Upgrading a computer

[Butt]

I'm thinking of upgrading my computer, which basically entails changing the whole inside.

Can anyone recommend a good motherboard, processor, hard drive, that all work well together. It's needs to be fast as I use it for games.

Thanks

[Squiddley]

Hi Butt,

There's a huge range of choices out there, all depending on your budget, needs, time etc. As a hobby I've put together a number of PCs, and my suggesitons (and they're only that!) for consideration are based on my own current setup. It also depends somewhat on whether you're planning to DIY or go for a brand name. On that score, all I can say is avoid Compaq like the plague :) (Apologies to satisfied Compaq owners.)

CPU - AMD, either Thunderbird or Duron. Durons are cheap, stable and if you're that way inclined, can be tweaked for more "oomph". Purists will argue that intel are "better", which they are on the whole, but there's not much between them. If money's no object, go for the fastest intel you can. Otherwise, stick with AMD for much less money.

Motherboard - Socket A (if using AMD CPU), with ATA100/RAID support. Abit KT7-Raid is a good one.

Hard-disk - IBM ATA100 are great, and combined with the RAID m'board, will enhance gaming performance. A pair will be even better (RAID works best using identical HDs). Twin DTLA307030s would be nice!

RAM - Minimum of 128MB, the more the merrier, but not "slower" than 133mhz. you might not notice the difference, but the hardware will. As with the HDs, using identical RAM types is better.

Video card - AGP. As a guideline, focus on the chipsets rather than the brand names, as many companies use the same. Nvidia GeForce2 does very well. I'm not an avid gamer, but a cheap and cheerful (Winfast) card does the job very well. N.B. Some motherboards will have graphics "onboard" but if you're wanting more gaming power/performance, steer clear.

Sound card - Depends on your speaker setup and the room you're in, but a Sounblaster Live! value does very well. If you're into playing DVD/MP3 etc and want hifi type performance, maybe a higher level SB card would be better. Same N.B. about onboard sound as with graphics.

CD/DVD - According to your needs. I use a Pioneer 115S DVD, which is fine for all uses. Only rarely play DVDs though, so it's primary use is as a CD-ROM. Watch out for regional coding issues with DVD if you go that way. Panasonic drives can be set to read all regions, whereas Pioneer will be fixed on/after the 5th change of region.

Floppy - All pretty much the same.

Power supply - Important is you're going with an AMD system, as they are more greedy than Intel. Not less than 300W should be plenty. If you have lots of USB hardware without its own power supply, consider something more wattage.

Bear in mind whatever you go for will be outdated in a few months, so don't go for the very latest stuff, as it will cost you. That's why I lean towards AMD now. A US$60 AMD CPU giving similar performance to an Intel one, but at 25% of the price speaks for itself.

Take time to look for reviews which will give you a good idea for a shortlist. Good hunting!

[JP Justice]

I am by no means a techie, but I understand from friends who are in the business that it is very nearly as cheap to buy a new system as it is to upgrade. UK entry level seems to be around £550 for about 600Mb, and for £1000 you can get practically 1Gb, and a year's warranty.

My machine is 2 years old, and I reckon that it will last about the same again. Then it's off to the spare room so that my wife can play Mah-Jongg and Freecell without chucking me off the Net first.

I have almost decided that the next one will be a laptop, not because I travel that much, but because it is so much neater than a desktop.

[R O Tiree]

Squiddley - I would tend to disagree with one of your final points - "Bear in mind whatever you go for will be outdated in a few months, so don't go for the very latest stuff, as it will cost you." Go for the spangliest system that you can. As you rightly pointed out, kit gets outdated after a few months, so if you buy less than up-to-date kit, your system will become incapable of playing the latest games that much sooner.

JP Justice - NOOOOO! Don't be tempted to go the laptop route unless you are on the move a lot. Laptops require almost bespoke components, as they are required to be very small (to fit in the case) and very power efficient (so the battery life isn't compromised). These 2 requirements mean that items of kit for laptops are around twice the price as those for normal PCs. Of course, if you get external peripherals, you will have loads of transformers kicking around under your desk and a rat's nest of wiring on top of it.

Finally, and to answer Butt's original question - see these threads:

http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/Forum35/HTML/000502.html (about 2/3 the way down the page)

and:

http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/Forum35/HTML/000546.html

Things have moved on a bit in the last few months, faster processors, motherboards, HDDs, etc, but the message is the same

[This message has been edited by R O Tiree (edited 31 January 2001).]

[AquaPlane]

Butt,

In additin to Squiddley's post, here's a few recommendations from myself you might want to consider.

Games require horsepower in large quantities. Go for big chip speeds, Intel if budget allows, or AMD if not. Loads of RAM 128MB minimum with Win 95/98/Me and 256MB minimum with Windows2k. I understand the Videologic Sonic Fury is a good sound card, and not expensive. Comes with onboard DSP's for surround and such I think. Graphics cards are important too. I run an nVidia TNT2Ultra. Go for an nVidia GeForce 2 Ultra, this baby will out power our six figure Silicon Graphics Onyx2 virtuality engine for about £300UKP...!

Hope this helps,

Aq

[Mac the Knife]

"....upgrading my computer, which basically entails changing the whole inside.."

Don't. Throw it away, give it away, use it as a doorstop.
Then buy a new one. It'll be cheaper in the long run & far less hassle.

And avoid Windows 98ME (stick with 98SE)

[SchmiteGoBust]

Why not avoid windows altogether and use LINUX. I've given up supporting Bill Gates and am running MANDRAKE version of linux. It's brilliant and much more flexible than windows!!!

[Mac the Knife]

Schmite.. Such are my plans. Can I email you if I get stuck?

[ExSimGuy]

Schmite,

Interesting point about Linux. I was going to post here, but I think It'd be better to start a new thread.

------------------
What Goes Around . . . . .
. . often makes a better landing

[SR-71]

I have 2 agree with Squiddley although I'd say that U Should deffinately go 4 an AMD as they're not only cheaper but faster 2. Also if U're after good games playing then go for a Duron at a big saving and concentrate on the Video Board like Nvidia Geforce2MX (don't B put off by the fact that the MX is "budget", It's pretty quick) GTS or Ultra (if U can aford it and have a large monitor). Also the Duron can B very well overclocked. U could try www.overclockers.co.uk (http://www.overclockers.co.uk) (also have many interesting articles and links)as they can sell U not only all the parts U need but also unlock the clock multiplyer on your chip (PIII, Duron or Athlon(Want a 1.35GHz Athlon then talk 2 them)). As for the hard drive then I can personally vouch 4 the IBM range, Particuly the 75GXP range (from 15-75Gb). I have just bought a 46Gb model which is soooo much faster than my (no slouch) 30Gb Fujitsu.
JP Justice, Please don't buy a laptop because it looks nice, U'll pay double for half the functionality and when U want 2 upgrade then U'll get stung again.
R O Tiree, although I agree with U on the laptop from I can't agree with your "Early Adopters" philosophy unless U've very well off. If U buy something thats been out 4 months U'll save a fortune outweighing your 3 year lifespan being reduced by a couple month. Worse still, U could get cought with an unsupported product. Would U buy Rambus yet?
One last Note (I know, I've been going on) to Mac the Knife is that old Processor chips make very nice keyrings.


------------------
ICQ# 91029795