Building a PC for my mom

[Seria]

I've got 2 questions:

1) What is the difference between the Radeon cards and the GeForce cards? I understand that GeForce is NVIDIA and Radeon is ATI, but how do their numbers compare? I see that GeForce has their 9 Series but then I see that Radeon is only up to 4000.

then my second question is this the card I picked out(9500 GT) is:
"

more then enough if she is not gaming

"

2) Would the difference in that card and a "gaming" card be:

A) its memory size? 512MB vs 1BG? (I know that larger memory is better, but I'm asking if the reason this card is only "good enough" is because it only has 512MB or if there are other more important reasons I should be watching for.)
B) the fact that it's a "GT" vs... "whatever is 'better' than GT"?
C) the fact that its an NVIDIA card?
D) all of the above?

I just don't know what too look for when it comes to video cards. I don't need something awesome for my moms computer, but I'm also trying to keep in mind things I would like to have for MY next machine ^_^

 

[saltynay]

1) They do not relate the Ati 4870 is arguably the best single gaming gpu money can buy, The next is the Nvidia 280. If your looking for a gaming card then benchmarks should be your first stop tomshardware.com has a good list of benchmarks for all the latest videocards going back 4 years

2. All of the above memory size relates to how high a resolution you want to play at so a 256mb would be fine upto 1280x1024 then a 512mb upto 1600x1200 then for higher resolutions even more memory, I have sli'd graphics cards which are 640mb each but effectively 1.28gb as they work in unison. Lettering at the end doesn't overly matter Nvidia keep changing there mind on naming atm generally it goes GS<GT<GTS<GTX<GX2 (gx2 = two gpus on a single card). The companies keep swapping interms of who's best and also depends on price and what you want to do aswell as the operating system your running. Although the 4870 is the best single gpu if comparing 2 4870s in crossfire with 2 280 in sli the 280s will win out in most games as drivers can also play apart.

I am just about to build a PC for my house that is going to be used for typical mum usage plus being a media centre as it will use the main tv as the monitor. I am getting a 8500GT because it is cheap, has onboard video decoding, silent and will run windows plus any light games that take someones fancy.

Newegg can be very daunting for someone who is a little anxious over what to get. I use newegg for reviews on items as I am in the UK but I use this site to actually buy and make suggestions from KustomPCs - HTPC, Gaming, CarPC, Cooling and Modding Products in the UK ! (graphics card link). I use that site as its a small shop with great customer care run by actual computer enthusiasts and modders so the parts they sell are alll top quality brands which can be trusted. It limits your choices and makes choosing components so much simpler as you know that what you buy you will be happy with. Out of several hundred cards they narrow it down to a choice of 12 which are the best at what they are designed for.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

1) The radeon Hd 4000 series is equivalent the the geforce gtx and geforce 9 series.

It's pretty much

HD 4870x2> GTX 280
HD 4850x2 ~= GTX 280
HD 4870 = GTX 260 core 216
HD 4870 > GTX 260
HD 4850 >= 9800GTX+
HD 4850 > 9800gtx
HD 4830 > 9800gt
HD 4670 <= 9600 GSO

Those are just the gaming level cards from each series.

2) The difference between a gaming card and the 9500gt is their gpu's performance and memory interface. The amount of memory isn't proportional to performance for example a 384mb 9600gso is massively faster than a 1gb 9500gt. Because the 9500gt only has a 128bit memory interface it can't use 1gb of memory, in fact the 1gb versions may even be slower than the 512mb ones.

 

[Seria]

cool, that makes a lot of sense. I went back and sorted again and this is the page I came up with, you can see the sorting routes I took to arrive here:
Newegg.com - $100 - $200, 256-bit, 512MB, PCI Express 2.0 x16, NVIDIA, EVGA, Desktop Graphics / Video Cards, Video Cards & Video Devices

the important factors:
Interface : PCI Express 2.0 x16 (because its the best right now?)
Memory Size : 512MB (because her monitor's max res is 1280x1024 [and I don't want to start this computer with 'already-fading standards' )
Memory Interface : 256-bit (because 128 is pretty much the standard but I don't think she would do anything that would require 512)

Other factors:
EVGA (because I've owned several of them and I feel safe. I have heard good things about BFG, I've had MSI mobo's before and I am not impressed, and all of the companies that i've never heard of before scare me... like... Sparkle and ZOTAC)
Chipset Manufacturer : NVIDIA (same as before, I have no experience with ATI, so, I have no idea what to expect.)
price: (I would like to be in the range of $70 to $120)

what do you think?
also: I noticed on that page the cards had GDDR3, what does that refer too?
A) it has [(Graphic)DDR3] RAM on it?
B) it means that you need to be running DDR3 on your mobo?(I doubt this option)
C) something else.

p.s. out of that list, this one caught my eye: Newegg.com - EVGA 512-P3-N954-TR GeForce 9500 GT 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

What should I do about a CPU fan?

I've had CoolerMaster's before and I liked them but is there someone else I should go with?

here is the CPU I've currently got my eye on:
Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Duo E8200 Wolfdale 2.66GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops
(changed my mind from the quad core)

here's where I get to before I don't know where to go
Newegg.com - $10 - $25, LGA775, CPU Fans & Heatsinks, Fans & Heatsinks, Computer Hardware

I noticed that there are a lot of options that include LGA775, should I be looking for other things before I sort down to the LGA775 so that I don't prematurely limit my options? (what are those other things I should be looking for?)

 

[patonb]

The cpu will come with a stock fan.. Use as its fine. OC'ing is really only when you a different one.

Duals are great chips and the e8200 is a great chip. Will do plenty more than you want it.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

I would change that cpu to a E7400.

Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 Wolfdale 2.8GHz 3MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops

 

[Seria]

I would change that cpu to a E7400.

please explain why.

this is what I found when comparing them:

E7400 / E8200
price: $139.99 / $112.99 (after the mail in rebate i get with the combo deal)
Operating Frequency: 2.8GHz / 2.66GHz
FSB: 1066MHz / 1333MHz
L2 Cache: 3MB / 6MB
Hyper-Threading Support It doesn't say (is that a yes?) / No
Reviews: None / 5-egg with 40 reviews

 

[Puddle Jumper]

If you can get the E8200 for less go with it. I assumed it was at its regular price in which case the E7400 is a better value.

Also no core 2 cpu's support hyperthreading.

 

[kmote]

if you aren't thinking about raid, just plug them in and forget it, they will appear as 2 physical drives, same as 2 partitions (C and D?)

raid 0 = splitting data one 2 drives, for faster performance
raid 1 = have 1 hard drive mirror the exact data on your other hard drive, in case of hard drive failure
raid 5 = ? not so sure, but supposedly provides more security than raid 1 for data backup

peter.cort was wrong on this one, RAID 5 has the same level of data protection as RAID 1 (one drive) but requires more drives (as you rightly say the minimum for RAID 5 is 3 drives). On the upside you get more usable bytes out of what you buy

 

[Seria]

ok, I was going to link the wish list, but for some reason its taking FOREVER for newegg's system to post it as shared. (I don't know what the problem is... does it take 24hours or something?)

anyways... here are the items I have picked out so far,

please take a look and tell me what you think.. and please help me make sure that they'll all work with each other

Newegg.com - Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 32-bit English 1pk for System Builders DSP OEI DVD - Operating Systems
Newegg.com - Sony NEC Optiarc Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 20X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 20X DVD±R Burner - CD / DVD Burners
Newegg.com - LITE-ON SK-1688A/B Black 104 Normal Keys PS/2 Wired Standard Keyboard - Keyboards
Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD3200AAKS 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - Internal Hard Drives
Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Blue WD800JD 80GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - Internal Hard Drives
Newegg.com - G.SKILL PI Black 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory
Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Duo E8200 Wolfdale 2.66GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops
Newegg.com - Antec earthwatts EA500 500W ATX12V v2.0 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Power Supplies
Newegg.com - EVGA 512-P3-N860-TR GeForce 9600 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards
Newegg.com - ASUS P5Q Pro LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards
Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GZ-X2BPD-500 Black 0.6mm SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Computer Cases