Buying a new system soon and I need HELP

[AmishSlayer]

Ok. My budget for a new system is about $1,100

I'm trying to make the best system possible on www.cyberpowersystem.com (I don't know how to put together my own computer ;()

I was wondering about some things -

1. Which is faster? AMD 64 or P4's?
2. DDR2 ram? wtf?
3. Dual Core Pentiums? What's the deal? Are they a lot faster?
4. I hear you can unlock pipelines with a normal 6800 to get the 16 pipelines that a 6800gt has. If so I was thinking of getting a Leadtek 6800 and OC'ing it and unlocking the pipelines....does that even work?

Any recommendations? Better sites to put a computer together? Any tips? I don't trust myself with putting the computer together via tutorials...so I think I'll leave that to the pros.

 

[bryanf445]

1st of all, cyberpowers is so terrible....actually i am kidding, they make great computers. Them and www.ibuypower.com

1.amd 64
2.ddr 2 only works w/ p4's atm
3dual cores are really advantageous at all for desktop users link<<<
4.yea it should work

 

[sinkoman]

Actually, on 4, I wouldn't rely on that. Grab a 6800gt. Not everybod can unlock all 4 of the pipes, and no two cards overclock the same. You may end up with only 1 unlocked pipe, and an only 15mhz faster core.

 

[AmishSlayer]

Actually, on 4, I wouldn't rely on that. Grab a 6800gt. Not everybod can unlock all 4 of the pipes, and no two cards overclock the same. You may end up with only 1 unlocked pipe, and an only 15mhz faster core.

Ok. Is leadtek probably the best brand to go with for OC'ing to ultra speeds?

 

[sinkoman]

Ok. Is leadtek probably the best brand to go with for OC'ing to ultra speeds?

Erm, if anything, i'd say go with gigabyte if you're going pci-e, or bfg. Gigabyte has a very good cooling system going for their pci-e 6800gt's. When I first had my card (begining of summer), I was idling around 70. I figured, that's too high for this neato looking hsf. So I retrofitted the card with AS5, and now i'm idling around 56. Now, my room gets about 82 F this time of year, and I think that idling 56 c in a room that's 82 F is pretty damn good.

Of course, you probably wont want to go and make those mods yourself, figuring that you don't even want to build your pc, but i'm sure wherever you live, it stays much cooler.

But shame on you not building your pc yourself. It's good fun. I'm only thirteen, and I pulled it off just fine. I'm sure a grown man like yourself (maybe not?) wouldn't run into any trouble. You don't even need a guide for gods sake! Well, maybe to start yourself off (I kept trying to put off the procedure, and would've been lost without knowing what part to start with), but otherwise, it's pretty obvious. Your motherboard manual will probably also have some instructions too.

Give it a go!

 

[AmishSlayer]

Erm, if anything, i'd say go with gigabyte if you're going pci-e, or bfg. Gigabyte has a very good cooling system going for their pci-e 6800gt's. When I first had my card (begining of summer), I was idling around 70. I figured, that's too high for this neato looking hsf. So I retrofitted the card with AS5, and now i'm idling around 56. Now, my room gets about 82 F this time of year, and I think that idling 56 c in a room that's 82 F is pretty damn good.

Of course, you probably wont want to go and make those mods yourself, figuring that you don't even want to build your pc, but i'm sure wherever you live, it stays much cooler.

But shame on you not building your pc yourself. It's good fun. I'm only thirteen, and I pulled it off just fine. I'm sure a grown man like yourself (maybe not?) wouldn't run into any trouble. You don't even need a guide for gods sake! Well, maybe to start yourself off (I kept trying to put off the procedure, and would've been lost without knowing what part to start with), but otherwise, it's pretty obvious. Your motherboard manual will probably also have some instructions too.

Give it a go!

The only info I have to go on for the 6800GT is the reviews over at newegg.com I've just been going on what people say about the stock cooling system and the temps they're getting.

I would build my own system but I just don't trust myself to properly hook up everything. The things I'm worried about are the harder things - CPU, Heatsink, Mounting the mobo, case fans, hooking up the HD other drives etc.

All I am comfortable with right now is hooking up PCI/AGP cards and ram... I know it's kinda pathetic (and I am pretty much a grown man.. 20). I wish I had somebody to walk me through it in person but I don't know anybody that knows much more than me about installing hardware.

 

[duffers20]

All you really have to do is take your time, don't rush it and make sure that you are careful with stuff like the CPU and fitting the heatsink. Once you fit the CPU and the heatsink, then you are almost there, I mean you know how to fit ram and a gfx card, and fitting harddrives and optical drives is easy enough, your pretty much there.

 

[sinkoman]

All you really have to do is take your time, don't rush it and make sure that you are careful with stuff like the CPU and fitting the heatsink. Once you fit the CPU and the heatsink, then you are almost there, I mean you know how to fit ram and a gfx card, and fitting harddrives and optical drives is easy enough, your pretty much there.

Yeah. The only part I was EXCEPTIONALY nervous about was starting the build (I had no idea what to do first, but that's where guides come in) and putting the AS5 on my hsf. I kept smearing it on the edges of the heatspreader, and thought I had ruined the cpu. Turns out, when they say "don't get it on the cpu", they mean "don't get a nice sized glob on the pcb".

As for cpu installation, it's a snap. I got worried that i'd have to apply excessive force to get it in. Set it into the slot, no go. So right as I was going to force the damn thing in, I looked at the diagram (I was trying to assure myself that "it's ok to push") and found out I had it slotted wrong. Turned it around, PLOP! It just fell into place. No need to push, nothing. It just fell in like pellet through a piece of pvc.

As for the hardware, going of newegg reviews is really really bad. Almost everybody posts positive hardware reviews there. I would say give yourself ALLOT of time to research parts.