Krazy Canuck Posted December 7, 2004 Share Posted December 7, 2004 I'm putting together a budget/plan for a major upgrade(for me) and I would like some "real life, I've done that" input if anyone is willing to share theirs. I'm keepign my WD SE hardrive, Sony DVD burner etc. I'm going with a new motherboard(MSI 865PE NEO2-PFS Platinum) and Cpu(Pentium 4-3.0E GHz Prescott). I'm looking for a good (new) G4 T4000 series vid card without much luck so far. I do not play Half-life anything or games similar to it, so I really don't think I need much more. My concern is the power supply and cooling. My thought for power is a generic 350W PSU and relying solely on the supplied fans for cooling. Am I missing anything? KC 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leopard_2 Posted December 7, 2004 Share Posted December 7, 2004 Erm... if you don't play games in th HL category, why such a "big" graphics card? If you aren't that much into high-end 3D, I would start looking for a graphics card that's passively cooled (one fan less)... Then again, we have vastly differing ideas of system priorities anyway - I am quite happy with my 1,2 GHz Athlon but have two SCSI adapters in my system... :-D 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redwolf Posted December 7, 2004 Share Posted December 7, 2004 The Pentium-4 and the Prescott in particular are pretty slow for the money with many older software like CM. The Prescott is also hot and draws a lot of power, which leads to noise. Look for a thread "let's benchmark CPUs" in the CMAK forum from a few months back. The advantage of the Intel components is that the mainboard are nicer and have better driver support. I have a P4 2.8C (Northwood) in a Asus P4C800-E Deluxe and I'm very happy. You just have to understand that it is fast for the money only for compilation, media encoding and the like. The fan supplied with my P4 2.8C is excellent. It is certainly good enough for cooling in the default setup and very quiet. I have my P4 on a cheapo 350 watts PSU but ever since I bought a high-end PSU for my Athlon 64 I would never go back and buy cheap PSUs. Also notice the Prescott draws more power than my Northwood and a GeFore Ti 4x00 also draws more than a more modern card, so you are on thin ice. I think your setup is sane but I'd drop the 3.0E for a 2.8C and get a better power supply. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redwolf Posted December 7, 2004 Share Posted December 7, 2004 Oh and I heard bad things about MSI. Better stay with an Asus or somesuch. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krazy Canuck Posted December 7, 2004 Author Share Posted December 7, 2004 Thanks for the input. The MSI card is appox. 1/2 the price of an Asus and I've heard good things, so..... I'm using the computer more and more for work so(I should have mentioned this before) I'm looking for more app. speed than 3D crunching. The Ti 4--- is just because I want to. I will go to a brand name 400PSU just to be on the safe side. So far you've confirmed most of my suspicions. Err,..what about memory? I'm presently running with 512 DDR on XP Home w/Office suite loaded. Thanks again. KC 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Carr Posted December 7, 2004 Share Posted December 7, 2004 If you can afford a higher end power supply, try to get one. Many new cases come with a 420W power source. If you have a hot CPU, requiring some additional cooling fans AND you have a hungry video card, Ti4200 or better, a robust power supply is a good idea. Obviously, in the end you will have to weigh what's in your wallet. A beefy power supply never finds itself anemic no matter how many goofy little cards and fans you end up sticking into the case but a whimpy power supply will just cause problems if it gets overburdened. 3GHZ processor! I envy you. My AMD XP 2800+ is clocked at 2.25GHZ and I thought I had allot of horsepower. Good luck! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redwolf Posted December 8, 2004 Share Posted December 8, 2004 The overall wattage spec of the power supply is almost useless. You have to look at the individual ratings. For example, these are both rated 300 watts: 1) Seasonic 300W ATX12V Power Supply, Model "SUPER SILENCER-300W" Output: +3.3V@28A, +5V@30A, +12V@18A, -12V@0.8A, +5VSB@2A 2) Sparkle psf300-60g +3.3v = 14A, +5vSB = .3A, +5v = 30A, +12v = 12A, -5v =.5A, -12v = 1A As you see, the seasonic has massively more power on some lines, among other things the 12V which is decisive if you want to feed a power-hungry processor or a 3D card with an extra 12 volt connector. But if you have a graphics card with AGP only or with extra connector not using 12V you need the pwoer at the 5V. Isn't it fun? Note that Sparkle is usually considered a high-quality brand (also sold as AOpen), you don't want to see the trash PSUs. Anyway, don't buy your PSU based on the overall rating only. Have a detailed look. [ December 07, 2004, 10:50 PM: Message edited by: Redwolf ] 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redwolf Posted December 8, 2004 Share Posted December 8, 2004 Originally posted by Krazy Canuck: The MSI card is appox. 1/2 the price of an Asus and I've heard good things, so..... Well, you are comparing the Asus 875 board with the MSI 865 board. I think the Asus 865 is considerably cheaper. Err,..what about memory? I'm presently running with 512 DDR on XP Home w/Office suite loaded. Can't really tell for Windoze and MS Office. The office packages and user interfaces on Linux won't outrun 512 MB. I would assume it is the same for MS. If you want to be sure, fire up the performance monitor on yoru existing Windoze box and look how big the apps are. Unfortunately the Windows performance monitor only gives very insufficient information on what exactly happens in memory but it's better than guessing. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krazy Canuck Posted December 8, 2004 Author Share Posted December 8, 2004 Originally posted by Redwolf: .... you are comparing the Asus 875 board with the MSI 865 board. I think the Asus 865 is considerably cheaper.... No. Asus P4P Deluxe w/865 = $167.00CAD MSI 865PE NEO2-PFS Platinum = $97.00CAD As you see, the seasonic has massively more power on some lines, among other things the 12V which is decisive if you want to feed a power-hungry processor or a 3D card with an extra 12 volt connector. But if you have a graphics card with AGP only or with extra connector not using 12V you need the pwoer at the 5V. Isn't it fun? Stuff like this drives me crazy. :eek: Once again, your input is much appreciated. KC 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Carr Posted December 8, 2004 Share Posted December 8, 2004 Originally posted by Redwolf: The overall wattage spec of the power supply is almost useless. You have to look at the individual ratings. For example, these are both rated 300 watts: 1) Seasonic 300W ATX12V Power Supply, Model "SUPER SILENCER-300W" Output: +3.3V@28A, +5V@30A, +12V@18A, -12V@0.8A, +5VSB@2A 2) Sparkle psf300-60g +3.3v = 14A, +5vSB = .3A, +5v = 30A, +12v = 12A, -5v =.5A, -12v = 1A As you see, the seasonic has massively more power on some lines, among other things the 12V which is decisive if you want to feed a power-hungry processor or a 3D card with an extra 12 volt connector. But if you have a graphics card with AGP only or with extra connector not using 12V you need the pwoer at the 5V. Isn't it fun? Note that Sparkle is usually considered a high-quality brand (also sold as AOpen), you don't want to see the trash PSUs. Anyway, don't buy your PSU based on the overall rating only. Have a detailed look. Interesting info. Thanks for that! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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