is this a good system??

[Sleepy]

hi,

i need some advice because i'm planning to upgrade my system and i don't know that much about hardware.

first of all, what's the difference between an amd athlon 1.4 ghz and mustang....is it the bus speed??????

can someone tell me if this is a good system:
- amd (athlon or mustang??) 1.4 ghz (266 fsb)
- globalwin heatsink fan FQP38
- asus a7a266 motherboard
- asus v7700 deluxe video card (anyone tried the 3d glasses????)
- sdram or ddram??

i'm going to transfer everything else from my old computer.

what's your opinion on the ddr ram vs. sdram....does it make a huge difference...enough to justify the difference in price?

what's the difference between "oem" and "retail" parts?? is it "no-name" vs "brand-name"??? is oem stuff less reliable???

thanks for any advice!!

[sullen]

I personally think DDR is better ram. It is Double Data Rate which works really well with the new Athlons sporting the 266 bus. I think, not sure, but DDR is still cheaper than RDRAM that Intel is using. Intel is dropping the price on the P4, but I haven't heard anything about RAM coming down to help sell more P4 systems. My next computer will have an AMD processor and DDR. My personal preference. Many of the benchmarking results of highly used programs available now favor the AMD setup. This is mainly because there hasn't been a large movement yet to write for P4 processors yet.

[d4n13l]

Retail is intended for people like you.
OEM is intended for computer retailers
A retail CPU will probably include the heatsink and fan , an OEM will not. An OEM Hard drive may not include the mounting screws - the retail will. You also get fancy packaging with retail. OEM normally is a bare bones part, the basic part with (usually) nothing else. At the end of the day, OEM and retail parts are identical in all but the intended market. Buy retail if you can you will get everything that you need.
CAS 2 rated DDR RAM is the preferred memory (fastest). The price difference is negligable.

[Sleepy]

thanks a lot, that clears some things up.

so what about the stuff on my list? is it a good combination?

[d4n13l]

not 100% sure but it looks ok. Go to http://www.tomshardware.com and try there.

[TIbrO]

So that motherboard that he is buying supports DDR? I sat back before replying because I wasn't sure. But I was going to say "Use what your motherboard supports."

[Sleepy]

Here are my motherboard choices....scrap the one i listed earlier:

MSI K7T266 PRO (MS-6380)
ASUS A7V266
VIA Apollo K7266A

all support ddr.

the main factor on what i choose will probably depend on price.

d4n13l - based this on info i found at your link..thanks

[i dont care]

I'd recommend you get another board, unless you're getting a sweet deal on that A7A. Yes that board supports both SD and DDR ram, but it is also a poor performer. If you can find one I'd suggest a board w/ the KT266A, AMD760, or SIS735 chipset. Also is the FOP38 approved for a 1.4 GHZ?

[Sleepy]

if you read my previous post, you'll see that i did change my choice. maybe we posted around the same time so you didn't see it.

anyways, i want the "fqp38", not the "fop38"...and i think it is approved for 1.4ghz.

does anyone know the difference between thunderbird and mustang...i read the mustang is more "server-oriented", but what that doesn't mean much to me.

[Sleepy]

i'm open to suggestions on a decent video card that isn't overpriced.

here's what i need to do with it.

- connect to a cable outlet so i can watch tv
- capture video
- output to a tv so i can watch movies
- some gaming...but not a lot

i saw some video cards with "tv tuners"....is that what i need to watch tv on my monitor??


thanks