Recommendations for new build

[Rob Morley]

Yeah, easy to use, but not so easy to install if it doesn't
recognize all your hardware. When the installation finished, there
was not support for the sound card. It told me I could recompile the
kernel and include a driver for the sound card. At that point, I was
done. I just wanted to use the older Compaq to play MP3s at work.

I suggest you read messages more carefully in future. Linux device
drivers are loadable modules that can be added or removed while the
system is running - there is no need to reboot to install them,
let alone recompile the kernel to include support for a new device.

 

[Rob Morley]

When was that? Drivers are all pluggable these days, you don't need to
recompile kernels for them. Have been for ages.

Kernel modules have been around for 12 years that I remember.
Certainly a lot longer than Ubuntu.

 

[Jaimie Vandenbergh]

Kernel modules have been around for 12 years that I remember.
Certainly a lot longer than Ubuntu.

Is it that long? I'm sure I remember recompiling kernels in 2000 or
so. Perhaps I was just being thrifty with memory by choosing to do so.

Wouldn't surprise me too much if some installer was daft enough to
recommend recompiling the kernel, in a bit of text written in the 90s.

Cheers - Jaimie
--

So, what do *you* do for a living?

I sit in a chair pressing small plastic rectangles with my fingers
while peering at many tiny, colored dots. -- Peter Manders

 

[JR Weiss]

There is over in the UK group that it's being crossposted to - NewEgg
don't ship internationally (except to PR).

It really doesn't matter where the links to the information lead to. Once you
have the information, you can buy what you want, where you want. Newegg is a
convenient place for comparisons and relative price information.

 

[Andreas Schulze Bäing]

I am just starting to gather information. It's been six years since I built
my last computer, and I have not really kept up with the latest
developments. I'm planning to build a new system for Windows 7, and would
like some recommendations regarding components. My new system will be used
primarily for Internet, e-mail, and home theater. I'm not really into
gaming.

For these uses an average dual-core system should be more than sufficient.
Home theater performance, specifically HD video, can be supported by
specific graphics cards and/or chipsets, so that the main processor is less
busy with that. From Intel the E5200 or the slightly more expensive E6300
are very good value for money. If you want some more processor power, the
E8400 would be an alternative.
As for AMD, the 4850e or the 7750BE are good value-for-money options.
Combine that with a AMD 780G/790GX or Intel G45 motherboard with HDMI
output, and you have a decent kit to built a pc capable of blueray
playback. For this use it might be worth investing as well in a low-noise
cpu cooler and PSU.

In case you really need much more processing power, such as for regular
video encoding jobs, you could consider the cheapest Core i7 model, the
i7-920, provided your software supports multi-core processing. The other
models of that series are IMHO still overpriced.

Andreas

 

[William J. Lunsford]

Thanks for the information! Your help is appreciated.

 

[JR Weiss]

Though you will probably get adequate performance from a dual-core Intel LGA775
CPU, there are substantial performance benefits from the i7 according to all
reviews I have read. To prevent "early obsolescence" with this new build, I
still would recommend an AM3/Phenom or i7 system.

Thanks for the information! Your help is appreciated.

.. . .

 

[Rob Morley]

Is it that long?

That's when I had to write one for one of my uni classes - ISTR they
were pretty new at the time.

I'm sure I remember recompiling kernels in 2000 or
so. Perhaps I was just being thrifty with memory by choosing to do so.

Old habits die hard. I always used to compile custom kernels, but
I think there's rarely much point. I did run a 486SX25 2MB as a router,
that's the sort of case where optimizing the kernel can affect
performance, but with newer kit it's not going to make much of a
difference.

Wouldn't surprise me too much if some installer was daft enough to
recommend recompiling the kernel, in a bit of text written in the 90s.

I thought we were talking about Ubuntu, which has only been around for
5 years or so.

 

[Fishface]

Is it that long? I'm sure I remember recompiling kernels in 2000 or
so. Perhaps I was just being thrifty with memory by choosing to do so.

Wouldn't surprise me too much if some installer was daft enough to
recommend recompiling the kernel, in a bit of text written in the 90s.

I guess it's pretty old, a Pentium MMX 233, but I hoped it was up to
the task of decoding MP3s. I could find no driver, only source code.
The sound card is in an ISA slot, on a Compaq branded card without
an obvious model number, but features an ESS ES1868F chip.

There seems to be a lot more help on the 'net than when I last searched.
I fired it up, it was Debian with kernel 2.6 something from 490 days ago.
Unfortunately, I don't remember the username and and password I chose.
I might start from scratch with some new advice:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/HowToSetupSoundCards

 

[John Doe]

If I were using Linux, I could be compiling the kernel instead of
using voice to operate my PC and write?!

Wow!

 

[Rob Morley]

It really doesn't matter where the links to the information lead to.
Once you have the information, you can buy what you want, where you
want. Newegg is a convenient place for comparisons and relative
price information.

Posting arbitrary lists of stuff that might be relevant to the OP's
enquiry isn't information, it's raw data. Data must be processed to
extract useful information from it, which is why people ask for
opinions and experience in places like hardware newsgroups. Any idiot
can do a Google search for what they want and find a load of bullshit
from manufacturers and resellers.

 

[Rob Morley]

If I were using Linux, I could be compiling the kernel instead of
using voice to operate my PC and write?!

Wow!

Oh look, an irrelevant comment from a top-poster. How unexpected.

 

[John Doe]

Posting arbitrary lists of stuff that might be relevant to the
OP's enquiry isn't information, it's raw data. Data must be
processed to extract useful information from it, which is why
people ask for opinions and experience in places like hardware
newsgroups.

Currently, the store in question has the best consumer electronics
products search engine I have seen. It can be useful as a starting
point. I would agree though, it would not be useful if delivery to
my area was not available.

Any idiot can do a Google search

An idiot is overqualified.

 

[Phil Stovell]

If I were using Linux, I could be compiling the kernel instead of using
voice to operate my PC and write?!

Wow!

Yes, it always takes 30 minutes from when I boot Ubuntu to being able to
use it because of the kernel recompilations and config file editing that
has to be done from a text mode console.

 

[Tony Houghton]

I guess it's pretty old, a Pentium MMX 233, but I hoped it was up to
the task of decoding MP3s. I could find no driver, only source code.
The sound card is in an ISA slot, on a Compaq branded card without
an obvious model number, but features an ESS ES1868F chip.

There seems to be a lot more help on the 'net than when I last searched.
I fired it up, it was Debian with kernel 2.6 something from 490 days ago.
Unfortunately, I don't remember the username and and password I chose.
I might start from scratch with some new advice:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/HowToSetupSoundCards

It looks like Debian haven't included the snd-es18xx driver needed by
your card (unless support was merged into a more generic ESS driver)
with the stock kernel, so Ubuntu probably haven't either. You shouldn't
need to recompile the whole kernel (which would probably take a number
of days on that hardware if you didn't disable all unwanted drivers),
just compile the alsa drivers. module-assistant should be a massive
help.

PS I bet you'd have a hard time finding an up-to-date Windows driver for
it too.

 

[Fishface]

If I were using Linux, I could be compiling the kernel instead of
using voice to operate my PC and write?!

Do you have a disability that makes this necessary? No, probably not
since you used-to have that inline skate link in your sig. Can you tell
me more about how you do this? My sister has ALS and this might
be nice to implement somewhere down the road...

 

[Rob Morley]

Do you have a disability that makes this necessary? No, probably not
since you used-to have that inline skate link in your sig. Can you
tell me more about how you do this? My sister has ALS and this might
be nice to implement somewhere down the road...

Vista includes Windows Speech Recognition. Apparently a decent headset
microphone can make quite a difference to how well it works.

 

[Andreas Schulze Bäing]

Though you will probably get adequate performance from a dual-core Intel LGA775
CPU, there are substantial performance benefits from the i7 according to all
reviews I have read. To prevent "early obsolescence" with this new build, I
still would recommend an AM3/Phenom or i7 system.

The OP stated that he does not wish to waste money on
capabilities he will not use. The most demanding applications apart from
Internet and E-mail that he mentioned is "home theater" use (HD/blueray
playback capability). For this purpose an LGA775 dual-core system is IMHO
the best value for money option. It's better to invest your money in decent
quality components (case, PSU etc.) than investing in processing
performance that is not used. For gaming and other processor intensive
"number crunching" applications the AM3/Phenom or i7 would certainly be the
better options.

 

[Rob Morley]

The OP stated that he does not wish to waste money on
capabilities he will not use.

You mean you actually read the question before posting a response? How
atypical. ;-)

 

[William J. Lunsford]

I found a combo deal at Newegg at a price that makes it difficult for me to
consider less capable components. The AMD Phenom II X4 955 AM3 and the ASUS
M4A79T Deluxe AM3 DDR3 motherboard are being sold together for a combo price
of $319.99.
www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.212581

I also found the following:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104092