Please Help a Newbie ASAP!

[Guest]

Hey all,

OK let me say I am a total newbie. I thought I knew what was happening but after spending 3 hours at Tom's Hardware I am totally lost.

And I don't even know if this is the best place to post these questions, so if I'm in the wrong place, then please tell me!

Here goes...

I'm about to buy a P4 (423) 1.5 GHz with 2 X 128 RDRAM and a QDI PlatiniX 4X Motherboard, case and power supply for $600 Canadian ($400 US).

First of all, is this a good/bad price (I need to know ASAP) and/or setup?

And more importantly, what video card should I buy (reasonably priced, TV-Out)? I WAS looking at the GeForce 2 MX but people here have said that they have problems with it?

TIA,
shinji

 

[Crashman]

You could probably get a socket 478 setup for similar money, with future upgradability garunteed.
Or you could get an ECS K7S5A, an XP1600, and 512MB DDR SDRAM with a case and power supply for even less money.

What's the frequency, Kenneth?

 

[bront]

If you're on a budget, I'd recomend going with a DDR athlon XP system. The Athlon XP 1600+ is reasonably priced, DDR is cheep, and some good mainboards (Asus, Gigabyte, Epox, Abit) based on the KT266A chipset are out there and available.

As for the card, a Geforce2 MX is a decient card, but I can't attest to the quality of the TV out. The ATI cards usually are good for TV out, and I've been told are pretty cheep in Canada. A Radeon DDR or a Radeon 7500 might suit you just fine.

What is your entire system budget, and what do you want to do with the computer? That will help more in figuring out what equipment is better for you.

Chesnuts roasting on an open CPU
Bill Gates nipping at your wallet

 

[bgates]

Why get a p4 1.5 GHz, when you can get a faster AMD for less?

-¤ Shut the f*ck up or go AMD ¤-

 

[AMD_Man]

A P4 is not a good buy! Especially a 423 socket P4! Like the onther people recommended, either get a 478 P4 or an Athlon XP. You'll probably be better off with an Athlon XP because it'll be faster for the same amount of money.

AMD technology + Intel technology = Intel/AMD Pentathlon IV; the <b>ULTIMATE</b> PC processor

 

[eden]

I am a fellow Canadian, and will soon upgrade, and trust me, take the following for less:
An Athlon XP 1600 1.4ghz(Retail with fan and heat sink) with 256 DDR Ram and an MSI K7T266 Pro 2 all for 470$ and you get the performance of a P4 1.9ghz or even 2ghz!!!
Seeing as you're new to this, I wouldn't recommend even going now for P4 especially Socket 478, because it doesn't look like you're gonna upgrade this often, so let the P4 out of your mind including future Northwood upgrade. Get the AthlonXP like I said or look for a better model, what suits you, and save money!!
You MIGHT need a new power supply but it depends if the current one has enough, i.e.: 300W +. As for the GF2 MX I highly disagree on getting it. You should get a Radeon 32MBDDR or 64DDR, depending on your price range, or go for an Asus V7700 Deluxe, for a hundred more.

Which region are you in anyway?

 

[Guest]

Thanks guys,

I don't really have a budget. I just know someone in the computer parts business and he said that this P4 bundle (case, power supply, P4 423 chip and 2X128 RDRAM) is a good deal. But it's not really a good deal? I know from reading in here that Athlon XPs have more bang for the buck but I'm not really an Athlon kind of guy. And I'm so lost on what's new with the vid cards because I usually buy ATIs (their head offices are next door to my school). I was looking at the GeForce 2 MX anyways BUT people have said that MX200/MX400 cards boot up really slow (type one letter at a time) and that would really be annoying!

So I guess what I'm saying is, not including Athlons, is this a decent deal? And what vid card do you recommend putting in there (ie will not cripple the system and won't leave nothing in my wallet).

Oh yeah I'm in Canada. So i don't know how prices compare from here with the States.

 

[eden]

In one word: NO. Even if I calculate my store's prices, it is still high. You won't get much of this performance nor its price. Truly just ask the store guy to make an AthlonXP, and ask him to put proper cooling. You won't regret it, just let HIM build it.As for the card, get the Radeon if ATI is your friend! Tom's reviews can also greatly help you in choosing which.

 

[pr497]

just out of fairness, a lot of people in this forum are biased towards AMD, so a lot of people are going to tell you to get an athlon xp over the P4. (not that im saying that intel is better than AMD or vice versa).
if you're going to upgrade within the next couple of weeks, by all means get the athlon xp.
if you were wondering, i have a P4 (socket 478) in my computer.

I don't claim to know anything about everything, I just tell people what I know.
-PSB

 

[bront]

Is what you have a bad deal as far as price goes for a P4 1.5 GHZ system? No.

However, as has been said, you can get more CPU bang for your buck with an Athlon XP 1600+. It runs about $40 US less than the 1.5 P4, and outperforms it by a wide margin. The motherboards are about the same price, maybe athlons MBs are a bit cheeper, but not too much. DDR mem is much cheeper than RDRam too.

As for the vid card, if ATI is what you usually go with, go with the 7500 if you want a lower priced card, and the 8500 if you're willing to spend a bit more.

Chesnuts roasting on an open CPU
Bill Gates nipping at your wallet