I don't have alot of real specific recommendations at this point, as it is
kind of an in between time for putting together a new system. Socket 939 is
being phased out by AMD, but there still are relatively few of the new AM2
socket motherboards available. NewEgg, for example shows only 18 AM2
motherboards and only about 8 of those are using the new 500 series nvidia
chipset (see, http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2764 for
more info on what each version of this chipset has to offer). By
comparision, Newegg still has 143 socket-939 motherboards and 71 socket-754
motherboards for sale. You'll likely pay a bit of a premium to go with the
AM2 at this time; yet, you'll get no performance increase to speak of. The
only advantage to AM2 might be if you end up looking for a processor upgrade
down the road.
Not only has AMD moved to a new processor, recently, but Intel's new Core
processors are due for release towards the end of July (though availability
may not materialize until early fall). Even if you are not interested in
one of these new Intel processors, their introduction may kick off some very
competitive pricing, as AMD fights to hold on to the ground they gained when
their main competition was the Pentium 4. These new Intel processors may
give back to Intel a clear performance edge over the Athon 64s.
See here, http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=2800 , for
anticipated aggressive pricing cuts by AMD, and see here,
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2771 , for some
preliminary performance comparisons. Not that you would need the kind of
extreme performance found in the processors that Anand was comparing, but it
shows how the Athlon 64 and the new Core processors stack up against each
other at similar clock speeds.
With regard to Vista ready hardware, this is again a bit of a moving target
and I'm not clear on how available all the hardware is that will be
necessary to fully meet Vista's expectations, especially when it comes to
multi-media content. See this news brief,
http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=2842 , for a quick run through
of what manufactures are facing to be in compliance with MS's expecations
for fully supporting Vista.
Anyway, I'm just suggesting that some of your questions are a bit harder to
answer than you might have expected, at least for the time being, and actual
recommendations might depend a bit on how much of a hurry you are in to get
this new system built.
Sorry for muddying the waters so much, but I wanted to try to give a broader
picture of the lay of the land before zeroing in on specific
recommendations.
John Sproule
----- Original Message -----
From: "daniel" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, June 12, 2006 8:30 PM
Subject: [PCBUILD] New Build
I am looking to build a computer around the AM2 processor. I do not really
know which components would serve my needs. My needs are as follows.
Surfing the net.
Possible later use of Photoshop.
Digital Camera
Scanning
MP3 Audio files
Ready for Microsoft Vista
I do not play games
I would appreciate recommendations on the following.
Motherboard selection.
Processor Selection, would I need a double core for Vista?
Which Ram, and how much
Power Supply and case
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