My other project... **FINISHED** July 27, 2006, 12:45:37 AM I'm a big PC gamer and I have a respectable computer right now, but the other day, I noticed it was struggling in Battlefield 2, so I said to myself "Well, time to upgrade." I started searching on newegg.com and I noticed that AMD's X2 dual core line of processors were WAY cheaper than the last time I looked (even the new AM2 socket versions). I quickly found out why: Intel's new line of CPUs, the Core 2 Duos, are about to wipe the floor with pricing and performance over AMD. Not only are the Core 2 Duos just as cheap as their direct AMD X2 competition, they perform better than AMD's higher end CPUs. So finally, I'm in the right place at the right time! I'm on a very tight budget, but I want something to last a long time and give me very good performance. I think I've done just that. Here are the specs of my current setup and my soon-to-be setup:Current specs:AMD Athlon XP 2800+ 2.08GHz1GB (2x512, Dual Channel) DDR400 (PC3200) RAMeVGA 6600GT AGP 8x120GB 5400RPM hard drive500w power supply (I bought this beefy PSU with the plan of using it in my next build, which I still plan on doing)Soon to be specs:Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 1.83GHz2GB (2x1GB, Dual Channel) DDR2 667 (PC5400) RAMeVGA 7900GT KO250GB 7200RPM hard driveAs for the price of my new computer, you guys might be surprised to find out that it won't even crack $900 (that includes everything except the power supply). The exact total should be around $860-$880. Not bad for a close-to-top-of-the-line PC.Here is the case I'm getting:And just to show how good the new Core 2 Duos are, here are some tests:http://anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2795http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/core2duo-e6300.htmlI can't wait to get my new comp together :) . It'll be my first scratch build for myself. Quote Selected
My other project... **FINISHED** Reply #1 – July 27, 2006, 09:56:03 AM why not just spend the little bit extra for a new psu and then have 2 pcs? Quote Selected
My other project... **FINISHED** Reply #2 – July 27, 2006, 01:31:39 PM Do you really intend to cut your processing speed to 1.8GHz? You could save some money and just buy a new motherboard and processor combo from newegg or tigerdirect that will give you a FSB speed of 400 (the same as your current RAM) and that would increase your speed quite a bit. Matching the frequency of your MB, RAM, and CPU does more for performance than you might think.I have an AMD XP 3200+ and that has a FSB of 400 Hz, along with my Gigabyte MB (400 FSB also) and the DC DDR400 that I used to have (I killed it, it got too hot) my machine was killer enough to handle BF2 just fine. After I had to stick my old RAM back in to replace the fried stuff the perfromance dropped off quite a bit.Right now with a 2800 CPU you are running at a core frequency of only 166 Hz. Youre missing out on a lot of your RAMs potential. That and newegg and Tigerdirect have combos that cost anywhere from $100 to $200, nowhere near that $900 mark. Quote Selected
My other project... **FINISHED** Reply #3 – July 27, 2006, 03:50:05 PM Quote from: wyoming_birdDo you really intend to cut your processing speed to 1.8GHz? You could save some money and just buy a new motherboard and processor combo from newegg or tigerdirect that will give you a FSB speed of 400 (the same as your current RAM) and that would increase your speed quite a bit. Matching the frequency of your MB, RAM, and CPU does more for performance than you might think.I have an AMD XP 3200+ and that has a FSB of 400 Hz, along with my Gigabyte MB (400 FSB also) and the DC DDR400 that I used to have (I killed it, it got too hot) my machine was killer enough to handle BF2 just fine. After I had to stick my old RAM back in to replace the fried stuff the perfromance dropped off quite a bit.Right now with a 2800 CPU you are running at a core frequency of only 166 Hz. Youre missing out on a lot of your RAMs potential. That and newegg and Tigerdirect have combos that cost anywhere from $100 to $200, nowhere near that $900 mark. About "cutting my processing speed to 1.8GHz," yes, it's a slower clock speed, but take a quick peek at those benchmarks I posted. Remember how when AMD's Athlon series came out and they were whooping Intels with lower clock speeds? Well, thats what Intels are doing to AMDs now. That "slow" $199 1.83GHz dual core CPU is outperforming AMD's $329 2.4GHz dual core CPU, the X2 4600+, which is a pretty top-of-the-line CPU. So yes, at first glance, it may seem like I'm going down a notch, but in fact, I'm upgrading performance greatly, since even the X2 4600+, with its dual core and 64 bit capabilities, blows away my little single core, 32 bit Athlon XP. It's not even in the same ballpark. That's like comparing the size of earth to the size of Jupiter when it comes down to it. You also might want to know that I plan to keep the comp I'm about to build for at least 2-3 years; the comp I have now is only AGP, low end single core, 32 bit, 1GB regular DDR RAM, mid/low range 128MB graphics card. The comp I'm getting is PCI-Express, high end dual core, 64 bit, 2GB DDR2 RAM, high end 256MB graphics card.And I know about my RAM; there's actually a good reason behind it. When I was buying the RAM, I had originally planned on getting PC2700 RAM to match my CPU and motherboard, but it turned out that the PC3200 RAM of the same company and make was a few dollars cheaper for some reason, so I got that. When you put RAM that's faster than the motherboard supports, it automatically lowers to that speed, so it is basically PC2700 RAM right now. And since this comp doesnt support OCing ( Hewlett Packard), I can't help it at all.On another note, if anyone is wondering why I'm getting top-of-the-line stuff, here is one big reason why:That is a real time, ingame screenshot of Crysis, made by the same studio that did Far Cry. And yes, that is motion blur you see in there. And yes, it will need a beast of a PC to look like that, hence the reason I'm upgrading :D . The game is due out fall 2006.Also, about having 2 PCs, well I can still do that without buying another PSU. I just take my 6600GT out of this comp, put it back to the old onboard Geforce 4MX, hook up the original PSU, and there's another comp for me. Buying another high end PSU is out of the question; the one I have now was $100 and I got a good rebate on it. But there are already 3 computers in the house (one for me, one for my sis, and one for my parents), so I'm just going to sell off my 6600GT and PC (I'm only a 17 almost 18 year old making 5.50 an hour, after all). If anyone here is interested, it's a very good, working PC. I'm probably going to take out the hard drive (or wipe it or somethin), depending on what I feel like. My 6600GT AGP is also in great working condition. Quote Selected
My other project... **FINISHED** Reply #4 – July 31, 2006, 01:00:08 AM At first i guessed you were in the jungle.....That game must need a BIG COMPUTER ! I think the Pc that you want would do the job very well... Quote Selected
My other project... **FINISHED** Reply #5 – July 31, 2006, 10:06:39 AM That screen shot makes me want to upgrade! Quote Selected
My other project... **FINISHED** Reply #6 – August 01, 2006, 03:53:31 PM Yeah, Crysis definately makes jaws drop. You can mow down anything in the forest: trees, barns, etc. And yes, it is possible to kill enemies with a falling tree. There are so many awesome things in this game, I can't explain them all. For more screenshots, videos, and info try these links:http://pc.ign.com/objects/694/694190.htmlhttp://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/crysis/index.html?q=crysishttp://incrysis.com/crysis/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1It's also one of the first games to support DirectX10, which will be introduced when Windows Vista releases (somewhere from December - March, I expect). Currently there are no video cards with DX10 support (ATi's R600 chip and NVidia's G80 chip will be the first, and will release Q4 of ths year). If anyone is wondering "Why aren't you waitingfor DX10 then?" The answer is: I'm not getting Windows Vista for a while, so there's no point to wait when the market is perfect for consumers right now. So anyways, the shots and videos you see are still running on current DX9 hardware (although I hear that they have "forced" DX10 effects, which explains why two top of the line cards struggle in the videos).As for my build, I plan to order my CPU tomorrow or Thurs from ZipZoomFly (I get my paycheck tomorrow), and after hearing some things about the case I had chosen, I've chosen a different one (but for the same price):The two s you see on the top control the speeds of the front and rear fans (very awesome) and the small screen in between the s tells you your CPU temperature, also very cool. The power/reset button, audio jacks, etc are set on top of the case, which is perfect for me since the computer sits on the floor next to my desk. Quote Selected
My other project... **FINISHED** Reply #7 – August 01, 2006, 07:22:08 PM Good luck with it, even if you're using hardware I wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole. :p Quote Selected
My other project... **FINISHED** Reply #8 – August 02, 2006, 01:43:43 AM Quote from: Bird351Good luck with it, even if you're using hardware I wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole. :phahahahahaComputers are actually A LOT easier to work with than most people think. In fact, working on a car is much more complicated than building a PC. Building a PC would be equivalent to building a car if the wheels, chassis, body, and interior were all one piece each and you just had to snap them together. Even my dad has learned rather quickly how to work on computers.And thanks; I'm really excited to get this beast built :) . Too bad it'll still be several weeks before I get to :( . Quote Selected
My other project... **FINISHED** Reply #9 – August 02, 2006, 01:48:40 AM I got my first job in a computer store in 1995.. I'm familiar with putting computers together. :pI went through the build-my-own phase some time ago. Now I just buy cheap pre-built systems and modify them to suit my needs. The roll-your-own snobs would laugh at my main PC, but it serves me well. The one before it served me well for two and a half years. Quote Selected
My other project... **FINISHED** Reply #10 – August 02, 2006, 05:27:17 AM eh, fast computers are cool, but I seem to get better performance out of 5+ year old run of the mill computers with 96 megs of ram and windows 98 for my web browsing experiance. You just down need that much computer unless your playing games, and I hardly ever do that anymore. Quote Selected
My other project... **FINISHED** Reply #11 – August 02, 2006, 02:33:03 PM Bird351: There's nothing wrong with prebuilts for general use. Hell, thats how my current PC started out. It's a HP a320n (3 tears old now) that I upgraded with an Nvidia 6600GT graphics card, 1GB RAM, and a 500W power supply.Haystack: Yeah, I used to think that. Until my parents actually used a Pentium II, 384MB RAM, TNT 2 machine. Compared to my well kept, 3 year old PC, it was SLOOOOOOOOOOOW (and it ran Windows 98). Keeping a PC well optimized goes a long way towards having very few problems and getting stuff done quickly. Thats when you can really see the difference between computers. Quote Selected
My other project... **FINISHED** Reply #12 – August 02, 2006, 02:41:35 PM Nothing wrong with modified pre-builts for gaming, either. I have an Athlon64 3200+, 2 gigs of RAM, 380 gigs worth of hard drives, 400w power supply, ASUS X850XT mildly overclocked, and a far more decent MSI motherboard than you would expect in an eMachines. (4 DIMM slots, 4 SATA, etc.) Next upgrade is probably a dual-core chip. Quote Selected
My other project... **FINISHED** Reply #13 – August 02, 2006, 02:53:31 PM Well you're in luck! With Intel's new line of dual cores kickin AMD's butt, AMD has dropped the prices on their dual cores big time!I'm guessing you have socket 939:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103562$153! Whatta steal!Btw, your comp is better than mine :( . But not for long! :D Quote Selected
My other project... **FINISHED** Reply #14 – August 02, 2006, 03:01:15 PM I'd buy an AMD chip whether or not Intel's latest trash was faster. I refuse to ever buy another Intel CPU again. The Pentium 4 was an insult to the intelligence of computer users.. a chip solely designed to ramp up clock speeds and fool idiot consumers into buying based on a MHz number. That they've had to abandon that and go back to designing honest CPUs again is just proof that it was foolish and misguided. I'd probably get out of computing altogether before I'd buy another Intel chip. It's also one reason why I don't want to go back to the computer business.. I would not be willing to build Intel machines for customers like I used to do in the days of the P2 and P3. Hell, I'd probably own a Chevy before I'd own another Intel CPU. :pAnd yes, I am very familiar with Newegg.. been ordering from them for a few years now.Here's the one I'm watching for price drops. It briefly went down to $250 yesterday but is now back up to $265:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103546 Quote Selected
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