Which MB of these 4 to buy?
The time has come to build a new computer system. I'm split on the AMD / P4 thing, so tell me which of these 4 MB's you'd buy.
I do not do any game playing on my computer. I just go all over the internet, watch videos and DVDs, and as you probably all know by now, I do a lot of digital video editing for my weekly webshow.
So far I've been doing it all with a Dell 2100 / Celeron 1.1 / 384 MB PC100 SDRAM. It does it, but not very quickly.
The 4 contenders (in alphabetical order):
Abit IS7 (P4)
Abit NF-7S (AMD)
Asus P4P800 Deluxe (P4)
Asus A7N8X (AMD)
On pricewatch.com these MB's were in the $68-$78 price range. At motherboards.com, they were in the $95-$141 range.
Is pricewatch a good place to buy from?
I'll be buying a processor of at least 2 Ghz (AMD or P4) and 512MB-1GB of memory.
I haven't looked into those prices yet, right now I'm just concerned about the MB.
What's a decent video card? Radeon 9000 64 MB or 128 MB? I want something significantly better than on board graphics, but don't need a full game playing video card either. Keep the video card under $100. Anyone got a good one for sale?
I do not do any game playing on my computer. I just go all over the internet, watch videos and DVDs, and as you probably all know by now, I do a lot of digital video editing for my weekly webshow.
So far I've been doing it all with a Dell 2100 / Celeron 1.1 / 384 MB PC100 SDRAM. It does it, but not very quickly.
The 4 contenders (in alphabetical order):
Abit IS7 (P4)
Abit NF-7S (AMD)
Asus P4P800 Deluxe (P4)
Asus A7N8X (AMD)
On pricewatch.com these MB's were in the $68-$78 price range. At motherboards.com, they were in the $95-$141 range.
Is pricewatch a good place to buy from?
I'll be buying a processor of at least 2 Ghz (AMD or P4) and 512MB-1GB of memory.
I haven't looked into those prices yet, right now I'm just concerned about the MB.
What's a decent video card? Radeon 9000 64 MB or 128 MB? I want something significantly better than on board graphics, but don't need a full game playing video card either. Keep the video card under $100. Anyone got a good one for sale?
0
Comments
Abit NF7-S v2.0
AMD "Barton" 2500+
And you'll see that almost always, newegg.com is the best place to buy from.
There is a reason that most people recommend the same things over, and over, and over again - because they have been tested, tried and true, and have come out again and again to be the best combo for the money. You can't touch it.
Hasn't failed me yet.
Cables - Round
Antec Cobra A26 Round 133 ATA Cable, Model "77226" -RETAIL
Specifications:
40-pin 80-conductor cable, ATA133/100/66/33 compliant for high speed data transfer
Highly flexible 26" round cable (16" + 10") with two device connections, one motherboard connector.
Wrapped with nylon mesh plastic tubing for maximum air flow improvement.
Shielded with aluminum foil and braided silver mesh with ground, for maximum shielding. more info>
N82E16812105001 $10.00
$20.00
Antec Cobra F16 Round FDD Cable, Model "77216" -RETAIL
Specifications:
Highly flexible 16" round cable with one device connector, one motherboard connector
Wrapped with nylon mesh tubing for maximum air flow improvement more info>
N82E16812105003 $7.00
$7.00
Cases (Computer Cases, ATX Form)
ANTEC Performance Series II Mid Tower Case With 350W Power Supply, Model "SX835II" -RETAIL
Specifications:
Case Type: Mid-Tower
Color: White
Material: 1.0 SECC
Drive Bays: 3x5.25'',5x3.5''
Expansion Slots: 7
Front Ports: USB2.0 x2,IEEE1394 x1
Power Supply: 350W(SL350)SmartPower
Cooling System: 80mm Fan Rear(Standard) x2,Front(Optional) x2,Sidepanel(Optional) x1
Mainboard Compatibility: Standard ATX
Dimensions: 20.6''x8.1''x18.6''(440x206x472mm)
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N82E16811129119 $72.00
$72.00
CD/DVD Burners (RW Drives)
Lite-On Beige 52X32X52 CD-RW Drive, Model LTR-52327S BEIGE, Retail
Specifications:
Write Speed: 52X CD-R, 32X CD-RW
Read Speed: 52X CD-ROM
Interface: ATAPI / E-IDE
Buffer: 2MB
OS Support: Windows 95/98/NT/ME/XP/2000
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Remark: Retail box (see pictures for details) more info>
* (Includes FedEx Saver Shipping) N82E16827106198 $38.00
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$32/10 pcs*
$32/20 pcs*
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CD/DVD ROM Drives
LITE-ON 16X DVDROM, Model XJ-HD166/XJ-HD165H, Retail
Specifications:
Read Speed: 48X CD, 16X DVD
Interface: E-IDE/ATAPI
Buffer: Not specified
Access Time: 120ms ( typical )
Data Transfer Rate: DVD-ROM 8600~21600 KB/sec, CD-ROM 3000~7200 KB/sec
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Remark: Retail (see pictures for details) more info>
* (Includes FedEx Saver Shipping) N82E16827131113 $35.00
$29.5/5 pcs*
$29/10 pcs*
$28.5/20 pcs*
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Fans, Heatsinks (Case, CPU, Chipset)
Dynatron CPU Fan for Socket A/370 With 4 LEDs, Model:BH-625LED, 63x62x60mm.
Specification
Compatibility: Socket A/370
Bearing Type: 2 Ball
Nominal Speed(RPM): 6800
Max Air Flow(CFM): 37.61
Max Pressure: 0.33 Inch-H2O
Fan Material: Plastic
Heat Sink Material: Copper C1020
Rated Voltage: 12 V
Operating Voltage: Unknow
Noise(dBA): 46.5 more info>
N82E16835114013 $10.99
$10.99
VANTEC Spectrum Fan Card For Cases, Model "SP-FC70-BL" -RETAIL
Specifications:
Compatibility: PC case
Dimensions: 195x92x20mm
Bearing Type: Ball bearing
Nominal Speed(RPM): 2400-4000
Max Air Flow(CFM): 17.73-29.54
Max Pressure: Not specified
Rated Voltage: 7-12V
Connector: 4 Pin
Noise(dBA): 25-36.64 more info>
N82E16835888112 $18.99
$18.99
5x Thermaltake SMART CASE FAN II. Variable Fan Speed Control, by temperature sensor.
Specification:
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Dimensions: 80x80x25mm
Bearing Type: 2 Ball
Nominal Speed(RPM): 1300~4800
Max Air Flow:(CFM): 20.55~75.70
Max Pressure: 1.45~8.43 mm H2O
Heat Sink Material: N/A
Rated Voltage: 12 VDC
Noise(dBA): 17~48
Special Features: Temp.control fan speed. more info>
* (Includes FedEx Saver Shipping) N82E16835999111 $8.70
$12.99/1pcs*
$8.9/2 pcs*
$8.8/3 pcs*
$8.7/5 pcs*
$43.50
Floppy Drives
SAMSUNG SFD321B/LEB 1.44MB 3.5inch Floppy Disk Drive, OEM Driver Only
Specifications:
Capacity: 1.44MB
Average Access Time: not specified
Interface: 34 Pin Standard Floppy Connector
Form: 3.5 inch
Media Type: All Standard 1.44MB & 720KB 3.5 Floppy Diskettes
Features: Easy to Install, Just Plug & Play, For IBM5 & 100% Compatible Computers
Remark: OEM 1 Year Warranty more info>
* (Includes FedEx Saver Shipping) N82E16821103202 $6.25
$6.25/50 pcs*
$6/70 pcs*
$5.75/90 pcs*
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Hard Drives
Maxtor 120GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive, MODEL 6Y120M0, OEM Drive Only
Specifications:
Capacity: 120GB
Average Seek Time: 9.3 ms
Buffer: 8MB
Rotational Speed: 7200 RPM
Interface: Serial ATA
Features: FDB Motors
Manufacturer Warranty: 3 years
Remark: OEM Drive Only more info>
N82E16822144319 $107.00
$107.00
Memory (System Memory)
2x Mushkin 184 Pin 512MB DDR PC-3200 - Retail
Specification
Manufacturer: Mushkin
Speed: DDR400(PC3200)
Type: 184 Pin DDR SDRAM
Error Checking: Non-ECC
Registered/Unbuffered: Unbuffered
Cas Latency: 2.5-4-4
Support Voltage: 2.6V
Bandwidth: 3.2GB/s
Organization: 64M x 64 -Bit
Warranty: Lifetime more info>
N82E16820146219 $82.00
$164.00
Motherboards - AMD
ABIT nForce2 Ultra 400 Chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket A CPU, Model "NF7-S" -RETAIL
Specifications:
Supported CPU: AMD K7 Duron/Athlon/Athlon XP Processors
Chipset: NVIDIA nForce2 Ultra 400 + MCP-T
FSB: 266/333/400MHz
RAM: 3x DIMM for Max 3GB DDR333/266/200,2x DIMM for Max 2GB DDR400
IDE: 2x UltraDMA 33/66/100/133 up to 4 Devices
Slots: 1x AGP 8X/4X, 5x PCI
Ports: 2xPS2,2xCOM,1xLPT,SPDIF Out,6xUSB2.0(Rear 2),2xIEEE1394a header,Audio Ports
Onboard Audio: SoundStorm APU(Dolby 5.1) + 6-Channel AC97 CODEC
Onboard LAN: 10/100M
Onboard SATA/RAID: 2x Serial ATA, RAID 0, 1
Onboard 1394: 2 Ports by Cable(See pics)
Form Factor: ATX more info>
N82E16813127166 $101.99
$101.99
Processors
AMD Athlon XP 2500+ "Barton", 333 FSB, 512K Cache Processor - Retail
Specification
Model: AMD Athlon XP 2500+
Core: Barton
Operating Frequency: 1.83GHz
FSB: 333MHz
Cache: L1/64K+64K; L2/512K
Voltage: 1.65V
Process: 0.13Micron
Socket: Socket A
Multimedia Instruction: MMX, SSE, 3DNOW!, 3DNOW!+
Packaging: Retail Box (Heatsink and Fan included) more info>
N82E16819103379 $90.00
$90.00
Video Cards
Transcend ATI RADEON 9000 Video Card, 64MB DDR, DVI/TV-Out, 4X AGP, Model "TS64MVDR90" -RETAIL
Specifications:
Chipset/Core Speed: ATI RADEON 9000/250MHz
Memory/Effective Speed: 64MB DDR/400MHz
BUS: AGP 1X/2X/4X
Ports: VGA Out(15 Pin D-Sub)+DVI Connector+TV-Out(S-Video Out)
Support 3D API: DirectX®8.1, OpenGL®
Cable/Accessories: 1 Cable, Driver CD, Manual
Max Resolution@32bit Color: 2048X1536@85Hz
Retail Box (See pics for details) more info>
N82E16814156005 $63.00
$63.00
Subtotal » $777.72
If you do a lot of video encoding I'd have to break away from my beloved AMD and say the P4 setup will most likely be the best for you. If you don't do much (mainly your weekly show) then the AMD should not only be cheaper, but faster in almost everything else.
// Edit: Forgot to answer your question.
P4: IS7
AMD: NF7-S v2.0
Yeah, most of the video codecs were written on Pentium (PII, PIII, etc)boxes and were thus "creation and dev biased" that way. So, lots of the software that uses them runs better on Intel because that was what the codecs were deved on. For a very high volume of video dev and multimedia dev I would have to agree totally with A2Jfreak on this one issue.
John-- who for some things thinks a non-Windows O\S is better, and the O\S he uses for those things also works better with Intel as lots of the core dev was done on Intel boxes.
This is a very NF7-S (especially v2.0) heavy site.
You have at least one.
I have two.
Thrax has five.
csimon has at least one.
Geeky1 has at least one.
MJO has at least one.
Al has three.
mmonnin has two.
That's 16 right there, with only eight people. Yay NF7-S!
Don't forget to add my three nf7-s
I did some more research on the processors, and I can see why the AMD Barton core XP 2500 is recommended - 512K L2 cache and the next higher Barton core is a 2800 at over $30 more.
Are these Barton chips more likely to be locked or unlocked? I'll overclock it some. I've been stuck with this Celeron 1.1 for too long, and I've just GOT to have more than 2 Ghz. Preferably more than 2.2 Ghz. The 2500 is only 1.83 Ghz.
Here's a memory question that has probably been answered here before but I didn't read:
If I start off with 512 MB of PC3200 memory (Corsair or Kingston from newegg.com), would I be better off with 1 stick of 512 or 2 sticks of 256? I think the DDR thing depends on having 2 seperate sticks, right?
I'd like to get the single 512, and maybe later on I'll get another 512 and have 1 GB of PC3200. There's not much difference in price.
It really won't make too big of a difference on thr 2x256 or 1x512 issue. Dual Channel adds a negligible amount of performance, so I would just go with the 1x512 stick as they are typically the same price and allows you to expand to >1Gb in the future.
If you know you're going to get another 512MB stick later on then I would get a single 512MB stick, but if you're unlikely to purchase more memory later on then purchasing 2x256MB would be better.
I don't think any system should have less than 1GB of RAM, but I'm a bit of a RAM hog. 512MB might be perfectly fine for your needs for a while to come.
KingFish
Several vendors at pricewatch.com have it for as low as $68-$75.
Can anyone tell me why I should spend an extra $30 at newegg? I'll make sure I get the Version 2 model.
They will also RMA any retail product for 1 full year after the date of purchase.
The audio connectors seem to be similar. Even if it was just regular audio I wouldn't care.
Getting the standard NF-7 board will save me $30 on options I don't need. Does it also have a more desireable version 2.0 to it?
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-103-417&catalog=343&depa=1
They need to update their links.
But yeah, NF7-S and the 2500+.
Well, more likely somewhat unlocked with the Barton 2500. I have a lowly MSI motherboard and Barton 2500 and even with board and RAM limits I am running CPU at 2070 GHz true very close to 24\7 and have been for over a month. Temp stable, neat CPU.
If only for show, then do not bother with Intel. AMD for speed for price, for now. As your interests change, you might want something more robust.
John D.