22 replies to this topic

[Iluro80]

Hello

I'm buying a new computer... i plan to buy an AMD 4200 (dual cpu) with an ASUS M2N-E and DDR2 2x512Mb at 667Ghz. And a 250GB seagateSATA2 hard drive

Then i should choose between an ASUS GF7600GS and GF7300GT, both with 512ram. As i know, the GT has a faster ram transmision, and the GS a faster graphic cpu... so I could buy the 7300gT and use better the CPU with the RAM (faster than cpu).. (its true :?) and its quite cheaper :DDD

And also... what i should choose... an ATA o SATA DVDwriter :? Its a good option the SATA one? Or i should save some money choosing the ATA writer?

Thanks

[Jito463]

Well, I didn't find a 512MB 7300GT when I looked on NewEgg, but I did find a 256MB model. While the memory clock is higher on the 7300, it's also 2/3 the number of pixel pipelines. 8 on the 7300GT vs 12 on the 7600GS which makes a big difference. However, I found a eVGA 7600GT 256MB GDDR3 for only $109 (US $ of course). I'm sure if you look around, you could find a good deal on a 7600GT instead locally.

As for your DVD±RW drive, at this point it's not a big deal but if you have the option you may as well go SATA. It'll replace IDE soon enough. Most of the boards we carry at work only have a single IDE port now. IDE is pretty much going the way of ISA (and hopefully taking the floppy drive along with it). I still don't understand why no one has created an internal USB floppy drive to get away from the floppy connector on the motherboards. It would have made so much sense to do years ago. But I suppose at this point it's academic, as once Vista becomes the predominant standard the floppy drive will have lost it's final reason to hang on (loading RAID drivers for Windows).

[MaLing]

Regarding the graphic cards, I have not used any of them before, so I am not certain about their performance. Just one thing I should guess: Graphic performance relies on graphic card a lot, processor has little effect on it. I think that it is necessary to consider the whole structure of a graphic card, viz RAM speed, RAM size, GPU speed, etc, and see whether they balance to give the full performance. For instance, GF7300GT has a faster GPU, but is the RAM on it as fast as the GPU? The GPU speed will not be much useful if not.

Regarding the writer, it depends on the numbers of the ATA and SATA connectors on your mainboard. In general, SATA is replacing ATA, future mainboards will very likely decrease ATA connectors, so if you will carry your writer to the next mainboard, it may be better to choose an SATA one. The prices of them I think are close. Just one drawback: Some mainboards treat SATA drives as SCSI, so there may be some problems with protected games. Well, they do not matter if you use only virtual drives.

[MaLing]

I still don't understand why no one has created an internal USB floppy drive to get away from the floppy connector on the motherboards. It would have made so much sense to do years ago.

Yes, floppy drives are great-grand fathers in the computer era. USB drives are a good substitution. However, can they work without a driver, eg under DOS or even in BIOS?

Edited by MaLing, 12 March 2007 - 11:38 PM.

[Iluro80]

Good point Jito. I've just found some 7600GT 256Mb for about 120€ (yes, €), the problem is that all of them use fan (and i'm trying to get a silent PC :/ ).
Here we could find 7300GT 512mb cards without fan, and i've also seen a 7300gS 512mb
Jito i could understand that 7600GS has 1/3 more of pixelines so its better :? (Or it's worse this? I doesn't have many idea in Graphics)
This site is the cheaper we could find in Barcelona pcgreen (well, you validate the image and could get the price PDF, the price 'con IVA / amb IVA' its the good one with VAT included... all in €uros)

==

The Asus M2N-e has 6 SATA and 1 ATA.... but i've a sata and an Ata PCI raid So not problem for connections.
I'm interested to know about how DVD-writer works in game-copy and performance to know if i should expend more money in a SATA one or i could keep it in my pocket
If its possible i've problems with SATA for being recognised as SCSI, i take an ATA one, no problem... it's difficult to find a SATA one here (And the prices are not so close here)


I'm a poor student without a payed work (i'm working in a computer-shop for free, for my studies :/), so i'm thinking twice before buying 'not important' things

Thanks D

[MaLing]

I should say the performace of ATA and SATA drives are identical, actually the drives are exactly the same, just the interfaces (i.e. ATA and SATA) are different.

Asus's graphic cards are really dear, if you would like to further reduce your expense, you could consider another brand. However, I have no idea of which brand to recommend. I have used Winfast and Innovision, and they are not good, especially Innovision, despite its low price. Has anyone any idea?

[Iluro80]

Then i dont need a SATA drive

I took ASUS because was the cheaper one... there're some other brands here but with similar (1-3€ less) or higer prices, so taking the best option jeje. I know i should buy a nvidia 6 series for a better price, but i wont update my computer for some years if i could avoid it, so taking an 'actual' option to avoid buying again soon.

My other heavy thinking is AMD 64 dual core 3800 or 4200, and i take 4200 for the same reason :/ (good choice or better 3800? xD ouch i wanna be a rich little guy ..

[Iluro80]

At the end i bought a Gigabyte 7600GT silent pipe (its 2 slots :/ ) for 135€ (vat included).

Thanks D

[Jito463]

Good choice. The 7600GT is a good bang-for-the-buck card right now. I think you'll be happy with it's performance.

[Iluro80]

jEJE, i wish it i wish it... i usually don't play much (time)

Now i only need the motherboard jeje There's no way to find it for a reasonable price... all shops that "has" it at good price says that there's much time without having Asus M2n-e and that i should buy the M2N-E SLI grrrr
Wishing tomorrow i could buy it for less than 95€ jeje

[MaLing]

Iluro, wish you enjoy with your new card.

I had always thought that the term VAT had solely been used by the UK until you told it was used in Spain as well.

The SLI mainboard is quite dearer. If you do not use two graphic cards, then I agree with you: Wait for some more time. Good luck!

[Iluro80]

MaLing, you're true, VAT doesn't exist in Spain, the term is 'IVA', but its also a 16% plus jejeje I used VAT to make it understandable, at least here, the 90% of computer components prices doesn't include it to make it seems cheaper and then.... $$$$$$$

Thaanks

Soon i will try the 'Thieft: Deadly Shadows" i ever would play it jejejej :DDD

[Charalambos]

In fact Value Added Tax( VAT) is a tax which exists in all the countries of the EU( except for perhaps the newer members).

[zamiel]

VAT, GST call it what you want, its just another way the governments tax you

[Jito463]

@Iluro80
If you plan to play Thief: Deadly Shadows on a dual core CPU, be warned that it doesn't play well on them. You'll have to force it to run on a single core, or it will not work. I found that out myself after moving to a 4400+ on my machine. Search for imagecfg.exe from MS to force running on a single core. But make sure you make a backup of the exe, as it permanently modifies the file. Alternatively, I can send you a batch file that you start before running the game, and it will automatically set the affinity to a single core while it's running, but you have to run it every time before you run the game. Just FYI.

[Iluro80]

Ouch
Thanks for the advice!!
Its supposed that i could force 1 processor via motherboard (m2n-e)... wishing it jeje
I will be happy to have the batch file Thats no problem to run it before.
Anyway... taking note about 'imagecfg.exe'

Thanks again Jito!

[MaLing]

Ah, here Dos is still alive.

I believe Windows should create script to replace batch file, and also a command to replace FC (file compare); then Dos can go to peacefully die.

Edited by MaLing, 20 March 2007 - 07:40 AM.

[Charalambos]

MaLing, DOS is no more than a ghost in Windows NT( Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP and of course Windows Vista) but a CLI( command line interface) will always exist aside the GUI( graphic user's interface) not only in Windows but in every OS. If you are interested enter the site of Wikipedia and search for and read the "CLI" and "GUI" articles, they are extensive and very informative.

[MaLing]

Thanks Charalambos. So to amend it, Windows should add GUI ways of FC and Batch.

Edited by MaLing, 20 March 2007 - 11:26 PM.

[Jito463]

@Iluro80
Here's the batch file I mentioned. Just extract it somewhere and run it before you run the game. You'll need to edit AffinitySet.txt with the name of the executable file that you want it to adjust (in this case, t3.exe).

Attached Files

•  CPUAffinity.rar   26.15KB   23 downloads