Is this prospective setup any good, price/performance-wise?

[Stigmata]

All prices from NCIX.com are before shipping and tax. Final price is with shipping and tax. All prices in $CAN.


CPU.........AMD Athlon64X2 5000+......$379.98.....http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=19525&vpn=ADA5000IAA&manufa cture=Others&promoid=1020
MOBO......Asus NForce570.................$121.90.....http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=18885&vpn=M2N-E&manufacture=ASUS
RAM........2x1GB PC26400/DDR2800...$234.63....http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=15365&vpn=OCZ28002048ELDCGE-K&manufacture=OCZ Technology
HDD........WD 250GB SATA2 8.9ms....$105.32....http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=16141&vpn=WD2500KS&manufacture=Western Digital
DVD........Asus DVD16xCD48x..........$30.70......http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=17630&vpn=DVD-E616A&manufacture=ASUS
VIDEO......NV EVGA 7600GT 256MB....$202.40....http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=18390&vpn=256-P2-N554-AX&manufacture=eVGA
AUDIO......Creative SBAudigySE.......$33.40.....http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=17424&vpn=30SB057000000&manufacture=Creative Labs
NETWORK....D-Link 10-1000 RJ45.....$27.61.....http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=14802&vpn=DGE-530T&manufacture=D-Link
CASE/PSU...Antec P150quiet 430W....$158.11....(COMBO with RAM)
OS.........MS WinXP Home.................$98.10.....(COMBO with MOBO)
ANTIVIRUS..McAfee 2006..................$63.56.....http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=19097&vpn=VSF01E001RAA&manufacture=MCAFEE ASSOC

SUBTOTAL..............................$1455.71
TOTAL (incl. tax, shipping).......$1639.92

Basically, are there any sites that will offer better hardware for the same price, or the same hardware for a better price? Is there anything I should switch out? Keep in mind that I'm not going for an entirely bleeding-edge system right now, as I'll have the money to upgrade mid-range parts in about 2-3 months.

 

[koul_jackson]

looks good, but i would drop a few things from the list...

a. The 7600GT? You're Processor will be running so fast your Geforce won't even be able to keep up, to get the most bang for your' buck drop the Processor down to a Athlon, or upgrade your vid card to a 7900(or two 7900's)

b. the 430Watt PSU should be 600Watt or more...just to be safe. You don't want the powersupply to crap out on you when you're pushing your limits.

c. Macafee sucks ass...go get Symantec Antivirus...it's going to be expensive, but it's basically the corperate edition of Norton Stuff....

other then that your machine looks pretty good...better then mine, but then again mine was300 dollars cheaper...oh, and go ahead and get a DVD-RW Dual Layer drive...they're only like 30 dollars more.

 

[Stigmata]

I thought about the video card problem, and there's no way I'm downgrading my CPU just so I can have equal performance across all my hardware. I'm on somewhat of a strict budget, so what I'm planning on doing is buying the 7600GT which will give me performance *decent enough* to last me until I can afford a high-end card. Essentially I'm future-proofing the essentials (e.g. SATA, DDR2, AM2), and leaving the high-end peripherals for later.

I'll look into alternate case/PSUs, and the DVDRW drive. I'd like to get one with Lighscribe too, because that's a neat feature. But I'll have to check up on the pricing.

 

[Asus]

Looks good.
The 7600GT doesn't use near as much power compared to higher end cards so if that is what you plan to get then the Power supply is fine. If you are going to get a higher end GPU then a 500watt PSU would be better (more for Crossfire/SLI).

He's right about the CPU being really fast compared to the GFX card. If you are going to keep that system and upgrade the GFX card later then thats fine how you have it. If you are going to upgrade both later on then you might want save some money and get an X2 4600+ or something for now.

I actually like McAffee over Norton. McAffee does take longer to scan a hard drive though. I perfer NOD32 over other AV programs of course.
The Antec P150 case I hear is great.

 

[Glirk Dient]

Drop the antivirus and the NIC card...you dont need one. Onboard is plenty fine for your internet. That should free enough to upgrade to a 7900gt as you won't regret it. Also get a cheaper case...one that doesn't come with a PSU as those are almost always complete crap.

I just looked it up and its worse than crap. Getting that PSU would be like hitting your components with a hammer really fast until they break. Don't get that PSU it's shit and won't be able to support your setup. Get a good decent PSU. It will cut into your budget some but PSUs are always overlooked yet they are one of the most important pieces to a setup.

Antec and Enermax are good safe bets for a PSU.

 

[Stigmata]

Heh, fair enough. I saw a couple nice-looking cases online, too, so I'll definitely look into that. I'll drop the NIC too; the only reason I added it is because I just bought one for my current PC, as the onboard NIC died D:

I do, however, feel as if I need the antivirus. My current PC has been plagued with problems for years, and I don't want to have to reformat my new setup every four months because I don't protect it.

[edit] A monitor, keyboard, mouse, and sound setup is going to be considered after-cost.

 

[koul_jackson]

might as well through in a mouse and keyboard whileyou're at it.

 

[Glirk Dient]

Heh, fair enough. I saw a couple nice-looking cases online, too, so I'll definitely look into that. I'll drop the NIC too; the only reason I added it is because I just bought one for my current PC, as the onboard NIC died D:

I do, however, feel as if I need the antivirus. My current PC has been plagued with problems for years, and I don't want to have to reformat my new setup every four months because I don't protect it.

[edit] A monitor, keyboard, mouse, and sound setup is going to be considered after-cost.

There are plenty of good anti-virus programs that will protect you as long as you don't dl every .exe file off of filesharing programs.

Your setup will definately benefit from a better vid card and you will love it, so up the price if you have to. Also another thing to consider is when installing your OS make a 15gb parition for windows alone. Just install drivers and windows related stuff on that partition then make a partition for the rest of the HD and use that to store programs/data on so if your comp gets loaded with viruses you just gotta reinstall windows and all your programs will still be there.

 

[Stigmata]

Also another thing to consider is when installing your OS make a 15gb parition for windows alone. Just install drivers and windows related stuff on that partition then make a partition for the rest of the HD and use that to store programs/data on so if your comp gets loaded with viruses you just gotta reinstall windows and all your programs will still be there.

That's a good idea. I was thinking about that for a while. I'm looking at a 320GB drive, so something like 15GB for the OS, 25GB for program directories, 20GB for data backup (drivers, patches, etc), 100GB for media (movies, music), and 160GB for games (incl. Steam).

Now. First, a belated thanks for all your input. Thank you.

Second, I have a couple (read: four) new questions.

One: As my system is obviously going to be 64-bit, do I require a 64-bit OS in order to take advantage of 64-bit? If so, will any version of Windows do? If not, is WinXP Pro 64-bit the only 64-bit version of Windows available? (It's kind of expensive...)

Two: The DVD drive I'm planning on purchasing is capable of interfacting through "IDE/Ultra-DMA 33". What exactly is DMA, how can I get it to work, and will it require any extra cabling or other components? All I know is that it's supposed to be faster than IDE.

Three: Probably a dumb question, but anyway. I'm looking at a number of 7.1/24bit sound cards priced at under $35. I'm not planning on having a speaker setup from the start, but rather opting for headphones. So, is it worth it to buy a sound card for EAX and better quality if I'm only using headphones?

Four: Are there any SATA optical drives available to the mainstream market? I've only found one, and it was about $160. And is there be any SATA speed advantage over IDE, or would we not see those benefits until the DVD read speeds exceed a very high speed at some point in the future?

That is all.

 

[Asus]

That's a good idea. I was thinking about that for a while. I'm looking at a 320GB drive, so something like 15GB for the OS, 25GB for program directories, 20GB for data backup (drivers, patches, etc), 100GB for media (movies, music), and 160GB for games (incl. Steam).

Thats a good idea. Although I probably would not make a partition for backup/patches. By the time you need patches and install files they will be out of date and you'll be looking online for the new ones. Also if it's truely backup then you've got a problem. It's still the same drive and if it goes down so does your 'backup'. I've found that making a bunch of small partitions can limit the more you fill up your harddrive. Just keep it simple and functional. Windows, Programs, Media. Something like that maybe.

One: As my system is obviously going to be 64-bit, do I require a 64-bit OS in order to take advantage of 64-bit? If so, will any version of Windows do? If not, is WinXP Pro 64-bit the only 64-bit version of Windows available? (It's kind of expensive...)

Yeah, you would need a 64bit OS to take advantage of 64bit hardware. I would not recommend it at the moment. Wait until Vista comes out and then get the 64bit version of Vista. FYI Windows XP is 32bit (there is a 64bit version of Windows XP but you have to trade your existing copy of 32bit XP. Not worth the issues.) I would just install regular Windows XP (32bit) for the moment.

Two: The DVD drive I'm planning on purchasing is capable of interfacting through "IDE/Ultra-DMA 33". What exactly is DMA, how can I get it to work, and will it require any extra cabling or other components? All I know is that it's supposed to be faster than IDE.

No extra cables or plugs needed. DMA is just the mode the drive runs in. PIO mode makes the CPU do a lot of work. DMA mode lets the drive talk directly to the memory to take a load off the CPU (DMA=Direct Memory Access).

Three: Probably a dumb question, but anyway. I'm looking at a number of 7.1/24bit sound cards priced at under $35. I'm not planning on having a speaker setup from the start, but rather opting for headphones. So, is it worth it to buy a sound card for EAX and better quality if I'm only using headphones?

EAX isn't about sound quality but 3D positioning and hardware acceleration. I would say stick with onboard (it can be pretty good for free hehe) and when you get enough money you can decide to pick up an Audigy 2 ZS, Audigy 4 or X-XFI ($50+).

Four: Are there any SATA optical drives available to the mainstream market? I've only found one, and it was about $160. And is there be any SATA speed advantage over IDE, or would we not see those benefits until the DVD read speeds exceed a very high speed at some point in the future?

For a DVD or CD drive the only benift of SATA would be the small cable size, no jumpers and length. It would be no faster. Optical drives transfer about 33mb/s, IDE cables max are 133mb/s and SATA is 150 and 300MB/s. I wouldn't waste any money at this point on a SATA optical drive.

 

[Stigmata]

Alright, so I can cut the sound card for now. That's pretty good, as it'll let me purchase a better monitor.

Now, about Windows and 64-bit hardware. One thing you should know is that the computer I'm on is the "family" computer that everyone uses, and my new system is going to be all mine, so I need my own copy of Windows for it.

So, with that in mind... WinXP Pro 64-bit costs roughly $160, while XP Home costs just under $100. Cost is somewhat of a factor (though I can afford either), so if I were to buy Home edition, would everything else (software and hardware) still work as intented? Or is Pro 64-bit a more worthwhile investment for 64-bit hardware?

 

[DrDevin]

I would say that Windows XP Professional x64 Edition isn't worth the money. It does not offer any real performance advatages and has some problems with drivers and compatability.

I am personally waiting for Windows Vista to be released (in a few months). If you buy a copy it should be good for at least 5 years. Windows XP is already old enough and will soon be phased out.

If you wanted to try to save some money you could:

Download the Windows XP Professional x64 Edition trial for free.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/64bit/facts/trial.mspx

It is good for 120 days, so you could use it until Windows Vista was released and then buy a copy of Vista.

It would save you from buying XP and then Vista in a year or so.

Both XP and XP x64 should work the same with your hardware, as long as there are 64 bit drivers avaliable (sometimes odd components like Wi-Fi cards don't have 64 bit drivers).

 

[Asus]

Running the trial of windows is a good suggestion. Wonder which is more stable at the moment? Windows XP (64bit) or Vista beta (64bit). That would save you money now on an OS purchase. You may have some driver issues but if you don't like it then you could run out and buy Windows XP home. When the 64bit version of Vista comes out I suspect it will have a lot better drivers and support than Windows XP 64bit edition because it will be more mainstream and everyone should jump on the bandwagon then.

 

[Stigmata]

Thanks Now I have one more question

1. Do my drivers have to be bit-compatible with the OS or the hardware? As in, if I have 64bit hardware, but a 32bit OS, will 32bit drivers work fine?

And I think I'll go with the Vista beta, because that's a very cool idea. I do like those new Aero cursors...

 

[Viperidae]

Do. Not. Buy. From. NCIX. It's cheaper to buy from the states than them.

 

[Asus]

Your drivers have to match the OS.
The hardware can do either 32bit or 64bit.
But if you are running a 64bit OS you must get 64bit drivers.
All the drivers you have now are 32bit and running a 32bit OS.

It shouldn't be that hard since when you go to pick the driver to download now you pick the OS. They will label drivers like this with Windows XP 64bit and Vista 64bit.