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| Hmm, let's see by Senor Barborito 06/04/2003, 10:56am PDT | ||||
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| Honestly this just isn't that great a time to purchase - AMD's Barton core (400MHz FSB) is still in the stratosphere price-wise ($459), Intel is no better ($414 for their 3.0GHz chip). nVidia's only non-lame duck offering is the 5900 Ultra thanks to the NV35-based chipset, and the cost will be insane when it hits this month ($375-$425 predicted). If you're willing to trust ATI, there's the 9700Pro for $265.
I'd avoid an Intel-based system and go with AMD for the time being - far more bang for your buck (ie Pentium 4 2.8GHz 533FSB is roughly $242, Athlon 2800XP 333FSB is $174 (performance is comprable)) $184 Athlon XP 2800 w/ 333FSB RETAIL BOXED (hit pricewatch.com and search for the following: Athlon XP 2800 retail box. It's the one that costs $184), I went with the 2600 myself which is only $106 for the retail box version. $125 Asus A7N8X Deluxe motherboard (nForce 2) supports 400MHz Barton-core for when the price drops (Athlon XP 3200+ 400FSB is $459 right now, so hold off), supports dual-channel double-pumped 200MHz RAM (essentially 400MHz in RAID), AGP 8x for those next-gen video cards, comes with a nice soundcard from nVidia and 2 onboard NICs. This is what I have right now and it's the best goddamned motherboard on the market. (search for: A7N8X Deluxe) NOTE: I AM ONLY SUGGESTING PC2700 HERE BECAUSE I AM UNCERTAIN OF HOW WELL A 333MHz FSB PROC. WOULD INTERACT WITH PC3200 (400MHz) RAM. SOMEONE PLEASE CORRECT ME HERE. $320 2x PC2700 1GB SDRAM 6-layer - can you say 1GB of RAM in a dual-channel config? Thought so. Later on you could always turn this into 2GBs of RAM. (just click '1GB PC2700 on Pricewatch, it's the first one). Personally, I went with two 512MB DIMMs from Crucial because I trust them over generic housebrands - if you want to do likewise hit www.crucial.com. Also, if someone else says the PC3200 (400MHz), the price here jumps to $356 but do it anyway. --------------------------------------------------------- Total cost for me thus far: $495 w/shipping Total cost for you thus far $629 I stopped buying at this point because I already have a GeForce4 TI 4400 and until the post-5900 Ultra medium-grade cards come out, and come down a hair in price (say $75 or so), I can manage with it. Alternatively, buy yourself a new harddrive/monitor/whatever. I tend to look for the insanely good deals at CompUSA (they have them on harddrives, sometimes) / Best Buy for harddrives. Monitors - I got my $1100 one for $484 refurbished on Ubid, and it's been nothing but a great experience. God bless IBM. If you want to go with ATI . . . $265 Radeon 9700Pro - there isn't even another card out there on the market right now except for this one, frankly. --SB |
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