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Geek Culture / Opinions needed on new machine after "incident"

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Ravey
Retired TGC Developer
22
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Joined: 2nd Nov 2002
Location: Southern TGC Nerve Centre
Posted: 15th Nov 2003 19:19
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Hello,

Due to an eventfull Friday evening my desktop is officially cream crackered.

Mobo and cpu are nicely cooked and I need some new gear.

I am thinking this:

AMD Athlon "Barton" XP3200+ 400FSB (Socket A) CPU - Retail (CP-051-AM) £219.90
Asus A7N8X Deluxe nForce2 (Socket A) Motherboard (MB-019-AS) £70.95
Corsair 1GB DDR XMS3200LLPT TwinX (2x512MB) CAS2 (MY-018-CS) £181.25

TOTAL: £554.72

All prices inc VAT

I would very much appreciate any thoughts / opinions.

I had now learnt that in future I should not attempt to cook curry on the cpu no matter how hungry I am.

Regards,
Dave Milton
Check out my games: Diode, Root, Binman & Skateboard Crazy
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born2respawn
21
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Joined: 11th Nov 2003
Location: UK
Posted: 15th Nov 2003 19:49 Edited at: 15th Nov 2003 19:50
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I'd go for an MSI motherboard, that's what I'm planning on putting in my next 'rig (if/when I ever get my wallet out).
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las6
22
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Joined: 2nd Sep 2002
Location: Finland
Posted: 15th Nov 2003 20:58
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Ah, I wouln't go for that Mobo either, we got that (actually I think it was A7N8X-X) and one the ram sticks we had wouldn't work on it. And I heard that it is quite common problem with that motherboard. :\
But then again, it's cheap.

and if you're asking me, I think Barton3200+ Is way overpriced. I think the optimum choice would be 2400+ - 2600+, at least when you look at the price. But if you have money to spend, sure, go ahead and get the best you can afford.

Keyboard not detected. Press F1 to continue.
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Ronaldaveo
22
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Joined: 1st Sep 2002
Location: England
Posted: 15th Nov 2003 21:47
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I have the A7N8X-X and a 2500+, I had no problems with ram but I bought some PC3200 TwinMos stuff. Its a very nice MB for the price and does everything I need it to do. The 2500+ was better value for me than a faster processor because of the overclocking potential. I have it @ 3000+ at the moment and so I have an expensive processor for £70, its stable @ 3200+ but im using the stock cooling so im not gonner do that untill I get some decent cooling. When I built my computer I wanted it to be cheap so it made sense, but like las6 says if you have the money go for it.

AMD Athlon XP 3000+ 200FSB ; 256MB PC3200 ; Geforce 2 MX400
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HZence
21
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Posted: 16th Nov 2003 06:41
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One word (or acronym) for motherboards: ASUS

Team EOD :: Programmer/Storyboard Assistant
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Phaelax
DBPro Master
21
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Joined: 16th Apr 2003
Location: Metropia
Posted: 16th Nov 2003 08:15
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A better word for motherboards: GigaByte
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Rpg Cyco
22
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Joined: 26th Aug 2002
Location: Australia
Posted: 16th Nov 2003 08:25 Edited at: 16th Nov 2003 08:25
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I have an ASUS A7N8X Deluxe Rev 2.0 and its been perfect.

l8ter

Rpg Cyco

http://www.rpgcyco.net | brad@rpgcyco.net
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CattleRustler
Retired Moderator
21
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Joined: 8th Aug 2003
Location: case modding at overclock.net
Posted: 16th Nov 2003 09:32
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I have been using ASUS boards for over ten years and beleive me when I say...THEY ROCK!

-RUST-
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Ravey
Retired TGC Developer
22
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Joined: 2nd Nov 2002
Location: Southern TGC Nerve Centre
Posted: 16th Nov 2003 13:02
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Thanks for the feedback guys. I have been loitering around the Alienware site - those machines look kind of sexy. I am tempted to go for one for style (not that I class myself as a good judge of it) and for peace of mind (someone else builds it whilst I drink beer).

Still in two minds though - but I would like to pose another question: If I did go for the Alienware, which one would you reccomend - Pentium 4 or AMD 64?

Regards,
Dave Milton
Check out my games: Diode, Root, Binman & Skateboard Crazy
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Wik
21
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Joined: 21st May 2003
Location: CT, United States
Posted: 16th Nov 2003 19:44
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Pentium
And ASUS all the way!


I wanted to learn C++ but then I started having nightmares.
I would scream at night, "AHHHHH!!! THE SEMI-COLONS"
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the_winch
21
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Location: Oxford, UK
Posted: 16th Nov 2003 20:05
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The only problem I have with my ASUS board is it resets the bios when it thinks the cpu has been overclocked too much and can't boot. If you reset it too fast it can confuse it and it resets the bios.

The alienware comps have allways looked a bit expensive for what you get to me.

dbpro : p166mmx @ 233 : 256mb : sb 128pci : sis onboard
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AlecM
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Joined: 26th Aug 2002
Location: Concord, MA
Posted: 16th Nov 2003 21:44 Edited at: 16th Nov 2003 21:44
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I'm using an MSI board and its pretty nice. The hardware is great and a good deal but the BIOS sucks really badly. Some of the worst BIOS programmers of all time.

[P4 2.8C @ 3.03 with an 866mhz FSB:: MSI Neo-2LS running PAT:: 1gb Mushkin PC-3500 DDR High Perf level 2@ 2,2,2 :: ATI Radeon9800ProAIW :: 120Gb SeagateBarracuda 7,200RPM SATA HD :: Antec Plus1080AMG]
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Wik
21
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Location: CT, United States
Posted: 16th Nov 2003 22:45
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It's really easy to update ASUS's bios. Also you can change the picture you see at bootup


I wanted to learn C++ but then I started having nightmares.
I would scream at night, "AHHHHH!!! THE SEMI-COLONS"
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the_winch
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Location: Oxford, UK
Posted: 17th Nov 2003 00:11 Edited at: 17th Nov 2003 00:23
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Bartons have a bigger die 512kb l2 cache and run at a lower mhz.
My 2500+ I think runs at 1.8ghz. I think they run at higher fsb speed as well.

I have heard that some of the Bartons are muliplier locked and there is no way currently of unlocking them. Mine is unlocked and everytime a new amd cpu is released there are rumors about it being locked so it is proberly not true.

My old abit bios was better laid out and easier to use than the asus.

dbpro : p166mmx @ 233 : 256mb : sb 128pci : sis onboard
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Ravey
Retired TGC Developer
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Joined: 2nd Nov 2002
Location: Southern TGC Nerve Centre
Posted: 17th Nov 2003 21:15
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Thanks everyone - much appreciated

Regards,
Dave Milton
Check out my games: Diode, Root, Binman & Skateboard Crazy
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DivW
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Joined: 31st Jul 2003
Location: Scotland
Posted: 18th Nov 2003 02:41
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A-bit Motherboards are my favourite. Never had an ASUS though. And Go for the Athlon processor. Look at some benchmarks, the Athlon is the best processor by about 2%. It's not a lot but it's enough when you're looking at that much money. And It's cheaper to Buy the parts and build your own PC-just get a list of the Alienware components.

Your soul...it tastes like chicken

Official Website Coming Soon
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Xander
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Joined: 3rd Mar 2003
Location: In college...yeah!
Posted: 18th Nov 2003 05:50
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AMD 64 Alienware, definitely

The Alienwares are awesome, I was going to buy one for college next year, if I don't win a computer first, and I get enough scholarships to afford it

Actually Alienware computers are no more expensive for what you get then ABS, Falcon, or another high end gaming system. Plus they look freakin' awesome and have a nice cooling system.

AMD's are faster than Pentiums and much better for gaming. Thinking of a video card? If you have all the money, get the nVidia Geforce FX5950, otherwise go for the 5700.

nVidia and AMD are great gaming components to a computer. Go for the best if you have the money. If not, you can get a Barton 2800+ instead of a 64 bit one.

Good luck

Xander - Bolt Software

Why do the antagonists always have to look so cool?
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