what do you guys think of this system 1

[den21]

i'm currently building this system as follows:

P4533 asus motherboard with 651 chipset
2.4ghz processor
DVD ROM drive
CD-Rom drive
CD-rewritable(all samsung)
17'inch samsung flatscreen monitor
128 DDR RAM
40 seagate hardisk
winfast Geforce 4

i would like an opinion on this particular system...
One more thing...why are there like DDR266,DDR333(pc2100) and pc 2700..can anyone tell me what are the difference cause i'm currently using DDR266..thanks

 

[Treeking]

den21:

Memory

We will consider 3 different types of computer memory in this article.


SDR-SDRAM (Single Data Rate - Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory) - SDR-SDRAM was the dominant memory of the late 90s. Later version were available at speeds of 66/100/133 MHz as standard. This type of memory is/was used by both Intel and AMD for their recent offerings, even used in the i845/845G chipset with the Pentium 4 processsor. Later we will show what a mistake or distinct waste of CPU that was.


DDR-SDRAM (Double Data Rate - Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory) - DDR-SDRAM has taken over where SDR memory left off. Particularly with AMD systems (Thunderbird / XP / Thoroughbred) DDR memory has come to the fore as the mainstream memory for the forseeable future, with DDR-II on the horizon.


RDRAM (RAMBUS Dynamic Random Access Memory) - Although only really made popular in the mainstream computer market via the Intel Pentium 4 processor, RDRAM technology dates back earlier than DDR memory.

Bandwidth Calculations

To avoid confusion later on here is a reference table for bits, bytes, Mega, kilo, Giga etc...

1 bit is a single unit of information depicted in the form of a 1 or a 0.

There are 8 bits in a byte

There are 1024 bytes in a kilobyte

There are 1024 kilobytes in a Megabyte

There are 1024 Megabytes in a Gigabyte

And incidentally, although not used in this article...

There are 1024 Gigabytes in a Terabyte

SDR-SDRAM

To calculate memory bandwidth we need to know 2 things. Its data width and its operating frequency. The latter is easier to find out as it is usually part of the marketing/retail title.

We usually see SDR memory at 100 or 133MHz. Taking 133MHz as the example, this means that the memory can perform an operation 133 million times every second.

Finding the data width, well that's just something you have to look up. SDR memory has a data width of 64 bits or 8 bytes (8 bits in a byte).

PC100 SDR Memory

The calculation is as follows : data width * operating frequency = bandwidth (in bits/s)

To convert to more realistic and manageable figures, divide the result by 8 to give bytes/s and then divide again by 1024 to get kilobytes/s and then by 1024 again to get Megabytes/s.

Thus : 64 (bits) * 100,000,000 (Hz) = 6400,000,000 bits/s

(6400,000,000/8) / (1024*1024) = 762.9MB/s memory bandwidth.

PC133 SDR Memory

Using the same forumla as we did for PC100 SDR memory we can easily calculate theoretical memory bandwidth for PC133 SDR memory.

64 (bits) * 133,000,000 (Hz) = 8512,000,000 bits/s

(8512,000,000/8) / (1024*1024) = 1014.7MB/s or roughly about 1GB/s memory bandwidth.

DDR-SDRAM

DDR memory is slightly more complicated to understand for 2 reasons. Firstly, DDR memory has the ability to transfer data on the rising and falling edge of a clock cycle, meaning theoretically DDR memory doubles the memory bandwidth of a system able to use it.

Secondly, as a marketing push to compete with a rival technology at the time DDR was introduced, RAMBUS; DDR was sold as a measure of its approximate peak theoretical bandwidth. Similar to AMD and the PR rating of the XP processors we have today, People buy numbers, and DDR was seen to be faster if it was sold as PC1600 and PC2100 instead of PC200 and PC266.

PC1600 DDR Memory / DDR200 Memory

DDR memory has the same data width as SDR memory: 64 bits.

We use the same calculation to measure bandwidth, with the additional frequency.

64 (bits) * 200,000,000 (Hz) = 12800,000,000 bits/s

(12800,000,000/8) / (1024*1024) = 1525.9MB/s.

Notice the bandwidth is twice that of PC100 SDR memory.

PC2100 DDR Memory / DDR266 Memory

64 (bits) * 266,000,000 (Hz) = 17024,000,000 bits/s

(17024,000,000/8) / (1024*1024) = 2029.4MB/s or roughly 2GB/s memory bandwidth.

With the advent of improved memory yields, modules able to run at higher clock speeds are being released to the market. PC2700 has finally come into its own with the introduction of the AMDXP2700+/2800+ and the Intel i845PE chipset.

Here are some bandwidths for the latest memory available:

PC2700 DDR Memory / DDR333 Memory

64 (bits) * 333,000,000 (Hz) = 21312,000,000 bits/s

(21312,000,000/8) / (1024*1024) = 2540.6MB/s.

PC3200 DDR Memory / DDR400 Memory

64 (bits) * 400,000,000 (Hz) = 25600,000,000 bits/s

(25600,000,000/8) / (1024*1024) = 3051.8MB/s.

PC3500 DDR Memory / DDR434 Memory

64 (bits) * 434,000,000 (Hz) = 27776,000,000 bits/s

(27776,000,000/8) / (1024*1024) = 3311.2MB/s.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


RDRAM

RDRAM memory is slightly more complicated in that the bus operates at an effective 64 bit bus width ala DDR but is seperated into 2 16/32 bit channels. What does this mean? well currently 2 sticks of RDRAM have to be used in a system. DDR has the advantage (usually from a cost point of view) of being able to be used in single DIMMs.

The caclulation is basically the same however, we just need to take into account the extra channel and additional memory speed.

PC800

16 (bits) * 800,000,000 (Hz) = 12800,000,000 bits/s

(12800,000,000/8) / (1024*1024) = 1525.9MB/s. Multiplied by 2 because of the dual channel configuration - 3051.8MB/s

PC1066

16 (bits) * 1066,000,000 (Hz) = 17056,000,000 bits/s

(17056,000,000/8) / (1024*1024) = 2033.2MB/s. Multiplied by 2 because of the dual channel configuration - 4066.4MB/s






Opinion: Nice setup, however I would use NO Less than 512MB RAM(especially at the cost these days!)preferably 333(PC2700) if the mobo supports it and personally, I prefer the Intel chip when using Pentiums. I would go with ALL LiteOn(DVD,CDR,CDRW) drives and an ATI 9700Pro.

 

[cdogg]

IMO, I'd go with:

- 256MB DDR333 CL2 (512MB preferable, and use brand names like Micron or Kingston)
- Pioneer DVD-ROM
- LiteOn or Plextor CDRW
- any GeForce4 Ti (not MX), ATI 9500Pro, or ATI 9700Pro

Here's a good comparison chart of features:

http://www6.tomshardware.com/graphic/20021202/radeon_9500-02.html

Also, is there any reason you need a regular CD-ROM drive? The DVD and CDRW drive should be enough.

~cdogg

"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources."
- A. Einstein

 

[CitrixEngineer]

Treeking - there's a whole technical FAQ there - you kinda remind me of someone...

My vote also goes to 512Mb 333Mhz DDR Ram

For Optical drives, it's got to be LiteOn (although Pioneer DVD-Roms and Plextor CD-Rs are top choice, with a mention to Yamaha, there's not much to justify the price hike - LiteOn are amazing value)

Again, for gfx, ATi's Radeon 9700 Pro is the current pinnacle, but a GeForce Ti-based card will give you superb performance for substantially less.

It's worth bearing in mind that 300 frames per second is not actually perceptible, due to monitor refresh rates being considerably slower...

In other words, I agree with both the above posts CitrixEngineer@yahoo.co.uk

 

[paparazi]

Asus P4SDX which has the new SIS655 chipset and not the older 651.
The SIS655 chipset is the current top performer with dual channel memory option 8X AGP.
As with alot of the newer boards be careful of memory brand and type, they can be a little picky.
128mb just isn't enough for W2000 or XP, 256 is minimum and 512 is comfortable. PC2700 DDR333
I like Seagate Barracuda's for there reliability and silent operation but you may consider WD's special addition's with 8mb cache.
Gf4 but definately Ti (winfast A280 TD) maybe 9500pro
LiteOn CDRW
Pioneer DVD
Martin Replying helps further our knowledge, without comment leaves us wondering.

 

[TomCologne]

You'll find an overview regarding the memory here:

http://www.pcmag.com/print_article/0,3048,a=37050,00.asp

For your system, I'd recommend certainly more memory and maybe a bigger HDD. I've got 110GB on 3 drives and still got the 'Out of disk space' message sooner than I had ever expected. It's a matter of your use, of course.
Although I had a bad Samsung DVD Drive, I believe it's a pretty good company. You might want to take a close look at the software that comes with your CD-RW. I recently installed a Samsung writer, that, after all rebates, was around US$40. It included the Easy CD Creator Basic Version, which is sufficient for the intended use for backups, but not if you wanted multimedia features.

You did not list a power supply. Get a good one with a little reserve for additional drives. A No-Name may be good, a decent brand, however, is one item less to worry about when it comes to trobleshooting. And that's gonna happen!
The same is true for CPU and case cooling. It does not have to be the latest fancy-schmancy craze, but something solid will probably pay off.

There's one more peripheral item I really appreciate, a small UPS. It has already saved me hours of work that may have been lost otherwise due to brown-outs. One of those happend after I had just found the correct syntax for a rather complex function behind an Access form and before I could save anything, lights started to flicker, TV went out, but this unspectacular little device had already switched to battery supply. Since it is not supposed to buffer the entire network during black-outs, and I paid only US$35 after taxes & rebates, it's been one of my best, if not best, hardware investments ever.

I am mentioning this because I believe that building a system in contrast to assembling parts should include "holistic" considerations. After all, the CPU, HDD and ... will be outdated before the store's door has closed behind you. Despite the impressive progress in size, speed and...they still rely on rather ancient electric supply and use most of it to produce heat which needs to be dissipated, again using electricity.

This is the point of view of a non gamer. Building office applications is what accounts for 95% of the computer's usage.Solitaire is gaming to me already and I can't defend our planet against aliens, either. The TV on my ATI video card is -for me- more important than 3D features for car chases.

Finally, the OS you are going to run may determine some choices, i.e. because of driver availability.

Good luck,

TomCologne

 

[den21]

ok guys thanks for the opinion

 

[WheeDoggy]

~Treeking

You forgot...........

2 Nybbles = 1 (8 bit) byte or 4 bits.

:-D

 

[den21]

hey guys its me again.I've build my system with very much success and it running on windows XP.At first everything was great, performance wise and the respones was great.But i soon found out that now my pc takes longer to respone when i double click on an icon especially after boot up time.It takes like 6-7 seconds just to wait for the windows to open up.I defrag my pc occasionally but for a new pc like that and with the NTFS file system i guess even if i didn't defrag my computer for a while it shouldn't have given me this kind of problem.So the next thing that came into my mind is heat.If i had no extra fans keeping my CPU cool can it affect this particular system performance wise?
If also notice that with XP this happends quite a lot on a lot of systems the slow response and so on.Anyone has an idea on this

 

[cdogg]

If it's a heat problem, try leaving the system off overnight. Then the next morning, cold boot it up. If the same problem occurs, I doubt it's a heat issue. From a cold boot, it takes the CPU a while to hit extreme temperatures.

Of course, there are tons of utilities that can use heat sensors on the mobo to give you readings. Also, you should be able to see temps in the BIOS.


You mentioned that it takes 6-7 seconds for something to open after double-clicking an icon. Does this happen more than one time? Does it still happen if you wait until the system is completely booted? If so, it sounds like some software you installed is conflicting with the rest of your environment. ~cdogg

"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources."
- A. Einstein

 

[ANFPS26]

Disable anti-virus program to see if that is doing it. I have McAfee and it is notorious for that. Jim

 

[stevenriz]

you may have the compuer buuilt already but I've read somewhere (tomshardware ?) that the samsung LCDs aren't that fast. You might get shadowing on games and video. Haven't seen it myself yet but........ Check out the NEC LCD1760NX I think which I heard was faster.... 16ms as opposed to 20ms.

 

[Treeking]

den21: What brand memory and how much? What exact video card? XP Home or Pro? Monitor- flatscreen or LCD? What anti-virus? Is XP Firewall enabled or 3rd party? Did you follow cdoggs' suggestion about temps- if so, what are the temps?
Ctrl-Alt-Delete will bring up Windows Task Manager- how many Processes are running? Go to this link, scroll down to AIDA32, download , install and run. Click on Computer, then sensor? Temps? Link:

http://www.sofotex.com/download/PC_Utilities/Diagnostics/

Under Motherboard, then memory- What kind of utilization is showing?

Not meaning to insult you but, did you make sure you had ALL the newest drivers, bios, firmware etc. when you installed everything? After running a full virus scan, did you run scandisk, defrag etc.(either Windows or Norton) BEFORE trying to use the system? This situation IS fixable!