Help needed: Review my future comp's specs

Shinova · Post by **Shinova** » 2003-03-26 09:42pm

MOTHERBOARD: ECS-L4S8A

CPU: Intel Pentium 4 3.06AB CPU

RAM: 1GB DDR266(PC2100) 512 x2

HARD DRIVE: 120GB 7200rpm (8MB)

MONITOR: NONE

DISPLAY CARD: ATI Radeon 9000 128MB DDR (TVO)

CD-ROM: NONE

CD-WRITER: Pioneer DVD-RW

SOUND CARD: SB Live 5.1

SPEAKER: Altec Lansing AVS 300

MODEM: NONE

KEYBOARD: NONE

MOUSE: NONE

CASE: ATX 288 Aluminum Tower Case

AS: 250MB INT. ZIP DRIVE, NONE

Do you think there's anything that needs to be changed to make this comp better?

Post by **Alyrium Denryle** » 2003-03-26 09:47pm

*voice of yosimite sam* I hate you

The Duchess of Zeon · Post by **The Duchess of Zeon** » 2003-03-26 09:47pm

*steps aside from the path of the Linux Jihad*

Post by **haas mark** » 2003-03-26 09:48pm

Possibly a keyboard, mouse, and monitor.

:P

theski · Post by **theski** » 2003-03-26 09:48pm

Extra cooling and a dedicated cdr-w drive for redundancy

Shinova · Post by **Shinova** » 2003-03-26 09:49pm

verilon wrote:Possibly a keyboard, mouse, and monitor. :P

I already have those.

Shinova · Post by **Shinova** » 2003-03-26 09:51pm

The comp also has 533MHz FSB.

My main concerns are the motherboard and RAM. Are they good? Should I switch to RDRAM, or a different motherboard?

Post by **haas mark** » 2003-03-26 09:51pm

Shinova wrote:
verilon wrote:Possibly a keyboard, mouse, and monitor. :P
I already have those.

I kind of figured, hence the smilies.

aerius · Post by **aerius** » 2003-03-26 10:35pm

Shinova wrote:My main concerns are the motherboard and RAM. Are they good? Should I switch to RDRAM, or a different motherboard?

I'm not familiar with the motherboard but the RAM is too slow for my tastes. Upgrade to DDR300 or 333 and add a DVD/CDROM drive to save wear and tear on the DVD-RW. Burner drives are generally a bit slower and noisier than regular drives and they usually have a shorter MTBF.

Also, you need more HD space. 120GB will only hold 200 hours and change of high quality porn videos after you get the OS and all the basic stuff installed.

Icehawk · Post by **Icehawk** » 2003-03-26 10:41pm

I would either get DDR 333mhz or DDR 400mhz RAM if you can. You should get RAM that runs closer or about equal to what your bus speed is

My mobo runs at 333mhz which is the bus that both my Athlon CPU and RAM run at.

Shinova · Post by **Shinova** » 2003-03-26 11:09pm

How bout RDRAM? Should I take that over DDR?

Post by **weemadando** » 2003-03-26 11:36pm

Alyrium Denryle wrote:*voice of yosimite sam* I hate you

The motion is seconded.

All those in favour of hating Shinova?

*chorus of "ayes"*

I think the ayes have it. Motion is passed.

Shinova will now be hated.

*cue 1984esque 2 minutes of hate with Shinova's face on screen*

Post by **Dalton** » 2003-03-26 11:42pm

You're a fucker Shinova!

Shinova · Post by **Shinova** » 2003-03-26 11:53pm

All hate me, eh?

My two possible cases (don't know about the light):

I might even decide to choose a higher end Radeon card. Most likely not, but I'm currently doing research on memory and motherboard....to make my future machine even faster than what the above specs imply!!

MUST HAVE POWER!!!!

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2003-03-26 11:57pm

Shinova wrote:The comp also has 533MHz FSB.

God yes, go to RDRAM. At least get faster DDR (the fastest you can get), but the best match for a P4 is RDRAM. Otherwise, that PC2100 will be a bottleneck.

I find having two optical drives is better than one; even if one's burning, you can still use the other.

And of course, always put your operating system and your data on different partitions.

Good luck!

Post by **Beowulf** » 2003-03-27 02:34am

*boom*

I love my Light Fifty

The Duchess of Zeon · Post by **The Duchess of Zeon** » 2003-03-27 02:36am

I just bought a computer and it's not that good. But is it really necessary to have one that good?

Drewcifer · Post by **Drewcifer** » 2003-03-27 02:53am

Maybe some chrome pipes and a few flames painted on the side?

Separate CD/DVD drives is a good idea, but unless you collect video, are graphically inclined, or are an avid gamer, 120GB should be plenty of space. Plenty.

Crayz9000 · Post by **Crayz9000** » 2003-03-27 02:58am

Using DDR with a P4 is a joke, since it wasn't designed with that in mind. If you want DDR, get an Athlon XP. (You'll save money, too...)

Not that I have any great love of RDRAM. The acronym is a contradiction in terms, too...

Crazy_Vasey · Post by **Crazy_Vasey** » 2003-03-27 05:41am

Graphics card. Top of the line evrything else and a budget video card, why?

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2003-03-27 09:44am

Shinova wrote:MOTHERBOARD: ECS-L4S8A

NO! Stay away from ECS.

CPU: Intel Pentium 4 3.06AB CPU

RAM: 1GB DDR266(PC2100) 512 x2

Fine so far. Hyperthreading-enabled motherboards do not support RDRAM, folks

HARD DRIVE: 120GB 7200rpm (8MB)

If you're spending this much money, you might try to get Western Digital's new Raptor Serial ATA drives. 10000rpm, 8MB cache, and most importantly, 3 year warrenty.

DISPLAY CARD: ATI Radeon 9000 128MB DDR (TVO)

See if you can get something better, this R9000 is a serious limiting factor. One of the new low-end GeForceFX cards or a newer ATI part.

SOUND CARD: SB Live 5.1

NO! DO NOT get the SBLive! If you must stay with Creative Labs, get an Audigy 2. Or look around are Hercules or some other company.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2003-03-27 09:46am

The Duchess of Zeon wrote:I just bought a computer and it's not that good. But is it really necessary to have one that good?

Certainly not. It's a want, not a need, though some of his ideas are screwy - top of the line processor with a budget video card?

For gamers and artists, they want the most power possible. For everyone else, a 500MHz P3 is fine.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2003-03-27 09:48am

Icehawk wrote:I would either get DDR 333mhz or DDR 400mhz RAM if you can. You should get RAM that runs closer or about equal to what your bus speed is

Irrelevant, IIRC, because the frontside bus is a QDR133 (while his ram is DDR133) bus. Unless you overclock you don't need faster RAM.

My mobo runs at 333mhz which is the bus that both my Athlon CPU and RAM run at.

Different architecture there. The FSB is a DDR166 bus, so your RAM must be some multiple of 166MHz (in this case, DDR166).

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2003-03-27 09:49am

Uraniun235 wrote:
Shinova wrote:The comp also has 533MHz FSB.
God yes, go to RDRAM. At least get faster DDR (the fastest you can get), but the best match for a P4 is RDRAM. Otherwise, that PC2100 will be a bottleneck.

IIRC, no HT-enabled mobo uses RDRAM?

I find having two optical drives is better than one; even if one's burning, you can still use the other.

Plextor makes the best CDRWs bar none, but they are expensive. They currently have a rebranded DVDRW, they're still working on their own, IIRC.

Crayz9000 · Post by **Crayz9000** » 2003-03-27 12:24pm

phongn wrote:NO! DO NOT get the SBLive! If you must stay with Creative Labs, get an Audigy 2. Or look around are Hercules or some other company.

I wish someone had told me that before I built a SB Live 5.1 into my computer.

What's the problem with it, anyway? Just not such a good card, or is there a serious problem?

StarDestroyer.Net BBS

Help needed: Review my future comp's specs

Help needed: Review my future comp's specs

Re: Help needed: Review my future comp's specs

Re: Help needed: Review my future comp's specs