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Buy or Build
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pudge88
Newbie
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11. April 2006 @ 09:57 |
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i was looking into building my own computer which would be used for gameing and burning dvds and what not. i was thinking of a intel dual cpu 930 and all the other cool stuff but i was looking at this site http://www.mdg.ca/en/products/aptondesktop_line.asp and i was wondering if it would be better to buy one of those two computers or to build my own? what are your thoughts?
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The_OGS
Senior Member
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11. April 2006 @ 10:29 |
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Pudge,
MDG sucks. Their PCs are not 'the right stuff' and contain Pentium CPUs on cheap motherboards with Intel chipsets.
You need an AMD CPU, perhaps an Opteron 144 (single-core) or maybe an Opteron 165 (dual-core).
The Intel D-930 is not inexpensive, gives off heat like a furnace, and uses more electric power at idle than an Opteron does at full load.
I would use an Asus A8N-VM CSM motherboard with nVidia chipset
http://www.asus.com/products4.aspx?l1=3&l2=15&l3=0&model=766&mode...
in a MicroATX case, and an Opteron CPU with 1GB dual-channel memory.
The Asus has onboard video, and PCI-ExpressX16 slot for future video upgrade. For $95 bucks (Canadian) you can't beat it...
Anyway, build-your-own and we will help you.
Forget all that 'free-free' stuff MDG offers - they do that to distract you from from the important issues,
Regards
ABit AB9 Pro
Intel Core 2 Duo E6420 @ 2.4GHz
2GB OCZ PC2-6400 Platinum XTC R2
ATI Radeon X1900XT 512MB
Enermax Liberty 620W
320GB/16MB WD, 150GB/16MB Raptor
Plextor PX-755SA DVD (SATA)
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pudge88
Newbie
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11. April 2006 @ 14:42 |
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ahh thank you sir i will look into this even tho im a more intel man ( i was branded this way by all the advertising maybe lol) but still to me amd seems to have the higher price
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Senior Member
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11. April 2006 @ 14:46 |
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No amd doesnt have a higher price. Amd is cheaper, faster, cooler, and runs a helluve better than intel. You ever hear the the story of the totoise and the hare? Well amd is the tortoise and intel is the rabbit? LOL! Im using a old amd 800 as a temp web server running windows xp and I have had as much as 30 users online at one time without a hiccup.
epox mobo EP-9NPAJ
amd 3700+ san diego core oc to 2.50
antec true power 430 watt dual +12 volt rails @ 18 amps each
bfg geforce 6800 gt oc edition
dragon case
2 x 512 DUAL CHANNEL ELIXOR RAM
Ibm P260 dvi & vga 21 inch crt monitor 1600 x 1200 @ 85 htz Oh yeah!!
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tocool4u2
Suspended permanently
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11. April 2006 @ 14:46 |
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es but AMD is better in the long run trust me....
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Member
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11. April 2006 @ 21:25 |
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It's hard to look at prices in a list of processors and say that either one is "cheaper." In both categories you get what you pay for. Intel's FASTEST p4 runs at what? 3.8GHZ?? Well, AMD's 3800+ is cheaper. But AMD's "Fastest" cpu right now is over $1,000. You get into dual-core and AMD has excelled leaps and bounds over intel. Everyone has their horror stories from either side, I have mine from back in my intel days, and I do hear more horror stories about intel then AMD.
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Gamerz
Suspended due to non-functional email address
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12. April 2006 @ 01:21 |
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The 3800+ doesn't actually compare with the 3.8Ghz P4, it depends on what you want to use it for. But the AMD model numbers basically messed up when it got to the A64 stage and it went downhill from there.
For gaming, you want AMD, and with AMDs dual core range they?re great for encoding too If you have the right applications. You don't want Intel, and definitely not Intel's dual core ? Unless you plan on using your computer as a radiator replacement. Intel will pull it back in the future, but for now AMD has the crown.
OK, to your PC: You have quite a large budget (Around $1800) which is a great start. Now since you want to play games, you need a very good graphics card and a CPU that can match it. The graphics cards in those PCs are awful for games. It isn?t about graphics RAM, it's about the graphics processor, the GPU. For games this PC I will design for you will be 4-5x as fast and will be able to handle high settings (The X300 can barely handle medium at a decent resolution).
Also, you want to be able to get the most out of your CPU, and that means overclocking it. Don?t be put off by people saying they?ve ruined their processors doing this ? they have either tried to get too much and have been idiots or are using extreme cooling methods that have gone wrong (Such as liquid nitrogen). Overclocking is safe if you take your time to find the sweet spot and you can even do it to your graphics card to get more out of that. I have a $1000 CPU, well it?s a bit less now ($700) but that?s how much it cost me, and I have mine overclocked with no problems.
To be able to overclock you need to have a decent motherboard and RAM too. For future games and some current (BF2 definitely) you need 2GB RAM. You?re better with 2 1GB sticks though rather than 4 512MB, because with 4 DIMMs you have to run 2T if you have an AMD CPU, which is slower than 1T.
And the PSU is important too, you will need a decent brand name to keep everything stable.
OK so here are the specs and the price (From Newegg.com):
AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ ($295)
BFG GeForce 7900 GT 256MB ($329)
DFI LanPart SLi-DR Expert ($178)
OCZ 2x1GB Platinum DDR500 ($275)
Seagate Barracuda 250GB SATA 7200.9 ($125)
Enermax Noisetaker 600W SLi ($169)
TOTAL: $1371
Then add in monitor, case, DVD-RW and Windows and you have yourself one hell of a machine that is easily 5x for gaming, maybe even 10x as fast in some games, and will give you better performance even with everything set on high. And it will also be faster for everyday applications.
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pudge88
Newbie
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12. April 2006 @ 11:53 |
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yes yes that also sounds good but how about this? from(www.canadacomputer.com):
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ 2.2GHz Dual Core($425)
Asus A8R-MVP Socket 939 ATI Radeon Xpress 200($120)
OCZ PC-3200 DDR400 Performance Series 2GB($250)
Sapphire ATI Radeon X1300 256MB($125)
total of $920 keeping in mind all the cost's are in Canadian dollars
most of the extra's i will be taking from my old computer such as a hard drive, dvd drive,maybe the case and etc.
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pudge88
Newbie
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12. April 2006 @ 14:56 |
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ok ok i got an idea lets have a competition here LMAO who ever can build the best pc for under $1300 on these two sites ( www.tigertirect.ca , and www.canadacomputers.com ) which would contain these items:
motherboard
processor
video card
ram
case,power supply,and fans
would win a specail prize from me, isnt that so tempting? no probably not because all you would really win is my thanks, in return.
*ATTEMPT AT YOUR OWN RISK, ANY INJURIES THAT MAY OCCUR FROM THIS IS AT YOUR OWN FAULT AND CANNOT BE TRACKED BACK TO ME* LoL
thank you once agian for taking the time to read my post
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Gamerz
Suspended due to non-functional email address
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16. April 2006 @ 01:21 |
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You'll really need at least a 7600 GT in order to not have to upgrade relativley soon if its a gaming PC.
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Senior Member
3 product reviews
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16. April 2006 @ 06:21 |
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DFI Lanparty UT NF4 SLI-DR NVIDIA Socket 939 ATX Motherboard / Audio / PCI Express / Dual Gigabit LAN / S/PDIF / USB 2.0 & Firewire / Serial ATA / RAID
$228
AMD Opteron 146 2.0GHz / 1MB Cache / 1000MHz FSB / Socket 939 / Hyper-Transport / Processor with Fan
$290
or
AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ 2.0GHz / 1MB Cache / 2000MHz FSB / Socket 939 / Dual-Core (Manchester) / Processor with Fan
$370
Corsair TWINX Dual Channel 1024MB PC3200 DDR 400MHz Memory(2x512MB)
$99
Thermaltake Silver Soprano AXT Mid-Tower Case with Clear Side, Front USB, Firewire and Audio Ports and 430-Watt Power Supply
$115
eVGA GeForce 7900 GT CO / 256MB GDDR3 / SLI / PCI Express / Dual DVI / HDTV / Video Card
$407
Totals are $1139 with Opteron 146 which will overclock on that board easily to 2.5GHz.
Totals are $1219 With 3800x2 CPU, won't overclock very well.
I would go for the Opteron 146 then it leaves best part of $200 fro upgrading the case/psu and memory if wanted.
All parts found on tigerdirect site.
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