Intel 800Mhz or AMD 1Ghz?

I'm in the market for a new PC. I can spend about $2800 to buy it. I'll be using this at home for business and ***. The 1Ghz Intel Pentium III is out of my reach right now as it approaches $4000 for a system from Dell. If I configure a Dell 800Mhz system, I can get a 21" Trinitron, 128MB of RDRAM running at 356Mhz, the motherboard has a System Bus of 133Mhz and it comes standard with a 32MB 4x AGP TNT2. I could spend another $320 and get the 64MB GeForce DDR but I think I'll wait and buy the 3DFX Voodoo5 64MB card instead so that I can run sim's like GPL with full screen anti-aliasing and 24-bit color. The other choice I have is the AMD Athlon 1Ghz from Gateway. For about the same price I get the 1Ghz processor that we've all dreamed about, but I only get a 100Mhz System Bus, 100Mhz SDRAM, AGP2x, and a non-Trinitron 21" monitor. The video card is a 32MB GeForce but plugged into an AGP 2x slot... I think the answer is clear. Go with the Dell. What do you think? --David Cook

Roll your own ... Or even have a good local computer tech build it for you. You will get *** EXACTLY *** the components *** YOU *** want (no compromises ...), and in many cases you will get longer warranties from the individual manufacturer than the system warranty from one of the "BIG" vendors. You can choose the monitor, video card, hard drives, etc. ... Further, you will not be paying for a bunce of bundled software you probably don't want and will never use, along with the fact that the "BIG" vendors ship their systems with all that stuff clogging up your "start up" files and making a "War and Peace" document out of your Windows Registry ... IMHO, go with the AMD Athlon. It is absolutely terrific, and it doesn't work off a 100mhz bus in the normal sense, but an effective 200mhz bus, as it can write data to the RAM on the rising and falling cycles of the 100mhz FSB clock ... That's why theyt call it 200mhz EV-6 ... I built an Athlon 600mhz (when 700 was as fast as was available ...) based system a few months back, and it was sooooo much cheaper. For instance ... Athlon 600 (OEM tray product) RDJD K-701 heatsink/fan 256mb PC-100 cas-2 SDRAM (2 128mb Corsair DIMM's) Asus K7M motherboard 2 IBM 13.6gb 34GXP ATA-66 7200rpm hard drives (27.2gb total) Plextor 8x/4x/32x IDE CD-RW drive AOpen 52x UDMA CD-ROM drive Mitsumi floppy drive 3dfx Voodoo 3 3000 w/TV out (retail box) video Tennmax V3 Stealth video card heatsink/fan Aureal Vortex 2 SQ-2500 SuperQuad sound card (retail box) Netgear FA-310-TX 10/100 network card In-Win Q-500 case (and three high-cfm fans) Antec PP-303x power supply 17" Trinitron monitor Altec-Lansing ACS-490 speakers/subwoofer LogiTech I-Touch cordless keyboard and mouse Win 98 SE OEM and get this ... it runs flawlessly and fast, fast, fast ... and all for less than $1900.00 bucks ... all parts brand new. But, its your money ...

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>I'm in the market for a new PC. I can spend about $2800 to buy it. I'll be >using this at home for business and ***. The 1Ghz Intel Pentium III is >out of my reach right now as it approaches $4000 for a system from Dell. >If I configure a Dell 800Mhz system, I can get a 21" Trinitron, 128MB of >RDRAM running at 356Mhz, the motherboard has a System Bus of 133Mhz and it >comes standard with a 32MB 4x AGP TNT2. I could spend another $320 and get >the 64MB GeForce DDR but I think I'll wait and buy the 3DFX Voodoo5 64MB >card instead so that I can run sim's like GPL with full screen anti-aliasing >and 24-bit color. >The other choice I have is the AMD Athlon 1Ghz from Gateway. For about the >same price I get the 1Ghz processor that we've all dreamed about, but I only >get a 100Mhz System Bus, 100Mhz SDRAM, AGP2x, and a non-Trinitron 21" >monitor. The video card is a 32MB GeForce but plugged into an AGP 2x >slot... >I think the answer is clear. Go with the Dell. What do you think? >--David Cook

I would "roll my own", as well. It's not hard. At least it's not as long as all the pieces you buy work. I built a 500mhz PIII about 4 months ago, and had no trouble at all. If you get a bad component or two, though, life can get a whole lot harder. That's the virtue in having a local outfit put it together for you -- they can swap parts to isolate what's bad a lot more easily than one of us building a machine at home. But, there's a special satisfaction in taking every last piece out of their individual boxes, assembling the system from the chassis up, and having it work. (I'm an old fart -- I built a Heathkit color TV 27 years ago -- it's the same satisfaction, except that assembling a PC is a tiny fraction of the work, and you don't even need a soldering iron.) However, the original question seemed to indicate that the person would rather buy a complete system. My first advice there would be to go over to Tom's Hardware Guide (www.tomshardware.com) and read up on the processors in question. Also read up on the motherboard issues. Some of these choices aren't as simple as picking the best processor (whatever your personal definition of "best" is). My sense is that there's a problem getting motherboards that will let the AMD processors perform the way they should be capable of. Also, I'm very skeptical of Dell having the parts on hand to make a 1gig PIII system, even if someone wanted to pay 4K for it. The last I read, there were barely enough of those chips for the magazine reviewers (and only those in the US at that). Dave Wilson

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> Roll your own ... Or even have a good local computer tech build it > for you. > You will get *** EXACTLY *** the components *** YOU *** want (no > compromises ...), and in many cases you will get longer warranties > from the individual manufacturer than the system warranty from one of > the "BIG" vendors. You can choose the monitor, video card, hard > drives, etc. ... > Further, you will not be paying for a bunce of bundled software you > probably don't want and will never use, along with the fact that the > "BIG" vendors ship their systems with all that stuff clogging up your > "start up" files and making a "War and Peace" document out of your > Windows Registry ... > IMHO, go with the AMD Athlon. It is absolutely terrific, and it > doesn't work off a 100mhz bus in the normal sense, but an effective > 200mhz bus, as it can write data to the RAM on the rising and falling > cycles of the 100mhz FSB clock ... That's why theyt call it 200mhz > EV-6 ... > I built an Athlon 600mhz (when 700 was as fast as was available ...) > based system a few months back, and it was sooooo much cheaper. > For instance ... > Athlon 600 (OEM tray product) > RDJD K-701 heatsink/fan > 256mb PC-100 cas-2 SDRAM (2 128mb Corsair DIMM's) > Asus K7M motherboard > 2 IBM 13.6gb 34GXP ATA-66 7200rpm hard drives (27.2gb total) > Plextor 8x/4x/32x IDE CD-RW drive > AOpen 52x UDMA CD-ROM drive > Mitsumi floppy drive > 3dfx Voodoo 3 3000 w/TV out (retail box) video > Tennmax V3 Stealth video card heatsink/fan > Aureal Vortex 2 SQ-2500 SuperQuad sound card (retail box) > Netgear FA-310-TX 10/100 network card > In-Win Q-500 case (and three high-cfm fans) > Antec PP-303x power supply > 17" Trinitron monitor > Altec-Lansing ACS-490 speakers/subwoofer > LogiTech I-Touch cordless keyboard and mouse > Win 98 SE OEM > and get this ... it runs flawlessly and fast, fast, fast ... > and all for less than $1900.00 bucks ... all parts brand new. > But, its your money ... > >On Thu, 16 Mar 2000 18:48:56 -0500, "David L. Cook" > >I'm in the market for a new PC. I can spend about $2800 to buy it.

I'll be > >using this at home for business and ***. The 1Ghz Intel Pentium III is > >out of my reach right now as it approaches $4000 for a system from Dell. > >If I configure a Dell 800Mhz system, I can get a 21" Trinitron, 128MB of > >RDRAM running at 356Mhz, the motherboard has a System Bus of 133Mhz and it > >comes standard with a 32MB 4x AGP TNT2. I could spend another $320 and get > >the 64MB GeForce DDR but I think I'll wait and buy the 3DFX Voodoo5 64MB > >card instead so that I can run sim's like GPL with full screen anti- aliasing > >and 24-bit color. > >The other choice I have is the AMD Athlon 1Ghz from Gateway. For about the > >same price I get the 1Ghz processor that we've all dreamed about, but I only

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> >get a 100Mhz System Bus, 100Mhz SDRAM, AGP2x, and a non-Trinitron 21" > >monitor. The video card is a 32MB GeForce but plugged into an AGP 2x > >slot... > >I think the answer is clear. Go with the Dell. What do you think? > >--David Cook

Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ Before you buy.

The AMD 1 GHz is less expensive than the PIII 1 GHz??? Something's not right there...IIRC the PIII 1000 came out at $900, whereas the AMD 1000 came out at $1300... -- Kirk Lane ICQ: 28171652 BRT #187 "Yeah you won't find me I'm going MIA Tonight I'm leaving Going MIA Getting lost in you again Is better than being known" -Foo Fighters, "MIA"

I think the difference is the RDRAM which is very expensive. In any case I want to thank you guys for your advice. I appreciate your input! Funny thing is, I'm buying the PIII 1Ghz Dell after all that. They opened up the config options on the XPS-B Series and that gave me the freedom to build the PC that I want, albeit at $3400 not $2800. I'll just go 2 1/2 yrs on my lease instead of 2. I've never really been into the "roll your own" PC. That doesn't mean that it may not be the best way for some. I've been stuck on Dell since I bought my P120 a few years back. Since then I've had a 200, and my current 400. Before Dell it was Micron, and before them it was Gateway. Guess I'm just into getting them built for me ;) --David Cook > The AMD 1 GHz is less expensive than the PIII 1 GHz??? Something's not > right there...IIRC the PIII 1000 came out at $900, whereas the AMD 1000 came > out at $1300...

I'd say check the local PC shops and see what they will offer you. I found one that sells at prices as low as the mail order companies and only charges $50 to put a PC together for you. They give me great support and I'm happy to support a local small business. JD David L. Cook wrote in message <8arr9i$27o$[email hidden]>... >I'm in the market for a new PC. I can spend about $2800 to buy it. I'llbe

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>using this at home for business and gaming. The 1Ghz Intel Pentium III is >out of my reach right now as it approaches $4000 for a system from Dell. > >If I configure a Dell 800Mhz system, I can get a 21" Trinitron, 128MB of >RDRAM running at 356Mhz, the motherboard has a System Bus of 133Mhz and it >comes standard with a 32MB 4x AGP TNT2. I could spend another $320 and get >the 64MB GeForce DDR but I think I'll wait and buy the 3DFX Voodoo5 64MB >card instead so that I can run sim's like GPL with full screen

anti-aliasing >and 24-bit color. > >The other choice I have is the AMD Athlon 1Ghz from Gateway. For about the >same price I get the 1Ghz processor that we've all dreamed about, but Ionly

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>get a 100Mhz System Bus, 100Mhz SDRAM, AGP2x, and a non-Trinitron 21" >monitor. The video card is a 32MB GeForce but plugged into an AGP 2x >slot... > >I think the answer is clear. Go with the Dell. What do you think? > >--David Cook > >

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] (David L. Cook) wrote: > ... > Funny thing is, I'm buying the PIII 1Ghz Dell after all that ... How about posting a note when you receive it? I'm very curious to know if Dell really has the parts to ship these, or it's just vapor. Dave Wilson Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ Before you buy.