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General discussion

Trying to build a dream machine

Mar 28, 2005 4:39PM PST

Hey everyone
At the moment I'm trying to build desktop which would be FAST and good for games. I love music and I also do some video capturing/editing.
The price for the equipment below (build using www.ibuypower.com) is $2.704. A lot, i know.
I wonder if there are some good alternatives for some parts which are cheaper and won't slow the computer down much. Lower GHz processor? Power supply? Anything else?
Note that I'm planning to purchase from www.ibuypower.com so if you have any suggestions please try to choose something which ibuypower has.
Any help is greatly appreciated.


Case ( Coolermaster WaveMaster Case w/420W Power Supply Black )
Meter Display ( None )
Flash Media Reader/Writer ( 6-In-1 Internal Flash Media Card Reader/Writer Black )
Case Lighting ( None )
Power Supply ( Enermax Noisetaker EG701P-VE 600 Watt Power Supply )
Processor ( AMD

Discussion is locked

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2 GB RAM?
Mar 28, 2005 8:06PM PST

Sure, knock yourself out since some test we did found 5 minutes saved on DVD renders on identical machines from 512M to 1024M over ... 6 hours. 1GB is mostly bragging rights. 2GB (sorry) means you may not understand payoffs.

In closing, every month you wait brings us closer to the dual-core Athlon 64...

Bob

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2GB RAM
May 13, 2005 2:34AM PDT

So from what i can see 2GB or RAM is pointless right now.

If i had the option to get 2GB of ram and a Geforce 6800 or 1GB of ram and a RadeonX850 XTPE which would be my better option? Not for Hardcore gaming, just mild gaming and mostly multimedia.

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Look to...
May 13, 2005 2:51AM PDT
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2GB of RAM...yes for bragging
May 13, 2005 3:34AM PDT

One of my computers a WinXP Pent 4, 2.0 GHz, GeForce 4 TI4600, run the latest games for me & the grandkids..like Doom3, Half-Life2, FarCry, Halo, all the Medal of Honor series, Brothers In Arms, WWII Sniper, Men of Valor, Flight Simulators, NASCAR, etc.. very good with 512MB of RAM, and at the standard gaming pixels of 1024x768 or even 800x600. I plan on getting another computer when they start making games for the new dual processors.

I agree with Bob, and other professionals who say that it is almost impossible to tell a difference using 2GB of RAM in gaming. In fact many say using over 512MB may slow down games even in some modern computers.

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2 gb
May 15, 2005 4:48PM PDT

i've heard something like taht too but that had to do with OC performance and whatnot. i guess the ''optimal'' amount of ram to work with Oc wise is a gig. over that the latency starts to slow the performance down.

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Trying to build a dream machine
Mar 28, 2005 11:24PM PST

Yes, the money you save buy only buying 1gb of ram you could towards a AMD64 FX processor. John

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Re: Build Machine
Mar 29, 2005 3:07AM PST

Hi Koreez,

Both John & Bob are making good suggestions to drop down to 1GB of RAM and save money, especially since you selected a 3700 processor instead of the FX-55.

A major thing I noticed is that you did not select an Operating System?

Also a Floppy Drive is only $6 more.

At http://www.ibuypower.com/mall/lobby.htm customizing the top system on the left starting at $435, I did some slight modification to your customization.....as a suggestion:

Your AMD

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as everyone else said...
Mar 29, 2005 4:40AM PST

you really only need 1 GB of RAM rite now...also, why no operating system??

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No operating system because...
Mar 29, 2005 1:59PM PST

...I already have a Windows WX Pro. Happy
So you think that the priciest AMD Athlon FX-55 is a better investment than 2 GB of RAM?

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By the way...
Mar 29, 2005 2:06PM PST

Would the standard 420W Power Supply be enough? That's why I chose an additional power supply.

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Power Supply
Mar 29, 2005 4:10PM PST

Yes, if the 420W PS is of quality that puts out 420W. They don't indicate what brand the 420W is. It could be a $12-$19 no name type. The Enermax is quality and you should see if Ibuypower gives you credit for exchange. If you are still wanting to cut $$, you could save about $70 by getting the Enermax 535W instead of the 600W.

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Ibuypower machine...
Mar 29, 2005 4:07PM PST

If the WinXP Pro is from another machine you may have trouble with MS on this new machine.

Since you indicated you wanted to cut some cost, I indicated exchanging the Processor from a Athlon 64 3700 to a socket 939 Athlon 64 3800 and to a similar motherboard that handles the 939. That would eat up most of the cost savings from 2GB RAM to 1GB RAM. IMO the 2GB is not needed for any games out today, and you could add RAM if needed in the future. The FX-55 is $459 higher than the 64-3800. If you can afford the FX-55 go for it.

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Windows and PSU
Mar 29, 2005 5:09PM PST

Yes, I have a Windows XP Pro cd. So it won't be an issue.
But do you think that a stock 420W PSU would go fine with the components i chose?

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Power Supply
Mar 30, 2005 2:31AM PST

Yes. Your video card recommends 350Watt power suppy or greater. The 420W that comes with your case may or may not be of high quality without deep surges. You could go ahead with it and change out if problems occur later.

Re your CNet email to me & can't answer as you don't have yours enabled. Everything looks fine and you brought the total price down to $2367.

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Suggest you not take the standard case
Mar 30, 2005 3:02AM PST

power supply in view of possible problems like this:

http://reviews.cnet.com/5208-7586-0.html?forumID=68&threadID=93261&messageID=1078752

Suggest you go with the 535 Watt Enermax for $79 possibly costing less if they credit for the standard case PS.

Another thing that bothers me is your reluctance to talk about the Operating System. Keep in mind that Ibuypower will only "Pre-format the hard drive" when you do not select an OS. I would want them to be able to quality test all systems at the end of assembly and give it a 'stamp' of approval that all systems 'GO'.
Besides, if you have a bootleg copy of WinXP Pro, or it was taken out of another machine....Microsoft...may have something to say about that when you try to activate.

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Hi, I just wanted to add...
Apr 1, 2005 11:04AM PST

Is this a reputable company? Service-wise? And how the parts are delivered, and if they are durable parts? I just was wondering if this was a good site to buy from, cause they seem to have great prices

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Ibuypower....
Apr 1, 2005 3:45PM PST

Joe, I rarely say anything bad about a company unless I have had personal or first hand experience. I do try to suggest the best computer for the $ depending on the use and what components are desired. As far as I know Ibuypower is a reputable company. I made mention about the power supply as something to be concerned about and gave a link to someone who has had a problem in that regards.

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DO NOT BUY FROM IBUYPOWER
May 13, 2005 12:13AM PDT

The customer service and technical support from ibuypower is terrible. Their quality is very poor, and they do not stand behind their work. I bought 2 desktops from them for my office in December 2003. Within 1.3 years, I went through 4 motherboard between the two of them. With one machine, they delayed fixing a major power issue with the machine until after the 1 year warranty expired and then refused to go back an look at it. When you call them with a problem, their objective is to get you off the phone ASAP with a quick fix and then they hope that the problem won't come back again until your warranty is up. They do not look to fix the root of the problem. I have had so many different problems with these two machines that I believe it is safe to assume that ibuypower is a very assembler of computer products. Their computers just do not function well and are not problem free. It is no coincidence that I had similar and numerous problems with 2 different machines that I purchase from ibuypower. Do not buy from ibuypower.

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RE:
May 16, 2005 2:17PM PDT

2 years ago, maybe they changed their ways... IBUYPOWER usually gets good reviews from cnet, pcmag, and other magazines...
Roger

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dream machine
Mar 29, 2005 11:20PM PST
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a few notes
Apr 1, 2005 8:33AM PST

you don't want 2GB of RAM on the 3700
it's single channel (Socket 754 CPU)
which means, while it's a fast CPU
2GB of single channel RAM is just insane


i would suggest an A64-3800 or 3500
and either the X800XT, a 6800U, or 6800nU SLI

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Hard drive
May 14, 2005 8:02AM PDT

You should get a WD 74GB Raptor

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no, he shouldn't
May 16, 2005 12:06PM PDT

a 74GB Raptor is a waste of $200 anymore
NCQ on SATAII drives will provide simmilar performance, and larger storage caapacity for the money
the Raptor is like 2GB of RAM, bragging rights

i'm also gonna go revise my suggestions, and sorta ask that you build this yourself (to save money)

i'd do this:
AMD Athlon64 3500, 3800 or 4000+ (FX-53 if your feeling rich, FX-55 isn't worth it compared to the 53 or the 4000+)

nVidia GeForce 6800GT PCIE, or Radeon X800XL PCIE

1GB of DDR

250GB SATA drive with NCQ and what not

a GOOD motherboard from a company like Abit, DFI, Asus, Gigabyte, MSI, eVGA (they seem good enough), EPoX (again, they seem good enough) and BFG's board seems decent

along with a good case
and a good PSU from a good company such as Enermax, Antec, OCZ, Fortron Source, Sparkle Power, Zippy/EMACS or PC Power & Cooling

and i'd just go from there

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RE:
May 16, 2005 1:46PM PDT

how about the new AMD 64 3700+ that's socket 939 and based on the San Diego Core at 90nm and with 1MB L2 Cache, only costs 300 something...
ROger