that even take full advantage of its' throughput speed. I mean, there are other bottlenecks in a system that negate any performance gains to be had.

Also, a PCI-Express video card requires a seperate power connector as it doesn't get it's power from the mobo but directly from the power supply. This means buying a power supply with this capability($$).

For 99% of users out there, a mobo with an 8X AGP slot will be fine for many years to come.

As I stated earlier, the April issue of MaximumPC magazines addresses these very issues and most certainly is worth reading.

edit:

and it has Sata power connectors

SATA, Serial ATA(as opposed to parallel ATA) is a different protocol of data transfer. The hard-drive you choose must be of the serial type and the mobo must be compatible with it. The power connector used is uniquely different then current parallel ATA hard-drives as well. But, SATA drives are not very common yet and quite expensive relative to size. The only true performance benefit is a boot time in mere seconds and maybe faster video processing when editing. This is not to mention their much smaller capacity(the largest 10,000 rpm SATA drive is only 74Gb).

regards,