Disco Ball Computer

Ajmejik are you into PC's? Cuz I am building one and could use the advice of someone who has kept up with whats hot and whats not.
 
I almost built my own ... but that fell through. Thus, I do not have too much practical experience, but I'd be happy to give you tips on hardware as I have researched that extensively and if you have specific questions, I have many friends who have built there own so I could find an answer if I don't know myself. Just send me a PM or start up a thread here on off-topic.
 
Well I know I wanna go with a P4 with 800Mhz FSB, I know what RAM I want, I need suggestions for mobo's but mostly I am stuck on what to get for a video card, back in the day when I built mine Nvidia was shiznit but now it seems ATI is right up there too.
 
Thor -

Just remember to buy a vid card that supports DirectX 9 and you should be fine. Keep in mind most benchmarks between ATI and Nvidia are even or within points of each other.

On the case of motherboards, I would buy one with all the bells and whistles. I thought of buying a basic MB and decided to go balls to the wall. I have Serial ATA, Firewire, USB 2.0, Digital output. Never thought I would use it, but I have my camcorder hooked into the Firewire; digital camera into the USB and a optical going into a cheap HT receiver. BTW, mine is a Athlon based system.

g
 
If you are budgeting, Athlon can really be great - they pose some serious competition to Intel ... but regardless of that, I run the Radeon 9600 Pro by ATI ... my friend has dual monitors and is a big gamer, he bought the Radeon 9800 XT , and it has been a very good performer. In the last analysis, though, when you are playing the latest games, video cards need to be very new to 'keep up' - but this all depends on what your definition of keep up is.
I think you could build a decent system with what you are looking at and buy the 9800 now with the expectation of having to upgrade in a year or two to keep your machine 'competitive'. However, if you buy a game now and just want to play that, then you are (obviously) good to go!
If you aren't too picky about game detail, a good card now should last 4-5 years. Keep the questions coming.
 
I am going with intel just for reliabilty, I've heard some horror stories about Athlons and the price difference isn't so steep that I need to risk it. I've been running my PIII 500MHz overclocked at 700 MHz for almost 4 yrs now without a hiccup.

The 9800 might be too much for me right now especially with my recent audio commitments, I will be looking for something in the $150 - $200 range I believe.
 
I just trust Intel more from my experience, just like I will prolly get an ABIT mobo since my trusty BE6 II has also been running with no probs for 4 yrs.

My IT buddy also pointed out to me the proof of the reliability issue, how many servers use Athlons? He pointed out that they seem to need to be restarted more often than Intel in 24/7 operation. Not a biggie for home use but last check I was only looking at a $60 difference between the two with the P4 having a slight edge in gaming performance.

The vid card really seems to be the rub, both Nvidia and ATI are very close in performance and both have offerings in my price range.

What I need to know is what is equal to what so I choose based upon price, for example is a 9700 Ultra the same in performance to a Radeon 9600? I have looked on the web and there are so many different cards I can't tell what is what and what does what.
 
One of the frusterating things about video cards is comparing "apples to apples" because some programs are designed to take specific advantage of a brand of card. however, direct x compatibilty (9, as was said before, you should got for) is a good meter, and megs can give a rough estimate. when it comes to games custom tailored for brands, I really don't know which card has more games on board - i mean obviously all games work with all video cards - but like i said some are designed specifically for one - the same way that the Lame MP3 codec is optimized for mmx ... well anyways i would go ATI or Nvidia but you had already decided that.

wish i could help more :(
 
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