System Upgrade. Which is best ? 5

[kwunder]

Hi,

At the moment I have an AMD Athlon XP1800 system (on a Jetway mobo) which has been nothing but trouble from the start. During video playback mainly but sometimes during copying files to/from DVD drive, the thing continually freezes. (Running XP PRO)
My thoughts are that the power supply isn't enough (300w)

So,,, I'm looking to upgrade.
I've found 2 systems which to me sound OK. Question is which is best ?

System 1 :- £561 GBP
XPPro
Processor - AMD Athlon 64 3400
Memory - 512MB PC3200 400Mhz DDR Ram
Hard Drive - 200GB SATA 7200rpm Hard Drive
Graphics - 256MB DDR GeForce FX5500 AGP Card
Sound - Integrated, 5.1 channel AC97 (Realtek)
Optical Drive - 16x Dual Layer +/- DVD Burner
Integrated, 5.1 channel AC97 (Realtek) Sound

System 2:- £620 GBP
XPPro
Processor - AMD Athlon 64 3000 Winchester 939
Memory - 1024MB PC3200 400Mhz DDR Ram
Hard Drive - 250GB 7200rpm SATA Hard Drive
Graphics - GeForce 6200 128MB PCI-E
Sound - 7.1 8-Channel Capable Sound
Optical Drive - 16x Dual Layer +/- DVD Burner

There could be a 3rd option which is the same as system 2, but with an Athlon 64 3500 and 300GB HDD at £680 GBP

These are from

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/PCRanges.html

Any advice would be welcome

Thanks

 

[BadBigBen]

IMHO, I would go for the LAST system you mentioned...

reason: 1 it is PCI-e, and has 7.1 sound...
(the FX5500 is a low budget AGP card nowadays)


Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

 

[rvnguy]

kwunder,

For about £61 GBP I would think you could cut a better deal.

SYS "A" has the better CPU, but smaller HD, Lower Video, and less memory

SYS "B" has a better Video, more Memory and larger HD, but a lower grade CPU(on the older Core).

Can you get them to custom configure one for you?

SYS "A" with add mem plus Higher grade Video as a possibility.

I don't own enough speakers for 7.1 but you may want that also.

But from your post,the problem with hangs & freezing is not what I would blame on the hardware on first cut. These things should be able to be worked out. I only state this as I would hate to see you spend £600-700 GBP for a new system and then have the same problems crop up.


rvnguy
"I know everything..I just can't remember it all

 

[felixc]

Your troubles are probalby caused by a bad quality mobo. What is the mobo brand in these new systems? Don't know? Well, chances are that you get similar problems with another no-name mobo.

 

[rvnguy]

felixc,

Great POINT!! I was also goin to post about the PS wattage as it was a concern but also felt that the problems were elsewhere.
Take a star

rvnguy
"I know everything..I just can't remember it all

 

[kwunder]

It appears that Novatech favour a mobo brand called "Foxconn" ??Not 100% that it's the one in the above systems but elsewhere on their site, they do mobo bundles with Athlon 64 processors and they Do use Foxconn.

Are they any good (I've never heard of them !)


Thanks a lot !

 

[paparazi]

kwunder
System 1 sounds like it could be the older socket 754 and not the much more desireable dual channel 939.

Foxconn are basically Leadtek Winfast, not exactly the biggest name in motherboards but better than most low end offerings ie PCchips/ECS/Mercury

You want:
An Nforce4 socket 939 motherboard and for some future-proofing it must be PCI-e

These people are absolutely brilliant! FREE POST as well!
Just look at the better(branded) components as well as much faster graphics card (the X800GT is at least twice as fast as what you were looking at)

http://www.lowestonweb.com/Products/DisplayInfoMain.asp?e=9228F10F-7C36-404F-B745-4E5D5DDCA35B

Martin

We like members to GIVE and not just TAKE.
Participate and help others.

 

[kwunder]

Thanks for the pointer Martin.

The upgrade solution does indeed seem good value, but I was looking for a more complete package (i.e in a case with DVD Writer, HDD etc. I looked at the systems on loweston the web but they seem to be a bit more expensive than Novatech. (OK, I know they come with a monitor, but that would be surplus to requirements for me)


With regards to the Foxconn mobo, am I less likely to run into the same lock ups that I do with my present system, (if it is in fact the Jetway mobo that has caused all the problems ?)

Thanks

 

[kwunder]

Further information after delving into the novatech site reveals that on system 1 & 2 :-

Nvidia's latest nForce 4 ULTRA chipset.

Does this have any bearing ?

Thanks again

 

[paparazi]

kwunder
Jetway are a fine budget choice, infact at one time they were the backbone of our mainstream systems, we used the V266B which often proved more reliable than our more expensive hand picked builds.
Thing is other things often contribute to overall instability, typically generic power supplies and low quality ram are the main two culprits.
Jetway have actually played an absolute blinder with there 939GT4 SLI motherboard, not only is it one of the cheapest but equals and in some instances outperforms the top 939 board, DFI's LanParty SLI.




We like members to GIVE and not just TAKE.
Participate and help others.

 

[paparazi]

kwunder
The NF4 Ultra is only bettered by the SLI.


We like members to GIVE and not just TAKE.
Participate and help others.

 

[kwunder]

Martin

I have looked at the mobo/processor bundles on Novatech and it seems that they like to pair the Athlon 64 (939) range with the Foxconn nForce4 Ultra Socket 939 PCI-E (NF4UK8AA-8ERKS)
After scouring the web I came up with a few reviews of this particular mobo, and find that pretty much all of the reviews are very favourable.

To name but one -

http://bjorn3d.com/read.php?cID=756&pageID=1304

Going back to my currant PC, it was custom built from a local outlet and came with a Gigabyte mobo, which caused loads of hassle capturing video via firewire. There were dropped frames all over the place. Their response was to change the Gigabyte for the Jetway, which solved that particular problem. However, the problems I mentioned earlier have remained throughout - i.e. freezing or restarting during video clip playback and sometimes during copying data from CD's and DVD's. I, rightly or wrongly presumed that it may be a PSU issue, but not being too knowledgeable in the field, didn't want to take it anywhere to be looked at for fear of pouring more money into the venture - money I could save and put towards a better, faster system, which I'm now in a position to get.

So..... I guess my choice is down to the 2 socket 939 systems outlined above. the 64 3000 or the 64 3500.

I can't find a good comparison between the two processors, but basically, for an extra £60 GBP, I get 50GB more HDD and the ?better? processor.

Many, many thanks for your advice here. Much appreciated.

Bryn

 

[paparazi]

I would say the £60 is certainly worth the extra capacity and speed.
Foxconn may be a fairly new motherboard brand but they do have plenty of pedigree (as part of the Leadtek Winfast brand)
I have heard good things generally and would certainly rate them above many less but well known brands as mentioned.
Video capture is very hard going for any PC but given the age of your current machine I can say you should certainly notice a worthwhile increase in speed and more reliable capture and processing due to the extra power and speed.
512mb is the minimum I would recommend.
Definately go PCI-e

Martin


We like members to GIVE and not just TAKE.
Participate and help others.

 

[kwunder]

Thanks again.
I think that has made my mind up. finally !

I have mailed Novatech to clarify that it IS the Foxconn board, and hope for a reply today.

Cheers
Bryn

 

[carpetbelly]

I have a foxconn board now... though it's a 754, and I can truely say it wipes the floor with my old gigabyte board. I do a lot of video editing as I do visuals for clubs and as such I do a lot of vid capturing through premiere and firewire.

I can say, while capturing through the firewire built onto the mobo I haven't had one dropped frame in 4months (when I first got the board). And I have well over 200gigs of captured footage. )

 

[kwunder]

Just had it confirmed by Novatech that it is the
FOXCONN NF4UK8AA-8ERKS

Thanks for the recommendation carpetbelly !

 

[kmcferrin]

FoxConn isn't really a new brand, just new to retail. They have been making mainboards used in Compaq/HP PCs for at least the past 5-6 years. Granted, some people may take that to mean that they are lower quality (not liking Compaq/HP quality), but remember that the boards built to order for Compaq/HP are targetted at low cost and high volume, and most consumers don't know what is in their Compaq. Boards that they produce for retail sale are bound to be of higher quality, since they are targetting a tech-savvy DIY market where having a good name means a lot.

 

[kwunder]

Thanks kmcferrin

Another recommendation. GREAT !

Must admit now though to toying with the idea of the 64 3000 system and spending the £60 on an Audigy 2ZS soundcard. (as I've read elsewhere, that if you have a separate soundcard it take a bit of the workload off the mobo ??)

Thanks all

 

[kmcferrin]

It may or may not take some of the workload off of the onboard sound. What you're hearing about are software-based audio solutions. Many mainboads will have audio solutions that are largely software based (with some hardware assistance) in order to save money. These systems will eat up additional CPU cycles as opposed to a dedicated audio card. However, there are some mainboard manufacturers that put full-fledged hardware audio solutions on their boards, and those systems add little if any overhead to the CPU. It all depends upon which integrated sound chip you have and how it is implemented. For example, according to Realtek their ALC650 and ALC850 CODEC chips support software/host-based processing on ICH6 (Intel) chipsets, and audio controller based processing on AMD/nVidia/SIS/ViA/etc chsipets.

 

[carpetbelly]

I'll say this, for the price I have seen those boards going for in the UK you'd be hard pushed to find that much for your money elsewhere. Good choice!!! )