Computer Build

[TheN00b]

Hey, guys :). I'm working on making some sort of computer on my own, albeit one that's fairly cheap. Under the following guidelines, can someone give me some great help and come up with a near-complete parts list for under $1500? The only guides are as follows:

1 GB of RAM, preferably single DDR
A PCI Express Video Card
At least 2.8 Ghz of P4 Processor Speed (I'm sticking with Intel for now)

Thanks, all!

[vidman1000]

It's the cheapest I've ever found

http://www.cyberpowersystem.com/custom/p4pcie.asp?v=d

[Rbstr]

$1500 with PCIexpress = not happening

The mobo's that have it are like $200, you have to get a top end socket 775 CPU, and DDR2 ram. To top it off alot of this stuff is hard to find not even big OEM's liek dell can keep a relaible supply. But if you want something like that in let top of the line hardware, w/ performance similar, i can get you a list.

EDIT on that sight a 3.0 w/ a gig of DDR2, and a good PCI-Ex vid card is costing $1700 without anything else. This sight has very good prices, but a reg p4 system is gona to be far less, and have the same performance roughly becasue the new tech is not at it's potential yet, your better of with an Athlon 64 939 socket or a regular P4 system or waiting for the 1066 FSB 775 CPU's at witch time PCI-Ex vidcards will be more command and DDR2 memory will be far cheaper and have better timings.

[Electrofreak]

PCI Express is overrated right now. Currently, no game can use all the bandwidth PCI-E provides, as there isn't even anything that can tax AGP 8x yet. PCI-E cards are also expensive as heck. Also its a lot better idea to get 2x 512 sticks od DDR RAM instead of 1x 1 Gig, because 512 sticks perform a lot better, and that way you can run them in dual channel mode for a good boost in performance.

[Daleon]

The nforce4 mb's are about to launch with the dual pci-express slots. AMD is about to drop prices a cpl times coming up soon. So I'd look at this in combination of 2 6600GT's in sli and you will have a pretty nice setup.

[TheN00b]

The nforce4 mb's are about to launch with the dual pci-express slots. AMD is about to drop prices a cpl times coming up soon. So I'd look at this in combination of 2 6600GT's in sli and you will have a pretty nice setup.

Yes, but two 6600's would be around $350, which is too much for me to pay for videocard capability. All of you guys, thanks for the input. Electro, sorry for the lack of clarification: I know that dual-channel is better, and that's what I intend on getting. Rbtsr, in that case, would you recommend my getting a 9800 PRO? Or would that not be good enough to run the newest games well (Medium-High Settings)? Vidman, wow, I customized, and I made an excellent machine for ~$1300: Impressive. Anyways, thanks again!

[Baneblade]

Intel is not the route to take if you have a limited budget, you get more bang for your buck with AMD.

[TheN00b]

Intel is not the route to take if you have a limited budget, you get more bang for your buck with AMD.

Really? OK, kewl. What's the AMD equivalent of a 3.0 Ghz Processor?

[Baneblade]

And well Athlons are numbered based on what Intel they beat up in gym class.

Athlon 2000 roughly on par with a P4 2Ghz, Athlon 3200 roughly on par with a P4 3.2Ghz. So a P4 3.0Ghz would be fearing an Athlon 3000.

When comparing the clocks against each other it is easy to overlook the Intel Gambit, which is they bet and are right a lot of the time that consumers equate clock speed with performance.

An analogy that makes it easier to grasp the difference is Intel Pentium is to a Ferrari 575M Maranello what AMD Athlon is to a Dodge Viper RT/10.

Both are powerful, fast, and great machines, but like Ferrari, Intel suffers form an infamous overengineering philosophy and pride which barely justifies the pricetag, while like Dodge, AMD is just a down to earth pocket rocket, it works and that is what matters.

Pfft, I prolly went on longer than needed...hehe :shrug:

[Electrofreak]

Pretty good analogy there. Yeah, AMD is definately the best deal in terms of performance per dollar. They commonly get overlooked because they work at a lower clock speed, despite thier doing more processes per clock cycle than Intel (about 50% more). You see a 2 Ghz AMD and a 3.2 Ghz Intel, and your instinct is to go with Intel because of the higher clock speed, even though the AMD is cheaper and will likely perform just as well if not BETTER than the Intel.

[Corrosion]

The nforce4 mb's are about to launch with the dual pci-express slots. AMD is about to drop prices a cpl times coming up soon. So I'd look at this in combination of 2 6600GT's in sli and you will have a pretty nice setup.
nForce 4? Time to build a new comp....

[Daleon]

Yea, with the nforce4 mb's, the new 90nm a64's and lower prices.... I am very tempted. Have to see what sli performance is really like and if its worth giving up the XT for.

[Sentrosi]

But until the 939s start coming down to earth a bit, if you upgrade to the 754s you will be living back in the days of PC133 Ram, Single Channel mode.

[StrikerTek]

Might be kind of a stupid question, but will SLI work with ATI cards? I really doubt it, but it'd be nice.

Also, will it work with 2 different cards? Like a 6800GT and a 6600GT? I kinda doubt dual 6600GT's would give more performance than a 6800GT OC'd to Ultra speeds. If it was more, it prolly wouldn't be much and wouldn't be worth the upgrade if you already have one of the new high end cards.

[Rbstr]

Nope, No, no, no dual 6600gt would probably be better than a 6800gt

[Daleon]

Alienware still has their dual video card thing they are working on, I think. It may be do dual Ati's.

[TheN00b]

Alienware still has their dual video card thing they are working on, I think. It may be do dual Ati's.

Yeah, from what I've heard, that'll be able to dual anything. But it looks like nVidia has the edge right now in card-power, so there's really no point, at least in my view (unless you want to go cheap, and decide to dual two $125 X600's).

[Sentrosi]

No, its not ATi, its nVidia w/ the 6800GTs I believe. They both have an SLI port on the side of the card. When you get 2 of them the SLIs are connected together with a bridge type card.

And the Alienware model number for it is the ALx. Proprietary watercooling system included. Maximum PC had an article on it a couple of months ago.

[Rbstr]

i think alien ware is using propertary technology for there cards.

i also belive that you only need a VGA reverse-splitter-thingy for SLi besides the two carsd and the interconnect cable

[SDM]

Yea, with the nforce4 mb's, the new 90nm a64's and lower prices.... I am very tempted. Have to see what sli performance is really like and if its worth giving up the XT for.http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/10/08/news_6110146.html

...GeForce 6800 GT SLI system scored an impressive 8,081 points in the recently released 3DMark05 benchmark...

O_ and that was with gimped drivers.

[SDM]

http://www.hardocp.com/image.html?image=MTA5NzYwMzIxNWNGVnNoMkFBMEZfMV8xX 2wuZ2lm More SLI info

http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=NjMz

[Daleon]

Those scores are pretty nice. The 6600GT sli combo is decently faster than a single 6800GT at a similar price range. If 6800GT's can drop to $250 range it would actually be very attractive solution.

You'll obviously need an extremely high end cpu to push them. The latest OC results on the AMD64 3000 .9 are extremely impressive though, 2.6 ghz on air with mild cpu volt increase placing it at the same speed is the still un-released fx55 giving it some incredable price\performance ratio.