dsmith

ALthough I used to do PC support and build them from bits etc. My PC knowledge is now a few years out of date (i.e. useless). I am considering changing by much loved home PC. (Currently 200MMX 96Mb Ram...14" Screen)

I have a few technology related Qs ..

Intel vs AMD. : AMD looking good at the moment ? - No compatability probs ?

Graphics Card : AGP Bus speed what is the current norm & best.

When I were a lad , you used to calculate graphics mem reqd by multiplying reqd sreen res by colur depth. Does the memory now do more eg. 3D, polygon type stuff ?

Specifically what is the likely difference in performnace between "32MB nVIDIA GeForce2 MX TV-out" and "64MB nVIDIA GeForce2 GTS with TV-out". Is it worth an extra £160 ?
Are there better cards for equivalent money.

Any particular bits I should avoid e.g. old M/B chipsets that sort of thing.?

Cheers !
Dean

robski

Want to improve your UT performance no!?

Ok, Ive got Athlon 1Ghz, 128 Ram (need more really) 32MB Geforce2 (not MX).

If your going to build from scratch
buy an ABIT or ASUS mobo
Athlon 1000 or faster
good heatsink
IBM 75GXP diskdrive, very fast and very quiet

on the graphics card front, the 64mb is a bit over the top unless you want to run at very hig res like 1900 or 2000 ish.

There is a geforce that has about the best balance for money. You want the geforce2 pro. Its got the faster memory of the fastest ones, but the "slower" core.

I will try to dig up some prices for you later

only competitor is the ATI radeon which is good. I wouldnt touch ATI myself as their drivers are usually not developed as fast and as well as Nvidias, but its a good card none the less.

If you are building yourself, you really want a 300watt power supply for a fast athlon.

See me tomorrow night, if you want more details.

robski

dsmith

UT is just one of a number of factors.. ..

It all started with "I need a bigger screen..." and its kind of snowballed.

Won't be building this one myself - too much hassle. The only thing worth saving my current PC is the mouse (and Buffy Mouse Mat ). I'll be keeping it as a experiment machine though...

Dean

robski

Hmmm,

I really wouldnt recommend buying a "box"
well not that sort, black boxes are different

If you buy a highstreet retailer version you can kiss goodbye to decent companents. For the sake of an hour I would always build my own. Do you want it built for you!?

robski

Lee

I'm just about to order some bits for a new machine for lisa (wifey)

Asus m/b
AMD-900 & coolermaster "fridge"
32Mb geforce2 ddr (only £145 steal!)
SB player5.1
256Mb
usuals

£700 all in. Add 80 for a disk cos she already has one.

Thats in contrast to my machine which is
asus also
1100 AMD
geforce2 ultra 64mb rich toy
sb live
768Mb
2 30Gb's
and that was more like £1400 all in.

yes the ultra is quicker, but at more than twice (almost 3 times) the price ? nah..

dsmith

Lee

Does that £700 Include VAT, a case and a 17" monitor - as That was the primary reason for the capital expenditure request being signed off then I guess I should make sure I include it

Other than 128Mb instead of 256Mb that was pretty much the spec I was getting to.

Possibly 1Ghz instead of 900 but I guess Robski is now going to tell me I can overclock it

dsmith

And what exactly do you need 700+Mb of Ram for anyway ???

Mr Footlong

iTrader: (7)

At the mo, AMD really is the way to go. Intel still puts up a good fight, but is outclassed in both the realistic heavweight(PIII/ AMD TB Athlon) and Lightweight (CeleronII/AMD Duron) divisions. No, they aren't like cyrix chips!. The only patches related are really for the VIA apollo series chipsets, that most MOBO makers use. Usually very good, stable drivers, bar 4.27 beta/w2k. I agree with the fellow techheads here and say custom build/build your own! Christ man, if you were doing PC support a few years ago, then it really will be like falling off a log for you with a bit of perseverence!!!!

If you really can't be arsed, then fair enough.

Ignoring the names, have a look at both of these sites for parts and an idea of what's what.

dsmith

Nick,

Many Thanks for all the info - just the sort of stuff I was after...Trouble Sleeping ??

I'm swinging round to the build it myself. After browsing a few web sites etc. It doesn't seem that different after all

robski

Dean,

easy peasy

when buying a case, try to get an ATX2.03 its what some of the newer motherboards are going to use

robski

Lee

dsmith - was 700 but here's what I ordered today :

Asus A7V-133-RAID
AMD 1000MHz + coolermaster fridge
ATX Midi Tower Case 250W AMD Approved
256Mb SDRAM 133MHz PC-133
32Mb ASUS V7700 Ge-Force-II DDR
SoundBlaster Player 5.1 PCI Retail
Panasonic 1.44Mb Floppy Disk Drive
Creative Labs DVD ROM x12 (x40CD)

£750 all in. no hard drive, keyb, mouse, monitor etc got all those.

Oh and my 768Mb RAM - 3 slots and it seemed rude not to fill 'em Paid £70 per 256Mb at the time so a no brainer.

160W 'Transparent Blue' Terra ACTIVE Speakers 160W PMPO

Kevin Greeley

Lee - are you a 'Scan' fan or do you get your stuff elsewhere ?

Kevin.

Tal

You might want to try your local computer fair some bargains to be had ( 3/4 the price of scan)

Just ungraded my little pc

Abit KT7 A Raid MB
AMD Athalon Thunderbird 900 @ 1100 (cooler)
soundblaster 5.1 live
fdd
keyboard
300w psu / case
mouse
speakers

for £375

Got 2 systems now

only use one

already had

46 GB ibm udma100 7200rpm HDD
Ricoh X12cdrw/DVD
17" fst hitachi monitor
256mb pc133 SDRAM
Voodoo 3 3000 AGP (you are the weakest link)
cable modem
ethernet 10/100 card
ect
ect

get about 70fps in unreal @ 1200X1100

Lee
you need a 300W psu to run that little lot - (very important)

dsmith

Thanx for all the advice, in the end decided I'd be silly not build it myself.

So just ordered

Abit KT7-A-Raid (KT133A Chipset) M/B
T'Bird 950
128 Mb RAM (PC-133)
Gladiac GF GTS 32MB DDR
46 Gb IBM (ATA-100,2MB Cache,7200RPM)
17" Mitsubishi Monitor
Pioneer 16x DVD 40x CD
+ CD-RW (SLow but Cheap....24x4x4)
Case+Floppy+SB-128

Bit concerned I may not notice the difference to my 200MMX Dell

I will keep the Mouse+Keyboard from my current machine though so it really is just a minor upgrade

robski

Dean, thats a sweet system, but
just one point. Have you ordered a heatsink? AMD chips usually ship without a heatsink, and you really need one, or it will die in seconds

robski

dsmith

Missed it off...

Coolermaster "Copper" Athlon/Intel up to 1.4 Ghz

Scan were doing the Board,processor,Heatsink and Memory as a bundle.

I've also dug out some old PC fans to stick in the case....Now Over-Clocking we shall go....

Whats all this about a pencil ???

robski

Ahh, the pncil trick

VERY scarey!

mine worked. Check out a few websites to see what you need to do.

have you ordered any special gunk to put between the processor and the heatsink?

Artic silver is supposed to be the best

rob

Tal

Nice !!

I have got nearly the same system except 900 Thunderbird

The pencil trick is to unlock the chip so you can alter the multiplier i.e. over clock!!

on the processor look for L1 ::::
and with a sharp HB pencil make then look like |||| but make sure they are not touching each other (the four straight lines)

now you can overclock

mine is running at 1050Mhz i.e. 10.5X100
and is stable, heat is okay 35-40 underload.
your should go to 11x100 easily i.e 1100MHz

drop me a line if you get stuck as I have just built mine.

Tal

robski

If youve never built an AMD system before you must install the 4 in 1 drivers.

I didnt and it ran like pants.

Only difference I found to building an Intel system really.

robski

Tal

4 in 1 drivers ???

please illuminate me

robski

should have been supplied with your mobo.

Cant remember any more details, Ive been meaning to get updated ones.

If you check your mobo handbook they will be detailed in there. From memory you only need 2 of them if you have W98 or above.

robski

XRS

Have a look here:

dsmith

Spent a good deal of time on the Web recently

Latest Version is 4.25(1)

Try

dsmith

Doh ! Too Slow ,,,

robski

thems the guys

bloody memory is starting to fail, must be old age

robski

Steve Perriam

no problem then robski

memory is really cheap at the moment so pick yourself up a replacement 128mb for 40 ish quid and ditch the worn out stuf you've got up top


whilst we're talking pc upgrades can anyone suggest a good quality 19" monitor ? got a 19" dell at the moment but its not as good as my old 17" iiyama (dont as - did a swap 4 it!

looking for it to do 1280*1024 at above 75hz.

ta

steve