Is this worth building?

[Disaster]

I dont know wether to go with this set up with intel or just drop everything and go with an athlon processor.

1.ATI RADEON 9800 PRO 128MB DVI/TV 8X AGP - $388.00

2.ABIT IC7-G, Intel 875P chipset for Socket 478 800MHz Canterwood ATX Motherboard - $197.00

3.Intel Pentium 4 / 2.4GHz 512k socket 478 Hyper Threading Technology 800 MHz FSB – OEM - $172.00

4.KINGSTON HyperX Series 184-pin 512MB DDR370 (PC3000) DDR RAM modules, Model# KHX3000/512 - $91.00

5.AMS gTOWER Model#CF-1006SW (SILVER) MID-TOWER CASE W/ ACRYLIC SIDE PANEL WINDOW - $129.00

Could someone help me.

 

[darthparth]

Your system already seems pretty expensive when you havent even bought all the drives yet... You are spending $369 alone on the processor + mobo. Even thought it supports hyper-threading technology, for games (according to Tom's Hardware) there is little improvement compared to the stok settings. In my personal opinion, i would buy a Epox, or Biostar mobo (mine has an nforce2 chipset.. hey i like them ), for like $80 {you can find them pretty cheap these days when they are loaded with onboard sound, LAN, and dual channel DDR), and I would buy a AMD Barton 3000+ (it performs at P4 3/06ghz settings) prices are like $240 for that badboy) Already you have a much better system for ($49 less). Also if you want to make a sweet machine pitch in another $100 for another stick of 512 RAM (u can prolly find them cheaper) I think that calls for a switch to AMD, but then again it's all preference Lastly the video card, it may be just my preference but I never spend over $180 for a video card, but if u want a top of the line card then go ahead but for $160 you can get a geforce 4 ti4600 golden sample (which guarantees sweet overclocking) which should satisfy ur needs for at least 2-3 yrs

 

[devlish96]

yup i agree,..its pretty expesive if you ask me. darthparth has given you a pretty good advice...and on top of that you can spend what you've saved for other stuff,..dvd rom,...additional ram..stuff like that.

 

[Disaster]

Thanks alot for the help. But if cost wasnt the issue should i go with athlon or intel?

 

[devlish96]

thats up to you buddy,...athlon and intel are totally different cpu's.
an athlon 1.5ghz works like an intel p4 2.0ghz. the difference is that,..athlons are fast but cheaper...intel p4's are expensive but most likely be sitting inside a computer thats generally compatible with 3rd party software and hardware. thats what i say to my friends who are burdend by this question.

 

[devlish96]

btw,...athlon has a reputation of running quite hot at times. so cooling would definitely be important

 

[darthparth]

If cost wasnt an issue I'd still go for the AMD because once ur system becomes outdated BAM! u overclock it easily whereas overclocking pentiums is slightly harder and doesnt give as much performance gain