New computer help

[Dave]

Ok. I'm going to be oredering a new computer this week. I have a problem though. I don't know what to go with. I'm only going to have this sytem for about a year. And then i'm going to go all out, and get the top of the line. In the mean time, i want a computer that's going to play the latest games well.

I'm thinking of getting an Athlon 700, GeForce, 128ram, 15 gig harddrive. Will this computer be able to run the newest games (especialy BCM) very well? I could go up to an 800, but, i don't want to spend too much money when i'm going to be getting another system next year. Besides, is there much difference between a 700 and 800 Athlon? I could add a couple hundred bucks if i have to, but, i don't know if it would be worth it. So, do you think the Athlon 700 would be a good buy? Thanks.

[Gallion]

Must be nice to get a cool system this year and then turn around and get a screamer next year.

Seriously though, with the specs ye just toted, I see no problem with getting a Anthon 700. The performance gain vs price difference between the Anthon 700 and 800 is not significant enough to justify Anthion 800 procurement. Taking into account ye be getting a new top-of-the-line system next year; which should be near the 3ghz range if I understand the various radar reports I've been perusing.

Bottom line: Anthon 700, GeForce 256 v-card, up RAM to 256 (PSB 133 or 100), with an xDSL connection or 2-way cable. V-card and net connection would be the key ingredients for success in BC:M IMO.

Disclaimer

This is my opinion only, others will vary depending on preferences and what not

TTFM

[harrimarkus]

My advice:

If you go with the Athlon, get it from a company that knows what they are doing. There has been problems with the Athlon and the GeForce combos with the AMD-750 based motherboards (a lot of crashing). The new VIA KX133-based motherboards should be ok.

If have the cash go with www.alienware.com . If you build it yourself, go to AMD's website and try to get AMD approved parts (powersuply etc.) and VIA based motherboard.

The computer you specified will be fine for a year. I have a Celeron 466 overclocked to 525 and TNT2 and it runs like a champ. I can run all the latest games, many of them with 1024 with no problems, the rest with 800x600.

If you are into tweaking and not afraid to overclock, get the Intel 600 (100mhz) pentium III and the new VIA based PIII board (can't remember it's name now) and overclock it to 800, very cheap and efficient. I have several friends with this combo, it works very well with GeForce and you can't beat the price.

Also if you plan on running W2000, get 256megs of ram, 128 is enough, but with 256 you will notice a nice difference = FAST!

My personal experiences with W2000 are SO positive. It runs many of the games I play, Asherons Call, NFS:Porche, etc. very well with the latest Detonator drivers, and it is SO stable. I don't even remember how the blue screen of death looks like. And as always SC delivers, BCM will run on W2000.

Don't you just love those student licenses

Harri

[This message has been edited by harrimarkus (edited 05-22-2000).]

[Guest]

Whatever you buy, please do not buy Compaq, Packard Bell or Gateway.

You have been warned

-Tac-

(Gateway Tech)

[Dave]

heh. Don't worry, i won't. I bought a Falcon about 1 1/2 years ago. And i love it. So, i was going to get a Talon for now. Then next year, i was going to get a top of the line Falcon. I made the mistake of getting a

"off the shelf" computer years ago, and i will never go back. When i get my Talon, i'll probably throw my voodoo2 from my present computer, into my new one. That way i'll have 3dfx support to go along with my GeForce. And i might put in an extra 128 ram.

How much is ram going for these days?

[Guest aramike01]

Speaking from experience, and typing from a Gateway, definitely DO NOT get a Gateway!

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Cmdr. Michael Kristophers

Spectre Fleet

Commanding Officer, Spectre StarStation

ICV-Intrepid

Recruitment Officer

"You won't get the Purple Heart hiding in a foxhole!"

[Ben Zwycky]

Just how backward compatible is win2k? are all my older packages (Word 97, smartsuite 96, Photoshop 4.0 etc) going to run in win 2k or will I have to create a win95 partition to run all of those? If I do, does anyone know a cheap program to create a dual boot system?

Cheers,

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Cmdr. Ben Zwycky

GCV Svoboda, ISS08

Adjutant to the Fleet Commander

ISS Fleet Recruiting Officer

Director, CIOPS Directorate of Training and Administration

Initiate - Order of Jade Dragon

ISS Fleet Homepage

GCV Svoboda Homepage

"Nakonec pravda vitezi" (in the end the truth wins)

ICQ:72897748

[harrimarkus]

Ben, try this website http://www.ntcompatible.com. It has a list of games and programs that run under W2000 and NT 4.0, very good information. I did a quick check and Word 97 runs, but Photoshop 4.0 doesn't.

You don't need any extra programs to run a dualboot system with W2000, it has it's own bootmanager, that works very well. First just create 2 partitions, install W95 or W98 first, then install W2000 and choose to install to a new partition (NOT over existing 95/98 installation), and it will create the bootmanager automatically.

I run 98 and W2000, and I boot to 98 maybe once a week, to play some rare game that does not work with W2000.

[Ben Zwycky]

Thanks, Harri.

I did see Photoshop 4.0 in there. So is creating partitions something you do in your BIOS? I tried searching for it in windows help, but it said it couldn't locate the find tab, and I couldn't find anything in the subjects index about it.

Cheers,

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Cmdr. Ben Zwycky

GCV Svoboda, ISS08

Adjutant to the Fleet Commander

ISS Fleet Recruiting Officer

Director, CIOPS Directorate of Training and Administration

Initiate - Order of Jade Dragon

ISS Fleet Homepage

GCV Svoboda Homepage

"Nakonec pravda vitezi" (in the end the truth wins)

ICQ:72897748

[Guest]

Well I can't say how its done in Win2000, but in Win98 you can make partitions using specialized third party programs like Partition Magic.

Alternatively you can use FDISK to make new partitions, but this isn't advised unless you have a new hard drive as it destroy any data on preexisting partitions that you modify.

[Di Fontaine]

Hi,

Whatever you do, if you do go the PIII route DON'T buy a mobo based on the Intel (820?) chipset. Intel released a press release 11/5/00 in the UK recalling a lot of these as there is a prob with these systems randomly powering down !!! I don't know if this was on general release but I work for a PC manufacturer/retailer here in the UK and we got to see it.

Cmdr Andy DiFontaine

[Guest]

In response to the last message:

The problem with the 820 motherboards is in the MTH chip, used to translate SDRAM signals into something the motherboard understands. It is only a problem if you are using SDRAM in and 820 motherboard. There is no problem with RDRAM.

With the defective motherboards, the system may lock or fail to boot occasionally when SDRAM is used.

However, even without this MTH bug, 820 performance with SDRAM is abysmal. The 820 was really designed to be used with RDRAM, where performance is optimal.

Conclusion: It is ok to get a motherboard based on the Intel i820 chipset so long as the system uses Rambus Ram (RDRAM).

[Guest Ron Wallin]

canusa is correct, intel is not recalling all CC820 mobo's. Only those using SDRAM instead of RDRAM mobos are affected. However, if you have a 820 system with sdram you should contact your retailer. By now they should have the information needed to trade out your mobo. HardOCP as well as a few other sites have a snippet about the issue. I suggest you read up, as you may be qualified to receive a new vc820 mobo AND ram.

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Ron/Akira

Spectre(I'm still not sure what's going on there)

Official Tester

Battlecruiser Series