Building my own system

[Turner]

Alright, i fixed the link.

Couple of quick comments, then I'll go back and reread everything.

First off, MC - I couldn't care less if your system was better than mine. I don't suffer from CPU envy. I have a budget, and while that budget is a bit flexible it's not made of rubber. This is the best I can do now. My whole thought process behind this is expandability. Going with the A64 chip instead of the AXP chip makes a lot more sense as the AXP is a dead line, while the A64 we can expect to see some newer chips. One hopefully that I won't need to buy another mobo for. So if you can get a better system than I can, great.

@Zakharov - What Turner Wants To Spend and What Turner Can Spend are two different totals. I am trying to get a much better system than I have now (Athlon 850 256mb 40gb nVidia 8mb card) that will not only be cheap, but expandable. So I'd rather not have to buy a new mobo in a year or two to go along with a new processor, but I want to have that ability. Like I said to MC, my thought process is Expandability. What can I get away with now while leaving the door open for later? So if I have to trim here and there, then I'll do that until I can upgrade.

@Jeratain - I didn't see any of the Socket 754 boards with Soundstream. Is it called something else? And is Realtek that bad? I don't need awesome THX certified surround sound, just enough to play my CDs so the sould decent and the games not crappy. Not so much for me, as I generally play with sounds off, but I won't be the only one to use it.

Another question to throw out. Now, I don't want to go this route, but I have to at least consider it. I can shave off the $45 for the video card and go with the SiS onboard video. I don't like the shared 64mb memory, but at a half a gig RAM I could probably afford to eat it. Would it be worth it to forgo the video card and get the SiS onboard?

 

[DaEezT]

Another question to throw out. Now, I don't want to go this route, but I have to at least consider it. I can shave off the $45 for the video card and go with the SiS onboard video. I don't like the shared 64mb memory, but at a half a gig RAM I could probably afford to eat it. Would it be worth it to forgo the video card and get the SiS onboard?

on-board vs a 45$ card is probably a tie but like I mentioned before:
I'd go for VIA or nVidia chipsets. They are not that expensive but offer top quality. The mobo chipset is the wrong place to shave off imo, especially if you wanna keep it for quite some time and upgrade the other components around it.


on a more general note:
I personally would go for a good 939 mobo even with a low budget.
CPU and board are each ~ 20% more expensive than the socket 754 versions but you'll have the best upgrading potential.
The current boards all support CPUs up to at least the 3800+ so you could easily keeps such a board for ..hmm 5 years? and upgrade the CPU when you feel like it.

I would rather invest the extra 50$ now and go for socket 939 instead of dragging that single channel/slower HT crap from the 754 with me the next 5 years.

PCIe is definitely not needed now, especially with a low budget. It's only interesting if you have money to spend on a high end card but there are enough good lower to upper class cards on AGP (Radeon 9X00 series ) that you can buy now or upgrade to later.

 

[Zakharov]

The X300 is notorious for being a bad video gamers card...if your at that pricerange, try for a 9600 or so, much better for less.

That is why I made the suggestion to MarineCorps to go for an AGP mobo and card. This is certainly the way I would be thinking, as you cannot demand a PCI-E system and then complain about the price. As I said, you have to pay a premium for PCI-E for almost no performance increase over AGP.

Is the X300 that bad though? From the benchmarks I have seen it performs on a par with the 9600pro. It also has the same number of pixel pipelines and is clocked at a similar level. Therefore it seems to be a PCI-E equivalent of the 9600pro.

I am trying to get a much better system than I have now....that will not only be cheap, but expandable. So I'd rather not have to buy a new mobo in a year or two to go along with a new processor, but I want to have that ability. Like I said to MC, my thought process is Expandability. What can I get away with now while leaving the door open for later? So if I have to trim here and there, then I'll do that until I can upgrade.

If I have learnt anything about computer hardware it is that true expandability is a myth. Sure, you can keep your mobo and put in a slightly quicker processor in a year's time, but will the cost be worth it? By the time you are looking to upgrade you will probably find that technology has surpassed anything that will work with anything remaining in your current system.

For example, my current mobo will only take CPUs up to 3GHz, but that is barely an upgrade over the 2.53GHz one in there at the moment. Therefore if I wanted to upgrade the CPU I would have to get a completely new mobo, which would also mean new RAM as PC-2700 will slow down a new system.

Of course if you buy in at the lowest end of the range (eg. A64 3000+) you will have a better upgrade path. In 2 years time you will be able to put in a 4000+ CPU, provided you can find one for sale, and get an instant performance boost. Again though, will the price be worth it and will the technology have moved on to a point where this upgrade seems minimal? By then it will probably be more cost effective to wait an extra couple of years and get another completely new system.

My point is that whilst it is possible to leave room for small upgrades, you will not be able to undertake a major upgrade without buying a new system equipped with the latest technology.

I find that where pc hardware is concerned, you get what you pay for, except at the very top end where you pay a premium. You can save yourself some money by looking at lower grade parts, but you will also get less performance. The more money you invest in a system now the longer it will be before you are thinking about upgrading.

Anyway, despite this rant (sorry!), I think that you will at least have some kind of upgrade path if you can push the budget to a S939 CPU and mobo. For only a little extra money your system will last much longer before becoming obsolete.

Another question to throw out. Now, I don't want to go this route, but I have to at least consider it. I can shave off the $45 for the video card and go with the SiS onboard video. I don't like the shared 64mb memory, but at a half a gig RAM I could probably afford to eat it. Would it be worth it to forgo the video card and get the SiS onboard?

It depends on what you want to use the system for. If all you are going to do is play civ3 and browse the net, then onboard video will be adequate. However, if you have any plans to play games that require 3D acceleration, or do any video encoding/decoding for example, then you will want a separate graphics card.

I agree with DaEezT, the mobo is not the place to be cutting corners as it is the heart of the machine.

Looking at the list you compiled in post #18, I don't see how you are going to spend any less without reducing the time before wanting to upgrade. If you go for anything less than what you have there, it will be obsolete that much sooner for only a small saving.