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Name: Cobra_R
I'm about to build an AMD Athlon 64 system for my friend now he has a budget of 750 to build this system. I got everything he needs and i'm 97 dollars under the 750 dollar cap, he isn't a gamer, so the ATI x300 is good enough for him. But here is what I'm thinking twice about. Currently I got him Athlon 64 3200+ Venice processor to go alone with the new 939 BFG motherboard and I also got him 1gb DDR dual channel 3200 Cosair ram, but since i'm 97 dollars under the 750 dollar budget, should I up the ram to 2gb or up the processor to a 3500+? I'm loooking long term wise which will benifit him more.
LOL ... good one, Skip.
To me it's obvious - double the memory. I'm guessing, but I'd say the speed difference between the processors is negligible, whereas in the future, you don't know how much memory is going to be needed (upcoming operating systems/applications) to run things efficiently.
Good luck.
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The extra gig of RAM is a waste unless he does CAD, video editting or runs some other type of memory intensive apps. And the difference between the 3200+ & 3500+ is minimal...the only difference would be to his wallet. How about $40-50 more & get an X600XT or X700?
What power supply are you gonna use?
Asus A7N8X-X
1800+ @ 8.5 x 200MHz
768MB PC3200 2.5-3-3-7
Asus A9550GE/TD 128MB
WinME/WinXP Pro
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$97 is a mighty good looking builder's fee.
p4 3.0ghz @ 222X15=3330mhz
512mb pc3200 dual channel @222mhz
80gb wd hdd/40gb maxtor when on linux
8x agp geforce 6200 @ 530/585can't unlock extra pipes. plz help if you can
Audigy 2 ZS<b
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Actually, for my own use, I'd add the 97 bucks to the cost of the x300 and walk away with a 6600gt for a video card.
Skip
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Well he got me a really good deal on tires and rims whereh e works out so that is why i'm building him a pc, so pocketing the 97 bucks is out of the question. :)
Anyhow, he doesn't play games on his pc so I would take it that you can have a ATI X800 or an ATI X300 and surfing the web is still going to look the same, so I spending more for a graphics card that he won't even use it's potential for wouldn't make any sense.
The main thing I am concernd about is does ram get eaten up quicker when it comes to newer programs system requirments, like encoding etc... or does the processor? I mean now 512mb of ram is the avg and 1gb is recomended where just a year or so ago 512 was recomended.
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With the remaining choices cut down to two...I agree with C_Legend and add an identical stick of memory.
One thing for sure, if one stick ever failed, he'd still have 1Gb to keep him up and runnin'.
Skip
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If he's going to be surfing and does not have a router, get him one and if he has distant relatives you can throw in a webcam too.
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