My Computer Build!

[ChopstickHero]

the athlon 64 chips are really outstanding. alienware uses them instead of P4s on their highest end models.

again, if i was going to get something "next generation", i would definitely get a PCI-express system. however, like i said before, it's in its first generation and there are going to be huge improvements eventually. but i can't wait that long..... and i don't wanna spend a fortune on 1st gen pci-x when it's only going to be obsolete sooner when 2nd gen pci-x products come out.

 

[hi-perf]

you are all wrong. for the applications the user is going to use, he will benefit MOST from a Hyperthreading enabled (C revision) p4 processor.

i was going to suggest the A64 (this is going to be my next machine, im waiting for S939 and PCI express and SATA to get a lil faster) until you said which applications you were going to be running. the p4's SSE-2 optimizations along with hyperthreading will beat an AMD64, MHz for rated speed. ie P4 3.0C vs A64-3000+.

good choices, ive seen youve done your homework. i would cut the sound card and network card as the deluxe edition would likely have that onboard. dual monitors can also help you in what you are doing, i have always wanted a dual setup, but i am just running off a dell 1901FP, which is an excellent monitor, and my reccomendation if you go single monitor.

good luck.

edit: i forgot to add, get some more HD space! you might want to try dual 120's in raid 0 or 1, whatever your flavor.

raid 0 will combine both drives into one, 240GB, and will write information simultaneously, theoretically doubleing your hd bandwidth. the only downside is that if one (or both) fails, you lose information on both drives.

raid 1 will make two 120GB drives, and each will be an exact mirror image copy of each other. no performance gains, but just redundancy. use this if you value your information very very much.

 

[MSPinVA]

What is your budget? If you are planning on doing any kind of graphics work, you might want to think about biting the bullet and getting a better graphics card. Ati FireGL and nVidia QuadroFX are more meant for graphics developers, and you would more than likely see the biggest difference in performance if you went with one of those.

 

[SciFiMan]

You might consider getting an Athlon 64 instead, just for future proofing if you plan on keeping this system a while. I would also suggest getting a 256MB video card. From now on all the high end games will need the extra ram. You might consider getting a 40GB disk as the system disk, and then a big second disk to load the programs, photos, movies, games, etc. Lastly, I would suggest making the power supply at least 450. I don't know about Intel motherboards but I would say this setup will last you a good while. Have fun!

 

[ChopstickHero]

thanks for the info and suggestions... i will update you guys on my future purchase

 

[shinzen]

Your first machine looks pretty similar to mine in the basics- did you have trouble with your dig optical out on the M/B- it took me forever to get that working right.

Computer thread huh??? Kooldino will be by shortly.

machine 1 :
AMD 2400xp - Soyo Dragon 333 Ultra Platinum - 1.5GB DDR2100 - ATI 9800pro 128mb - Sound Blaster Live 5.1 - Adaptec Firewire PCI - Antec TruePower 430 - Lian-Li PCV2000B - C: & D: Western Digital 60GB - I: six Western Digital 250GB 8mb buffer (raid5)connected to a Promise SuperTrak sx6000 w/128mb ram. Pioneer DVR-106 DVD+/-RW - ADS Pyro Dual Link External Drive Cage USB/Firewire unit with Western Digital 80GB Drive.

Total HD Space 1640GB ( 1390 effective )

machine 2 :
Pentium 4 2.8E - Intel i865GBF - 1GB Dual Channel DDR400 - Chaintech FX5950ultra 256mb - Soundblaster Audigy2 - Antec TruePower 430 - Antec P160 - C: & D: Western Digital 80GB 8mb buffer - E: Samsung SM-352 DVD/CDRW Combo - F: Western Digital 120GB 8mb buffer - G: Western Digital 120GB 8mb buffer - two Speeze External Drive Cage USB/Firewire units with Western Digital 120GB 8mb buffer Drives.

Total HD Space 560 GB

machine 3 :
Pentium 3 850mhz - Abit Motherboard (I forget the model) - 416mb pc100 - ATI All-in-Wonder 128pro 32mb AGP (getting traded to my brother this week for his Geforce FX5200) - SoundBlaster 16 PCI - C: 6GB Seagate (damn thing is old but still works fine) - E: Western Digital 120 GB 8mb buffer - USB PCI Card -Future Power Minitower Case w/250w

Total HD Space 126 GB

machine 4 :
Apple "Lime" iMac G3 266mhz - 288mb PC100 - 6GB - Yellowdog Linux 3.0

Total HD Space 6GB

Yeah so - those are my machines. Total Storage in my apartment : 2332 GB (2.33 TB!)

Been downloading for a long time. I've still got files saved from my 386 when it ran an iniquity BBS. I've been a courier, a leech, and about a half dozen other oddities. Now I'm too busy working two jobs to do any of that, but I still download and try before I buy. Oh, and if you are wondering what I need so much HD space for - it's all porn... just kidding - I own roughly 400 DVD's, and I tend to lend, borrow, trade, etc. with friends and family. I do quite a bit of burning, ripping, encoding for friends with home movies and demo tapes. I'll be adding a Hauppauge PVR-350 to one of my machines soon. Then I'm planning on picking up a laptop eventually