Is This A Good Deal!!

[aidanjt]

choppy? I was playing DVDs in software mode with a PII 266Mhz god knows how many years ago lol.. sheesh something seriously wrong there.

[Xaneden]

I know what you mean, I could play a DVD on my dad's old Pentium II 'Compaq Presario' laptop, but for some reason it wouldn't play on my m8's Athlon.

Basically, what I mean is, if you want to do more Media Based things such as ripping/encoding music or making movies, watching movies etc, its best to go for the P4.

[BUFF]

I know what you mean, I could play a DVD on my dad's old Pentium II 'Compaq Presario' laptop, but for some reason it wouldn't play on my m8's Athlon.

Basically, what I mean is, if you want to do more Media Based things such as ripping/encoding music or making movies, watching movies etc, its best to go for the P4.

That's some kind of setup problem then- I've been playing DVDs on Athlon platforms for years (& on less than XP2000+).
The P4 is certainly better than an Athlon XP for video creation (& Photoshop as it can use HT) but I doubt that there is much difference in ripping music.

[Xaneden]

True, but for the minimal difference in price, I'd go for a P4.

There again, I am an Intel fan.

[aidanjt]

I do tons of encoding, and the P4E i got recently has kicked the bollocks off anything else i've seen, and i've managed to get a 720Mhz overclock from it, not bad for £150.

[Xaneden]

Intel

[Agent]

You say that, but I once tried a friend's Athlon XP, 2000+, and the dvd playing was extremely choppy, even after installing my dvd-rom drive on it.

I for one would rather have a basic P4 than a basic Athlon XP.

So you replaced the drive. Thats one thing that you know wasnt causing it, didnt you consider looking at other causes ?

I know what you mean, I could play a DVD on my dad's old Pentium II 'Compaq Presario' laptop, but for some reason it wouldn't play on my m8's Athlon.

Basically, what I mean is, if you want to do more Media Based things such as ripping/encoding music or making movies, watching movies etc, its best to go for the P4.

Your "m8s" Athlon has other issues then. Perhaps someone with a bit more knowledge would have been able to fix the underlying, real issue, without blaming something of no relevance.

True, but for the minimal difference in price, I'd go for a P4.

Where do you shop ?
There is a lot more than a "minimal" difference. The AMD XP range of chips totaly floor Intel on a performace:cost ratio....

There again, I am an Intel fan.

Ahhhh, we finaly get to the truth !
It doesn’t matter that its almost certain that the choppiness wasn’t caused by the CPU, blame it anyway, because you’re an Intel Fan.
A fan boy of the highest degree.

The quicker you realise that Intel doesn’t care about an individual person in the slightest, you open your eyes, look at the real world position of AMD and Intel in the CPU market without a clouded judgment, the better.

Both chips have their advantages and disadvantages, but blaming an Athlon for the cause of bad DVD playback is silly.

[iranu]

Can we get back on topic please. Wannabgeek has asked a question and this thread has been hijacked and turned into a DVD thread.

Wannabgeek: If your parents are only interested in surfing/email/photos/word processing and making labels for home-made jam (don't larf my mum does this - she's quite good at d/loading fruit pics and resizing for the label - jam tastes good too) then they really don't need a S939/SLI/Geil ram/Asus vento PC or is your mum a secret HL2/D3/CS fan?

Remember that you will need to buy an OS as that 64bit windows is a beta version.

There are plenty of companies selling £500 PC's including OS & TFT that will do the job, (they'll also play dvd's ok too )

I have a gut feeling that you may want to use this system for gaming. Am I right? . If so then you would save money by buying all the bits (+ OS) from Scan and building yourself. It isn't that difficult - easier than ikea furniture. Shiatostorm did it recently and got some good support from all here.

[Xaneden]

I didn't blame the perfomance on the Athlon, I said that I had a friend who had problems on his machine. Also, I reittered later on when I talked of DVD playing, I was also talking of encoding and video making, which the P4 is best at.

I am not going to be biased and say Athlon XP isn't a good chip, because it is. What I am saying, is that I would rather have a lower clocked Pentium 4 for the same price as an Athlon, for the encoding etc.

I am an Intel fan too, so I guess it accounts for me always buying Intel, but there again, the times I bought my PCs, the Intel chips available were the best. Of course, nowadays, that isn't so, the FX-55 is king (cept in video encoding etc).

[Xaneden]

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...roductID=63673

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=106044


For about £25 more, I'd rather have the 3.0ghz Pentium 4.

Wouldn't you call that a minimal increase?

[iranu]

xcelsion - nobody gives two hoots about your comments, if you want to have a ding dong about dvd playback and encoding on AMD or Intel chips then start another thread.

Where are the moderators!!! - can they not delete useless posts. Please try and answer Wannabgeeks question or are you totally selfish? Sorry to flame but I really felt it had to be done.

Wannabgeek - look at scan for some good bare bones options.

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...ilterKeywords=

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...ilterKeywords=

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...ilterKeywords=

[Xaneden]

Lol, what the hell are you talking about iranu? How am I being selfish?

Oh, and if you have a problem with me, please PM me, don't make yourself look a jerk by insulting without the other person's view.

[ajbrun]

/\ I agree with what people have said.

If your parents are anything like mine, then they's be using word, IE and outlook express and that's about it. For those types of things, you don't need 1gb RAM - 512 instead. 200 GB HDD? My parents have had 12.1GB for years and that's done then fine. I think they're using less than half right now.

You certainly won't need an athlon 3500+ 64 processor. I manage with only a 2600 fine and am able to play HL2 and CS:S fine. So unless your parents aren't like most, just get an athlon 3000+ XP instead.

I don't know loads about graphics cards, but I think the one in ebay might be a good one. My parents manage with onboard graphics as they play no DVD's or games.

If I were you, I'd build it yourself. If you follow advice that people give you here, you'll be fine and won't mess up. Even if you ask what some people might find a stupid question, it won't matter - that's how we learn! I built my 1st PC 6 months ago, and apart from the HDD going faulty (not my fault IMO!), it was fine.

[Xaneden]

You could... even buy one of those mini cube systems with a Pentium M supported motherboard. They provide plenty of power, and would be small enough to fit into a home perfectly.

[wannabgeek]

Hi Guys back from work!

Tell you the truth the reason being for a SLI was a selfish one,it was more for me playing games when i go to visit them!
Anyways i sorted it now! What i got was a deal Mesh Matrix 3500+Pcx.The total should of been £1260 but as i had Cash and i had brought off them before it was reduced to £1000 and i got extra 512 DDR 400 mem thrown in.Oh and delivery inc! If i didnt get something quick for them me 'Ol man would of got a PC world one! Thanks for your help in this thread. Most kind!!


Spec
AMD 64 3500+HTT
XP pro(should of been Home)
New AsusA8N-E PCI Ex 939 Mainboard
1GB DDR400
300GB SATA ultra Fast(150,16MB)
128 Nvidia 6600GT TV in DV out
19" Sony TFT
Sony Multi Format 16x Dual Layer DVD RW
Audigy 2 ZS
7-1 Creative Inspire T7900 spkrs
Logitech Cordless MX Dektop & Mouse"mx 1000 i hope...forgot to ask!

Oh yeh i forgot to add 3 yr Back to Base Wrrnty!

[ajbrun]

What are your parents going to use that for? My parents wouldn't any of that at all!

IMO, unless yours play DVD, games or do video editing/photoshop or something else that requires it, then I think you've over spent TBH.