Building a new System, how does the setup look?

[Shawn]

Before I list all the stuff I am looking at, I want to tell you what I
intend to build the CPU for.

I am not a hardcore gamer, I will play games but they don't need to be
perfect.

Intel P4 3.0E with HT (Prescott)
Asus P4P800E i865PE MotherBoard
Antec Sonata Case (1 fan, 120mm)
2 Western Digital 80Gig Hard Drives (8MB Buffer)
Sapphire ATI RADEON 9600XT,128MB DDR,128-bit also known as "ATLANTIS
RADEON 9600XT"
2 Corsair Value Select 184 Pin 512MB DDR400(PC3200) Memory Sticks
(1Gig)
Plextor 12X DVD+/-RW Drive (8MB Buffer)
Sony 16x DVD-Rom

I will be using Windows XP and I have heard that the above might have
some issues with SP2? I am also considering getting a second fan for
the unit and perhaps closing off the Antec logo openings in the side
of the case..

Does anyone have any problems with the above setup? Just looking for
some opinions before I get to ordering!

Thanks!

 

[Dave C.]

Before I list all the stuff I am looking at, I want to tell you what I
intend to build the CPU for.

I am not a hardcore gamer, I will play games but they don't need to be
perfect.

Intel P4 3.0E with HT (Prescott)
Asus P4P800E i865PE MotherBoard
Antec Sonata Case (1 fan, 120mm)
2 Western Digital 80Gig Hard Drives (8MB Buffer)
Sapphire ATI RADEON 9600XT,128MB DDR,128-bit also known as "ATLANTIS
RADEON 9600XT"
2 Corsair Value Select 184 Pin 512MB DDR400(PC3200) Memory Sticks
(1Gig)
Plextor 12X DVD+/-RW Drive (8MB Buffer)
Sony 16x DVD-Rom

I will be using Windows XP and I have heard that the above might have
some issues with SP2? I am also considering getting a second fan for
the unit and perhaps closing off the Antec logo openings in the side
of the case..

Does anyone have any problems with the above setup? Just looking for
some opinions before I get to ordering!

Thanks!

Looks good. Be sure to flash the BIOS to the latest version before
installing Windows XP with SP2 or upgrading Windows XP to SP2. Otherwise,
you will be sorry. (evil laugh) But as long as you flash the BIOS before
trying SP2, you will be fine. Good rig! -Dave

 

[Mr Koko]

Looks good. Be sure to flash the BIOS to the latest version before installing Windows XP with SP2
or upgrading Windows XP to SP2. Otherwise, you will be sorry. (evil laugh) But as long as you
flash the BIOS before trying SP2, you will be fine. Good rig! -Dave

Is the problem w/SP2 just with this Asus board? I have an older Asus CUSL2 board and installed SP2
w/o problems. If I upgraded the bios is was years before SP2.

MrKoko

 

[JAD]

Its not a 'problem' with either, but rather technology and software
catching up to one another.

 

[Dave C.]

Is the problem w/SP2 just with this Asus board? I have an older Asus CUSL2
board and installed SP2 w/o problems. If I upgraded the bios is was years
before SP2.

MrKoko

It's a firmware problem on motherboards with Prescott core P4 processors.
IMHO, it's actually a problem with SP2, but I'll be darned if I'm gonna get
into that one again. (short version . . . the motherboards have
improper firmware, but Microsoft has the best opportunity to fix it, and
chooses not to) -Dave

 

[David Maynard]

It's a firmware problem on motherboards with Prescott core P4 processors.
IMHO, it's actually a problem with SP2, but I'll be darned if I'm gonna get
into that one again. (short version . . . the motherboards have
improper firmware, but Microsoft has the best opportunity to fix it, and
chooses not to) -Dave

Definitely Microsoft's responsibility to fix defective motherboard BIOSes.

 

[JK]

Before I list all the stuff I am looking at, I want to tell you what I
intend to build the CPU for.

I am not a hardcore gamer, I will play games but they don't need to be
perfect.

Intel P4 3.0E with HT (Prescott)

Why??? Why not get an Athlon 64 3000+ instead?
An Athlon 64 3000+ outperforms a Pentium 4 3.2 ghz in Business Winstone
2004

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2065&p=6

and in many games, especially Doom 3.

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2149&p=7

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2065&p=8

An Athlon 64 3000+ is also less expensive than a Pentium 4 3 ghz,
$140 vs $170, and the Athlon 64 will also allow you to run 64 bit
software when you upgrade to a 64 bit operating system.

 

[Ruel Smith]

Before I list all the stuff I am looking at, I want to tell you what I
intend to build the CPU for.

I am not a hardcore gamer, I will play games but they don't need to be
perfect.

Intel P4 3.0E with HT (Prescott)
Asus P4P800E i865PE MotherBoard
Antec Sonata Case (1 fan, 120mm)
2 Western Digital 80Gig Hard Drives (8MB Buffer)
Sapphire ATI RADEON 9600XT,128MB DDR,128-bit also known as "ATLANTIS
RADEON 9600XT"
2 Corsair Value Select 184 Pin 512MB DDR400(PC3200) Memory Sticks
(1Gig)
Plextor 12X DVD+/-RW Drive (8MB Buffer)
Sony 16x DVD-Rom

I will be using Windows XP and I have heard that the above might have
some issues with SP2? I am also considering getting a second fan for
the unit and perhaps closing off the Antec logo openings in the side
of the case..

Does anyone have any problems with the above setup? Just looking for
some opinions before I get to ordering!

Yeah, go for a 16X DVD burner with 4X Dual Layer and the fastest CD burning
speeds you can get. I just bought a Plextor (!) PX-716A that does 16X DVD
+_R, 4X DL, and 48x CD-R speeds for $109. Great deal!

 

[Ruel Smith]

Why??? Why not get an Athlon 64 3000+ instead?
An Athlon 64 3000+  outperforms a Pentium 4  3.2 ghz in  Business Winstone
2004

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2065&p=6

and in many games, especially Doom 3.

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2149&p=7

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2065&p=8

An Athlon 64 3000+ is also less expensive than a Pentium 4 3 ghz,
$140 vs $170, and the Athlon 64 will also allow you to run 64 bit
software when you upgrade to a 64 bit operating system.

Let's not go down the Athlon vs. Pentium thing again. Some people have their
preference for Intel, and that's okay. Let it be...

 

[Mr Koko]

It's a firmware problem on motherboards with Prescott core P4 processors. IMHO, it's actually a
problem with SP2, but I'll be darned if I'm gonna get into that one again. (short version . .
. the motherboards have improper firmware, but Microsoft has the best opportunity to fix it, and
chooses not to) -Dave

Great.... I'm putting together a new system (Prescott P4) with a Gigabyte MB, still waiting for its
arrival.
This is a link to the bios update history for my board...
http://tw.giga-byte.com/Motherboard/Support/BIOS/BIOS_GA-8IPE1000-G.htm
Am I correct in thinking that if the board I receive has at least the "F2" bios that I should have
nothing
to worry about?

Thanks, MrKoko

 

[Dave C.]

Why??? Why not get an Athlon 64 3000+ instead?
An Athlon 64 3000+ outperforms a Pentium 4 3.2 ghz in Business Winstone
2004

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2065&p=6

and in many games, especially Doom 3.

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2149&p=7

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2065&p=8

An Athlon 64 3000+ is also less expensive than a Pentium 4 3 ghz,
$140 vs $170, and the Athlon 64 will also allow you to run 64 bit
software when you upgrade to a 64 bit operating system.

According to www.pricewatch.com, same price range at the moment would be:

P4 3.2 Prescott vs. Athlon64 3200+ or

P4 3.4 Prescott vs. Athlon64 3400+

Beyond that range, you can pay up to several hundred dollars for either an
Intel or AMD chip, but hardly anybody gives a damn about those chips, as
hardly anybody spends as much on a processor as they do on the entire rest
of their system combined.

So the P4 3.2/3.4 and Athlon64 3200/3400 would be the best indicators of who
has the best bang for buck, at the moment.

Gaming: OpenGL: The Intel chips are much faster
Gaming: DX8: The AMD chips are faster, no doubt about it
Gaming: DX9: It's virtually a tie, as the AMD chips are two to three
TENTHS of a percentage point faster than Intel.
So on the gaming benchmarks, that's one win for Intel, one win for AMD and
one tie.
GAMING OVERALL: TIED

Business Applications: Office Applications: Intel blows AMD away
Business Applications: Internet Content Creation: Intel blows AMD away
Business Applications: Overall: Intel blows AMD away

Video Encoding: This one is so lopsided, AMD should have thrown in the
towel before entering the ring. Intel wins by a landslide.

Audio Encoding: Again, Intel wins by a landslide

Synthetic Benchmarks: (PC Mark 2004): Here, Intel blows AMD away on both
*CPU* and memory benchmarks

http://www.tomshardware.com/cpu/20040322/index.html

Even at the same price for CPU, an Intel system can be cheaper to
build, as the P4 boards are more mature at this point, and thus there are
better bargains to be found. Considering that an Intel system will likely
be cheaper to build and WILL perform better on all benchmarks except DX8,
it's kind of a no-brainer as to which chip to build with, at the moment.

The following is an article on the Athlon 64 2800+. But more interesting
is,
the benchmarks included in the article are a GREAT comparison of the 3.2GHz
P4
processors with the Athlon64 3200+. In this article, these two processors
are
pretty evenly matched, with Intel being faster on some benchmarks, and AMD
being faster on others.

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2038&p=1

Now lets look at what Sharky Extreme has to report in their article about
the
3.4GHz Prescott processor. This one has benchmarks that are a great
comparison
of the 3.4GHz Intel chips with the Athlon64 3400+. Here, you have to be
careful,
as Sharky doesn't organize their charts in order of fastest to slowest. And
on
some charts, LOWER scores are better. But if you read all the benchmarks,
you
will again notice that the two chips are pretty evenly matched, with AMD
faster
on some and Intel faster on others.

http://www.sharkyextreme.com/hardware/cpu/article.php/3261_3329681__1

Intel is better than AMD, at the moment. The only way AMD could change that
would be to drop their prices by 30% or better. -Dave, updated 10/19/04

 

[Dave C.]

Great.... I'm putting together a new system (Prescott P4) with a Gigabyte
MB, still waiting for its
arrival.
This is a link to the bios update history for my board...
http://tw.giga-byte.com/Motherboard/Support/BIOS/BIOS_GA-8IPE1000-G.htm
Am I correct in thinking that if the board I receive has at least the "F2"
bios that I should have nothing
to worry about?

Thanks, MrKoko

I don't know. The language of those listed BIOS bug fixes is pretty vague.
To me, it looks like F5 is probably the one you need, though. If you run
into a problem, it will look MOST like what is supposedly addresssed by the
F5 release. -Dave

 

[Shawn]

Thanks for the information!

I'm glad to hear there is a work around for SP2.

The only other questionable item is the Video Card. I just want to
make sure it will be compatible and if I need to purchase an extra fan
for the case!

I'm ordering the Processor, Case and Memory today since it is on sale

 

[Shawn]

Thanks for the information!

I'm glad to hear there is a work around for SP2.

The only other questionable item is the Video Card. I just want to
make sure it will be compatible and if I need to purchase an extra fan
for the case!

I'm ordering the Processor, Case and Memory today since it is on sale

 

[Dave C.]

Thanks for the information!

I'm glad to hear there is a work around for SP2.

The only other questionable item is the Video Card. I just want to
make sure it will be compatible and if I need to purchase an extra fan
for the case!

I'm ordering the Processor, Case and Memory today since it is on sale

Your video card looks fine. Should be no problem there. If I read right,
the case has (1) 120mm cooling fan. I'm assuming this is NOT counting the
exhaust (fans) on the power supply, right? If that assumption is correct .
.. .

Then that (1) 120mm fan will work great, as long as it is drawing cool air
in the front of the case. If it is mounted to push warm air out the back of
the case, then you have a airflow imbalance that is going to draw dust
through your external drive(s), eventually killing them. You can alleviate
the problem by adding a cooling fan to the front (or side, if your case has
openings for it) of the case, drawing cool air in. -Dave

 

[Shawn]

The PS has it's own fan...

The Case (Antec Sonata) comes with 1 (120mm) fan mounted in the rear
and I assume it is pushing air and drawing it through the front
opening. They have provisions to add another 120mm fan in the front of
the case. Here is the link.
http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=15138#

Thanks!

 

[Shawn]

Actually.. Here is what Antec Says..


The rear fan is installed so that the air is blowing out of the case.
Connect a
4-pin connector from the power supply to the connector on the fan. We
recommend
connecting the fan to TruePower's Fan Only connector so that Low Noise
Technology can control the RPM of the fan according to the temperature
changes within the case.

The front fan should be installed so that the air is being pulled into
the case
from the front. We recommend NOT installing the optional fan unless
necessary
for cooling, since it will create additional fan noise. However if you
do wish to
install the front fan, please install the fan before you install the
internal drives.

 

[Dave C.]

The front fan should be installed so that the air is being pulled into

the case
from the front. We recommend NOT installing the optional fan unless
necessary
for cooling, since it will create additional fan noise. However if you
do wish to
install the front fan, please install the fan before you install the
internal drives.

Install the optional fan. It won't create that much extra noise, but the
negative internal pressure will pull dust into your external drives. I
guess the case manufacturer figures that optical drives are cheap and noise
is annoying? -Dave

 

[JK]

According to www.pricewatch.com, same price range at the moment would be:

P4 3.2 Prescott vs. Athlon64 3200+ or

P4 3.4 Prescott vs. Athlon64 3400+

Not quite. The Athlon 64 3500+ is less than the Prescott 3.4 ghz.

Beyond that range, you can pay up to several hundred dollars for either an
Intel or AMD chip, but hardly anybody gives a damn about those chips, as
hardly anybody spends as much on a processor as they do on the entire rest
of their system combined.

So the P4 3.2/3.4 and Athlon64 3200/3400 would be the best indicators of who
has the best bang for buck, at the moment.

Gaming: OpenGL: The Intel chips are much faster

Not quite.

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2065&p=10

Gaming: DX8: The AMD chips are faster, no doubt about it
Gaming: DX9: It's virtually a tie, as the AMD chips are two to three
TENTHS of a percentage point faster than Intel.
So on the gaming benchmarks, that's one win for Intel, one win for AMD and
one tie.
GAMING OVERALL: TIED

Business Applications: Office Applications: Intel blows AMD away

Not quite. Even an Athlon XP3000+($95) beats a Pentium 4 3.2 ghz in Business Winstone
2004.

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2065&p=6

Business Applications: Internet Content Creation: Intel blows AMD away

Not quite. See the Content Creation Winstone 2004 results.

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2065&p=6

Business Applications: Overall: Intel blows AMD away

Even an Athlon XP3000+($111) beats a Pentium 4 3.2 ghz in Business Winstone 2004.

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2065&p=6

Video Encoding: This one is so lopsided, AMD should have thrown in the
towel before entering the ring. Intel wins by a landslide.

Audio Encoding: Again, Intel wins by a landslide

Synthetic Benchmarks: (PC Mark 2004): Here, Intel blows AMD away on both
*CPU* and memory benchmarks

http://www.tomshardware.com/cpu/20040322/index.html

Even at the same price for CPU, an Intel system can be cheaper to
build, as the P4 boards are more mature at this point, and thus there are
better bargains to be found. Considering that an Intel system will likely
be cheaper to build and WILL perform better on all benchmarks except DX8,
it's kind of a no-brainer as to which chip to build with, at the moment.

The following is an article on the Athlon 64 2800+. But more interesting
is,
the benchmarks included in the article are a GREAT comparison of the 3.2GHz
P4
processors with the Athlon64 3200+. In this article, these two processors
are
pretty evenly matched, with Intel being faster on some benchmarks, and AMD
being faster on others.

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2038&p=1

Now lets look at what Sharky Extreme has to report in their article about
the
3.4GHz Prescott processor. This one has benchmarks that are a great
comparison
of the 3.4GHz Intel chips with the Athlon64 3400+. Here, you have to be
careful,
as Sharky doesn't organize their charts in order of fastest to slowest. And
on
some charts, LOWER scores are better. But if you read all the benchmarks,
you
will again notice that the two chips are pretty evenly matched, with AMD
faster
on some and Intel faster on others.

http://www.sharkyextreme.com/hardware/cpu/article.php/3261_3329681__1

Intel is better than AMD, at the moment. The only way AMD could change that
would be to drop their prices by 30% or better. -Dave, updated 10/19/04

Very funny. A $140 Athlon 64 3000+ (socket 754 )beats an $840 Pentium 4 3.2 ghz in Doom 3.

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2149&p=7

A $111 Athlon XP3000+ beats a $205 Pentium 4 3.2 ghz in Business Winstone 2004.

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2065&p=6


http://techny.com/articles.cfm?getarticle=606&go=0.53769656

 

[Shawn]

HAHA...

That's how I am understanding it... The case however comes with a
washable filter, but little good that will do when their are openings
on both sides by the Antec Logo

Thanks Dave!