family computer

[drtitanium0]

my mom and sister need a new computer and was wondering if this was a good setup.If u have any suggestion please post it. I'm looking for a quiet and amd powered pc with a budget of about $1000.

my setup:

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice Integrated into Chip FSB 512KB L2 Cache Socket 939 Processor - Retail 192

Mobo:ASUS A8V Socket 939 VIA K8T800 Pro ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail 99

Case:Lian Li PC-7 B Plus Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail 90

Fan: COOLER MASTER SAF-S12-E1 120 x 120 x 25mm SuperFlo Cooling Fan - Retail 10

HDD:Western Digital Caviar SE WD1200JBRTL 120GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache IDE Ultra ATA100 Hard Drive - Retail 105

Ram: OCZ Performance 512MB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) System Memory - Retail 56

Video Card:ASUS A9600PRO/TD/128 Radeon 9600PRO 128MB 128-bit DDR AGP 4X/8X Video Card - Retail 116

DVD RW: SAMSUNG Black 16X DVD+R 4X DVD+RW 5X DVD+R DL 16X DVD-R 4X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 40X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2M Cache IDE DVD Burner - Retail 56

DVD ROM: ASUS Black 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM IDE DVD-ROM Drive Model DVD-E616P3BLK - Retail 27

Monitor: SONY SDM-S73/B Black 17" 16ms LCD Monitor 250 cd/m2 400:1 0.264mm Pixel Pitch - Retail 247


Total: $1000

[faruquehabib]

could put this into general hardware or AMD sections. but anyways, here's a few of my opinions:

don't bother getting the cooler master hsf. if you get a retail cpu, just use the stock cooler. and get a 3000+ venice and save a few bucks. if it is too slow, just oc it a bit. hard drive-wise, i would get SATA, not PATA...better performance. everything else seems pretty decent...you def. could go cheaper on ram and mobo, but with asus and ocz, you have quality and they back it up with awesome support, so good choice there. if your family does not game, maybe just get an even cheaper video card, like a radeon 9200se....my 2 cents, but good luck!!

[IYP]

overclock the :banana::banana::banana::banana: out of it...and watch the look on you sisters face when her hello kitty games run at like a billion fps....i need sleep :coffee:

[WeStSiDePLaYa]

i would cut back to a 3000+, and to a cheaper case so you can get a decent psu(that persons list doesnt take into account psu, keyboard, mouse, or speakers) also switch to a cheaper mobo, and drop the cooler master hsf.

with that money saved get some speakers or some more ram or maybe switch to an older aiw video card if they would take advantage of it.

[afireinside]

Dude... That's horrible... Every family PC needs a DFI ultra-D board and a gig of UTT :D

[[XC] leviathan18]

hitachi sata II 160gb is for 90$
@ new egg the is the lcd 710t for 200$ 12ms very nice monitor
buy a gig of ram

[Northwood]

All you need is 4GB of ram to keep all that spyware that sisters download happy, several 200GB HDD's to store all the bootlegged music that sisters download, and a phat paycheck to payoff the RIAA/MPAA when she gets caught downloading/uploading that stuff :D

other than that keep everything bare minimum.

[stayfrosty]

Ohh unless you plan on linux dont forget to buy M$ xp or something

[drtitanium0]

I was thinking does anybody think I should use an intel cpu

[[XC] leviathan18]

intel?????? no way amd all the way down

[Peen]

Why does everyone hate intel so much??? nothing wrong with them, in fact everytime I build an Intel they never give me problems and are plenty fast!! I've built ton of Intel and AMD rigs

We dont know what they are going to do with that PC. I'd say your spending way too much for a typical family machine. My dads computer has a 1.6ghz Duron and its plenty fast! Ya I realize its too slow for you guys. But your family PC wouldnt think it would matter much. He also plays FFXI just fine on it.

I'd say get a 2.4A Prescott for $121 or a AMD for that price. 2.4A you can overclock to 3.6-4ghz without any extra voltage. No, they dont run very hot anymore. Dont listen to ppl who say they run very hot because they obviously dont own one.

for A64 you can get a 2800 for about that price or a Sempron. You can save yourself about 200 bucks just by getting a cheaper motherboard and cpu, and maybe a cheaper videocard. 9600 sucks for that price I think

[Wiggy McShades]

maybe get a northwood with hyperthreading ? itll run pretty cool and hyperthreading does help some when ur just web surfing and other basic stuff atleast for me i could tell the difference between a cpu with hyperthreading and without it. also why not a sempron ? what is it going to be used for mainly ?

[drtitanium0]

This computer is going to be used for internet searching banking for my mon and my sister's games it will probably be on 24/7

[exscape]

Prescotts DO run hot. Can you run it passive at stock speeds, with a regular (not made for passive cooling) heatsink? If so I'm impressed; that's why my A64 does without any trouble at all anyway.

[Peen]

Prescotts DO run hot. Can you run it passive at stock speeds, with a regular (not made for passive cooling) heatsink? If so I'm impressed; that's why my A64 does without any trouble at all anyway.
I assume you have had an E0 Prescott?

[exscape]

I assume you have had an E0 Prescott?
I'll be honest... No. I do have experience with D0's though.
Are the E0's really that much colder? Unless 25-30W has been removed I'm not too impressed.

[JasonE4]

I mostly multitask and encode and am thinking of switching to intel. However, I really doubt that your family would be able to tell the difference between an A64 and a P4, especially if they're upgrading from a not-so-recent machine.

[Peen]

I'll be honest... No. I do have experience with D0's though.
Are the E0's really that much colder? Unless 25-30W has been removed I'm not too impressed.
I think so. It runs about same temp as my Northwood M0 and its running 600mhz more

[lalPOOO]

The problem here is that you built a system you'd want. Theres no need for preformance ram, lian li's, fancy heatsinks or even 9600pros (unless they plan to game) Sure it looks nice, and it'll be more fun putting it together, but in the long run its not really a great way to spend money. I'd also just drop to the 3000+ venice, mine runs 2.7ghz 24/7 with just the stock cooler, if that won't satisfy your mom and sister I don't know what will.

[ferrari_freak]

The problem here is that you built a system you'd want. Theres no need for preformance ram, lian li's, fancy heatsinks or even 9600pros (unless they plan to game) Sure it looks nice, and it'll be more fun putting it together, but in the long run its not really a great way to spend money. I'd also just drop to the 3000+ venice, mine runs 2.7ghz 24/7 with just the stock cooler, if that won't satisfy your mom and sister I don't know what will.

Agreed. Just go with an OCed 3000+, stock cooler, value RAM, a good big hard drive for all of their needs, and a 9200 graphics card.

Usama aka Ferrari Freak