Build your own PC?
Out of context: Reply #63
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- Bozilla0
Helvetica,
we can talk about this subject forever but the bottom line is what you get for your money, if it does the job for you and if you will be able to use it for at least 2 years. Based upon that this is what you should consider (I've tested almost every single piece of hardware out there):
- GIGABYTE K8T800 GA-K8VNXP (Mobo)
- AMD Athlon 64 3400+, 1MB L2 Cache (This is currently the fastest CPU on the market, it even beats FX51 CPUs and the fastest P4EE)
- 1.5 Gb of ram (Kingston HyperX 512mb modules PC3500)
- 2xWD 10k Raptor SATA drives (36Gb per piece) in SATA RAID mode. This is currently the fastest HDD on the market. When you RAID them you get 72Gb of space for OS and get another 120-160Gb HDD for storage.
- Do not buy ATI9800 cards simply because they are way overpriced. Go for ASUS Radeon 9600XT or ATI 9600XT with 128Mb, it's more then enough and if you want to play games it will hold up for sure in the next 2 years. But make sure you buy an ATI. Why? Simply because NVidia makes cards for games and not serious graphic/design work where colors play a significant role. ATI since it's inception was all about designers and graphic artists.
- If you burn DVDs there's only one real choice = Plextor 8X 708A model (supports all standards and it received the best burner award from all major magazines).
- Chasis is your personal choice however if you go with Antec, Cooler Master or my favorite LianLi you can't go wrong.
You can make this computer for around $1800-$1900 without the monitor. This is mostly because AMD64 3400+ costs around $400 and mobo is around $150.
If you however do not have that much money, go for P4 2.8C and ASUS or GigaByte mobos for P4. 2.8C Intel is simply the best value for the money. It beats regular AMD 3200+ Athlons XP in almost all of the tests and it costs around $200. If you apply the 2.8C to the above configuration you might lower the price to around $1300-$1400.
Happy building.