Posted: 12/26/2002 11:18:23 AM EDT
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Since working tech support, I have really began to hate computers with a passion, so I have pretty much ignored everything that came out in the last 2 years. I am planning on building a new PC, Do I want to go with an 850 chipset and RAMBUS memory? Or is there somehting more practical. What shoudl I go with for a video card, that also does video capture, and is good for games. I was looking to go with something like a 2Ghz, with 512mb ram, and 64 or 128mb video card. And will probably stick with my ATA100 IBM drive I want to do some video editing and production onto DVD, and also maybe a game or two, but I am not big into gaming. I also want to run Autocad, MasterCAM and possibly Solid Works since thats what I am going to school for. I will probably take the dive and run XP on it [:X*](it isn't too bad as an OS, I just hate the queer GUI) |
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Bob243, If I were you, I would stay away from RAMBUS memory. The standard seems to be DDR memory. RAMBUS is way to expensive IMHO. If you are going to do a lot of video editing, I would get the largest hard drive I could get. Video takes up a lot of space. Look into a dual processor motherboard as well. That would really speed things up. You would have to spring for Windows XP Pro, though, as XP Home doesn't support dual processors. Vulcan94 |
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I do alot of 3d graphics and NLE using Adobe Premiere on my 2.4 GHz P4 w/1GB DDR RAM. No problems. In the case of 3d graphics, graphics card and memory are important but if rendering animation it's all about cpus - and the more the better. I net render using three PCs. Whether or not a dual processor system is useful is almost totally dependent on your software. oh yea, i have an ati8500le w/128mb. They are something like $110 at crucial.com oh oh yea, and i run XP in classic mode with two monitors. the 2nd video card can be cheesy since it's only used to display extra menus/text/whatever. The main display is for graphics. |
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Yes stay away from Rambus(t) memory. Go with DDR. If buying now this is what I would go with/recommend: P4 - buy the fastest you can afford Mobo - Abit IT7-MAX2 v2.0 or Abit BE7 (3 variants, G - gigabit lan, RAID, and plain) - Get something with the 845 PE chipset Memory - at least 512MB of quality DDR, Crucial and Corsair are two of the better brands out there now Graphics card - hard pressed between Nvidia (almost always great) and ATI (has the fastest card out there now) Nvidia GF4 TI4600 or ATI 9700Pro would be the two top cards and the GF4 TI4200 and ATI 9500 or 9000Pro would be the cheaper but still quite nice choices. Since you want video capture buying a vid card with it will drive the price up, Nvidia Personal Cinema or ATI All in Wonder (ATI is better for video stuff IMO). Use the HD if you need to, but IBM harddrives are not very well regarded after they had quite the problems. BTW sgtar15, Rambus does not = 800Mhz FSB, it is still a 200Mhz FSB with a multiplier to run the memory faster (although Rambus moves faster it carries less data). DDR is double data rate. Memory does not determine the front side bus speed. |
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Bob don't worry about the way XP looks. The first thing I figured was how to get the damn thing to look like the original windows did. It's very customizable and you'll lose all the bubbly looking crap real quick. Like the others have said, you can't go wrong with ABIT and their new boards are using 845 and 850 chipsets. Video...it's a pissing contest. ATI has the top card right now but nothing really needs something like that. The GeForce 4 chipset is nice and lots of companies are building boards with it. I just got (not delivered yet) a Gainward Ti4200 with 128 meg and capture (what they call VIVO these days video in video out) for $175 from newegg.com. Get 128, it'll be better in the long run. [url=http://www.tomshardware.com]Tom's Hardware Guide[/url] and [url=http://www.anandtech.com/]Anandtech.com[/url] have good reviews and comparisons of like video cards so you can compare easily. Gainward was always a good name with them so I went that way. GL! |
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One more vote against RAMBUS. DDR, CL 2.0 no more no less, FSB 333MHZ no more no less. You probably will get the ultimate in performance from a dual-channel RAMBUS set up, but at a ridiculous cost. You will kick ass at a reasonable price with a dual-channel DDR system like an nVidia nForce2 based motherboard, or the upcoming Intel Granite Bay chipset. The Celeron's with .13micron dies are amazing value for money. 2.0Ghz at one-ninth the cost of a top of the line P4. And they overclock quite well. The top of the line 3.06HT with a suitable motherboard will make you very happy if you want to spend the money on it and eek out that performance. If you are an AMD man I cannot comment, someone else here will chip in. What DDR SDRAM and RAMBUS do each cycle is different, so comparing raw clock speed between them is meaningless. If you are buying Right Now(tm), ATI Radeon 9500 Something is the king of the hill. For me, the nVidia GeForce4 4[b]2[/b]00 stands out for value for money. Oh, I've set XP's interface to look like nt4/w95/w98, so I don't have to deal with that gay ass shite. Edited.. wow i type so slow there've been so many responses since. |
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I built me a system using an Abit BG7 (845G chipset) FBS 533, P4 2.4 533 FBS CPU (overclocked to 2.83), two sticks of PC2700 512mg DDR and a GeForce 2 Ti 128mg. I built it pretty cheap, it works great. I suggest that you get the 845G chipset for either the Intel or the AMD CPU. The G chipset has the extra doohickies that make the interface for the video work really well with the newer viceo cards. For the video board don't pay the extra money for the GeForce 4 series unless you are getting a GeForce 4600 Ti series. Get a 128mg card whatever you do. |
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I would get RAMBUS only if it was PC1066 and only if I couldn't wait until there are more systems offering DDR400. Even then, PC1066 tops DDR400 in many speed tests (especially throughput). I think Intel will be offering a DDR400 chipset next year. One to assume PC1066 is faster that DDR333 in every regard. And RAMBUS memory is coming down in price to the point where it's hardly an issue anymore. As far as video, my experience is the only video board manufacturer worth a sh*t in high resolution video modes in ATI. I run in 1600x1200 mode every day and ATI was the only board that produced text clear enough to do programming. This could be an issue if you are an engineering major and have to do some programming. As far as gaming, I have no interest in that so I can't tell you one way or the other which video board is best in that regard. Also, don't sell yourself short on disk I/O. If you're working with large files or doing disk intensive work, SCSI is the only way to go. The new Ultra320 interface is insanely fast. Get yourself an Adaptec SCSI Card 29320-R card and a 15,000 RPM Seagate SCSI drive and you'll never look at ATA again. Anyway, just a tip. |
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Quoted: For the video board don't pay the extra money for the GeForce 4 series unless you are getting a GeForce 4600 Ti series. Get a 128mg card whatever you do. I'd have to disagree with the must get a 4600. The 4600 is just an overclocked 4200 with slightly faster RAM. The Gainward has built-in overclocking software in their drivers, so they encourage it. But yes, get a 128meg card regardless. |
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Another note: We are on the verge of a MAJOR change in the PC world, from the current IDE harddrive standard of parallel-signaling ATA to a new, faster format called Serial ATA. No more big fat ribbon cables. New drives will have a thin little cable and will have much higher performance. [img]www.explosivelabs.com/articles/sata/sata_connector.gif[/img] [img]www.explosivelabs.com/articles/sata/ata_comparison.gif[/img] [img]www.pcworld.com/news/graphics/106211-2012p032-1b.jpg[/img] A few motherboards are coming out with these now, but within a few months, all new HDs will use the new inteface. There WILL be adapters to use older HDs, but it's something you may want to consider. Do a search on "Serial ATA" or "SATA" for much more info. -Troy |
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Quoted: Another note: We are on the verge of a MAJOR change in the PC world, from the current IDE harddrive standard of parallel-signaling ATA to a new, faster format called Serial ATA. No more big fat ribbon cables. New drives will have a thin little cable and will have much higher performance. [url]www.explosivelabs.com/articles/sata/sata_connector.gif[/url] [url]www.explosivelabs.com/articles/sata/ata_comparison.gif[/url] [url]www.pcworld.com/news/graphics/106211-2012p032-1b.jpg[/url] A few motherboards are coming out with these now, but within a few months, all new HDs will use the new inteface. There WILL be adapters to use older HDs, but it's something you may want to consider. Do a search on "Serial ATA" or "SATA" for much more info. -Troy Good info! The top pick looks like a USB connection. We're going to see some amazing stuffcomeout in computers in the next few years. Better compression, faster speeds, widgets and gadgets galore! |
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Quoted: BTW sgtar15, Rambus does not = 800Mhz FSB, it is still a 200Mhz FSB with a multiplier to run the memory faster (although Rambus moves faster it carries less data). DDR is double data rate. Memory does not determine the front side bus speed. Thanks for the correction, I knew I didn't have it quite right. Brain fart I guess. Sgtar15 |
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Funny how we've come full circle in so many ways. Serial interfaces were always thought inferior to parallel interfaces, for a variety of reasons including loss of throughput as the result of having to include control information within the data stream, having to break bytes into bits and send them one at a time. Parallel interfaces were vastly superior with their dedicated control lines and the ability to send data a byte at a time. Of course, synchronization was always an issue and the encoding/decoding circuitry is more expensive. Now you have USB, firewire, serial ATA, etc. It just goes to show if you can speed up the clock fast enough, you don't need no stinkin' parallel connection. |
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When you look through Toms Hardware you will see that the 128mg GeForce 2 Ti cards outperform the GeForce 3 cards altogether and the GeForce 4 cards up to the 4600 series. I think if I were getting a new video card and price was not a major concern I would get one of the ATI 9000 cards. Quoted: Quoted: For the video board don't pay the extra money for the GeForce 4 series unless you are getting a GeForce 4600 Ti series. Get a 128mg card whatever you do. I'd have to disagree with the must get a 4600. The 4600 is just an overclocked 4200 with slightly faster RAM. The Gainward has built-in overclocking software in their drivers, so they encourage it. But yes, get a 128meg card regardless. |