TR Forums

Hi,
I'm new at this...was wondering if anyone had any suggestions...I want to build my own computer along with some more knowledgeable friends, but I'm in college and don't have a ton of money, so I'm trying to save as much as possible...I was wondering what I might use if I wanted to build a Pentium 4 2.4 gig (or greater) powered machine...I want to use it primarily for web design (Dreamweaver, Flash MX, Photoshop 7, etc... I also have some knowledge in Adobe Premiere, and while I don't need to do digital video editing now, want to be able to empland to that (if needed) at a later date. DVD viewing is also something I want to do on a new machine.

I currently have a minitower case with an 8 gig hard drive, with a Atapi 40 x cd-rom drive, a Universal Buslink 40x CD-RW drive, a 250 Zip drive (not connected) and a floppy drive, Creative Live! SB Basic (WDM).
Have no idea what type of motherboard and video card I have, or power supply...So I'm not sure if any of this would be salvagable.

Any suggestions? I'd appreciate any advice... Thanks

you probably would want a new case, a bigger one

and an 8 gig is probably old, and old ones are usually 5400rpm. and that is slow for a p4 system.

lose the 40x if you want dvd get a dvd rom drive

keep the burner, zip drive (if you want it) and the sound card if you are on a budget. a SB live is a really good card still and it can be updated down the road if you desire more than it offers

you need about 350watt or higher power supply

use good cpu cooling

ummm... i cant think of anything else that's really relevant or worth mentioning. I'm sure others will ocver what i missed

If you're doing a lot of multimedia stuff:

The more RAM and HD space, the better. Preferrably 7200rpm HDs.

Thanks for the advice...does anyone else have any suggestions they may want to add?

Let's start off with specs for an entire system and then go from there.

1. Processor- P4 2.4B (4*133MHz Front-side bus or 533MHz FSB)
2. Motherboard- Abit IT7 Max2 v2.0 or Asus P4PE
3. Memory- 512Mb or 1Gb PC3200 (400 MHz FSB)
4. Video Card- ATI Radeon 9700 Pro or 9700 AIW
5. Hard Drive- WD 120Gb w/8Mb cache 7200 RPM
6. Case- Antec SX1080AMG w/430W power supply
7. DVD-ROM Drive- 16X Lite-On drive

The pricing that I am getting is off of http://www.newegg.com. The CD-RW and floppy you can migrate from your old box, as well as the sound card. The pricing for the specs I listed above is $1261.99. Not too shabby. I suggest browsing newegg's site and playing around with your system specs to match your wants, needs, and budget. Hope this has helped.

You could save a fair bit of money by getting an AthlonXP2100+ or XP2200+, if you realy want to be that bit faster then it makes sense to go P4 with current Tbred-B XP pricing. The P4 2.4ghz is powerful but if you can handle a little o/c'ing a P4 2.0ghz or P4 2.6ghz are much wiser choices.

If you go AMD then KT333 with the 8235 south or better still a KT400 are very good choices for little cash. You could get an nForce1 or 2 if you want excellent o/b goodies but with a Live there's little point. nForce2 are only really faster if you use Dual Channel DDR and 333FSB on an XP2400+ or faster. All modern P4 mobos are very good, dual channel is fastest but pricey at the mo, maybe check out SiS's offering?

I'd definitely get at least 512MB now, possibly add another 512MB stick a little later esp if you do go DV. DDR333-PC2700 is probably wiser, DDR400-PC3200 is still a little quirky and unofficial, prices are also high ... in the UK at least.

For the gfx card a GF4TI4200 is fine if you're on a strict budget and gaming isn't a top priority, otherwise you really want at least a Rad9500PRO or Rad9700, a few weeks should show how nVidia's GF-FX and maybe ATI's 9700-DDRII affect things. If you want AIW functionality a Rad8500 or 9000PRO are capable gaming cards with all the AIW goodness, of course 9700 AIW is great but the price is very BIG.

I'd also suggest a 120GB HD using 7200rpm and pref an 8MB cache (most drives have 2MB). Maxtor and WestDigital are tops there, pay no attention to ATA133 spec as it's pretty pointless at the mo.

A generic case is fine, just be sure it has adequate room for full size ATX mobos, good ventilation esp around the case fan mounts. As for the PSU I would demand a good brand like Antec or Enermax although Sparkle and TopOwer are some other good ones, a branded 350W should be more than fine but a 400W+ may cost very little more.

LiteOn absolutely rule although other makes are good too, as a general rule avoid the best known brands and you're fine. Everybody loves newegg so I'd also check there first.

The only items mentioned so far that I would "argue" about are:

1) DVD rom drive -- I'd go with Pioneer on this (until Plextor makes a dedicated drive)

2) RAM - 2 512 sticks is really nice to have and by all means buy it from:

http://www.crucial.com

3) Videocard -- since he didn't mention gaming anywhere in his post why is everyone telling him to buy expensive high-end gaming cards? A generation (or 3) older ATI card will give him excellent image quality & work just fine with the Adobe apps he mentions. And this type of card will be HALF (or less) the cost of the latest & greatest.

4) I found with my last build that there is little reason to buy a generic case & then turn around & drop big bucks on a Powersupply when one can simply buy a nice Antec that already comes with a great PS and save plenty of cash.

1) Yeah I've heard mostly good things about Pioneer drives, but LiteOn are still my favourite as they're not only really good and reliable but cheap too.

2) 2 sticks of 512MB are fine but DDR prices still haven't truly come down since June last year (DDR was equal in price to SDR) and I'd be VERY tempted to 'get by' with 1x512MB and add another later if you seem to want/need more. If you don't have a ton of money I'd def stick 512MB in there for now, very little shows any improvements above this.

3) A GF4TI4200 is about $100/£100 now and it scales very well with CPU speed, hence he'll get the most out of his nice CPU. Image quality, dual display and TVout are all significantly improved over any GF3 and the Rads aren't hugely better. In many countries a Rad8500 is more pricey than a GF4TI4200! A lot of people regrest skimping on areas such as gfx cards, even if gaming isn't important now it may be in the future. Of course if gaming isn't much of a priority any Radeon will suffice and offer great image quality, DVD playback, TVout etc but I'd hardly call a 4200 'high end' esp when it is often priced far below many Radeon cards.

4) Again it depends upon country, in the US it seems Antec cases complete with great Antec PSU are readily available but that's rarely the case outside the US. A carefully selected generic case with a branded PSU added is easily as good as any branded case and often a whole lot cheaper in my experience.

EDIT: Reading through my post I'd just like to make clear that I'm not 'attacking' WebHobbit but merely stating my case as it were.

The cheapest Ti4200s are generally 'you get what you paid for' kind of deals. Witness the large scale failure of pretty much ALL Gainward Ti4200s as an example.

I'd disagree really. Paying the extra for a well known brand name has proved largely pointless as all GF4 cards have been very consistent, in fact some of the mid-priced 4200's by the better known brands have been the ones to avoid, namely Evga, Aopen and Gainwards (esp the non-GS). I'd say you could buy the cheapest 4200 and have better perf and o/c'ing than some of the more expensive versions. You don't always get what you pay for, many Rad8500 owners can attest to that!

Austin: your suggestions are excellent; however, pricing in the US is a little different (I think) than in the UK. An XP2400 system including an nForce2 board in most configurations will cost as much if not more than a P4 2.53 system. I've done several confihurations at newegg.com with both and the Intel looks like the better buy.

WebHobbit: what if he is the kind of person who doesn't upgrade often? Then wouldn't it be worth it to get as close to high performance with the most longevity?

Tradedigital: have you thought any more about what you want?

Maedhros-
I'mn my last semester in college, so I want to spend as little as possible without being cheap (don't we all). I don't see myself upgrading for at least a year once I build. I don't need to do DV quite yet, just hoping to have that option available in the future...what do you guys think? I appreciate all the advice

well for a decent budget i would go with
amd athlon xp1800
512 pc2700 ddr
80 gig 7200rpm hard drive
pioneer dvd
better case and power supply
and maybe a soyo board
this will cost u about
bout $500 dollars then u will just need to pick up a video card

I agree with Gandolf.

Buy the cheapest possible Athlon XP you can find(the 1700+ i think?), together with an NForce2 based mainboard to allow you to do at least one really serious upgrade in a year or maybe one and a half.
If your set on a P4, avoid overclocking with the help of overvolting it since there is getting around more and more information that it just cant handle it very good and still stay functional for more than 3-12 months.

Also, find out wether the serious programs you are going to use favours the P4 or the Athlon, and if it splits between them i would again suggest going for a lower speed Athlon XP, because that saves you ALOT of money while keeping your performance on a fair level.

Pay seriously much to get a really HIGH quality PSU(Enermax and Antecs Truepower series are currently the best AFAIK), a 350W or maybe a bit stronger, again to allow farreaching upgrades.

Either a GF4Ti4200 or a Radeon 8500 or 9000Pro graphics card, all three are good performers for their cost, Radeons have slightly better image quality and may be best if youre up to alot of graphics making, but the GF4 is a bit better for most games if that is also a wish.

And as already said, those programs you mentioned are often real RAM hogs, so get a minimum of 512MB.

If you want to go real cheap(and if programs get a better kick from more RAM than from RAM speed anyways) you could actually get a mainboard for SDRAM, or one supporting both SDRAM and DDR SDRAM, and load up with a single 512MB or 1GB RAM stick from the start, and soon be able to afford to double that considering how cheap SDRAM is currently.