Im planning to buy a new PC this week. I found the following configuration:
Pentium 4 3,2 Ghz
512RAM
NVidia Geforce FX5500 - 256RAM
1 AGP slot
3PCI slots
Suround 6 canals

But I called a friend (he knows much about the PCs) and I asked him about the AMD processors. My trouble is that their maximal speed is about 2,4 gigs. He told me that even if the speed isnt that much they do the same work. I just wonder can a 2,2 gigs AMD processor can be compared to a 3,2 pentium? :help:

An AMD (depends on processor) with 2.4 Ghz should be almost as fast as a Pentium 4 with 3 Ghz. And AMD 64 with 3.2 Ghz would be around as fast as Pentium 4 with 4 Ghz, I think.
Why do you think AMD processors are sold so good? They're as fast as the ones from Pentium, cost less and can be overclocked quite far in comparison to the Pentium processors. ;)

Thanks freddy :w00t:

You're welcome, though you should know that I'm not that well versed in this theme. Wait what others, who would know better about it, may say. ;)

You should try to avoid Geforce fx5500, there are much better radeon cards with similar prices(search the net a little), and AMD is much better IMO, and FYI yamcha even Intel has abandoned the race in Ghz because there are other more important elements of CPU with which speed can be gained(architecture, Cache memory etc.), so you should ask an expert or buy yourself a PC hardware magazine(believe me I made a mistake by believing what my "friend" has told me), also you should buy yourself a motherboard with PCI-express slots(it's becoming a standard), what you can get depends only on the amount of money you can spend.

And PCI express is also quite a way faster than AGP. Also I think not only the graphic cards wil (do) use PCI express.

OK so is a Antholon XP 3000+ with ATI 9200 SE bethr that my confgi?? Plz tell me cuz I really want to choose the something good. Oh and about the cash its should be not more than 1000 euro.

1 question.. Does all video cards fit in the PCI express port?? I mean some new video cards.???

Mhh, if you want to buy a computer today make sure it has PCIe (PCI express). If you plan on upgrading your computer in the future you will need it. Also make sure you have a motherboard that has the latest sockets for whichever CPU brand (intel or AMD) you are buying for the same reason. You will obviously not think of upgrading your PC right now but in a year or two that videocard will need replacing. Actually a FX5500 needs replacing a lot sooner and I would advize not buying an FX card at all. Go for the 6600 GT. 256MB of RAM on your vidcard is also useless (one that is that old that is). It only pushes up the price for no gain.

AMD CPU's have ratings that are more or less compatible with the Ghz rating of intel CPU's. So an AMD64 3400+ like I have would be equavalent to the P4 3.4Ghz. Also I would advize going with the AMD CPU's as they have a better price/performance rating (unless you go for the absolute best which you are obviously not).

As to your question a videocard that has a AGP connector will NOT fit into a PCIe port neither will a PCIe card fit into an AGP port. The boxes are clearly marked if they are equipt with PCIe.

For a thousend Euro you should be able to get a lot more kit then your origional idea.

Tousand euro? You can do way better than that then, and get a graph card in a higher price range too. My comp cost me 253 euro, and has these specs, to give you an idea:

AMD Duron 1600 (overclocked to 2GHz)
256 DDR 333MHz Ram
ATI Radeon 9200SE 64Mb DDR Ram
5 PCI slots
1 AGP slot
3 DDR Ram slots, able to go up to around 1GB Ram
5.1 Channel sound (using 2.0, but it's able to do that)
80GB HD, 2Mb Cache
350W PSU

I recommend getting most parts in Germany, as it's way cheaper there. The parts that can get baught with a defect (Ram and HD) are best bought near where you live, just in case. Also make sure all your hardware'll be compatible (check slots used, try to figure out how much Watt you need, so you can get a decent PSU to power it all, etc. etc.) Also look at which parts in your current comp can be recuperated for your new one, as that'll cut price down too. Another tip is to make sure you'll have a case which everything'll fit into, or you'll end up like me, having to rebuild an old little cabinet that wasn't used anymore to fit all the hardware in, adding some fans on strategic spots to take care of the cooling.

I found a new config:
Pentium 4 550 3,4 gigs Socket775 (but as Picard said ill search for a mother board with sockets for both procesors)
512 RAm
128 Video card - RadeonX300SE(designed for PCIE)
PCIE(1) and PCI(3) slots
250gb HD

I think that this processor is good enough for games altough i found some more information in a PC magazine - the I/O or GB/s :blink: (what is this) are 1 for all pentiums and 3,2 or 6,4 for the amd's.

Nice tower but the thing that i should tell you to change is in memory... It is better to have 2 X 256 MB than 1 X 512 MB memory, the first one is more efective than the second... :ok:

Please tell me why?

I didn't mean you should look for a board with both sockets as you will not find it (there are none). I meant to say you need a board that is up to date and does not have a socket for which no new CPU's are going to be launched. The one you have picket now is up to date.

The CPU is nice and fast, no doubt about it. This will be sufficient for years to come. Still try and find one with an AMD64 processor and see what the price difference is.

Forget what Astral said, it is untrue. It is better to have your memory on one DIMM (the card that memory commes on). That way it is easier to expand it once you want more.
512MB is not a lot these days but it is sufficient for most. You will need to upgrade in 12-18 months to 1024MB

Your main problem here is once again the graphics card. The X300 is pretty crap. The FX5500 was actually better then this one. The good thing is since you have PCIe upgrading to a better model becommes easier. If you where to buy this though understand that within a few months you will want to upgrade your Vidcard as it is plain THAT bad.

The size of your Harddisk is largely a personal preference. 240GB is enough to have everything you own in terms of software installed with room to spare (for me anyway). I don't see the need for this to be any bigger then what it is and could possibly be a little smaller if it saves enough money.

All in all a big improvement over your last computer

If you know could you post the name of the motherboard? I want to check out what it is.

I found some Atholon 64 but without the PCIE so i decided not to choose it. But i hope that ill find something new :ok:

I just ordered a new rig. 1000 euro's exact

3000+ amd processor
1gb ram
160gb hd
gforce 6600 gt 128mb
dvd-burner
extra usb / storagecard reader

I bought some of teh stuff from a more expensive brand. Though I don't exactly remember the names. Better coolants and such.

I'll add the exact specs when I have them

So the conclusion i made so far is that i must search a AMD 64 CPU with a PCIE slot. And thats what ill do. :)

I bought a brand new computer save for a monitor for under €1000. The only thing you need to have beforehand is an OS.

I got this rig in December.

AMD64 3400+
MSI K8N Neo Platinum motherboard
1024MB DDR 400 3200 DDR
2X120 GB HDD
Radeon 9600 PRO 128MB (want to upgrade this soon)
Antec Case + 350Watt powersupply.


Works like a charm. Only Doom3 has some issues in certain areas of outdoor maps but that is an issue of the slightly underpowered VidCard.

That reminds me... is there a way to see how much power your whole system needs, and how much it uses at the moment?

@Picard
Dont worry about Doom. Even on the gamebox it says that its recomned to gave a 512 video (that exist!!)

So Is a antholon 64 and PCIE is a good combination???

Am I right??? I cant find antholon 64 and PCI cuz they arent made for each other and since the PCIE is developped by Microsoft I can only find him with some pentiums

There are quite a lot of AMD 64 motherboards with PCIE for AMD try to inform yourself on some more famous motherboard producers, and that gamebox saying you need a card with 512 MB , is just a commercial, the power of Graphic card doesn't depend only on memory but on the GPU, memory bandwith and stuff(if you want to know what these stuff are try to google :) ) , I remember that for Call of Duty on the box it said you need 256 ram on graphic card for maximum details, but it played nicely on now very old gf4 Ti4600, with 128 megs of memory.

Your certainly not right. AMD64 and PCIe get along quite nicely.

For instance, Asus A8N-SLi has the latest AMD64 socket NForce4, PCIe and SLI on it. A very nice motherboard if a bit expensive.
I think you are looking to buy a complete computer rather then one you would have to assemble yourself. In that case you will have trouble finding an AMD version. Computer manufacturors don't like AMD for some reason (possibly lack of brand recognition) and don't build many. If that is the case you will not go wrong with Intel.

I also want to buy a complete Pc but i just cant find amd with pcie :cry:

If you want to buy a complete PC you can still make a deal with the local component shop, you give them the list of compononets( which you will of course buy, they just have to have those parts in storage) and they'll build the machine, atleast that's how they do it in Croatia. If you really want to buy a premade configuration I'd advise ( is suppose you'll use the PC for gaming, internet and such) you that you either buy a PC from a local shop , don't buy HP,IBM or other big brands because their configurations are office oriented, Alienware is quite expensive.

Yes.. I'll ask a friend. I choosed this
Athlon64 3400+ Socket 754 (its pretty good and has a low price compared to the others)
512mb RAM
1 PCIe
3 PCI
4 USB
Geforce 6600 (in the PCIe)

It is a nice PC but you will not be able to upgrade the CPU much in a year or two if you would want to then. The socket 754 is becomming the budget version of AMD's line and will only recieve a few more semprom CPU's (budget versions). The best AMD64 that would fit into this computer is the AMD64 3700+. That said this computer will keep you well in the front lines of gaming for at least two years (I I shouldn't talk since I have the same socket in my computer).

Actually I got a PC game magazine with about 60 processors and 30 video cards with many statistics and actually im thinking of buying this model if the price wont be more than 1000. I know tha the latest are 939 sockets but their price is about 700$ :blink:

Yeah the 939's are still expensive. That is also the reason I did not go for them. You wont go wrong with 754 but upgrading your CPU will not be as easy.

I made some configurations but they are 1200$ or more. And i also didnt find i 939 motherboard with PCIe :blink:

Well wathever you'll choose it's much better than the first configuration ;)

The first config was really crappy :crazy: If I dont find what i search ill ned to choose between amd and agp or pentium and PCIe

There is nothing wrong with the pentium 4. AMD is cheaper in most cases that is the advantage. A P4 will serve you well.

IM going to a PC store today to see what can I dig. But i think ill take the p4. And just last thing. Will the new pentium processors have the same socket as p4 550 socket 775?

I have ordered the following config:
Pentium IV 540 3,2 Ghz
Asus P5GDC - V Del. with DDR2 support 2x PCIEx1 and 1x PCIEx16
2x 256 DDR2 533Mhz Ram
GeForce 6600GT 128 MB
160 Hitachi HD SATA 8 MB
Plextor DVD 16x writer
DVD 16/48 reader
and of course 350W power

All this is for 1101 but it worth the money :D