Questions about a new PC

[Guest]

Hi All,I'm considering upgrading to a newer PC but of course with some budget constraints.I'm currently running the following....Intel PIII 866MHz384MB PC133 SDRAM10.1 Gig HD ATA 7200rpm40 Gig Western Digital ATA 7200rpm w/8MB CacheGeForce 2 GTS 32MB DDR RAMSoundblaster Live!10/100 LANWin98SEI'd like to upgrade to....Intel 2.4Gig 533 FSB or AMD Athlon XP2100+Abit SA7 / Asus A7S333 Motherboard - unsure if this (these) are for for both Intel and/or Athlon. 512MB PC2100 DDRASUS GF4 Ti4200 64/128 MB300W Power Supply40 Gig HDMobo has onboard sound and LAN but I'd prefer to drop a Soundblaster card in there.WinXPSo my questions then are as follows....What is your overall impression of the system. Anything you'd change (keeping budget in mind - read as bang for buck)?Should I spend the extra cash and get the 128MB video card vs. the 64 MB version? Is the GF4 even the right way to go vs. ATI?Should I scap the mobo and get something better without the sound and lan onboard? (BTW I know crap about mobos).What about the great debate between AMD and Intel? I've always used Intel and no nothing of these AMD chips other than you supposedly get a faster chip for less money. I also heard that most software is written taking intel's architecture into consideration vs. AMD's. Is this an important factor or not?What about the RAM? There seems to be more flavours of it out there now than ice cream. Will this cut it into FS2004?I'd appreciate any input from you guys. I don't want to buy something that I'm not going to be happy about. It should go without saying that this machines' intended use is specifically for FS2002.Thanks, CF-AOA

[Guest ccgr]

If your getting a 333 bus speed motherboard get the PC 2700 RAM to go with it.What speed is the hard drive? Get a 7200 if possible.If you want a good bang for the buck motherboard get a NForce2 one (AMD only) they come with built in LAN and Dolby sound!I run AMD processors and that's what I mostly sell honestly, they are great no compatibility issues. Intel has them beat on speed though.As for motherboards Asus are awesome performers a little pricier. Abits are nice though.Forgot a couple questions...Nvidia card have excellent drivers, so I would say stick with Nvidia over ATI for thata reason alone. The 64MB Ti4200 has faster memory than the 128MB. I run my game fine on the 64MB model.

[Guest]

Hi CCGR,Yeah, I've heard good things about that NForce mobo. Maybe if this one doesn't work out, I can upgrade it in the future.One of the problems I've been suffering in FS2002, is the blurries of the ground textures. I figure that the amount of RAM on the video card prolly has something to do with it, as well as the older generation GPU. I'm not looking for huge performance increases in the graphics; crisper looking graphics and a blurries fix are what I hope to acheive.And yes the HD will be a 7200rpm one and I'll prolly pull the 40Gig out of the one I have now, as it's only 2 weeks old.Guess I'll stick with the Intel chips too as I'd like some speed and we know how FS2002 likes cpu hp!Thanks for your input!CF-AOA

[Guest artl]

>Hi CCGR, >>...>Guess I'll stick with the Intel chips too as I'd like some >speed and we know how FS2002 likes cpu hp! >>...The "debate" intel vs AMD is that the AMD architecture is superior such that a slower chip produces the same performance as intel's faster one. You should do some google searches for reviews on intel and AMD and you will possibly come upon some of those articles. Do not buy intel just because the clock speed is faster, but check the reviews for benchmark scores on comparably-priced chips.Art.

[Guest SoarPics]

I'd recommend a larger power supply... 400W minimum. And do yourself the favor of buying a good one. Cheap power supplies create many more problems than many users realize. Whenever I build a new box I always budget $100.00-$150.00US for the power supply. On this system I'm running a 430W Antec True Power... and absolutely no problems.I agree with ccgr about the PC2700 memory if the M/B you buy uses a 333Mhz chipset. The PC2100 will hold a 333 M/B back.Good luck,

[Guest outtatimeiii]

Yeah, that is true. I have benchmarked many times finding out that my 1.2GHz Athlon T-bird can ALMOST produce the same performance as a P4 1.9GHz AutoCAD machine at my college. I think the older P4 CPU's are in those machines though. Haven't got to benchmark a faster P4 because nobody seems to have a faster P4 around my town LOL.