Intel P4 vs AMD

Well, I wasn't going to post this, because this build is just for sh*ts and giggles, so it is on the cheap side, and here it is, laugh all you want, but this is what I am getting:

ECS C19-A SLI Mother board with gigabit LAN $79
Pentium D 805 CPU $128
R120 Water cooler (4 GHz +) $89
X800GTO2 256 MB PCI-E Video $158
CAV-T03-UW Cooler Master case $60
S12-430 SeaSonic 430W power supply $97
ST3300822AS 300 GB hard drive $100
Benq DQ60 burner $40?
MAC412UOE 2x512 MB DDR2 RAM $74
Sub total Not including shipping $825 <>

 

Well It's nothing to rave about but it's a solid GPU and PSU you have there, and the CPU has a bit of OCing potential even with standard equipment.

 

Baltekmi
This thread has been moving so fast, I missed your question.

Yes. The dual cores will run circles around a single core without being OC(ed).

 

sytyguy

The build I put together includes everything needed, down to the thermal paste; shipping included. $1168.31, that's only $343.31 more than yours before you pay shipping. I suspect the difference will only be in the neighborhood of $300 or less. Performance RAM and other bells and whistles were incorporated, such as the Asus premium board with the AiLife features, and a card reader included with the floppy drive. The selected case has an abundance of fans for increased ventilation. The optical drive is a premium item as well. I didn't see the thermal paste or a floppy drive with cable on your parts list. If Cincyrob goes with that parts list, his will be more elaborate. The only thing I hedged on was the graphics card, but those can get outrageous. Plus it's something easily upgraded later. The most of what you saved in comparison is by using an inexpensive mobo and RAM. That's 2 of the places I try not to play on the cheap since they're the heart of the system performance. It will be interesting to see how your system turns out and what the benchs are at a stable level.

 

Wise words indeed. You can easily get more performance by upping your GPU but a cheap motherboard can have soe diadvantages that will haunt you unless you replace it, no simple task. I even cheated when I moved my PC to a new case so I've yet to utterly refit one.

 

Well, like I mentioned this is just for kicks. I have only built 2 computers and never OC'ed one, so this is going to be an experiment and learning process, because my ultimate PC (when prices come down)in the next few months will/should be glorious. Just pbought one of my daughters a new laptop, and currently installing all necessary software for her to work and be safe, and then this weekend I'm giving away my other daughter in marriage, so it won't be till next week that I can possibly get to this.

 

Busy life then! You are presumably also spending some time looking after that GMC right?

 

Ha, ha, haven't drive it since we moved from Northern Nevada to Phoenix, Arizona, and then it was just to move it out from the garage into a covered hauler, and when it arrived in Arizona I got to drive it once again, but only into the garage where it sits on jacks. Come September/October, when our new house is finished in Tucson I'll probably drive it the 2 hours to that home, and there it will sit in the garage waiting for nice weather.

Thanks for asking,

Rich

 

To All,

I've had to change my MB choice for a socket 775. The P5P800-MX has a locked bios. You can't change the CPU speed because the multiplier is locked. All you can do is tweak the memory.

I did a little more research using the Asus manuals on line and discovered that the P5VD1-X will do the job nicely. It has a Via PT880 chipset? It does have a 16x PCIe slot but it only runs at 4x. It also has an 4x/8x AGP slot and on-board video. This one you can OC. It's only a couple of dollars more at $57.50. The whole thing will still be under $330. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131566

I checked with Asus and it supports the D940. It supports both my memory and my present video card. Please let me know what you think as there aren't many MBs out there that can fill my needs, at least not for 58 bucks!

Sincerely,
theonejrs

 

@theonejrs,
Might pay to look around a bit more



Worst MB ever

Pros: It's Asus On board audio was OK....


Cons: 1) Doesnt' work with my AIW 9800pro 2) Extremely slow post 3) Poor user guide 4) Poor tech supports. Very slow email response. Closed my case without solving the problem. Called them (no 800 numbers),... More »
waited 10 mins on the phone. Finanally someone answered the phone, but the guy said everyone was busy and someone would call me back in 24 guaranteed. Guess he was saying 24 mths or maybe 24 years. 5) 1,000 characters are not enough to name all the frustrations that I encountered.

Other Thoughts: I knew there wasn't many choice if you want to keep your AGP 8x card and upgrade to pentium D, but you have to avoid this one. I was wrong to ignore the bad reviews and believed I would be the lucky one.


Reviewed By: cdsfo, 5/12/2006 8:45:28 AM
This reviewer reports that his/her technical understanding of this type of product is somewhat high and has owned this product between 1 week to 1 month.


Doesn't support Pentium d 9xx out of box

Pros: Cheap, great way to make old parts with new CPU...


Cons: Doesn't work with 9xx class of cpus even though it says "newest" dual core is supported. Had to buy a new rom. Computer worked 2.5 weeks, board went dead, new bios, same problem waiting on asus to r... More »
espond again...

Other Thoughts: wish I had never bought it. Should have just tossed the old stuff and gone all new, now wasted almost a month and money.

Reviewed By: Drako, 5/7/2006 8:38:33 PM
This reviewer reports that his/her technical understanding of this type of product is somewhat high and has owned this product between 1 month to 1 year.


Pros: good for the price. pci express 16, lets you use upto 4 gigs of ram....


Cons: one of the ram slots didnt work, the cpu socket stopped working, not ddr2, not all usb sockets worked... More »


Other Thoughts: on a budget build its ok, if your not on a budget go with someting better.

Reviewed By: N/A, 5/7/2006 3:07:11 PM
This reviewer reports that his/her technical understanding of this type of product is average and has owned this product between 1 month to 1 year.


Don't buy this board

Pros: supports dual core.

Cons: First off It says on here that it supports cpu voltage adjustments, well thats just a plain old lie. Second its a completely unstable board. The pci-e x16 port only runs in x4 mode. The Via chipset is less than adequate.

Other Thoughts: I have contacted Asus about many of the problems and they have never responded. I have loved all other Asus motherboards I've owned until this one.

Reviewed By: Leprachuan, 4/13/2006 9:31:09 AM
This reviewer reports that his/her technical understanding of this type of product is high and has owned this product between 1 week to 1 month.


Asus does not compare!!!

Pros: Easy to install. Works well for "normal" use.

Cons: RAM limitation 2 gig, NOT 4 gig they say. Asus tech gave me excuses not solution then they would not respond to my case (closed it) WITHOUT SOLVING THE PROBLEM!!! Customer service is the worst & don't belive what you read in the spec's!!!

Reviewed By: DLP, 4/8/2006 3:28:08 PM
This reviewer reports that his/her technical understanding of this type of product is high and has owned this product between 1 month to 1 year.


Does not support Pentium 4 D out of box

Pros: Very cheap, has AGP and PCIe Lots of ports for DDR1 RAM

Cons: This board wont work out of the box with Pentium 4 D. (mine was 930 3.0GHz) Must flash bios (but cant without working CPU) or send in bios chip to ASUS for a new Bios chip ($20)

Other Thoughts: I wish this had worked.

Reviewed By: Big Daddy Dave, 4/6/2006 3:12:44 PM
This reviewer reports that his/her technical understanding of this type of product is somewhat high and has owned this product between 1 week to 1 month.

 

crowy,

I also read all the reviews at Newegg. I came to the conclusion that most of those people don't have a clue! There [bold]are[/bold] 4 DIMM slots for 184 pin DDR which [bold]do support up to 4 GB![/bold] There are [bold]no DDR2 slots![/bold] I am aware that the 16x PCIe slot only runs at 4x (it states that in the specs) and will not support some video cards. I already have the bios version for the D940 and if needed, can install it from the CD that comes with the MB. The person who said that he had to buy a new bios could have sent his back for a free replacement rather than spending $20 he just didn't want to wait.

I am on a very tight budget on this one so I'm being very carefull. I visited Asus's site and downloaded the manual. I also checked the CPU compatability for the D940 and it should work fine. I felt that the negative reviews were more because of lack of experience than real problems. Add to that the fact that most knowlegable people usuually don't buy a MB this cheap, so the likelyhood of these persons lacking experience seems high! This is an "interum" MB for me as a way to do a decent Dual-Core on the cheap. A better MB will be several months down the road. I do appreciate the input!

Happy Computering,
theonejrs

 

Hey, i am building my second computer.. and i was wondering if this was alright?


Opty Build

Motherboard: http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=246486

Video Card: http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=326834

RAM: http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=83738

CPU: http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=80106-R

CASE: http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=168085

Total From Zip Fly Boom: 718.00


shipping is free on Zip Fly.. it was this or an Pentium D build...

 

@theonejrs,
Do you really need AGP and PCIe?
This really limits which motherboard you can choose.

 

@theonejrs have a look at this: ASRock Socket 775 VIA PT880 PCI-E AGP Audio LAN.
http://www.dabs.com/ProductView.aspx?&Quicklinx=3TXZ&fb=568&v=1#infoarea
Not sure of the price in your neck of the woods but might be worth a look.

 

Theonejrs
Crowy pretty much expressed my sentiments. Trying to tie your older AGP graphics and DDR RAM into the newer Intel CPU(s) just doesn't do anything for me. I suggest you keep what you have if you want to stay with the AGP card and memory and upgrade later when you can afford it. I'm afraid the route you're taking will leave you wishing you'd done things another way.

With a board for an AMD you would get to keep your RAM. You could use the Sapphire card I suggested for Cincyrob or a 1600 series with 512MB RAM (no VIVO, but great prices). AMD has some affordable dual cores that work, so that would be the route I'd take, and just upgrade to the Opteron 175 and upscale graphics later. Hopefully you can still afford the mobo you were wanting. The A8N is still the best board for the price. This AMD is close in price to the Intel 940,
AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ 2000MHz HT Socket 939 Dual Core Processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103562
$297.00
From what I hear, that with the A8N board will OC well. The Opteron 165 is only $30 more, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...0706979+1302820275&Submit=ENE&SubCategory=343 . So, I'd go AMD, save on keeping the current RAM, go with a good but inexpensive Saphire video card, buy the good mobo, and settle for a less expensive processor. You've got the Zalman to help keep things cool. That way you can buy the higher end CPU and graphics later and not be seriously hurt too much by tradeoffs. I suspect there will be a market for the 3800 dual core when/if you decide to sell it.

I realize you'd be spending about $200 more at present and $200 is important on a tight budget. However, look at what you'll save by not having to buy duplicate items later when you go to upgrade. My madness would only call for a CPU replacement and graphics card later, with the used parts easily sold to help defray the costs. Another option would be to build an inexpensive PC around the used parts and sell that for a profit.

 

FIHSNERD
Decent processor and the parts should be compatible. I wouldn't build that one for myself; different preference on the parts list.

 

@FIHSNERD,
The choice of mainboard I like
I have had mine for nearly a month now and are still overwhelmed at the Genie bios options.Go here for all the info:
http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/index.php

 

how about this motherboahttp://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=240168rd for the d805

 

@baltekmi,
No motherboard at the link you posted.

 

try this one for the d 805 what you think?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813127209