upgrading Computer - have two weeks - suggestions please

[DVD_NDN]

hi
ok, so as the subject would suggest, I am upgrading my computer, its about time.
Because of budget, I've settled on an AMD 3200 barton chip and it looks like an MSI (not sure of the model) board.
where I would greatly appreciate the help is in regards to the "other stuff" - a video card for starters.
Ive been told to avoid any ATI video cards, for unspecified reasons. I would imagine its because I require a bib and a helmet when it comes to tech stuff.
I currently use an Nvidia Geforce2.... any suggestions guys? I saw the new cards, but I'm not prepared to sink $600 (canadian) into the card..

ditto for sound cards... I mean really, can somebody dumb it right down for me? exactly how would any other card out there out perform a soundblaster16 or some other older card. I mean I have my sound card patched into my home theatre system... would I actually notice a dramatic difference in that sound?

anyway, any helps or suggestions, and insight - would ALL be very much appreciated here.
I have two weeks from today to make some decisions.
thanks everyone.
-NDN

[jimmalenko]

Are you planning on reusing any parts out of your existing machine, or is it all going to be new ?


Unless you're a gamer, I wouldn't bother with a video card - provided your mobo has onboard video of course.

As for the rest, I've never gone above 2 stereo computer speakers as far as sound goes, so I haven't really got to much to offer there.

[redwudz]

Most motherboards have on-board sound that is sufficient for most of us.
As far a CPU, before you settle on a Barton, take a look at the AMD 64 processors, the price is not that different and they run a lot cooler. Plus they are slightly more 'future proof'. Socket A MBs and CPUs are toward the end of their life cycle.

ATI makes good video cards, as does Nvidia. ATI capture cards can be hard to set up occasionally, but the non-capture cards of either chipmaker are good choices.

If you look at a A64 CPU, there are two types of video cards and motherboards. The newer ones use a PCI-E interface and the older ones are the regular AGP8X. Just something to be aware of when you choose a video card.

As jimmalenko mentioned, if you are not a gamer and you don't want a capture card, there are a lot of options. For an inexpensive ATI AGP card a Radeon 9550 is about $60US and performs well. I'm not sure of the Nvidia equivalent, but there is one, I'm sure. In PCI-E ATI cards, the X300 is similar.

[thecoalman]

... would I actually notice a dramatic difference in that sound?

Depends, are you a gamer, want to play DVD Audio (not regluar DVD audio)?

The THX® certified Sound Blaster® Audigy™ 2 ZS delivers 24-bit ADVANCED HD™ audio, 108dB SNR clarity across 8 channels, and is the only available PC platform to deliver Advanced Resolution™ 24-bit DVD-Audio playback in 24-bit/192kHz stereo and 24-bit/96Khz 5.1 surround. With EAX® 4.0 ADVANCED HD™ effects, Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS produces clear, ultra-realistic sound in supported games and multi-channel playback in 5.1, 6.1 and 7.1 with over 400 existing DirectSound 3D® games.

I have this card in combination with a set of Klipsch 5.1 speakers. Your literally immersed in it when playing a game. For an analogy it would be like the difference in audio coming from the regular speakers on your TV or going to a movie theatre.

[budz]

I've got a AMD BARTON 2800 that uses a SWIFTECH heatsink with a VANTEC TORNADO 92mm fan. I had to use a aftermarket heatsink because the CPU temp was sort of high and had to get a fan controller cuz the VANTEC TORNADO fan is so loud that it sounds like a blow dryer.

Strange thing is when I used a ASUS nforce mobo the CPU temps were low compared to the ASUS via chipset mobo that I had originally bought. Anyway take redwudz advice and purchase a AMD 64 PROCESSOR which has cooler cpu temps. The ASUS socket 462 mobo's are hard to find. I was lucky to get one from a local pc shop.

[thevoelk]

You can buy a SoundBlaster Audigy 2 Value OEM card from newegg for $49:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829102179

It sounds good, but it's not the best. It's a decent mid-range card.

[thecoalman]

It sounds good, but it's not the best. It's a decent mid-range card.

Don't they always make it sound good though with all that technical jargon the average consumer has no idea about? Mine was purchased 2 years ago for $120 if I remeber correctly, defintiely worth it if your playing a lot of games and have a decent speaker setup. Other than that I'd dtick with the onboard sound, most mobo's come equipped with 5.1 these days anyway.

[DVD_NDN]

hmm.. very good thanks guys, this is all starting to give me some clearer ideas of exactly where I want to go as far as my upgrade goes.

To follow up on some of the comments, as it stands currently -and may change - I am trading in my pentium 4, 1.7Ghz and MSI (unaware of model details) motherboard, in order to get the AMD 3200 chip, and board to match. AS far as the board goes, I'm pretty well flapping in the wind, and leave it in the hands of my local tech guru to make sure I get something appropriate for what I intend to use it for.

I also have looking into the AMD 64. and I am very much interested.
sadly, I'm domesticated, and the person whom most would call my better half, is not so keen to spend ANY money at all on an upgrade - the logic being "it works, doesnt it"... makes me want to kick it and claim it just 'broke-ded'. the computer, not the better half lol.

perhaps if I could fanagle it so that the cost difference is NOT dramatic...
then I could kinda sneek that "64" right in there. slick and sly.
famous last words. but ... aim high, right?

As for my intended purpose with this machine that, unfortunately I alone seem to appreciate in this home - all I really want this thing to do is .. do what it already does - but better. heh.
Multimedia, thats it folks.
I'm not much for gaming, though I play a wicked spider solataire

Backing up my DVD's, quicker, more efficiantly. multitasking while performing backups.. have a little more muscle you know?

ooh, as I write this I've learned I may be getting AMD 64 afterall. heehee

please guys, I'm assuming you backup your DVD's more often then myself, and do a variation of conversions. thats what I'm after, at present it takes about 4.5 hours to back up a DVD with shrink... and while I'm happy I can do it at all... I'd like to do my part and help out the machine that has helped me.. and in the process help myself.
wow. I think I have attatchment issues to my computer.
thank you
-ps - any tips on a good case/tower, looking for something that will allow for addons.. like extra video card for security cams, and for max cooling in addition to chip+boards performance.
thanks

[DVD_NDN]

sorry I dont mean to bump this - I just had a thought.

to give everyone an idea of exactly what we are talking about, I'm going to post my current CPUZ stats, and let you see where I sti currently, and the stats of a computer that is (supposedly) exactly where I'll be in two weeks.

please, I dont speak computerese, so... dumb it down. I'm not ashamed of the bib and helmet... I have to learn somehow...
can you tell me, approximately, what the information translates to, as far as what I'll see? times? guesstimates, anything. thoughts, tips, all of it

here she goes:
CURRENT
CPU-Z Report

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CPU-Z version 1.24.


CPU(s)
Number of CPUs 1

Name Intel Pentium 4
Code Name Willamette
Specification Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 1700MHz
Family / Model / Stepping F 0 A
Extended Family / Model 0 0
Brand ID 8
Package mPGA-478
Core Stepping C1
Technology 0.18 µ
Supported Instructions Sets MMX, SSE, SSE2
CPU Clock Speed 1693.1 MHz
Clock multiplier x 17.0
Front Side Bus Frequency 99.6 MHz
Bus Speed 398.4 MHz
L1 Data Cache 8 KBytes, 4-way set associative, 64 Bytes line size
L1 Trace Cache 12 Kµops, 8-way set associative
L2 Cache 256 KBytes, 8-way set associative, 64 Bytes line size
L2 Speed 1693.1 MHz (Full)
L2 Location On Chip
L2 Data Prefetch Logic yes
L2 Bus Width 256 bits



Mainboard and chipset
Motherboard manufacturer MICRO-STAR INTERNATIONAL CO., LTD
Motherboard model MS-6558,
BIOS vendor Award Software International, Inc.
BIOS revision 6.00 PG
BIOS release date 11/23/2001
Chipset SiS SiS645 rev. 1
Southbridge SiS ID8 rev. 0
Sensor chip Winbond W83697HF

Graphic Interface AGP
AGP Status enabled, rev. 2.0
AGP Data Transfert Rate 4x
AGP Max Rate 4x
AGP Side Band Addressing supported, not enabled
AGP Aperture Size 64 MBytes



Memory
DRAM Type DDR-SDRAM
DRAM Size 768 MBytes
CAS# Latency 2.5 clocks
RAS# to CAS# 3 clocks
RAS# Precharge 3 clocks
Cycle Time (TRAS) 6 clocks
Bank Cycle Time (TRC) 10 clocks
# of memory modules 2
Module 0 OCZ DDR-SDRAM PC3200 - 512 MBytes
Module 1 Apacer Technology DDR-SDRAM PC2300 - 256 MBytes



Software
Windows version Microsoft Windows XP Workstation Service Pack 2 (Build 2600)
DirectX version 9.0c
*****************************************
EXPECTED
CPU-Z Report

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CPU-Z version 1.24.


CPU(s)
Number of CPUs 1

Name AMD Athlon 64 3000+
Code Name NewCastle
Specification AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3000+
Family / Model / Stepping F C 0
Extended Family / Model F C
Brand ID 4
Package Socket 754
Core Stepping DH7-CG
Technology 0.13 µ
Supported Instructions Sets MMX, Extended MMX, 3DNow!, Extended 3DNow!, SSE, SSE2, x86-64
CPU Clock Speed 2000.1 MHz
Clock multiplier x 10.0
HTT Bus Frequency 200.0 MHz
L1 Data Cache 64 KBytes, 2-way set associative, 64 Bytes line size
L1 Instruction Cache 64 KBytes, 2-way set associative, 64 Bytes line size
L2 Cache 512 KBytes, 16-way set associative, 64 Bytes line size
L2 Speed 2000.1 MHz (Full)
L2 Location On Chip
L2 Data Prefetch Logic yes
L2 Bus Width 128 bits



Mainboard and chipset
Motherboard manufacturer MSI
Motherboard model MS-6702, 1.0
BIOS vendor American Megatrends Inc.
BIOS revision Version 07.00T
BIOS release date 04/02/01
Chipset VIA K8T800 (VT8383) rev. 1
Southbridge VIA VT8237 rev. 0
Sensor chip Winbond W83697HF

Graphic Interface AGP
AGP Status enabled, rev. 3.0
AGP Data Transfert Rate 8x
AGP Max Rate 8x
AGP Side Band Addressing supported, enabled
AGP Aperture Size 256 MBytes



Memory
DRAM Type DDR-SDRAM
DRAM Size 1024 MBytes
DRAM Frequency 200.0 MHz
FSBRAM CPU/10.0
CAS# Latency 2.5 clocks
RAS# to CAS# 3 clocks
RAS# Precharge 3 clocks
Cycle Time (TRAS) 8 clocks
Bank Cycle Time (TRC) 11 clocks
DRAM Idle Timer 16 clocks
# of memory modules 2
Module 0 Corsair DDR-SDRAM PC3200 - 512 MBytes
Module 1 Corsair DDR-SDRAM PC3200 - 512 MBytes



Software
Windows version Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 (Build 2600)
DirectX version 9.0c

[TooLFooL]

man even the new "cheap" computers are SOOO much faster! if you pretty much just want something new & quicker, you can keep it cheap. look for memory, at least 512k to keep it running smooth. a graphics card takes some video load off the processor, helps with 3D stuff, but if you're not gaming, you can get say 128k card for about $50. and look for hard drive space if you're doing multimedia.

[DVD_NDN]

hard drive space Ive got - my initial 40GB drive, then the 250GB bought specifically for that purpose.

its not uber space, but its sufficiant.

I'm not sure if I've mentioned if before but, currently it takes 4.5-5.5 hours for dvdshrink to do its job backing up. ... for those of you who have experience with more powerfull processors/ more resources, etc - how long does it take on average for you? THATS what I'm driving for... more efficiency... faster... I mean 4.5- 5.5 hours. is that even normal?

edit: I do use two pass encoding in shrink (deep analysis)

[redwudz]

I have a similar setup with my Asus K8V-X multimedia computer VIA KT800 chipset, 512Mb ram, SATA hard drives and a AMD 64 3000+ 754 Sempron CPU. The Athlon version you list should be a little faster.

I just backed up 'Meet the Flockers' using it with Shrink. Main movie only, analysis added, about 35 minutes, then 8 minutes to burn. A little better than 4+ hours.

If you are looking for a case, look into Antec.

[TooLFooL]

well i have an athlon 1700, similar to your p4, takes 20-45 minutes to rip, 10-40 min to analyze, 20-50 min to encode - all depending on the shrink%.

i also have a celeron p4 2.6, it takes 10-25 min to analyze, and 15-30 min to encode.

[DVD_NDN]

well, Ive done it. Ive received my upgrade. for the sake of closure to the post, and in case anyone was curious as to what direction I went with, I am going to post the CPUZ info.
please note, what I did get was based on price and availability to me at the time.
************************************************** ***
CPU-Z version 1.24.


CPU(s)
Number of CPUs 1

Name AMD Athlon XP
Code Name Barton
Specification AMD Athlon(TM) XP 3000+
Family / Model / Stepping 6 A 0
Extended Family / Model 7 A
Package Socket A
Technology 0.13 µ
Supported Instructions Sets MMX, Extended MMX, 3DNow!, Extended 3DNow!, SSE
CPU Clock Speed 2166.4 MHz
Clock multiplier x 13.0
Front Side Bus Frequency 166.6 MHz
Bus Speed 333.3 MHz
L1 Data Cache 64 KBytes, 2-way set associative, 64 Bytes line size
L1 Instruction Cache 64 KBytes, 2-way set associative, 64 Bytes line size
L2 Cache 512 KBytes, 16-way set associative, 64 Bytes line size
L2 Speed 2166.4 MHz (Full)
L2 Location On Chip
L2 Data Prefetch Logic yes
L2 Bus Width 64 bits



Mainboard and chipset
Motherboard manufacturer ASUSTeK Computer INC.
Motherboard model A7V8X-X, REV 1.xx
BIOS vendor Award Software, Inc.
BIOS revision ASUS A7V8X-X ACPI BIOS Revision 1012
BIOS release date 07/22/2004
Chipset VIA KT400 (VT8377) rev. 0
Southbridge VIA VT8235 rev. 0
Sensor chip FFFF

Graphic Interface AGP
AGP Status enabled, rev. 3.5
AGP Data Transfert Rate 2x
AGP Max Rate 8x
AGP Side Band Addressing supported, not enabled
AGP Aperture Size 64 MBytes



Memory
DRAM Type DDR-SDRAM
DRAM Size 512 MBytes
DRAM Frequency 166.6 MHz
FSBRAM 1:1
DRAM Interleave 4-way
CAS# Latency 2.5 clocks
RAS# to CAS# 5 clocks
RAS# Precharge 3 clocks
Cycle Time (TRAS) 7 clocks
# of memory modules 1
Module 0 OCZ DDR-SDRAM PC3200 - 512 MBytes



Software
Windows version Microsoft Windows XP Workstation Service Pack 2 (Build 2600)
DirectX version 9.0c

[zak_swan]

u should of got the 3000XP with 400MHZ FSB.
i only found out there was one after i had bought mine with 333MHZ FSB.

EDIT have just read they have same performance.

the bottom bit
http://forums.amd.com/lofiversion/index.php/t21027.html