Fighting Irish Forums

to update.

AMD or INTEL?

PCI Express or AGP. (already have AGP stuff, so I'm not to keen on screwing off MORE $$ for a new vid system just yet.

WTF is SLI?

Socket 478, 775?

SATA, Ultra ATA?

After my last go round with INTEL, their MOBOS are OUT of the equation.

FFS!! I'm lost in alphabet soup.

ABIT, ASRock, ASUS, GIGABYTE?

I LIKE the ABIT MOBO (IC-7 MAX III) that is in Tricia's comp. It has the 875 Intel chipset and I see that INTEL is up to a 955 or thereabout now. I see there are some other chipsets out there as well.

I've got a 3.06 Northwood with 533FSB. It's worth a few $$ to sell. 800FSB that much better? Mine currently supports HT with the proper MOBO.

I've got a good case, p/s and CD/DVD thingies so the main cost is going to be; MOBO, RAM ( leaning very heavily towards PC400DDR. ( I think I cna sell this 1G pair of ELPIDA ECC PC800 with no probs for enough to get a good MOBO and have some change left over)

Already have an OS and most of the proggies I'll want so no prob there.

$$ is an issue.

have answers/suggestions for a few of these.

1. AMD is just fine, and the CPUs are considerably less expensive. Used to be that if you were into CAD, or other heavy graphics apps, the Intel Chip was the way to go (unless you were a MAC freak) due to the then better floating point system in the Intels. Now it doesn't matter, as AMD has really upped the ante with their newer chips. Go for the fastest board you can for the money you want to spend, then get the CPU to match. AMD is way ahead of Intel on the 64-bit front, so I expect it would be an excellent choice.

2. AGP is about to go the way of the dinosaur. Limits to bandwidth are cause of its pending demise. PCI express gives more bandwidth, thus any graphics-intensive apps will operate smoother and faster. PCI Express is more expensive now, but offers upgradeability that AGP won't. In any case, the MB and Vid Card go hand-in-hand. There is no backward compatibility. I suppose if you look hard enough there is a hybrid board out there with both, but I haven't seen one yet.

3. "SLI" is Scan Line Interleaving. All about the way your Vid Card and Monitor interact to create the display on your monitor. Standard scanning lays out the information one row of pixels at a time, while SLI lays it out in alternate rows. A few years back (like the last time I actually up-graded any hardware) SLI was avoided by gamers due to the latency introduced by doubling the time it took to display an image compared to standard scanning. With all the advances in hardware these days, I suspect SLI won't be an issue. But I could be wrong. Check with one of your local PC gurus, or Google around for probably better advice on this subject. Or play it safe and avoid SLI. (yeah, this was really helpful, wasn't it?

4. Can't say much here other than I'm currently using 478 and it has worked well. But I expect I'll need to upgrade sooner than I wished just to keep up with the RAPID advances in graphics in these g*****n addictive apps!

5. SATA (Serial ATA) is fast becoming the norm for most MBs sold now. It's touted to be much faster than even Ultra ATA. The HD had traditionally always been the slowest internal item in a PC, but speeds have increased tremendously during the last couple of years. SATA adss to the cost of a board, but will be well worth it if you can afford it.

6. No comment. I'm stuck with Intel for now.

7. Everybody has a preference as to brands. I've owned ABIT boards that blew all capacitors even with a good UPS, though they came very highly recommended. Others have had zero probs with them. ABIT, ASUS, and Gigabyte all have pretty good reps, but like all mfrs they have some models that just plain suck. Once again, check with your local guru, or a dependable internet vendor for the most reliable models of any particular brand.
As with anything, stick with what you know. If the ABIT in Tricia's PC has been reliable, go with it.

7. FSB ideally should be less than or equal to the MB bus. If the chip has a higher FSB it creates a bottleneck in the data flow. And good performance is all about eliminating bottlenecks when possible.

Do some serious shopping so you can get the most for your money. There's alot of crap out there, so be careful. I really hate to see a grown man cry.

I hope I've been of some small help, Willie. I just haven't kept up on this the way I used to.

Thanks Dan, pretty much what I been thinkin all along. Been readin and watching prices for a few weeks now.

There are some hybrid boards out there that have both PCI express and AGP 4X-8X.

When I built this damn thing goin on 4 years ago. It was about the biggest and fastest available. It has done well, until I got this porked MOBO off of gaybay.....

On a side note, Tricia's comp just set off the CPU temp alarm at 63°C.. Temp here is a bit warmish at 30°C.. She ain't happy..
"DOES this mean I can't play MY game ALL summer?" Glad it has a big ZALMAN cooler on it.

PCI Express! geez Willie, the hardware doesn't need to be as old as you!!!

uh ... us.

Do you want the phone number of the guy who built my system?

He'll talk your ear off and send you some good stuff at a good price.

He spec'd an Abit board for me and helped me coordinate all the wee bits.


Falcy

Heck ya,

Send the nummah!!!

On the way ...

in a sec.

YGPM Willie.

I'm on an AsRock K7VT6 and find it a good budget priced solution with 5 PCI slots AGP and overclock.

They do have some 64 bit boards on the market now

I have been focused a bit on COD2 for a while and would like to return home to the FI. Also explored other versions. Really enjoy CTF as it doesn't really matter how many times I get killed, as long as I can contribute to stealing or defending a flag. I like the teamwork aspect of it as well.

I am going to upgrade my PC somewhat to more current technology. Looking at an AMD 64 4200+ CPU of some sort, a high-end ASUS mobo with SLI and other capabilties, 2-3 GB of Ram, a GForce 7900 GTX video card, and biger power supply unit…at a minimum. I want to have really good and quiet cooling as well.

Falc, what is the name & contact info for the guy that helped you out with your PC upgrade? I'll contact him. Does he provide advice on how to do it yourself?

Perhaps I could get some "do it yourself" coaching from an FI buddy?

Having problems with my home PC, can't submit postings to web sites and can't send email. Something has gone astray. Web page presentation takes longer for some reason for some sites. Did a thorough virus check using my DSL provider security package, a very good one. One file was found to be infected and removed. May have something to do with my problem, but it persists.

Maybe my port configurations have been changed, not sure what universal problem would effect sending email or submitting posts…

I've upgraded to 4.04m but not 4.05m (the one you have to buy). I would prefer not to unless it is necessary to participate with you all on line.

Sending this from my office PC, so the problem must be on my PC.

Hmm, just noticed that my first annual aniversay with FI is coming up on the 17th.

Mike

Good to "see" you again m8...

I just upgraded to a new computer, and I recomend to get a good mobo like
ABIT AN8-32X SLIx16 that has it all....

I settled for a AMD-64 3700+ and the mobo can also take a dual-core prosessor, so upgrading is "only" a matter of money

To be able to use 2 GPU´s is allso something to have in mind, I got a new Nvidia 6800GS 512mb from GAINWARD that gives much for the buck...

Getting the second one as soon as I´v saved some more money...

With 2 gigs of RAM my flying has realy taken to the sky

And all these goodys in a Antec P180 box it is allso sealy quiet.

Just make sure you get a power-unit that can take it...

I don´t know about prices in the states but I did some recce on the net and got my stuff at good prices here in Sweden...


FB+AEP+PF-4.05 runs at Max FPS of 98 average 65 min 30 in the Black death track...online it´s around 40 at take-off´s and aroung 65-70 at alt...

MV!

Hey bud!

Here's the link ...

http://www.magnum-pc.com/

Their phone number is there somewhere too. If you can't find it, I can send it to you.

The guys at Magnum are top notch folk. They will give as much help as they have time to give, but remember, they prolly give more time to them what's buy stuff from 'em. After you do that, they will sit on the phone with you until all your problems are solved.

Enjoy Joe's authentic (New) Jersey accent,


Falcon

PS: Sorry Mic, the inevitable migration to 4.05 is happening sooner rather than later. I flew the Pe2 a wee bit last night while I was testing my template. It seems to be a pretty cool ac!

:FI:RULES wrote:Good to "see" you again m8...

I just upgraded to a new computer, and I recomend to get a good mobo like
ABIT AN8-32X SLIx16 that has it all....

I settled for a AMD-64 3700+ and the mobo can also take a dual-core prosessor, so upgrading is "only" a matter of money

To be able to use 2 GPU´s is allso something to have in mind, I got a new Nvidia 6800GS 512mb from GAINWARD that gives much for the buck...

Getting the second one as soon as I´v saved some more money...

With 2 gigs of RAM my flying has realy taken to the sky

And all these goodys in a Antec P180 box it is allso sealy quiet.

Just make sure you get a power-unit that can take it...

I don´t know about prices in the states but I did some recce on the net and got my stuff at good prices here in Sweden...


FB+AEP+PF-4.05 runs at Max FPS of 98 average 65 min 30 in the Black death track...online it´s around 40 at take-off´s and aroung 65-70 at alt...

Man that's some serious hardware. Congrats mate!

Tnx m8....one year worth of savings thoo

But well spent

Thanks and good to hear from you guys. Always enjoy the communicatin.

I'll upgrade to 4.05m, will look for a download site this evening.

I'll check out the web site and give em a call.

Thanks again,

I'm goin to be smokin on the net before too much longer.

hmm, naw I won't change it, I'd like to see the responses to the last line.

Mike