Let me preface this by saying that I've gone back on the last few weeks of relevent discussion between the various pros and cons of going with one system vs. the other, and have reached an impasse in trying to decide what to do.
I know that deception is an advocate of going A64 939 at this point, with the NForce4's emerging on the horizon, and the obvious advantages in gaming and future-proofness. I want to give a shout out to you for your input to this forum- it's greatly appreciated, as well as the rest of the regulars that offer tremendous knoweldge. I admit that I've got some very basic questions that I'd like to throw out around trying to minimize the pricing associated with such a system. I'm a canadian, and am cursed with the inaccessibility of newegg...even though I know that places like excaliber will ship here, and do carry specific steppings of XP-Ms.
I don't want a 754 system at this point, but don't know if I can bridge the cost gap between the XP and the 939's. My rationale is that I might be better served, being that I'm not as hardcore a gamer as I'm sure most of you are, in going with a XP-M system that's still relevent and fast, but suited more towards the value end of the spectrum, and then just completely replacing the system three years from now.
Basically, the idea I'm having is that it would seem more logical to spend $800 canadian on a bang-for-the-buck system every three years (yeah, sadly that's my computer budget) than trying to upgrade on rapidly-out-date platforms. This is my concern around the idea of going with an NForce3, knowing that PCI-e and DDR2, etc will make that almost moot. Is my logic incorrect here?
As opposed to going with a $1500 system that would be smokin for a longer period of time, but with the rapid nature of the turnover in technology, would end up being a mediocre value over the long term.
I would fall into that classic split, of someone who is dreaming of being able to swing a 3200 A64 with TCCD Ram and an MSI board, or something similar...vs. the trusty 2600-M with BH-5 on an NF7-S or something. It's a seriously tough call. I had almost convinced myself to go with the A64, but then when I try to make it fit my budget, it just doesn't work. I need everything, and once you factor in the Fortron 530, case, 6600, display, etc...it because implausible. I'm looking 300 US for a 3000 and MB, plus 200 for TCCD Ram, vs. 175 for a select stepping 2600 and MB.
A couple of more specific questions. Can I use less expensive Ram with the XP-M option? Would a 9800pro be the best bet as a vid card in the value range system? What about picking up a used 21" IBM monitor with crap .25 dot pitch or something as a display solution?
And finally....am I seriously missing out with the classified's section that you can only access with 100 posts? Because I would imagine there are a lot of people right now with pretty killer systems (by my standards) that would be starting to consider unloading them for Winchester based systems....
Any help is much appreciated...
I know that deception is an advocate of going A64 939 at this point, with the NForce4's emerging on the horizon, and the obvious advantages in gaming and future-proofness. I want to give a shout out to you for your input to this forum- it's greatly appreciated, as well as the rest of the regulars that offer tremendous knoweldge. I admit that I've got some very basic questions that I'd like to throw out around trying to minimize the pricing associated with such a system. I'm a canadian, and am cursed with the inaccessibility of newegg...even though I know that places like excaliber will ship here, and do carry specific steppings of XP-Ms.
I don't want a 754 system at this point, but don't know if I can bridge the cost gap between the XP and the 939's. My rationale is that I might be better served, being that I'm not as hardcore a gamer as I'm sure most of you are, in going with a XP-M system that's still relevent and fast, but suited more towards the value end of the spectrum, and then just completely replacing the system three years from now.
Basically, the idea I'm having is that it would seem more logical to spend $800 canadian on a bang-for-the-buck system every three years (yeah, sadly that's my computer budget) than trying to upgrade on rapidly-out-date platforms. This is my concern around the idea of going with an NForce3, knowing that PCI-e and DDR2, etc will make that almost moot. Is my logic incorrect here?
As opposed to going with a $1500 system that would be smokin for a longer period of time, but with the rapid nature of the turnover in technology, would end up being a mediocre value over the long term.
I would fall into that classic split, of someone who is dreaming of being able to swing a 3200 A64 with TCCD Ram and an MSI board, or something similar...vs. the trusty 2600-M with BH-5 on an NF7-S or something. It's a seriously tough call. I had almost convinced myself to go with the A64, but then when I try to make it fit my budget, it just doesn't work. I need everything, and once you factor in the Fortron 530, case, 6600, display, etc...it because implausible. I'm looking 300 US for a 3000 and MB, plus 200 for TCCD Ram, vs. 175 for a select stepping 2600 and MB.
A couple of more specific questions. Can I use less expensive Ram with the XP-M option? Would a 9800pro be the best bet as a vid card in the value range system? What about picking up a used 21" IBM monitor with crap .25 dot pitch or something as a display solution?
And finally....am I seriously missing out with the classified's section that you can only access with 100 posts? Because I would imagine there are a lot of people right now with pretty killer systems (by my standards) that would be starting to consider unloading them for Winchester based systems....
Any help is much appreciated...