DeRanger

Opinions/Critisizm?

Would appreciate any comments on a new system I'm about to order, it'll be just a about CA$2300 taxes in (US $1400-$1500 ). I'm particularly wondering about the motherboard and whether or not onboard sound will be enough. A Soundblaster Audigy is only another $60... Not too up on the new technicalities of mobo bus speeds, different features, SATA, etc. so I could use anything you techies have. Thanks a lot!


Specifications

Processor · Intel Pentium® 4 3.2E Prescott 1Mb Cache 800Mhz
Memory · 1024MB (2 x 512 Kingston memory) PC3200 DDR
Mainboard · Asus P4P800-Deluxe w/SATA IEEE1394 Firewire
Controller · USB 2.0, ATA-100 UDMA Controllers
ROM drives · LG GSA4082 8x8 DVD±RW DVD-CD-Writer
Hard drive · Maxtor 160GB 7200RPM SATA HD 8MB Buffer
Floppy drive · Samsung 1.44MB 3.5" int drive
Video · ATI Radeon 9800XT 256MB AGP8x oem
Audio · Integrated 5.1 3D sound interface
Network · Linksys WMP54G Wireless-G Network PCI Card
Case · 18" ATX Tower Case w/Front USB (950UL)
Power Supply · Enermax 450W EG465P-VE P4 Power Supply w/Dual Cooling Fan
Keyboard · Microsoft® Multimedia Keyboard PS/2
Mouse · Logitech Optical Blue Wheel Mouse
Speakers · Creative Inspire SBS-450 4.1 Speakers w/ Subwoofer

IceCold

Well, I'm going to piggyback a question on your thread: Last I heard, SATA didn't perform much better than EIDE. Has that changed enough that it's worth the additional cost yet?

And I'll suggest that if you're in any way an audiophile, that you get an Audigy2. It'll sound better and will free up some system resources. I know that onboard sound has gotten much better in the last two years, but I'll never settle for it. If you're one of those people that can't tell the difference between a compact disc and a cassette tape in terms of quality, then you'll definitely be satisfied with the quality of onboard sound.

Oh, and is that a complete system that you're buying, or are you building it yourself? I'd personally go with Logitech's newest Bluetooth keyboard and mouse combo. I don't know if Bluetooth is going to get really big, but I think it'll be worth it for the miniscule cost to upgrade to it...

TheFeniX

I run a serial ATA RAID 0 array and can tell you with no doubts that I recieve a noticable increase in throughput on data access read and write.

Who is making this PC for you?

__________________

DeRanger

A local computer shop builds these as a package. The network card, video card and soundcard would just be upgrades on the stock system.

TheFeniX

That's high considering no monitor. What kind of warranty do they offer?

My advice? Go to newegg and price those parts individually. See how it adds up. If you notice you're being charged double retail: start cracking skulls.

__________________

CingularDuality

I dunno, he's getting some higher-end stuff... And paying the extra money for Intel. And the parts are probably all retail instead of OEM. I just priced a the parts for a new machine and it came out to about a thousand dollars, and that's with a bargain case, a mediocre PSU, unmatched memory, EIDE instead of SATA, no keyboard or mouse, no NIC, no speakers and AMD instead of Intel. Basically everything is at least a notch below what DeRanger is looking at... If DeRanger's paying someone to put it together and stand behind their product, then that price sounds about right.

He could definitely save some clams by putting it together himself, though... I wonder if that price comes with an OS?

__________________

Become a supporting member! -- Shop at the Tactical Market!

Take the world's smallest political quiz! "I was touched by His Noodly Appendage."
TacticalGamer TX LAN/BBQ Veteran:

DeRanger

Actually I've priced the same setup parted-out and I wouldn't save much building it myself and they offer a 1 year parts/3 years labour warranty, the cost is a very small margin over the retail if anything at all in this part of the world I'm afraid. I'm in Canada if that wasn't clear already BTW. They also have an excellent reputation. I can't order from the States because I get whacked with 25% duty, otherwise I'd consider it. I'll probably be using Windows 2KPro as its against my religion to pay $300 for an OS when I have a perfectly good OS already in my experience. The price is not an issue, they also happen to be one of the least expensive in town, keep in on track with the advice lads... Also, if there are definitive reasons for using XP Pro please do tell. Thanks everyone!

CingularDuality

XP Pro is faster in many ways and has many GUI improvements (not just cosmetic ones, either). If you're pleased with Win2K, I don't think it's worth the $$$ to upgrade. If you were using any older OS, then I wouldn't hesitate to tell you that it's well worth the money to upgrade your OS. And if you already, ummm, have WinXP, then I would definitely install it on a fresh machine.

If you do decide to move up to WinXP, I urge you not to use the Windows Classic Desktop (the same GUI as Win2K). It may take you a few days to get used to using everything that WinXP offers, but once you do, you'll be moving your mouse and clicking a LOT less. This may not seem like much, but a couple seconds here and there adds up after time and you'll get frustrated when using older OSes on different computers (just like your frustration when you try to use a mouse wheel to scroll down when you're using an antiquated machine at work...).

At any rate, your setup looks nice to me. You could save a few bucks here and there if you wanted to. When you buy the cutting edge stuff, you really pay for it. Bump it down a notch (like a Radeon 9800Pro 256M instead of the XT, and an Athlon64 based system instead of Intel) and you'll be able to throw that sound card in and save some money. 'Course, this all depends on your retailer... And if price is no issue, why not go for the top of the line stuff?

__________________

Become a supporting member! -- Shop at the Tactical Market!

Take the world's smallest political quiz! "I was touched by His Noodly Appendage."
TacticalGamer TX LAN/BBQ Veteran:

=Sarc=

I don't know where you're looking at now but if you want to look at other places, check out atic.ca and ncix.com. Both are in the Vancouver area and have pretty good prices.

DeRanger

Thanks very much for all your comments lads, especially to Adam (oops! ...and Cingular ) for having me consider and research Athlon 64s and who schooled me in motherboard architecture.

This is what I bought today, I'll get it next Friday:

Lian Li PC7 18" tower
Enermax 470 watt PS
AMD Athlon 64 3400+ 1MB cache
MSI K8T NEO-FIS2R
1 gig Kingston DDR400
LG 12X8 DVDRW/CDRW Combo Drive
Maxtor 200gig 7200rpm SATA HD
ATI X800 Pro 256MB
Soundblaster Audigy 2
Linksys Wireless-G card

Thanks again!

CingularDuality

That machine is going to smoke....

__________________

Become a supporting member! -- Shop at the Tactical Market!

Take the world's smallest political quiz! "I was touched by His Noodly Appendage."
TacticalGamer TX LAN/BBQ Veteran:

Overlag

no problem.......

oops i posted on the forums!

__________________
From Adam Webb