Hi'all, I need some advise on a new gaming pc. I'll be using my geforce fx 5700 256mb and my seagate barracuda 120 gig ata, ultra 400watt power supply, and monitor, cdrw, floppy etc. So these are my choices: Specifications

AMD® Athlon™ 64 3000 .....$599.99
K8T NEO-FNS2R
512MB PC2700 DDR Memory 333 MHZ Learn More
10/100 Network Interface Onboard
AC97 Codec 3D Onboard Sound
ARTEC 868WSP Mid Tower Case 420W Black
1 Year Warranty on Labor& Parts


Motherboard Specifications

CPU: Socket754 Supports AMD Athlonâ„¢ 64 up to 3100+, 3400+, 3700+ or Higher
Chipset: VIA K8T800/VT8237 Chipset
Memory: 3 184-PIN DIMMS for DDR400/333/266 UP TO 2GB
IDE/SATA: 4*ATA133 & 2*SATA; RAID: 2*SATA RAID 0,1
Slot: 1AGP(8X); 5PCI
Audio: Realtek ALC655 6-CH Software Audio Codec
LAN: Realtek 8110S Dual Layout Gigabit LAN
8*USB 2.0
ATX, Retail

Chassis Specifications

Type: Steel Mid Tower Case .
Form Factor: ATX
Dimensions: (DxWxH) 450 x 200 x 430mm.
External Bays : (4) 5.25", (2) 3.5".
Internal Bays : (4) 3.5".
Expansion Slots: 7.
Color: Black
Power Supply: 420 Watt Certified Power Supply .
Features: (2) Front USB 2.0 Ports, (3) clear case fans, Security Key lock. http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... &CatId=114

CHOICE 2:Specifications....$649.99

Intel® Pentium 4 3.0GHZ 800MHZ Learn More
Gigabite 8IK1100 (875P/DDR400/8X) HT
512MB PC3200 DDR MEMORY 400 MHZ Learn More
10/100 Network Interface Onboard
AC97 Codec 3D Onboard Sound
ARTEC 868WSP Mid Tower Case 420W Black
1 Year Warranty on Labor& Parts


Motherboard Specifications

CPU: P4(SOCKET 478) up to 3.06GHZ and above, 533/800 MHZ FSB
Chipset: Intel 875P
Memory: Six 184-PIN DDR400 UP TO 4GB (Dual Channels)
Slots: 1AGP(4X/8X PRO), 5PCI
Audio: 6-Channel AC97 Audio on Board
LAN: Intel 10/100 Network on Board
Raid: Serial ATA Raid ICH5 (Raid 0)
Serial ATA; IEEE1394; 8*USB2.0
Dual Bios; ATX; Retail

Chassis Specifications

Type: Steel Mid Tower Case .
Form Factor: ATX
Dimensions: (DxWxH) 450 x 200 x 430mm.
External Bays : (4) 5.25", (2) 3.5".
Internal Bays : (4) 3.5".
Expansion Slots: 7.
Color: Black
Power Supply: 420 Watt Certified Power Supply .
Features: (2) Front USB 2.0 Ports, (3) clear case fans, Security Key lock. http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... &CatId=114

I'm not to sure what one to go with I know the 64bit technology isn't out yet I think Far Cry uses it. I was thinking the p4 because the ram was faster.... Any suggestions?

If you decide to go with the AMD 64, see if there is an option for a socket 939 processor and motherboard. AMD is switching over the 64 line to this config, so your upgrading possibilities are much better.
Both of these configs are good, but I would lean toward the AMD solution because it is cheaper, and ready for Windows XP 64 bit.
It also supports DDR 3200 ram if you want to invest a little more.
Also, might as well get a gig of ram while you are at it. It really helps.
Just my opinion.

Good Post Jarg.

True, get the 939 version board or whatever it is, maybe even wait some as the board you mentioned day's are already numbered as far as scalability. This 939 is the newest but it isn't proven. I have the new PC bug bad right now but based on reading forums, I'm afraid to try anything at this point as every manufacturer has their own issues. I need the 64bit platform to settle down about another year and SATA drivers to become stable and PCI express to actually have video cards using that technology built and sold. I'm at least a year away for that IMHO. I want a 64 bit chip badly but nothing is really utilizing it yet...nothing wide spread that is. Thank God I have my Mac! It will see me through these trying and questionable times. iMac iForever! Can you say that in French?

THanks you both I'll check on your suggestions. I just need a new computer bad. The cpu i'm using now is only a 1ghz amd and just bought another vid card which i can't use "UrGh". Just want to play some new games and be up to date. I'm just not sure which way to go. Wish I had more computer knowledge.....

Rereading your post, I see that you have much of the good stuff already. All I can say is to consider this before you blow a wadd on a CPU: If you buy a little lower than the best, you can do it all again with the money you'll save in 6 months time. Think about it. Two sweet boxes for the price of one. In half a year everything will price down nearly 50% and all the stuff you can't afford now will be available and better than what you have. Don't knock a 1ghz cpu either. I have one on a box that I'd put against anyone usually. It's stable, fast, was cheap, and can still play everything. The biggest thing you can do towards an excellent box is have a great video catd at this point. That is all and you already have one. Go get an XP2400 mobile chip. They kick total butt! Good luck and let us know. With computers the rule is different than everything else. If you pay now, you'll pay later for it too. Hold out till you can't stand it, then upgrade as far as money and good sense allows! The longer the wait the better the deal usually. Take it from a guy who paid $2,400 for a Pentium I 166mhz computer. That's 166 I said.

Totally agree with Herm there, KB. Buy last year's technology or 6 mos ago -- you don't pay the huge premium for the latest-greatest, which is really not that much far ahead of the recent predecessor.

Technology prices drop incredibly fast.

The new video card I have won't work. I can't use any of the new drivers even with my ti4200 64mb. I have to use old drivers with that and I have no problems but I cant use the old drivers with the 5700le 256mb. When I play ut I cant maximize the screen I can still see the tool bar from my desktop and the tool bar on top. Even with ut2k4 it starts to load and then minimizes itself and maximizes and goes black it keeps doing it and I have to reboot. I was told it was a bios issue or something nivida and atari both said they never heard of such a problem. Does it have to do with the agp texture size in the bios it is set at 64. So I must use the ti4200 with the older drivers. I also noticed under adapter properties for the vid card it is saying pcI slot bus 1. I'm using a agp card in the agp slot hmm. So I figured it is time for a new cpu so I can use my 5700le. Anyone know what I can do?.

Your probably right maybe I'll go with the athlon xp 2500 for $249 or xp 2600 for$399 so I take that there isn't much difference performance wise say between a 2500 chip and 3000.

The XP series from AMD are very good, reliable processors. Before AMD locked the multipliers in their processors, you could get a 2500+ and easily overclock it to 3200+ speeds. Now you can only overclock the FSB, which will still give you a good boost, but not as good.
Try to get a motherboard with the Nvidia Nforce 2 chipset. This is considered by many as the best performing board out there for the Athlon XP series processors. If you go with a 2500+ Athlon, then get a Nforce board that supports dual channel memory.

This stuff is fun 8)

Good info jarg's man you now alot. I'm leaning toward the 2600 because of money I'll have to see if I can get that motherboard. The wife wants a system in hear car for her graduation from school so i wont be able to spend much now o'well. Wish I could just get my new vid card to work, it's always something.

Right off of the bat, I'd say go to NVIDIA . com and redownload the latest drivers for G-force cards running on XP. Then, unistall your current drivers from the control panel using add/remove programs. After that is done, REBOOT! Once it comes up, It will somehow install Nvidia drivers again from XP. That is OK. REBOOT AGAIN! Now, launch the driver install that you got in step one. The latest drivers are called version 61.76 . After they install, reboot one more time for good measure. Now tell us how your 5700 works. By the way, do all of this while you have the 5700 plugged into the AGP slot. Thay setting you mentioned at 64 is fine by the way. This may be a BIOS too so find out what version BIOS you have and see if its the latest. Most Bios updates are created to support newer chipsets and to fix video and audio issues. Usually they will show a history of each bios and what the problems are that this newer version fixed. Read all of the fixes for all of the BIOS's from your version to the latest version out. I bet they mention NVIDIA in there somewhere! Let us know. Now I have to go get that latest Nvidia driver as it just released a couple of days ago and I didn't know it was out.

I did what you said herm and no luck urgh.. So I just ordered this for $399 it should be improvement from what I have my cpu is almost 5 years old now and with the new hardware I have it should work out good for gaming. Maybe a lcd monitor for christmax boy this is addicting. Now i'll have to sneak it by the wife. Thanks you all for your help .. :D


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Specifications

AMD® Athlon™ XP 2600+ Learn More
MSI KT6 VLSR(KT600/DDR400/8AGP/A/L)
512MB PC3200 DDR Memory 400 MHZ Learn More
10/100 Network Interface Onboard
AC97 Codec 3D Onboard Sound
ARTEC 868WSP Mid Tower Case 420W Blue
1 Year Warranty on Labor& Parts


Motherboard Specifications

CPU: Socket a For Athlonâ„¢/Athlonâ„¢ XP/Duron up to 3200+; FSB400/333/266MHZ
Chipset: VIA KT600/VT 8237
Memory: Two 184-PIN DIMMS For DDR400/333/266 UP TO 2GB
IDE: S-ATA150 PLUS ATA133
Raid: S-ATA150 Raid 0 OR Raid 1
Slot: 1*AGP(8X); 5*PCI
LAN: Broadcom 4401 10/100 Ethernet
Audio: 6-Channel Software Audio Codec C-Media 9739A
** 8*USB(Rear*6/Front*2) **
ATX, Retail

Chassis Specifications

Type: Steel Mid Tower Case .
Form Factor: ATX
Dimensions: (DxWxH) 450 x 200 x 430mm.
External Bays : (4) 5.25", (2) 3.5".
Internal Bays : (4) 3.5".
Expansion Slots: 7.
Color: Black
Power Supply: 420 Watt Certified Power Supply .
Features: (2) Front USB 2.0 Ports, (3) clear case fans, Security Key lock.

That's basically waht I have with the exception of your board being better and the ram being faster. I don't have a S-ATA controller on mine so I'm stuck with EIDE drives for now. I don't have AGP8X mine is 4X. You have the KT600 chipset, Mine is KT333. Your ram is 3200 and mine is 2700. I do have the same processor being the XP2600. Personally I don't see any difference between it and my XP2100. Bummer really. Mine didn't come with an on board lan card. The only question I have about the board is what is it's maximum stock front side bus? Mine is running at 333 I think but it is supposed to max out at 266 which is just double 133fsb. My fsb is 166 now so doubled it's 333 "I'm told". I hate to say that if what I said didn't work, then IMHO the BIOS is old or the BIOS settings aren't correct. Still this is good because you paid attention and didn't bust your wallet hopefully. Now, you can get the old system tweaked once the new one is set up. That ti4200 is no slouch as it is what I have too so I know. Do your homework on the old board by going to any if not all of these places and post about your issues. These folks will respond bigtime. I have learned more by going to these forums than I did paying 12K to go to MCSE school. Here are some links:


www.sharkeyextreme.com (pretty good)

www.anandtech.com (very good)

www amdmb.com (One of the very best)

www.sudhian.com (so-so)


Go to these and register at them all first. Try to use the same username password at each of them to avoid confusion later. Once your done with that, make a giant post with your system specs and problem description on the first one. Post it. Look at your post then copy it. Go to the next forum and start a new thread there. Now just paste your giant copy there and do this to each of them. Be sure to select to be notified by email in your profile preferences when responses are posted to your question.

Some of these people will suck and be an ass to you as if you are beneath them but most will answer your question or ask for more specific information so they can better help you. I learned at least 70% of everything I know about computers by going to these 4 forums. You will see I have posts all over all of these. Good luck!

My bios is almost 5 years old I downloaded a update on gateways site the update was in 2003. I downloaded it and followed the install instructions but halfway through I couldn't continue. I couldn't find the driver folder it was asking about. Its a american? something i don't recall as far as the bios. Plus the 5700 is 8x don't know if that has anything to do with it. I have to use the 45.23 drivers for the ti4200 card. I wish it was something I could change manually in my bios if that is the case but there aren't to many options listed. I'll check out those sites. You all have been a big help :)

*X is backward compatable. If it's a Gateway box that is that old, then the AGP is 2 or 4. That doesn't matter as the card will slow down to whatever it is. Why do you say you have to use the old drivers? I'm running the new ones on mine now? No matter. Good luck and take care. Lucky you didn't break it getting only 1/2 through a BIOS upgrade. That usually will kill a PC dead. Kill it dead! How redundant!!! LOL