New PC spec..

[Jesta]

Hi!

Ive spec'd this machine (below)

AMD

AMD Athlon "Barton" XP3200+ 400FSB (Socket A) CPU - OEM
Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe nForce2 (Socket A) Motherboard
TwinMOS 512MB (2x256MB) DDR PC3200 Dual Channel Kit
Zalman CNPS7000A-Cu Ultra-Quiet CPU Cooler - Retail
Sapphire ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB DDR TV-Out/DVI - Retail


(This is.. is there a card that will complete against the Saphire above.. and is under £200.. ive been suggested to look at the Saphire 9600SE which is a great deal cheaper!)

but just dunno

the other hurdle ive got is weather to go p4...

any thoughts please?

the machine is gonna be used to re-encode VCD/SVCD to DVD and gaming.
(will the p4 be more effective due to the nature of the work?..)

Thanks guys.

[Smit]

Personally if you are going to be re-encoding VCD/SVCD to DVD and gaming then another 512MB of RAM would go quite well (upto 1GB) .

As for the graphics card then i can't think of any card under £200 that would beat the one you have chosen, the Saphire 9600SE can in some cases be flashed/overclocked to run at the same speed as a 9800 PRO but there is no guarantee that the 9600SE you get will be able to do so. Is it worth the risk buying a card to overclock and finiding that it doesnt overclock.

The AMD should be fine, won't make much of a difference i wouldnt imagine.

[Leeum]

Looks like you've cracked it, some setup there. You'd probably be best suited to AMD as they seem to perform better in Games and other Graphical CPU stressing software. I'd personally build that setup and then you can add another 512MB DDR if you feel necessary. What case are you planning to build into and have you considered cooling?

Good Luck,

Leeum

[fe_man2000]

Just bought a Cheiftec Dragon case which I am more than happy with - I recommend it highly - Esp. The extra fan bay in the HDD bay.

Once I get a decent Digital camera I will be posting in the mod's section as I have been chucking the LED fans and neon string around inside it as well.

Cheers
Ironman

[Pegasus]

the machine is gonna be used to re-encode VCD/SVCD to DVD and gaming.
(will the p4 be more effective due to the nature of the work?..)

Every single test/report I have viewed shows the P4 to outperform the AMD with ease at the above tasks (and stays a darn site cooler while doing it).

[Hangman]

The ASUS A7N8X will give you great performance. Remeber that it offers dual channel memory so if you are going to upgrade to 1gb in the future I would recommend you spend a bit extra and do it from the beginning so that you will have 2x 512. If you can't afford that I would go for 1x 512 then take advantage of the dual channel memory when you upgrade.

[Jesta]

wow! cheers for the responses so far guys!

i'll try and answer as best i can:

Personally if you are going to be re-encoding VCD/SVCD to DVD and gaming then another 512MB of RAM would go quite well (upto 1GB) .

(SMIT and Hangman)
Yeah i was seriously considering the 1GIG ram from the start... then i looked at the P4 setup....its £50 extra, but it would be put to good use when re-coding the svcd/vcd to dvd.

What case are you planning to build into and have you considered cooling?

The Case im gonna use is my existing GlobalWin 802.. (im gonna move my existing KT7-Raid system out to an old case and just sell it ...

For the cooling i was gonna use the Zalman CNPS7000A-Cu Ultra-Quiet CPU Cooler

Every single test/report I have viewed shows the P4 to outperform the AMD with ease at the above tasks (and stays a darn site cooler while doing it).

Which is why i havent ordered this system and dithering on the p4 ...
p4 (800FSB) at 3gig. with 512 DualDDR on the Asus Dulxe...('ll spec the other system im looking at and post it here...)

[Jesta]

ive thought of what everyones said so far and spec'd this its £50 more but i think it may be worth the extra (£600 incl postage)

Asus P4C800 Deluxe "Canterwood" (Socket 478) Motherboard (MB-021-AS)
Sapphire ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB DDR TV-Out/DVI - Retail (GX-017-SP)
Intel Pentium 4 "Northwood" 2.8GHz (800FSB) with HT Technology - Retail (CP-026-IN)
TwinMOS 512MB (2x256MB) DDR PC3200 Dual Channel Kit (MY-006-TM)
Zalman CNPS7000A-Cu Ultra-Quiet CPU Cooler - Retail (HS-007-ZA)


what u guys think?

[Spike2k1]

I opted for the P4 3ghz cos of its graphical relieablity. I do mostly web and video work and aint had any probs with it.
Look at cooling though. I bought some shitty tower and its like a ****ing oven.. gonna be getting my self a thermaltake tower soon. tad expensive but with 7 built in fans i think its gonna be cooler than my fridge... also the p4 has a thermal cut out so if u havnt looked deep into cooling and it does get to hot it'll cut out b4 u fry it.

and def a gig on ram.

[Jesta]

Ahh Spike, thats why i got my globalwin 802 case, its good loads of space inside, ive got 1 80ml intake, 1 80ml exhaust, i need to put a hole in the side at some stage for the extra fan...

for the cooling ive opted for a :

Zalman CNPS7000A-Cu Ultra-Quiet CPU Cooler - Retail (HS-007-ZA)

since i wont be oc'ing it for a while, this cooler aparently keeps it rock cold at standard stock speeds, the 1st thing im gonna do is drop the voltage right down..


Review here :

http://www.zalman.co.kr/english/prod...ps7000a-cu.htm

(obviously the p4 version)

(altho it will be ok for the AMD too as it comes with the fittings).

[Jesta]

mm that p4 motherboard has an option Promise board to do udma-133

its bigger brother has it built in.

Asus P4C800-E Deluxe "Canterwood" (Socket 478) Motherboard (MB-029-AS)

i wonder if im better of looking at another motherboard for the p4, is there one that will rival the board ive chosen for the AMD setup (but for the p4 obviously...)

[Spike2k1]

check out this link;
http://www.hothardware.com/hh_files/...usp4c800.shtml

the abit ic7-g is the board that i have. very similar to the one u've specced
although the one you could get is the ic7-g max3

http://www5.abit.com.tw/page/uk/moth...478&DEFTITLE=Y

it has on board chip cooling.

[Jesta]

yeah that abit board does look good too...

i looked at the both, surely there is another manufacturer that i dont know about and is able to compete againsts Abit/Asus..

[fe_man2000]

I have always done well using MSI boards - But I tend to use AMD CPU's, but I cant see there Pentium board being any less quality.

cheers
Ironman

[Jesta]

fe_man, cheers mate, i'll have a look around to see if i can find an MSI p4 board