system build question

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actually, just found out that tigerdirect.ca has stores and one is within an hour of work. there go my shipping costs! now if they'll price match i'm cruising!
 
yeah, was looking for that as well...am hoping its a bit different in the store face to face, have never found a store that isn't willing to do a bit of negotiating if you're willing to spend a few hundred bucks on the spot vs walk out and send your business elsewhere.

Will drop in on Monday to see what the store is like vs the webpage.
 
Thanks, yeah, have an AGP video right now, figured its time was up.

I've always done AMD in the past as well...what would be a comparative AMD build? CPU and mobo?

comprable stock performance would be an x2 5600 and an evga (or other brand, i just know the evga) 590 sli mobo.
if you decide to overclock HEAVILY, the 5600 will not be able to keep up with the 6420, performance wise. the higher the clock on the intel, the farther away it will pull. mainly this will be in benchmarking applications, but you could notice a (slight) speed advantage in everyday apps with the intel at high overclocked speeds. my 3600 at 3.2ghz still gets whooped by a c2d @ 2.5ghz in super pi and a few other benches. but in most other things it will take the pepsi challenge with the c2ds...'cept maybe the REALLY high end ones.
if you dont overclock, they will be just about the same in most applications.
 
lol, thanks, stock it will be. I haven't built a system in over 5 years...still not sure I won't just have someone with more experience build this one for me.

maybe as I try to extend the life of the system in a couple of years then I'll start fooling with overclocking. for now, if performance differences are negligible then I'll go with the cheaper of the two.

What are pples opinions on building such a system with little experience? I've changed almost every component in my old comp over the past few years but a full build...been a number of years and I haven't been keeping up with technology changes.
 
That AMD combo is about $70 cheaper....i like that. any other AMD mobos anyone would suggest? What about ASUS, my old one was ASUS and have to say, it held up to a lot of abuse.

now i've heard that ASUS is better with intel than AMD, is that true or am I making stuff up?
 
i havent seen too many amd builds with asus boards.
evga and foxconn (the two really high end mobos), biostar, msi seem to be the norm. if you are not going to overclock, you can even pick up an abit kn9 nf4 ultra ( i had one of these boards before my evga 590 sli, and it is very stable and actually overclocks pretty well) for like 70 bucks.
if you like the 70.00 less, consider this:
Newegg.com - AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ Brisbane 2.6GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 Processor - Retail
this is an x2 5000, and not only is it 20.00 cheaper, it is a 65nm brisbane and it will run much cooler than that 90nm windsor 5600. if you decide to do so later, you should be able to buy an aftermarket hsf and clock it as high as a 6000. although, it has half the cache, and that will make a difference in some applications like video compressing and editing. some think it makes a difference in gaming, i dont really.
if you want to go really cheap:
Newegg.com - AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600+ Brisbane 1.9GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 Processor - OEM
the 3600 brisbane, jewel in the rough for amd.
59.00 bucks OEM (oem because you will need an aftermarket hsf to hit high speeds, or get the retail and see how high you can get on stock, probably pretty high since the voltage increase is minimal)...virtually garaunteed to hit 3ghz with a 550 or 590 motherboard.
so, not only will it clock to x2 6000 speeds, it costs 1/4 as much.
remember, half the cache though. it really depends on what you are going to be doing (and how much of it) wether that is important or not.
 
p.s.

hanna_drabon2.jpg


my brisbane rocks.
 
lol, you're getting over my head now....fewer options is better!

I don't mind paying more for quality, just figured if the two were relatively equal I'd go for the cheaper.

One thing I need to keep in mind is I don't get the go ahead for comp replacement often so whatever I get has to last the years...like this last one. I've upgraded almost everything in it but it's got the job done. So upgradeable is important, i'd rather get something i know I can put more into over the years rather than save a bit of $$$ now by getting components that are a bit older and are at their max....

don't know if that's relevant, just means I don't mind paying a bit more for quality.

[edit]The above overclocking of which you speak....how easy is it for an amateur to do? Also, does it shorten the life of the CPU or put anything else at risk?[/edit]
 
lol, you're getting over my head now....fewer options is better!

I don't mind paying more for quality, just figured if the two were relatively equal I'd go for the cheaper.

One thing I need to keep in mind is I don't get the go ahead for comp replacement often so whatever I get has to last the years...like this last one. I've upgraded almost everything in it but it's got the job done. So upgradeable is important, i'd rather get something i know I can put more into over the years rather than save a bit of $$$ now by getting components that are a bit older and are at their max....

don't know if that's relevant, just means I don't mind paying a bit more for quality.

[edit]The above overclocking of which you speak....how easy is it for an amateur to do? Also, does it shorten the life of the CPU or put anything else at risk?[/edit]

yes it does drop the lifespan.... but not by an amount u notice
 
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